MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
JANUARY 14, 2009
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
System for Tracking Block Grants
Review of Johnson County Secondary Roads Snow Policy
Compensation Discussion for Board of Supervisors and Elected Officials for 2009
Appointment to Joint Emergency Communications Center Policy Board
Joint Emergency Communications Center Update.
Internal Processes, Expectations, and Other Operational Issues of the Board of Supervisors Office
Chairperson Neuzil called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 9:01 a.m. Members present were: Larry Meyers, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan; not present: Pat Harney.
Neuzil said the Board needs to inventory which line items do not have direct oversight and assign the line items to somebody, so the bills get paid. He noted that Social Services Coordinator Amy Correia has oversight over most of the Human Services items. Stutsman said it appeared Correia’s system seemed to work flawlessly. She said she agrees it is not appropriate for Correia to take over the additional line items, because she has more than enough work to do. Neuzil said there are a few, especially the Senior Center line item, where the Board asked Correia to cover. Stutsman said it is appropriate to have the Budget Coordinator track the budget items. She said they should ask Correia to put together a summary of how she handles the items and give it to Budget Coordinator Richard Claiborne to follow. R. Sullivan said he does not disagree that there should be committees to look over different line items, but he feels it is important there is a single person whose job is to make sure the money comes in and out appropriately. R. Sullivan asked if the Board was implying that Claiborne should take care of this. Board members agreed and Neuzil said the only thing he does not want Claiborne to do is determine budget cuts. This should be left for subcommittees to decide.
Harney arrived at 9:05 a.m.
Neuzil said the Board should continue the discussion in a Strategic Planning meeting. He added that Correia could be part of a strategic planning subcommittee. Stutsman said the Board needs to nail down some issues for strategic planning before creating subcommittees to address line items.
Neuzil said County Engineer Greg Parker was unable to attend because of a prior commitment. Stutsman said Parker did not know this item was on the agenda until the day before this meeting. She added that someone needs to inform Department Heads when issues related to their departments are on the agenda. Neuzil said that whoever puts issues on the agenda should communicate with Department Heads. Harney said he put the item on the agenda and did inform the appropriate people. R. Sullivan said that Assistant County Attorney Andy Chappell has concerns about the Snow Policy and should be included in the discussions.
Stutsman said she always thought Key Issues meetings are meant to deal with more internal issues like Block Grants. She said the review of the Johnson County Secondary Roads Snow Policy is of general public interest and should be discussed at an informal meeting. Harney said the reason he put it on the agenda is to see if the Board has any interest in making changes to the policy.
County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said the Sheriff’s Office receives a lot of after-hour calls about road conditions. He noted that what is an emergency to some is not an emergency to others. The Sheriff’s Office tries to use the common sense approach of whether a situation is dangerous. Pulkrabek asked to be informed when the Snow Policy discussion is on the agenda, because he would like to participate.
Harney said Secondary Roads Maintenance Supervisor Kevin Hackathorn expressed concern for situations when the roads are icy and five or six cars are in the ditch. He noted that Secondary Roads' policy is not to dispatch until daylight. Meyers asked if the Sheriff’s Office is out patrolling when the conditions are real icy. Pulkrabek said yes, which is why they get a wrecker bill now and then. The Sheriff's Office receives non-road related calls, which it must respond to, even when the roads are treacherous. Meyers asked, if a late-night rescue call comes in, does the Sheriff's office dispatch a patrol car. Pulkrabek said they do. The Sheriff’s Office rescues people even on bad days, but it is limited by the number of workers available. Stutsman said the Board should postpone this discussion until Secondary Roads can participate. Neuzil suggested moving the discussion to the Key Issues meeting agenda for January 28, 2009.
Neuzil said Veterans Affairs Director Leo Baier is unable to attend the meeting because of poor weather conditions. Stutsman said she and R. Sullivan will have a liaison meeting with Correia on January 16, 2009. Harney said that Baier sent a letter to the State requesting that Johnson County be exempt from the required 40-hour work week. Harney noted that the State law stipulates that the office must be open to the public 40 hours per week to fully serve veterans. He reported that the State's reply was no, that's the law. Correia is willing to have the phones forwarded to her office during the ten hours Baier is not at work. Harney said that the question is if someone needs to be present in the office for the 40 hours per week. Neuzil said it seems appropriate for R. Sullivan and Stutsman to review the situation with Baier. R. Sullivan said at some point the Board needs to discuss this issue. Harney said they need to include the Veteran’s Affairs Commission. Neuzil said that when Board members put an item on the agenda they need to inform the appropriate Department Head, so they can be present at the meeting.
Neuzil said the Compensation Board is scheduled to meet on January 28, 2009. He wondered if the Board should send a letter to the Compensation Board indicating their position, just in case none of the Supervisors can attend the meeting. The Board agreed. Neuzil said he will put together a brief letter emphasizing that the County Supervisor position will remain part-time and the 3% raise proposed by the Board. He will send a draft to Board members for review.
Neuzil said Pulkrabek wishes to stay on the Policy Board for another year. R. Sullivan asked if the appointment is for one or two years. Harney said the appointment is for two years. Neuzil said the formal item says a one-year term appointment to the Joint Emergency Communications Center (JECC). Pulkrabek said he thought the County has two appointments, one with a one-year term and one with a two-year term. R. Sullivan said the language on the agenda should be changed. Neuzil said that the agenda was changed after he and Meyers reviewed it; that led to confusion. He said that the Board will need to have a discussion with M. Sullivan in regard to agenda changes made after the Chair and the Vice-chair’s review. A discussion continued regarding which terms were one year and which were two years. Harney said the terms are staggered to maintain continuity on the Board. Pulkrabek said, if he is appointed to a two-year term tomorrow, then his and Harney's terms will be staggered. Board members again agreed there needs to be clarity and accuracy on the final agenda and that the Executive Director needs to be available at work on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Harney said that the Joint Emergency Communications Policy Board meets on January 14, 2009, to conduct two interviews for the Director position. He noted that the Joint Communications Building is going up and the first level block is laid. Stutsman asked if these are the first round of interview for the two candidates. Harney said yes; they have done other interviews, but these are two different candidates. Pulkrabek said the first group of interviewees was narrowed down to two by the committee. The committee presented the Policy Board with two finalists. The Policy Board agreed to go into negotiations with one person, but the negotiations broke down. The Policy Board then voted to sever further negotiations and a majority of the Policy Board voted to not enter negotiations with the second place candidate. Pulkrabek added that one of the four original finalists who had withdrawn has asked to be reconsidered. Another candidate who did not originally apply has a strong background in communications and has had conversations with Johnson County Council of Governments Executive Director Jeff Davidson and asked to be considered.
Pulkrabek said he has been working on the placement of the towers. He noted there is a site, called the northeast site, that they are negotiating rent with the property owners. The tower would be placed very close to an existing tower on the property. They have also identified and entered negotiations with a property owner on Highway 1 South. The owner has asked if one of the concrete guy wire holders could be placed on the fence line of his property and the County park property. Each tower will have a building constructed next to it. This is a hunting property and there are rules regarding discharging a firearm within 200 yards of an occupied structure. Pulkrabek said that he has to research whether the building is considered an occupied structure. He added that another proposed tower site is on the east side of the Iowa City Fire Station at 2001 Lower Muscatine Road. Pulkrabek said a meeting is scheduled with the appropriate individuals to discuss what the County needs to do to proceed with this site. Pulkrabek said he will report back to the Policy Board regarding the negotiations with the property owners.
Stutsman said it makes more sense to block off an area and prohibit hunting around the tower site. Pulkrabek said that is up to the Conservation Board. Neuzil said it would be nice to utilize County resources. R. Sullivan asked if the building is at the base of the tower. Pulkrabek said it's really a small shed, probably ten by ten feet. R. Sullivan asked what the fall of the wires is. Pulkrabek said the wires extend out about 300 feet at the longest. R. Sullivan said that if the building is at the base of the tower, the hunting issue might be avoided altogether. Meyers asked how many towers are planned. Pulkrabek said there will be five towers. He added that there are negotiations with the University of Iowa to put some equipment on top of one of the residence halls downtown. The University also owns a tower in the Oakdale area and some equipment will be placed there as well. There are five main towers and several smaller towers, but he is unsure of all of the particulars. Pulkrabek said a large tower needs to be placed in the northwest section of the County somewhere in the Swan Lake Road area. He added that here is a farmer farther north who has expressed interest in negotiating with the County for a tower on his property. R. Sullivan asked if the Swisher Fire Department has a small tower at their site. Pulkrabek said it is a very small tower and the proximity to the Linn County line prevents Johnson County from putting a tower there. Stutsman asked if the tower at the eastside Fire Station will pick up calls from Lone Tree and Pulkrabek said yes.
Neuzil asked if the suggestion cans are up in all of the buildings. R. Sullivan said they are everywhere except across the street, because they are moving. Neuzil asked if they should send an email to everyone informing them about the suggestion cans. R. Sullivan said it was already done. Neuzil said they should resend the email because it appears that some people did not receive it. R. Sullivan and Facilities Manager David Kempf will be responsible for collecting the suggestions.
Kempf said he is struggling with a few minor issues that will get squared away on the project at Secondary Roads. Kempf had a meeting with the owner of S.G. Construction Company (S.G.) to discuss liquidated damages that have been charged. Kempf said that S.G. wants him to ease up on that. He added that S.G. needs to finish up the report on balancing of the geothermal for the garage and the building and provide some training components. There were issues with the cabinet doors and he is asking S.G. to remake all the cabinet doors for the Secondary Roads Building. Kempf said he has been charging S.G. $500 a day, seven days a week for about five to six weeks. He feels he needs to ease up on the charges. Stutsman asked what Kempf meant by easing up. Kempf said he needs to either decrease the amount he is billing or quit billing S.G. altogether. He will probably suspend the charges and come up with a final completion date, and if the job is not completed by the completion date, charges will be submitted. R. Sullivan asked what S.G. is doing that is more cost-effective than finishing the project. Kempf said he feels sorry for S.G. because it's their two subcontractors who have put them in this position. This cuts into S.G. subcontractor's profit margin.
Meyers said he and R. Sullivan had a liaison meeting at Secondary Roads and the tile work is not completed in the restrooms. He noted that instead of paying the $500 a day charge S.G. could hire another contractor to install the tile. Meyers said one possible consideration would be that the bathroom floor is too cold to work on. Stutsman said the floor was not cold six weeks ago when Kempf started charging the $500 fee. Kempf said the bathroom walls were not up six weeks ago. R. Sullivan said that SEATS Director Tom Brase said there are days when no one will show up to do work. Stutsman said she hopes Kempf will push for everything to get done, because the contractors signed a contract. Harney said the heat in the main office building and in the garage area is not balanced. He added that if S.G. is not making the efforts to do the work the County should continue to charge them. Harney said the heat is not balanced in the main office area, and this is the kind of weather we needed the garage for to house the County vehicles. If they are not making an effort, though they have the parts, he would not back off on charging them for each day the work isn't done.
R. Sullivan said bidding laws make it almost impossible for the County to chose subcontractors. Kempf said that S.G. can pick a different sub. He said he was supposed to meet with S.G. representatives, but the meeting was cancelled because the owner’s son was in an accident in Chicago. Stutsman said the only good explanation is poor management. She added that she is not interested in rewarding poor management. Kempf agreed completely. He said S.G. has a legal obligation to correct the errors. He noted that the geothermal in the bus barn is designed to be between 55 and 60 degrees, and currently the temperature stands in the 50 degrees range, but it is not balanced. Stutsman asked what Kempf means by balanced. Kempf said it means that the right amount of air is coming out in the right places. This also includes balancing the flow of the water through the well field and heat pump units, so if one pump turns on, the pressure doesn’t drop in another pump causing it to shut off. Kempf has seen the balancing company working on several occasions, but they have not provided Kempf with a report of results. Larew, who has the heating contract, has been around for a long time and is moving more in the geothermal direction. He noted that the company will make every effort to make it right.
Neuzil asked what the timeline for completion is. Kempf said he hopes everything will be finished within a month. Meyers asked for clarification of when Kempf wanted the project finished. Kempf said in 30 days. R. Sullivan said he wanted to compliment Kempf for being thorough in his inspections. He said Kempf puts a Post-It note by every blemish or imperfection that needs to be fixed. Stutsman said the right man is on the job.
Kempf said the Health and Human Services (HHS) Building will be ready for occupants to move in on January 15, 2009. He said the County has an occupancy permit for the first and second floors of the HHS Building. He noted that the tile and two stair towers are not yet completed. TriCon has an agreement with the City of Iowa City that they will complete the north stair tower the weekend of January 17 to 19, 2009, and on Presidents Day Weekend (February 14-16, 2009) complete the south stair tower. Kempf said that if TriCon does not finish the stairwell on the weekend, they will hire someone to monitor the stairs.
Stutsman asked how the heating was going in the building. Kempf said the heating is up and running at 71 degrees. The cold spots have been fixed, but the final balancing in each individual office still needs work. R. Sullivan asked if the heat will be maintained at 71 degrees. Kempf said once the temperature is balanced, they will be able to control the temperature in different zones of the building. He added that due to the economy he will try to keep the temperature at 69 to 70 degrees. R. Sullivan said every couple of degrees means several thousand dollars. Kempf said the control package is not linked to the computer, so he cannot control individual zones yet. Harney said the northeast corner was cold when he was there last. Kempf said they got the problem fixed. Harney asked if Kempf was going to keep a lower temperature on the third floor. Kempf said the unit that supplies the third floor will probably not run very much and will be set at 55 degrees.
Kempf said he asked TriCon to provide a schedule with a timeline of all the little things needing to be completed and a secondary schedule of how the work will progress in the spring. The landscaping, some corrections to the outer brickwork, and brickwork of the two support beams on either side of the skywalk are some outstanding projects. The first level of the parking ramp can be used, but the second level will not be usable until the two stair towers and the elevator are completed. The two stair towers are closed in and the heat is running, so the elevator installation should take place soon. Stutsman asked if there will be enough parking for everyone. Kempf said yes. Harney asked if an area for public/client parking will be designated in the front of the building. Kempf said the employees will be asked to park in the first level of the parking ramp leaving all the spaces between the ramp and building for client parking. He said the contractors will be required to park at Carquest.
Kempf noted that the furniture is 98% installed. A couple of pieces are missing that have been ordered and some cubicles in Information Services cannot be put up until the missing pieces are installed. Different department heads have toured the building and requested some changes for their departments. Public Health has asked to have an office on the second floor moved to the first floor and swap the furniture. They have some furniture configuration conflicts in a few offices, so they need to change those around. R. Sullivan said he thought they had purchased furniture that everyone will easily be able to move around. Kempf said yes, the furniture is modular and easy to move, if needed.
Kempf said the servers were moved from the temporary location at Secondary Roads to the new server room in the building. The network within the building is running smoothly. The telephones are installed in all the offices. The phones will be transferred to the new building on January 15, 2009. The lighting controls in the building are fairly sophisticated. The building lights turn on at 6:00 a.m. and off at 9:00 p.m. If someone is working late the lights will blink twice letting the occupant know they have ten minutes before the lights turn off. There is a switch on the wall that the occupant can use to override the program in that zone for two hours. Kempf noted that there are a few emergency lights in the hallways.
Neuzil asked how Kempf will organize security and keys. Kempf said employees will receive a temporary key card for access to the building, their specific department, and their individual office.
Stutsman asked when to schedule the open house. Kempf said probably in early March. He added they don't want to rush into this and he wants to do everything right to promote the building for all the energy efficiencies and new technologies. The building is not showy; it is functional and the community will see the County did not waste money or space. Stutsman said she thinks they need a subcommittee to plan the open house and is willing to serve. R. Sullivan said it would be nice to invite the Governor.
County Recorder Kim Painter asked how long it will take to finalize the parking issues. Kempf said that depends on how quickly the elevator is installed. All of the gate access arms are in place and the ramp is finished. Signs and bicycle racks need to be installed in the ramp. Painter asked if it is safe to say the parking at the Administration Building will be status quo for a while. Kempf said yes.
Kempf said that he has received feedback on a second floor floor-plan for the Administration Building. The blueprints are already completed, because they know which walls will be moved. Harney asked if they are going to replace the windows. Kempf said that will be part of the heating and air conditioning discussion. Stutsman said she did not realize that the office area by the Board's printer had built-up mold. Kempf said this is the first he has heard of it, so he will follow up.
Kempf said the Board sitting area will be elevated eight inches. Harney said he thought there was going to be an extension from the counter for people to sit at. Kempf said there is an extension on both sides for the County Attorney, the Auditor’s Office, the Budget Coordinator, and a standing podium. The standing podium will be portable. Neuzil asked if video and other technologies will be incorporated. Kempf said yes. There will be a storage room off the back of the Board room with a window, and the audio-visual technician can tape the meeting from there.
Neuzil asked if Kempf is creating a similar layout for the HHS building meeting rooms. Kempf said yes, but not as nice as what the Board Room will be in the Administration Building. The furniture will all be interchangeable. Kempf said he will present the Board with a few options for meeting rooms during the remodeling of the Administration Building, which he expects to begin in mid February. Kempf said he hopes to move Information Service as soon as possible. Kempf said they will not have an occupancy permit for the skywalk yet, because it is currently not accessible.
Harney said he would like to have a site visit of the HHS building. Neuzil said that the Board could have a site visit at the end of the next Key Issues meeting. R. Sullivan asked if the new access key cards are meant to be credit card sized. Kempf said yes. Neuzil asked if a picture will be required on the card. Kempf said they are not doing this currently, but there is a desire to do so. He will bring a sample ID to a future Board meeting feedback.
Neuzil said that if a Supervisor puts an item on the Key Issues agenda, they must communicate that to the Department Heads. He stated that he and Meyers want to be informed of any changes to the agenda. They will follow up on the language for the JECC Policy Board agenda item and if there is any issue with that, they will postpone it to the following week. He also stated that he will remind M. Sullivan that it is very important he schedules himself in the office on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Adjourned at 10:26 a.m.
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By Nancy Tomkovicz, Recording Secretary
Sent to the Board of Supervisors on July 21, 2009 at 3:45 p.m.