MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
NOVEMBER 26, 2008
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Key Issues Work Session........................................................................................................ 1
Signage for Animal Shelter.......................................................................................... 1
Ordinance Requiring Public Use of Cell and Other Towers........................................... 1
Vending Machines in County Buildings......................................................................... 4
Project Updates.......................................................................................................... 5
Plan/Issues for Meeting with Legislators...................................................................... 5
Time Commitments for Regularly Scheduled Meetings.................................................. 9
Internal Processes, Expectations, and Other Operational Issues of the Board of Supervisors Office 10
Meeting Agenda Items.............................................................................................. 10
Other....................................................................................................................... 11
Chairperson Sullivan called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 9:01 a.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Larry Meyers, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan.
Planning and Zoning Administrator Rick Dvorak said that the signage for the Animal Shelter could be resolved. Originally they said no but now are saying yes. The can put the sign up on private property. He wants to go see where they are going to put it so it is not an obstruction. Meyers asked where the shelter is now. Moore said it is at Dave Longs temporarily. Neuzil said there had been discussion about the shelter staying at the location longer. Dvorak said they would have to go through a process but since it’s temporary they aren’t. Neuzil asked if they had to have a permit for the sign. Dvorak said no because it is temporary.
R. Sullivan said he would like to get an explanation of an ordinance requiring public use of cell and other towers and then have the Board decide if it is something they want to pursue. Dvorak said the latest cell site to be built was by Verizon. Assistant Planning and Zoning Administrator R.J. Moore met with them several times and asked them voluntarily if they would allow to collocate on their tower. They said they can make it available but it wouldn’t be free. Dvorak told them they were trying to adopt something to require it to be free. Verizon said it wouldn’t work and they have had things like this in communities around the United States. The way Dvorak understood it was it was a Takings Issue when they approve a tower subject to collocate. Verizon and other providers charge a nominal fee to government. He said they didn’t pursue it further. Moore talked to a consultant from Verizon who said they charge a fee because of insurance on their towers. So the County pays for installation charges and then the fee.
Dvorak said Verizon told them they have set a precedent that they charge government and they aren’t going to change it. Moore said it is about $50 a month. They said most of the industry does that. Neuzil asked about the permit fee process. Dvorak said they go through the conditional use process that is $250-350. Once they meet conditional use requirements and permits issued they come for a building permit. They are not given a construction permit on the structure until engineers say the structure meets the requirement. Every colocator after goes only through the construction phase and they get all the information that goes to the Assessor so they know who’s using it. The do require the tower be built to support three or more providers.
County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek asked who they contact about the fee because through joint dispatch negotiation with Preferred Vendor they have had to pay a fee of $500-1,500 a month. That is why they are looking at some green field sites for their own towers and then letting someone colocate with them to bring revenue. Dvorak said he would get Pulkrabek in touch with the Verizon Representative to give him more information. Moore said on the website all the tower sites are listed and then it gives the company that built it. The County Assessor’s Office keeps track of all users and contractors who built the sites. Real estate taxes are sent to each colocator on the site. Pulkrabek said the consultants have all the towers in Johnson County sited and have a plan already for site. The response they gave to them was to colocate on three commercial sites that are already in use. Because of that expense they need to identify to get the $50 a month.
Dvorak said he had the GIS Department put the latitudes and longitudes because that is what they work by. Moore said there has to be an owner associated the actual tower. Pulkrabek said it is similar to the one on 210th Street that they have identified as changing hands. Dvorak said they have the original on GIS. R. Sullivan said after talking to Assistant County Attorney Andy Chappell he said it could be a Takings but wasn’t sure what the law would say. Harney said they went through this about five years ago and it came to it was their property and it was a Taking. Dvorak said they haven’t researched this and Chappell can use other communities to see how they do it. R. Sullivan said there are two things that are urgent because there is something in the works and moving forward on what they might need. Harney said they had this issue with the one on Morse Road with a person who didn’t want to have colocation. The accusation that came back is that the County is doing this because the Sheriff wants to use it for Emergency Services. Pulkrabek asked if someone has the research that was done before so they have the information. In the next few years the State is talking about doing a statewide network and as that network develops they may need to get on a new tower. That not only helps the State but enhances the County’s system as well. He thinks it would be some benefit in the future.
Dvorak said when they get to the engineering and they choose to put the structure on the site is the time to make sure it can support additional locators. Pulkrabek said they are being told that when there are three colocators the price of the tower goes up. Moore said the Board of Adjustment requires a tower to hold a minimum of three. Pulkrabek said a cellular tower doesn’t get the same loading as they would be putting on a tower for emergency communications equipment. The microwaves and dishes are about ten foot in diameter. Dvorak said normally cell towers are with antennas so structurally they aren’t designed with the same criteria. Moore said his and Dvorak’s opinion is to have the Board have Chappell research this.
Dvorak said in the long run they are finding that there are going to be more towers built. At one time they were issuing tower permits a lot and they put a moratorium and requirements on them. They are finding out now that it is the volume on the data that has increased the need for more towers. Pulkrabek said that is how they are moving data in the cars is with cell cards. Neuzil asked what they have done with working with the other cities. Moore said per their ordinance any conditional use permit that is two miles within the city limits, the city gets to review it. Then if the city council recommends denial or something to be added then it requires a super majority vote by the Board of Adjustment to overrule the city. Dvorak said he served on a committee that served the University of Iowa, Iowa City, and other areas and they were going to dictate the County locations of the cell towers. They came up with they want the city’s input and they can create a plan but they wouldn’t dictate to the County.
Neuzil asked as far a permit fees for future towers if there is any yearly inspection or something to recuperate dollars for collocating. Dvorak said they don’t have the staff. Neuzil said if they could make a system if these people are charging so much the County to use the tower then maybe they could hold an inspection process for recuperating that money. Dvorak said they don’t have the type of inspectors that can do that type of inspection. Neuzil said he was just finding a way to get money that was going out. Dvorak said if Chappell wanted to pursue an ordinance that could have a collocating fee. R. Sullivan said the City of Des Moines was sued because they put a surcharge for electric bills and the Iowa Supreme Court said it wasn’t enough. Moore said when they colocate it doesn’t cost the County anything so it could go into Takings Issues. Dvorak said the FAA said they can put towers wherever they want. Harney asked if they can regulate them if people want to put them within a mile of each other. Dvorak answered if their engineers say they have to locate in this area they can play with the area. So if a farmer asks if they can move it to a different spot and the engineers say it is still in their area it is ok. Moore said there are number of reasons because of FCC regulations.
Neuzil said he thinks research needs to take place and taking it to other companies to find prices. Moore said on their end he thinks if a new site comes up when they sign the tower as part of that application they get a contact person from the provider so they don’t just trust the consultant. He thinks they have been up front but they can do more. R. Sullivan said he would like to see if there are places that are requiring more tower requirements because they are looking towards that future. Meyers said he would have Chappell see if there was any type of precedent. Harney said Chappell would do the legal side but Planning and Zoning could handle the other aspect. Neuzil asked if there was a subcommittee of the communication groups that would do this. Pulkrabek said no but he would call the person from the company. Neuzil said it would be nice to rent. Dvorak said that those leases are confidential. Moore said it appears that there is some interest in it and isn’t aware if anyone requires this because they think it is a taking issue. Harney said to maybe look at what surrounding states do.
Moore said the FCC has an interest in the communication system and have prohibited denying it. He said they can check with what other Planing and Zoning Departments are doing around the State. Neuzil said he didn’t think there many other counties working on the communication centers. Pulkrabek said Scott and Johnson are moving parallel. Neuzil said there is more than one person from that company talking about the tower at North Dodge Hy-Vee. The dairy wants to expand but they can’t because the tower is in the way and they can’t move the tower because the City is using it and he hopes that issue can be addressed in this. Pulkrabek said the City has identified that as one to be torn down. Neuzil said they are in the same thing and he has heard it from two of their executives and an economic developer.
R. Sullivan said Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan said the County Attorney’s Office is looking into the issue of vending machines in County buildings because there are some legal issues about who the County can have a contract with and there isn’t a lot to report. Harney said Chappell told them they have to offer it to the blind providers but not necessarily give it to them. Pulkabrek said he heard Secondary Roads has their own vending machine. Neuzil said the Board had their own vending machine. Harney said it is the blind people. R. Sullivan said it is a subcontract with them. Pulkrabek said Secondary Roads maintains their own. Harney said they can do that and Kirkwood does theirs other than through the blind because of the cost and they have another process. Neuzil said the University of Iowa does as well. R. Sullivan said they don’t know much about this and he can talk to Chappell about it.
Neuzil said the main thing he wants in the new building are choices other than cakes, doughnuts, and candy bars. He is tired of everyone having to walk to Deli-Mart when there could be a choice. He thinks it would be nice to see a machine with actual food to see if it would sell. Pulkrabek said he knows a local vender in Johnson County that started her own business like what Neuzil was talking about. He believed she looked into the County buildings and got answers about having to contract with the blind. He thinks it would be nice to have some cost control. Harney said they might be able to have two vendors. R. Sullivan said he can bring it up to County Attorney Janet Lyness. Neuzil said they gave responsibility to Facilities Manager David Kempf so they should keep him involved. He thinks Secondary Roads fills their own and they can control the cost.
R. Sullivan said Facilities Director Dave Kempf couldn’t be there but he sent an email that went to M. Sullivan. They are targeting December 16, 2008 as a move date for most of the County departments into the HHS Building and it will be mostly the first floor. SEATS Secondary Roads moved in November 24-25, 2008 and there is still some work to do on the shop building. Kempf is going to be requesting liquidated damages from S&G starting December 1, 2008 which would be $500 a day and the meeting has been set up with the HVAC subcontractor but the A&E firm and contractor have the responsibility.
R. Sullivan said Stutsman brought up concerns about the State mandating where Decat funding would go opposed to local groups. Neuzil said they had this issue in 2001 and that is when the State of Iowa reduced the amount of dollars. There was a point when it was thought Decat would be phased out. Then the State started giving dollars to the local organization and now the State is going to determine where it goes. Neuzil asked what Stutsman wanted. R. Sullivan said she wants to maintain local control of Decat. He said that the idea is that a local board made up of professionals has a better idea of how the money should be spent. Neuzil says that makes sense and worries Decat could turn into a similar situation as Juvenile Crime Prevention. It was a Federal State grant to the County and they loved the project so when it got phased out they kept it making it a County expenditure. He doesn't want Decat to do the same thing. Meyers agreed with Neuzil because there is a sizeable amount of money that goes through there. Neuzil said they can show to the legislators they can spend the money appropriately.
R. Sullivan said they can talk about that with the mandates. Neuzil said he is ok with that and that Stutsman and R. Sullivan have the most experience with Decat. Meyers said he is on the Decat Board but he doesn't know much about this particular item. Neuzil asked Meyers if he had the breakdown of what Decat spent money on. The idea would be to say they would like Decat to remain the same and show the legislators what they spent. Meyers said the Decat Board portions money to different providers for specific things like an after school program and then does follow-ups. Neuzil asked if Meyers was in charge of keeping State Decat dollars under local control and share things they used the money for. To demonstrate it is better for them to make decisions than the Iowa Legislature. R. Sullivan said it would be ideal if Meyers could write something stating the issue and some background. Neuzil it would show the legislators how they spent the State dollars and they can share that the dollars would not have been spent in the same way. Meyers said there were things like Parker Ridge Trailer Court where there is an after school program and there are neighborhood programs that might not get attention if the State was handling it.
R. Sullivan said the next item is an ISAC priority which is keeping mental health funding that the legislature wants to appropriate because of the flood separate from the mental health funding they already receive. Meyers asked if mental health funding for flood related stress would be new money. R. Sullivan said yes instead of being taken from the other fund. He said he chairs that committee. Neuzil asked if R. Sullivan could be the point person for that. R. Sullivan said yes.
R. Sullivan said the next item is increasing the Gas Tax. They have talked about using this as a way to put money into road and bridges. Meyers asked if it is an ISAC priority. R. Sullivan said yes. Harney said they only get a small percentage now. R. Sullivan said they could do three cents giving one to municipalities, one to counties, and keep one for State DOT. Neuzil said they want to have three cents where they get two. R. Sullivan said there are a number of things they can do and it’s up to them. Meyers said in principle it is a good idea. Harney asked when they last raised it. R. Sullivan said it was 1989. Meyers said it could be more of an issue if people are putting less miles on their cars and buying less gasoline. Neuzil said it is a scare because there is less money coming in with more needs and expenses.
Harney said how to correlate a Gas Tax to Green. They are encouraging developing roads and they need to provide this service. R. Sullivan said he isn't talking about building roads but fixing them. Neuzil asked if they should make it more generic and say they want to see more dollars used for road infrastructure. It could be Gas Tax or it could be something else. Meyers said it ends up being the same problem. R. Sullivan said some big cities where people commute do wheel taxes and some places also put it on vehicle registration. He thinks people like the Gas Tax because it is spread out. Harney said they should say they support this and gives reasons why. Neuzil asked if he wanted to do this one. Harney said he would. Neuzil said they have critical infrastructure and road issues in Johnson County and throughout the State of Iowa for which they are not getting enough dollars from the State of Iowa or the Federal Government to do anything about.
R. Sullivan said their approach should be the pie needs to get bigger and not say the County deserves more and the cities deserve less. Neuzil said with ISAC the County benefits greater because they have more population. Harney said the cities get more dollars and have more opportunity to access dollars from the State Government. Neuzil said they should call it road infrastructure spending. R. Sullivan said whatever they present they are not going to worry about percentages but they just need more as a whole. Neuzil said as far as the legislature goes this is an economic development issue. Many of the big ethanol companies built in the middle of nowhere are realizing there needs to be roads to get there and now the roads and bridges are substandard. Meyers said in Dyersville there was a large plant built. R. Sullivan asked Harney to take the lead on writing something up for that.
Neuzil said he wants to see specific earmarks for the trail system or a commitment from the legislators. He has heard from State Senator Joe Bolkcom year after year about getting the trail system in place and the committee in place which has been done and they have not had a legislator lobby for this. He continued that he couldn't think of a better scenario of a trail system form the Coralville Reservoir to North Liberty. He is afraid that the money is going to be earmarked for other projects or to fixing things from the flood. R. Sullivan said he talked to the administrator at the DOT who allocates these funds and he said 50% of the total trail money is earmarked. Two years ago it was 10%. R. Sullivan said they need to take the lead in terms of writing because they want the legislators to walk away with a couple pieces of paper.
Harney said he wants to make sure they know these are the feelings of the Board as a whole and not just the person presenting it. R. Sullivan asked if there were other issues. Meyers said on October 22, 2008 there was a Key Issues Meeting and they discussed trails, Highway 965, bridge repair, and light rail system. Neuzil said that is both because it is what Illinois has done and there is no buy-in from the State right now. Harney said that was very clear at the Coralville meeting. Meyers said what the legislators are going to tell them is that they don’t have a bus system up and running. Neuzil said there are two subjects, one is the Cedar Rapids to Iowa City trolley system and the other is the Amtrak.
Neuzil said regarding the Joint Emergency Communications Center on the amount they are allowed to actually levy there might be an opportunity for governments around the state to put money into that instead of something of higher priority. ISAC is interested because it is a control issue and something that would be taken away from the County. If they want to see investment around the State they are going to have to tax more. R. Sullivan said for example in Linn County when their director left they decided to do a $60,000 payout for vacation and sick in a single check that was signed by the EMA Director. The public was furious and the Board said they didn't have any control, they just give a budget. If that department wanted to give a $60,000 severance they can. This brought up concern about people who weren't elected having a lot of control over budgets. Neuzil said he didn’t disagree and when it comes to emergency response too many counties aren't putting dollars into it. R. Sullivan said ISAC has asked for greater State funding. He asked if they want to have this as a talking point and he does. Harney said unless they know what they are proposing they will decide if they are going to support it or not support it. If it is not laid out in a manner showing they are going to get X amount of dollars each year then it could affect the budget.
Neuzil asked if they could propose the County be allowed to put emergency response as a General Supplemental Fund expenditure rather than from the General Fund. Harney said like emergency response, those funds are going to bigger cities and they aren't getting any. Neuzil said if they made emergency response an essential county purpose under the General Supplemental Fund then it would still fall under the Board of Supervisors too. R. Sullivan said looking at the Joint Communications Center and a levy amount that is out of the Board's control they are potentially setting up a situation where that could happen every year. The Board would have to wait for what emergency management is going to do and may have to move a project because of that. Neuzil said that wouldn't happen if they approach it like the Assessors have it. Looking at a tax bill it is broken down and the Iowa City Assessor has a levy. R. Sullivan said ultimately people are going to complain to the people who are elected and not the director of the Joint Emergency Communications Center.
Neuzil said it won’t be a problem as long as the levy is set at a reasonable cap. To him that would be the discussion to have more than funding and he is looking at different revenue streams for emergency response. R. Sullivan said he didn't think it would be good to bring up an issue that the Board is split on. This is an opportunity for them to have these discussions but they are going to be looking for definitive things. Harney said ISAC took a stand on that. Neuzil said ISAC took a stand against promoting bikes. R. Sullivan asked if they should let this item drop. Harney said he didn't think ISAC was going against bikes but were making roads to a level to accommodate bikes. Neuzil said they wanted the responsibility to fall on people on RAGBRAI rather than people in conservation and county engineers. He would like this to be an issue they would learn more about it. R. Sullivan asked if Harney and Meyers were ok with bringing it up. They both agreed.
Harney stated they shouldn't start a bus system when they are trying to alleviate traffic on the road because they will be adding more vehicles. Neuzil said he thought they could agree on the Amtrak that they want them to begin to take it more seriously. R. Sullivan asked if they wanted to put it on. Harney said he supports it. R. Sullivan agreed and said it is something they want the IDOT to know this is something they care about.
Neuzil asked what ISAC put as their top priorities. R. Sullivan said one of the ISAC priorities is the Sex Offender Law. Neuzil said they might want to ask if County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabrek wanted to push this item. He assumed the other elected officials will have their own list. Harney asked if County Attorney Janet Lyness was going to come to the meeting. R. Sullivan said they were all invited. Neuzil said there are a lot of legislators coming.
R. Sullivan said the top priority is something they haven’t had to deal with which is the local option sales tax TIF. It was passed during the 11th hour for Council Bluffs. Neuzil said basically there can be an additional sales tax and then if there are additional dollars they can be earmarked specifically inside a TIF. R. Sullivan said an example is if Johnson County had a local option tax. Meyers asked if Johnson County could have one for the jail. R. Sullivan said it can be for anything and usually if they have one it will be a penny that is split between the city and county. What happened in Council Bluffs is they created a local option sales tax TIF so that an urban renewal district keeps all the sales tax revenue generated there like they keep the property tax revenue. Neuzil said it would be like Coralville saying they are taking all the additional pennies generated in Coral Ridge Mall and that only stay within the TIF. Meyers said he was in Missouri and bought something in a grocery store and noticed there was a lot of tax. The receipt showed the tax was 8.225% with a specific line item similar to this which was for that shopping district. R. Sullivan said in Texas there are places where sales tax is as high as 13%. Neuzil said in Oregon there isn't any. R. Sullivan said he understands why this is the number one priority for ISAC because it is ridiculous, but Johnson County doesn’t have this tax so it is a non-issue for them.
R. Sullivan said the second priority for ISAC is infrastructure funding and they specifically recommend an increase in the fuel tax. The third is adequate funding of mental health services which the Board talked about the flood and this is in general. Neuzil said the main issue with mental health is that they are stuck on the 1996 numbers for the Mental Health/Disability Services budget. The fourth is the sex offender law. The fifth is State funding for Emergency Management and it does have a line about keeping the dollars under the Boards of Supervisors. The next is creating a natural resources and outdoor recreational trust fund which most states have and Iowa does not. Harney asked if that fell under trails. Neuzil said it could and he could add that into his statements on trails. He asked if all that was left was sex offenders and the local option tax. Meyers asked if there was anything about Decat. R. Sullivan said it didn't rise very high and wasn't in the top of human services.
R. Sullivan said he wanted to ask Kempf to have his staff set up a few tables in the Board Room and have the legislators sit across from the Board. Harney said they need to have the microphones set up and asked how many were coming. R. Sullivan responded Senator Joe Bolkcom, Senator Bob Dvorsky, Representative Nate Willems, Representative Larry Marek, Representative Mary Mascher, and Representative Vicki Lensing. Harney asked if two microphones will be sufficient. R. Sullivan said Kempf knows who is coming and will ask him to set it up the best he can. In terms of the things they are writing up he asked if the Board wants everyone to write their own and email it to one person to cut and paste them together. Neuzil said they can email them to him and he'll put them together. He is going to ask Pulkrabek to do the same. R. Sullivan said Lyness might have something on the sex offenders and said the ISAC items are on the website. Neuzil responded he is going to put the sex offenders and the local option tax under additional ISAC priorities. He asked if they are going to have one for Amtrak. Harney said to put it under priorities and that they would support one.
R. Sullivan said they have the agenda which is introduction, legislative priorities, and discussion from the public. He wants to do the introductions and give them each a few minutes to talk about what they see as far as the upcoming session and then go into the Board's items.
R. Sullivan said this is on the agenda at the request of Budget Coordinator Rich Claiborne. One of Claiborne's concerns is that the budget meetings are laid out from 9-12 and he has heard from a lot of people that they are going to leave early. He needs to have people at the budget meetings, and if they need to miss a session, then they miss being able to give their opinion on the topic of that session. The Board agreed. R. Sullivan there are times when there are other meetings and people have to leave at a certain time but the understanding needs to be that the Board meeting doesn’t stop.
R. Sullivan said he made a suggestion of M. Sullivan and he isn’t sure how the Board feels about it. In light of recent events he thought it might not be a bad idea if each of them to talk with Medical Examiner Administrator Mike Hensch who has an amazing background in dealing with tragedy and how to approach someone. He urges everyone to maybe talk with Hensch about things to think about as they move forward through the next months.
Neuzil said Stutsman had thrown out the idea that if the Board puts more responsibility on Hogarty or M. Sullivan, would it be appropriate for the Board to consider each having an office hour a week where they would be responsible for the phones. R. Sullivan said it is also dependent on how they go with the budgeted positions. Neuzil said it would be something to think about. He doesn’t want to get to a point because they are considered part-time, supposed to be part-time, and paid part-time to get in a situation where they are having hours that aren't flexible. This is something to think about in the future and maybe put on a future Key Issues agenda for dialogue. He also suggested that they have Human Resources Administrator Lora Shramek discuss having a chance to share employees because he was curious about that. R. Sullivan said M. Sullivan was going to follow up on that from yesterday's meeting. Neuzil said that might be a future Key Issues discussion. He said it would be interesting to know if there is an employee who has extra time. He said that one of the things he is thinking of is the Auditor's Office because there are times when they are to the limit and are hiring other people. He asked if other departments could share employees with them when they need help during elections. R. Sullivan said one of the issues they would run into is sharing employees between independently elected officials. If they share employees among departments where the Board is the ultimate supervisor they can directly tell Informal Services and Planning and Zoning that they are going to share an employee as long as the job duties work out. R. Sullivan said they can’t tell the Auditor and the Treasurer that they are going to share. Neuzil said he is curious about what theirs options are. R. Sullivan said M. Sullivan said he and Claiborne will be talking with Shramek. At the next budget meeting they are going to report back on that and if the Board doesn't get enough information or they want something else they can put it on a future Key Issues agenda. Neuzil said if they get in the situation that their budget is tight and can't hire extra people at times they will need different strategies.
R. Sullivan said there is a Joint meeting coming up hosted by the Iowa City Community School District. Neuzil said they asked the Assessors to come to the next Joint Cities meeting. R. Sullivan said they are going to share the information where they see property valuations going. Administrative Secretary Nancy Tomkovicz reported that she received an email from the Iowa City Community School District saying that the meeting was cancelled because the School District did not receive enough agenda items.
Harney said there is much more demand on the Supervisors now and they need to discuss if they want to be full-time or not. Meyers said it comes up every year. R. Sullivan said rather than have this discussion now since it is not on the agenda they can put it on the next Key Issues Meeting agenda.
Adjourned at 11:00 a.m.
By Nancy Tomkovicz, Recording Secretary