MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
OCTOBER 23, 2008
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Senior Center Commission Member Jay Honohan: Senior Center Update................................... 1
Assistant County Attorney Andy Chappell: Proposal to Sell Unused Right-Of-Way Adjacent to Prairie du Chien Road....................................................................................................................................... 2
Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan: Federal Emergency Management Project Worksheet/Public Assistance Reimbursement Status.............................................................................................................................. 4
Reports and Inquiries from the Board Of Supervisors................................................................ 5
Executive Session: Pursuant to Iowa Code Section 21.5(1)(C), to Discuss Strategy with Counsel in Matters that are Presently in Litigation or Where Litigation is Imminent Where its Disclosure Would be Likely to Prejudice or Disadvantage the Position of the Governmental Body in that Litigation................................. 6
Chairperson Sullivan called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 9:10 a.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Larry Meyers, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan.
Senior Center Commission Member Jay Honohan said he is a member of the Senior Center Commission. He said he hopes the Board doesn’t think the Senior Center has gone to the dogs as a result of an article in the paper from October 13, 2008, but there has been a nice event at the dog park which the seniors enjoyed. Honohan said they got a lot of publicity from it which he thinks is very good. He said if anyone is coming down to the Senior Center in the next two to three weeks, they should wear a sweater or sweatshirt since the boiler is out of commission for two to three weeks. Honohan said the Center is very active lately in the evenings. He said they are having things like bridge groups, tango lessons, and all kinds of things in the evening. This has put a strain on the staff so they have a volunteer program working that has been very successful, allowing seniors as volunteers to supervise the Center from 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays which allows people to come to the computer room, the pool room, and a few other areas in the Center. Honohan said if anyone is interested in tutorials on how to use the computers, there is a young lady from the University coming in once a week and a young lady from Solon High School coming in once a week to tutor. He said they are covering all ages in that aspect.
Honohan said they are pleased with the exercise room. He said some people were skeptical when they did remodeling for the expanded exercise area, with showers and similar entities, but it has been a big success overall. Honohan read some of the letters they received complimenting the new exercise room. He said he is very pleased with the letters, but there are also people who have not written letters and yet have told him how excited they are and often they use the exercise room. Honohan said they are not just trying to deal with the mental and social aspects, but the physical as well. He said they are getting a new program guide out, and it looks like it is going to be 60 pages long. Honohan said it will list all the programs and activities they have in the Center. He said it has been a very good year, and that there are now over 1,089 paying participants at the Center, and they are constantly striving for new members. Honohan said there is a newcomer’s club they are working with that has had over 12 newcomers since the last meeting.
R. Sullivan said in another committee in which he participates, they talked about the amazing number of seniors that trail children to the City and County. He said he hasn’t realized it is so significant, but the idea of a newcomer’s club is a great idea given the number of people who follow their adult children to the community. Honohan said they use the newcomer’s club to acquaint people with what is offered at the Center, and he has a couple people who have explained to him why they move. He said they told him because of the University Hospitals and the Senior Center, in addition to their children. Honohan said they are very proud of the Center, and next year they are going to start renewing their national accreditation, which they will start next January or February of 2009. The Board thanked Honohan for the report.
Assistant County Attorney Andy Chappell said two or three years ago they went down a process about a piece of right-of-way that was acquired when Prairie Du Chien Road was built and realigned, which sits between “old and new” Prairie Du Chien. He said about half of the island has been purchased by a private land owner, and the house has now been built on that property, having been in the process for awhile. Chappell said a few years ago, an entity by the name of Blackberry LLC approached the Attorney’s Office with an offer to purchase the excess right-of-way. At the time he spoke with other County departments and none of them had any interest in the property because of its old right-of-way. Chappell said Secondary Roads did not having any interest in keeping the property. He said it is something he hopes won’t just go to weeds either, needing to have some looking after it, etc. Chappell said they have gone through the process, contacted everyone in-house, and then moved forward because as an old right-of-way they need to follow a process, contacting the property owner they have purchased it from. He said it was parted as part of what they would call an uneconomic remnant. Chappell said, basically, it is a corner they cut off when they took some other property for the new road. He said the property owner said to buy that as well since it would have been useless to him/her.
Chappell said they went through the process, and then they didn’t get a counter offer from anyone. He said they went through their normal process for selling real property, and after the public hearing there were a few people who thought the land would make a nice trailhead. Chappell explained that it is at that time that the Board decided not to sell it. He said that is fine, as that is the purpose of the public hearing. Chappell said they received another offer from the same people a few years later. He said he spoke with R. Sullivan about it and they thought they would at least put it on the agenda to see what the thought process is. Chappell said, again, he isn't looking for a formal yes or no. He said, however, since they have been down the road at least once before, it could be nice if the Board has a good idea that they don't want to sell, and then they can be up front with it and not go through all the hoops.
Chappell said what they will have to do if they don't is follow the exact same process. He explained they will have to recontact the prior land owner again, and there is a 30-60 day waiting period for that. Chappell said they get a chance to counter the offer and match it. He said they basically get a priority. Chappell said if the landowners don't respond, then they go through the public hearing process. He said the offer last time was $60,000 and the offer this time is $62,000. Chappell said it doesn't sound like a big difference, as they got an appraisal last time, which has been $45,000. He explained this time the appraisal came in at $62,000. Chappell said they have been willing to go for a premium last time, and he said he doesn't know if it is economics or the fact that no one else seems to show any interest in the property that, for whatever reason, they haven't offered. He said obviously for $62,000 for property they aren't currently using isn't anything to overlook. Chappell said the proposal would be if they move forward through the process. He said, ultimately, what he will suggest is they have an auction for the property so anyone else can come in and bid for it if they do want the property. Chappell said they would then set the lowest minimum bid at $62,000, which is the offer they have. He said it is a preliminary step to see if the Board is interested in moving through the process. Chappell said if the Board says yes and moves forward, they can still, just like last time, back out even after the public hearing process. He said he would just ask for the benefit of the people who have made the offer that, if they are pretty sure they don't want to move forward, then let them know. Chappell said, just to be clear, he has not gone back asked any County departments other than Secondary Roads to make sure they still don't have any use for the property.
Stutsman said she was supportive of selling the property before, and she certainly hasn't changed her mind since then. She said she thinks it is an opportunity for the Board to get another piece of property onto the tax rolls. Stutsman said she can see no benefit to the County to keeping that piece of property. She said after two years no one had come forward to initiate plans for a trailhead. Stutsman said she thinks the County does have liability for that property, and although it might not be a concern it is still a liability. She said for the piece of property to still have an offer of that size is pretty generous.
R. Sullivan said he is one of the people who voted against the proposal last time, and he has changed his opinion. He said the main reason was that Trails Committee Member Terry Dahms comments were persuasive to him at the public hearing. R. Sullivan said at the time the Trails Committee had been discussed but was not formed. He said when it was formed one of the things it was asked to do was to look at whether the property was an important strategic piece for them and whether it made sense. R. Sullivan the response was generally no. He said that now that they have the Committee that offers the Board advice on that kind of thing and that they have weighed in, he is very comfortable going ahead with it.
Neuzil said he personally would like to see it move forward. Meyers said he is fine with moving it forward. He asked if the potential buyer is somehow related to the property next door. Chappell said he believes so. He said he suspected there is a very friendly relationship between the current landowner and Blackberry LLC. Meyers said that is his guess as well. Chappell said it is his understanding that Blackberry LLC basically wants control of the property because so much money is invested in the property adjacent to them. Meyers said he is fine with moving forward.
Harney said he is one that voted last time to keep it as a trailhead as well. He said perhaps they would need the trailhead going out through the Newport area to the Reservoir. Harney said the Trails Committee doesn't seem to be interested in that currently, and that he would be willing to move forward with the proposal as well. Harney said asked if the old portion of the road will be County right-of-way or if it will all be private driveway access. County Engineer Greg Parker said it is still County right-of-way. He explained it would be the portion of the road they haven't obliterated. Parker said it provides an, although not often used, secondary access whose development name he can't remember. R. Sullivan said it sounds like Chappell has all five people. Chappell said it doesn't bind them as they have had to go through a couple of processes for the project, which will take some time.
Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan said he has numbers for the Board as of Thursday, October 23, 2008 for the FEMA project worksheet/public assistance reimbursement status. He said, as the Board will recall, the flood resulted in many things, but in particular they have had to fill out public assistance applications. M. Sullivan said he has filled out an application on behalf of the Board for County departments, with the exception of Secondary Roads and Emergency Management. He said those two filled out their own public assistance application and have been working on their project worksheets for all the categories that FEMA recognizes. M. Sullivan said 99% of the worksheets he has been responsible for have been submitted, but he wanted the Board to know they have received their first payment from FEMA. M. Sullivan said the check has been based upon debris removal from the unincorporated sections of the County. He said they were eligible for $38,514.17 for the debris removal and received a check for $34,662.75 from FEMA, which is 90%. He said the 10% from the State will come once all of the project worksheets are closed out and he does a final audit with FEMA.
M. Sullivan said in addition he authorized two more project worksheets last week. He said one is in the amount of $68,647 and the other is in the amount of $20,787. M. Sullivan said that is all for labor, overtime, and equipment usage for Category A and B. Category A is emergency protective measures during the flood, and Category B is flood recovery measures which just impacted County buildings such as the Administration Building, the Ambulance Building, and the Fischer Building. M. Sullivan said the work they did was to protect those buildings. He said the breakdown of all the expenses are totally eligible expenses in Category B for project application that he submitted to FEMA at $127,949. M. Sullivan said that out of the eligible expenses, 90% of that will be paid by FEMA. He said that is just a little over $115,000, and then the State's 10% share will be about $12,795. M. Sullivan said they can break it down by labor, etc. He said he just wants to give everyone an idea of where they are at.
M. Sullivan said he has a series of small project sheets to finish, and a very small amount of money that FEMA is looking at. He said that anything that wasn't considered eligible in Category A and B will be considered in the other categories for FEMA. M. Sullivan said he submitted the project worksheets for Conservation with all their expenses which will be four different accesses impacted by the flood. He said some of the work is underway while some has been completed. M. Sullivan said the project worksheets have been submitted and he is still waiting to hear back from FEMA. He said it may be another four weeks before the two he signed last week will show the revenue.
M. Sullivan said since they obviously don't have a budget scheme for the disaster, Budget Coordinator Rich Claiborne set up a corresponding expenditure so they will track it that way. He said once they get done with the project worksheets and get their reimbursements completed, what they will do is revenue will go back into the General Fund, but the budget in the spring will amend it. M. Sullivan said he thinks Claiborne wants it to be taken from Department 17. He said for now they need to have a tracking mechanism so they implemented it before they have started spending money and receiving money.
Meyers asked M. Sullivan if he said it does not include Secondary Roads. M. Sullivan responded it doesn't include Secondary Roads and Emergency Management as those two departments filed their public assistance worksheets separately. M. Sullivan said they filled their applications at the same time, and were all at the same Homeland Security and FEMA meeting.
Meyers attended a Communications Committee meeting, and a liaison meeting with Ambulance Director Steve Spenler.
Neuzil said he met with State Archaeologist’s Office, attended a Joint Emergency Communications Center meeting, the Joint Service Club luncheon, the Human Rights breakfast, and the Iowa City Area Development Group luncheon. Neuzil said he will have a listening post at the Senior Center on October 29, 2008 at 11:00 a.m.
Stutsman participated in an Iowa State Association of Counties conference call involving Supervisors from the Executive Committee and Emergency Management Directors who wanted support from Supervisors to continue to lobby the legislature for their ability to set their own levy. Stutsman attended a Decat meeting. Stutsman said on October 24, 2008 she will be in Des Moines for the second meeting of the Long-term Recovery Task Force concerning the floods. She attended tours of the SEATS and Secondary Roads building, and the Health and Human Services building as well. Stutsman attended a liaison meeting with County Engineer Greg Parker.
Harney attended a Military Affairs meeting, the Communications Committee meeting, a Johnson County Emergency Management meeting, a work session with Planning and Zoning and Secondary Roads, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Communications Center, and a County Emergency Management meeting. Harney said Tuesday and Wednesday, December 9-10, 2008, there is going to be a Disaster Recovery conference at the Marriott in Coralville. He said on Thursday, December 11, 2008 there will be an Optional Community Design workshop.
R. Sullivan said for fellow Supervisors, department heads, elected officials and the public, if they have visited the Administrative Building lately or the surrounding neighborhood, the parking is tight and he encourages people to be careful parking.
Motion by Stutsman, second by Meyers, to enter into Executive Session at 9:45 a.m. to discuss “to discuss strategy with counsel in matters that are presently in litigation or where litigation is imminent where its disclosure would be likely to prejudice or disadvantage the position of the governmental body in that litigation.” Roll call: aye: Harney, Stutsman, Sullivan, Neuzil, Meyers.
Recessed at 9:45 a.m.; reconvened at 9:58 a.m.
Motion by Neuzil, second by Harney, to leave Executive Session at 10:20 a.m. Roll call: aye: Harney, Stutsman, Sullivan, Neuzil, Meyers.
Adjourned at 10:20 a.m.
By Nancy Tomkovicz, Recording Secretary