MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
MAY 6, 2009
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Public Health Director Douglas Beardsley: Site Visit at Johnson County Public Health, 855 South Dubuque Street, Iowa City........................................................................................................................ 1
County Attorney Janet Lyness: Site Visit at County Attorney’s Office, 417 South Clinton Street, Iowa City 5
Chairperson Neuzil called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 9:00 a.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Larry Meyers, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan.
Public Health Director Douglas Beardsley provided an Annual Report to the Board. He said based on a functional organization chart, there are three divisions in Public Health: Administration, Community Health, and WIC Maternal Child Health. The Deputy Director is in charge of Emergency Response which encompasses all areas and there are representatives from all divisions involved. They have established the incidence command structure for their response to H1N1. Right now it is a virtual command center rather than an actual command center. He said one of the interesting things they have found from the floods last year as well as now is that they have incredibly talented people. He said that it is amazing to watch employees take their job and run with it.
Beardsley said the Community Health Division, including Communicable Disease and Disease Prevention, is headed by Deputy Director Trisha Kitzmann and focuses on health promotion, worksite wellness, and HIV/AIDS. The Communicable Disease division has been very busy and the Administration Division handles grant and contract coordination. He reported that Worksite Wellness has 389 participants, which is approximately 75% of the County workforce. They performed 368 HIV and Hepatitis C testing, counseling, and referrals, in 2008. Stutsman asked if the Public Health Department is the only one doing that testing. Beardsley responded they contract with the Free Medical Clinic and the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. They do not do needle exchange but they provide needle disposal. He said Communicable Disease had 626 disease consultations which were either with a doctor's office, hospital, laboratory, or clinic. They had 135 reportable disease investigations which required 548 contact tracings.
Beardsley said the LPH grant is the primary (Local Public Health Services Grant), as they continue to work with the Legislature, the majority of that goes to the Public Health Nursing Services which are home health visits. In a lot of the counties in Iowa, public health services are done by hospitals or home health agencies. The bulk of the funds they receive they use to subcontract with Visiting Nurse Association (VNA). He said they are trying to educate Legislators, while that may be a good program, is not supporting basic public health services of disease prevention, health assessments, and health interventions. However, with those funds there were 3,814 home care aid hours, 570 public health nursing visits, and some of the funds they get to keep provided for 842 hours of staff time, meeting with community partners on the health assessment and community health needs. In addition they provided 166 hours of Workforce Development Training.
Beardsley said the WIC program average monthly caseload for 2008 was 2,552. He said the Public Health contract covers Iowa and Washington Counties which is paid for by the grant. Maternal Health Clinics are available to pregnant women to make sure they are receiving prenatal services. The Child Health Clinic provides screenings for low income families. It is not a treatment or diagnostic well child visit but through a case care worker, helps connect them with a health care provider..
Beardsley said regarding their environmental efforts, with the floods from last year they did an additional 120 water sample kits for private wells in the County. The State provided additional funding and the samples were submitted to the University Hygienic Labs. In addition, funds received from the State normally provide for 39 tests, however, last year there were 79 tests required, in the same time period. There were 55 food establishments affected by the flood. As of April 14, 2009, 38 have reopened. Three tattoo facilities were affected by the flood and have reopened. Two tanning facilities were also affected by the flood and only one has reopened so far.
Stutsman asked Beardsley what Public Health provides for Head Start. Beardsley said they work with Head Start to be sure that when the kids come in, they have their immunizations up-to-date.
Beardsley said one of their goals is accreditation of the new public health standards. He said the Public Health Modernization Act was passed which are standards for all of the county public health agencies in Iowa and is voluntary but is a set of expectations. They have finished reviewing the standards in their Senior Management meetings. They picked some of the priorities that they can match with the State goals to be accomplished by 2011. One of the things they have been doing in preparation is quality improvement training with the management team. Each division has selected a small project to start with and is in the process of planning for that right now.
Sullivan said he attended an Iowa State Association of Counties (ISAC) meeting that discussed consolidation of services, which was not very well received. Contracting services seems less scary. He asked Beardsley what he sees for the future. Beardsley said because many of Iowa's 99 counties are small and rural. The new set of standards cause concern that additional dollars will be needed and they have to hire a full-time director with a Ph.D. That was never the intent. There is a realization that a lot of the counties do not have the resources or the need for additional full-time staff.
Beardsley said they contract with the State and do environmental inspections in Louisa, Muscatine, Iowa, and Washington Counties. He has heard advocates in favor of contracting and sharing resources through 28E agreements in Iowa. For example, contracts could be used if a county has the resources to do environmental health inspections or has better clinical services to provide WIC programs or communicable disease follow-up. This is the direction the discussions have taken but he has not seen anything more concrete. He said there is going to be the realization that there are counties out there who have not been putting any local resources into public health. The State puts in a lot of dollars but in his opinion it goes into health care, not public health.
Stutsman asked if there are any issues they need to be aware of. Beardsley said the FY 2011 budget is going to be much more difficult than FY 2010. There is nothing on his radar as far as mandates coming from the State. Within Public Health they are looking at the new standards, primarily focusing on the Iowa standards. There are teams looking at the crossover between National and State standards and how the accreditation works. They are both based on public heath work that had been done years ago.
Neuzil asked, other than signage issues, if the new Heath and Human Services Building is working out ok or if there are other concerns. Beardsley said they have provided a punch list to Facilities Manager Dave Kempf but overall things are good.
Harney asked what the outlook is on the H1N1 virus. Beardsley said the heightened concern is the novelty of the new virus. The way this virus develops, mutates, and shares genes, has not been seen before. The good thing is it seems to be a very mild illness right now and hospitalizations are low. The information coming out of Mexico regarding the eight confirmed deaths have found there were other problems, not just H1N1. It appears to be a mild form of influenza, however, in 1918 it started out mild and then became full-blown. He said it is interesting that the guidelines for closing schools have changed. If a school has a case of H1N1 they do not need to close their school but follow their normal seasonal guidelines. For example, if there are so many staff and students out that they cannot function then they can close the school.
Sullivan asked if the virus normally dies as it gets warmer. Beardsley said flu season is usually in the colder months because people are indoors more and it gives the virus the opportunity to spread. Air conditioning is such that it is harder for the droplets to travel, however, it is really a function of people being close together. Flu is circulating year round but it is passed on more in October to April. They have been pressing the State to try and get H1N1 off the 24/7 news cycle. He said he has been watching the news and listening to the radio and they are getting beat up out there. Beardsley said there are things everyone can do individually to help protect from the flu. He said 36,000 people die in the United States every year due to the flu. There are people who are at a higher risk who should take extra steps to protect themselves.
Beardsley introduced Community Health Manager Annette Scheib to the Board. Scheib said they provide services for HIV prevention, health promotion, and communicable disease follow-up. They also audit schools and daycare facilities. She introduced Health Promotion Program Specialist Trish Schiltz, Disease Prevention Specialist Diana Preschel, and Receptionist Julia Bleecker.
Beardsley introduced WIC/Maternal Child Health Manager Nadine Fisher to the Board. She led the Board through the reception area and waiting room. She said nurses are notified when there is a patient waiting and they are taken into an exam room. Oversight is provided by medical students and physicians. They toured the oral health room, maternal health room, child health, and the WIC room. Beardsley asked Fisher to show the Board the classrooms. She led the Board to the classroom area and said they offer educational sessions for moms on many topics including breast feeding, cooking, and healthy lifestyle choices. The staff really enjoys the ability to show moms how to prepare foods. They show videos, answer questions, and have interactive discussions.
Beardsley said there is a question regarding Head Start and asked Fisher to give an overview of that program. Fisher said they manage the nursing component for Head Start in Johnson County and sometimes for Iowa County through a contract relationship. They have a nurse who visits the Head Start facilities to be sure the children are receiving health care, oral health care, and that their medications are being properly received and stored. She also conducts quality assurance inspections. Stutsman asked if they cover daycare facilities. Fisher said they have a nurse who visits all of the daycares and conducts quality assurance assessments which is a separate function from Head Start.
Beardsley directed the Board members to the Environmental Health division. He introduced Business Manager Becky Mills and Deputy Director Tricia Kitzmann. Mills said she administers the Local Public Health Services contract. She said every contract that comes to the department, regardless of the division, comes to her and she directs the appropriate clerk to issue the necessary vouchers.
Beardsley introduced Environmental Health Coordinator James Lacina. Lacina said they do watershed and food protection primarily. There are three Environmental Health Specialists who conduct restaurant inspections and three who conduct private water well and waste water system inspections. Some of the other intermixed programs include tanning facilities, tattoo parlors, and rural businesses. Beardsley asked if food inspection is handled through the Department of Inspections in Hills, watershed through the Department of Natural Resources, and the other issues are handled through the Iowa Department of Public Health. Lacina said yes, they handle pool, tattoo, and tanning, inspections. He said there are various departments they contract with to handle those services. Beardsley asked what other counties his department covers. Lacina said through the Iowa Department of Public Health contract they are handling Mucatine, Iowa, and Louisa Counties. Beardsley asked if that is for only the pool, tattoo, and tanning inspections. Lacina responded yes.
Stutsman asked how they are notified about new tanning businesses and are they licensed through the State. Lacina said yes they are licensed through the State and the State passes the paperwork on to them to conduct annual on-site inspections. Stutsman asked if those are surprise inspections. Lacina said yes. They have to have proper signage indicating ultraviolet radiation. They have to take a tanning test so they know various skin types and exposure limits. The bulbs need to be the right type of bulbs. He said they also serve as a resource for the businesses if they have questions. Environmental Health seems to be a catch-all. They receive various calls on mold, tenant/landlord disputes, tires, and animals. Beardsley asked if they get a lot of nuisance calls about junk yards. Lacina said yes. He said they have a limited set of nuisance ordinances so they see if it qualifies under a particular Health Nuisance Ordinance and respond accordingly.
Sullivan asked if people bring in things like a dead roach and ask what it is and if they should worry about it. Lacina said not really. He said the Disease Prevention office receives those questions more often and dead birds used to be a big concern. Harney asked what limitations there are on tattoo parlors. Lacina said they inspect for cleanliness, the single use items, and any items they are going to use over and over again need to be sterilized properly. Their Autoclave needs to be tested to be sure that it kills things like it should. There are new tattoo regulations coming from the State with additional restrictions and higher fees. Neuzil asked Beardsley to keep the Board informed on the issues.
Recessed at 9:55 a.m.; reconvened at 10:18 a.m.
County Attorney Janet Lyness welcomed the members of the Board to the office. She said 2008 was a challenging year for many reasons, one of which was the weather due to record snow fall and ice storms. Throughout the year the County Attorney's Office was dealing with the ongoing University of Iowa (UI) sexual assault case. On February 1, 2009 Wendy Peck was murdered by Robert Lovetinsky which was a murder/suicide in Lone Tree. Within six days they received the DNA results in the Michah Matthews kidnapping and sex abuse case from 2007 and the same day Curtis Fry killed Patrick McEwen. So within a week they had two murders and received DNA results back on another major Class A felony case.
Lyness said in March 2008 the Sueppel murders were very hard on her office, law enforcement, and the whole community. She said in April a psychologist was charged with child pornography who was a long time friend. There was a child death where a parent rolled over on a baby and the baby suffocated but no charges were brought because her office could not prove anything. This death made her aware of the problems with parents sleeping with infants because in January 2009, they had another case. She said she is working with the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Human Services to try and get more information out about this issue.
Lyness said they filed charges in May 2008 in the UI sexual assault case and in June the floods occurred. In July and August Arthur Miller was charged with bribery and then proceeded to commit suicide. In October there was another murder with David Christian allegedly murdering Michael Steward. She said the trial is pending to start May 2009 but believes it will be postponed.
Lyness said in the fall of 2008, they started to see a larger number of robberies and armed robberies of convenience stores and banks. She said they have had robberies before but have often been shoplifting and the robber shoves someone on the way out. This qualifies as a robbery because it is an assault in connection with a theft, but there has been an increase in people going in with a gun or what looks like a gun or some kind of a weapon, holding up convenience stores and banks.
Lyness said she has told her staff that for any of those robberies, they are going to prison. She said she is worried that the economic situation is going to cause more robberies to occur. Stores have told employees not to fight and just give the robber the money. Word has gotten out and so if someone is caught doing it, they are going to prison. That will be the deterrent. Stutsman asked if it is a reflection of individuals moving to the area from Chicago. Lyness said they have heard that too and some of the crimes are but a lot of the crimes are not. Based on the numbers from last year all of the murders have been by white Iowa men. Some of the robberies, drug charges, and assaults are part of the influx from Chicago but if they want to blame it all on Chicago that would be incorrect.
Meyers asked if they are having more murders than they used to because it seems there is a constant string of them. Lyness said yes, Wendy Peck being murdered by Robert Lovetinsky was the first one in 2008 and then Steve Sueppel murdered five people in his family. David Christian murdered his friend Michael Steward and already in 2009 there has been another Lone Tree murder/suicide with Tina O'Leary being murdered by Timothy Mellinger.
Sullivan said they keep hearing about the violent assaults downtown and asked if there are more now then there have been. Lyness said there might be some increase but she thinks people just do not know how violent it is downtown. Sullivan asked if there is just more reporting. Lyness said 15 years ago she had a lot of assault cases from the bars where people had permanent injuries. She said her guess is that the level of alcohol has gone up. She is going to look to see how many new assaults they have had downtown. As far as charges, she said she cannot say she has seen an overwhelming increase in numbers but a lot of that is because it is really hard to prove those cases. Everybody is drunk. The victims are drunk, witnesses are drunk, and people take off.
Lyness said if the Board has never done a ride-a-long with the police between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m., they need to do that. Downtown Iowa City is a very different place at night than it is during the day. It is amazing the number of people who are downtown and the level of intoxication. She said they prosecuted a serious injury by a motor vehicle in 2008 that occurred on the corner of Burlington and Clinton Street. They had five or six of the victim's friends and the average level of their blood alcohol level was 0.15% to 0.25%. These friends were the witnesses and they were all drunk.
Lyness said she did MATs training for all the law enforcement agents and she keeps statistics, whenever she assigns Operating While under the Influence (OWI) cases, in an Excel spreadsheet. She said she does not have all of the information, but from what she could find, the high in 2008 from somebody driving had a 0.366% blood alcohol level with 0.08% being the legal limit. This is about 4.5 times the legal limit. These stats are only for about eight months in 2008. Stutsman asked if Lyness wrote the ages down. Lyness said she did and generally it is around 20% who are under the legal age. She said these are just her own stats because she wanted to see what that percentage was.
Lyness said they finished the year with two attempted murder charges against Michael Hodges who attempted to murder his wife in their home on Court Street. She said the wife fortunately survived and was able to get away and he went and drove himself into the river. She said this was particularly hard for her because the victim worked for the Iowa Department of Transportation, worked with the County, and Lyness knew her personally. Lyness said they started 2009 with two baby deaths. In one case the baby suffocated in bed with the parent. The other case was suspected abuse but was later determined to be natural causes. She said being on the scene of a baby death is very difficult and law enforcement officers this past year have had a hard time too.
Lyness said things improved a little bit because she had a visit from French judges that was delightful. They really enjoyed it and she had a good time with them.
Lyness reported that their numbers went up about 4.5% from 2007 to 2008. She explained to the Board that case is one person being charged and charges indicate that one person might get charged with more than one thing. These could be unrelated charges. She said she assigns herself some of the bigger cases and she has been taking on the (OWI) cases, and has been taking on more public intoxication cases. She said she wants to see what is going on, what they can do with those people, can they get rid of the cases quickly, and are they people that have been charged repeatedly. The total cases as well as the total charges are up.
Lyness said OWI cases are up but not a lot, just nine cases from last year. She said drug cases are up and drug charges are down. They are charging fewer people with multiple charges and more people are getting charged. Domestic abuse has gone down slightly. She said they have a new attorney who is handling the domestic abuse cases and her name is Vera McDonald. She said McDonald used to work for the Cook County State Attorney's Office.
Stutsman asked if the drug cases are for marijuana or more than that, like methamphetamine. Lyness said her philosophy, if they are under a gram of marijuana and it is their first offense her office pleads it down to a drug paraphernalia charge and has them do substance abuse treatment because it is not worth their effort to handle a lot of those cases. She said a lot of the cases are possession of marijuana but they have also had a lot of methamphetamine charges, buying pseudoephedrine, manufactured methamphetamine, and imported methamphetamine from Mexico. Methamphetamine is back on the rise. This is one they are working with the Department of Correctional Services and law enforcement trying to track where a lot of the drugs are coming from.
Lyness said an individual with the Department of Correctional Services is applying for a grant because he believes there is a lot more gang activity. She said she has not heard as much about gang activity as they had a few years ago. Maybe it is because they have not been looking at it that closely. She said they have had a number of assaults with groups where nobody sees anything, even if someone gets shot. She does not know how much of that is gang related and how much is they just do not want to talk to the police. She said with the grant they will probably hear more about gang activity but she does not know if that is because they just do not know about it now or if it is really increasing. She thinks the money should be spent to look at all of the violent crimes and drug cases and not just gang related activity.
Lyness said there have been a lot of heroine overdoses in the last couple of years. She said there is a lot going on in Linn County too with an increase in cooperation between the Northern District and Southern District of Iowa on some of the drug cases. So much of what they do involves Linn County with people driving back and forth between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City so having good cooperation between the U.S. Attorneys Office’s is important. The drug cases often have a Chicago connection and the violence results from that. She reiterated that all of the crime problems are not from people coming in from Chicago.
Lyness said the average blood alcohol level for OWI has gone down slightly but is still over the legal limit of 0.08% and most of the charges are over 0.10%. She said University Heights tends to have the most charges under 0.10% because they vigorously enforce the traffic laws.
Lyness reported within the last year they have had two attorneys handle juvenile services with one working on delinquency and the other doing Child in Need of Assistance (CINA) and termination of parental rights. One area deals with abuse and neglect and the other deals with juvenile delinquency. Stutsman asked the attorney’s names. Lyness responded Pat Weir and Kristen Parks. She said the responsibilities had been split in the past but now both attorneys are handling both types of cases and it has been a very good fit. The Department of Human Services and Juvenile Court Office have come up with new philosophies in the last year. She said DHS, in the last several years have really focused more on younger kids, 5 years and younger. It has been a frustration to be sure that kids who are older and in abusive families are getting the services they need. Her office is monitoring the child abuse reports more closely and uses their own judgment to see if more should be done. She said they have met with DHS a couple of times to talk about their criteria and whether her office agrees or not.
Stutsman asked if they meet with them locally. Lyness responded yes. She said the Juvenile Court Office has had a huge change in philosophy where they are looking at how likely a child is to get into the adult system and not looking at everything going on with that child. Before if a child was charged with theft, they had a substance abuse problem, they were not going to school, and a parent was an alcoholic, Juvenile Court tried to deal with all the problems going on in that child’s life. Now they just look at what the crime is and how likely they are to end up in the adult system. It means they really want to keep kids who have a low level of crime out of programs where there are kids with higher levels of crime or who are more likely to commit more crimes. She said they are also trying not to get kids into detention and take them out of the home. They do not want to have low level offense kids in with high level, because the kids who are not likely to re-offend end up learning that high level behavior.
Lyness said if they do not put low risk kids in with high risk kids, they find that it is working better. They started this in Linn County in 2008 and their numbers have drastically decreased. Johnson County just started in the fall of 2008 and they have already seen a decrease in the number of kids in juvenile detention. She said her thought is to give it another quarter and see. The possibility is they can put kids who are charged with adult crimes in a detention facility. Right now they have to be housed in a jail and sight and sound segregated. There are only a few jails that can hold juveniles who are charged as adults and they usually use Benton County.
Meyers asked if this was what Social Services Director Amy Correia shared with the Board where the number of beds the County is using has gone down. Stutsman said yes. She said they are thinking about redoing their contract with Linn County. Lyness said they had a huge drop over the last few months for juvenile offenders. Stutsman said Lyness sounds apprehensive. Lyness said she does not know if the trend is going to continue. They are not putting as many kids in detention. The Juvenile Court Office is questioning if that is really working or are they just ignoring crimes and they are going to see more happen.
Meyers said it sounds like Linn County’s numbers are going down too. Lyness agreed. She said part of the reason they got the six beds was because it was hard to find a bed. If they did not have one reserved, they were taking kids to Benton County or other places. Sullivan said he and Stutsman are on that committee and right now it is a buyers market. The Board may actually want to consider lowering the number of beds they have on reserve. Linn County is more desperate for bodies than Johnson County is for beds.
Lyness said if they have the space at Juvenile Detention, they could house the juveniles who are being held in adult jails because they are charged with forcible felonies or have been waived up to adult court, in detention. Stutsman asked if they could do that. Lyness said yes, the head of the Detention Center supports this and best practice is not to have children under 18 in adult jails but rather house them in detention facilities with other juveniles. Stutsman asked if they would stay in detention after sentencing. Lyness said no, probably after sentencing they will be placed in the State Training Facility. She said she thinks it is more for pre-trial but she would have to look at that. Sullivan asked what the numbers are. Lyness said they do not have that many, probably six per year and they do not spend very much time. Sometimes they get charged with a forcible felony and her office waives them back. Sometimes they may stay in detention for a while. Stutsman asked if they can keep juveniles in the Johnson County Jail. Lyness said no, they usually take them to Benton County and sometimes Scott County.
Lyness said regarding a juvenile who wants to do detention outside the community, in her view it is way too far away. The goal of Juvenile Court is to get kids out of detention, get them back into the community, have them working with their families, and receive treatment. If you send kids that far away, it is not going to work. Neuzil said the center is called Central Iowa Juvenile Detention Center. Lyness said they are considerably cheaper than Linn County but that is not the most important consideration with juveniles. She said she will be watching to see what happens with Juvenile Court. She is encouraged that if they can keep kids out of detention and they do not have an increase in the crime rate that is wonderful.
Lyness said they are also looking at the disproportionate number of minorities and Johnson County’s numbers are way off. They are going to see if these changes help decrease those numbers. It is often that the African American kids who have moved here are least trusting of the Juvenile Court Officers, do not show up to their appointments, come in arguing, and will not admit to anything. The only choice for her office is to file charges. If they came in, admitted they did it, said they made a mistake, and the parents say they will be watching them and they will not do it again, they would be placed on informal probation and charges would not be filed. Lyness said if they do not admit, then they have to bring the charges to determine if they committed a delinquent act. It will be good to see if this helps with the disproportionate minority contact that they currently have. She said she is on the Disproportionate Minority Committee with other County attorneys and they are looking at Juvenile Court changes as well as law enforcement. Coralville tried to decrease the number of kids they take to detention. Her office is going to keep monitoring that. They are trying to see if the changes with DHS and Juvenile Court Office will decrease the number of kids getting involved in crime. She said it has been reported from Linn County that the crime rate does not increase when they have been doing less and less with the kids.
Lyness shared information with the Board regarding Drug Court. She said they are going to have their first graduate May 6, 2009 from this program that started a little over a year ago. They have had 31 people screened for participation of which 19 were selected. Of the 19, 14 are currently in the program. Four have been revoked and are now serving prison sentences and one other is not in the program because of possible pending Federal charges. Eleven were not accepted because they were not appropriate candidates. They may have had too many pending charges or not the right attitude. Three to four more individuals are in the process of possibly being accepted into the program.
Harney asked if they request to be in the program or if they are entered automatically. Lyness said they have to agree with it. They can be referred by a probation officer, parole office, their attorney, Prosecutor, or sign up themselves. The whole idea of Drug Court is to take people who are committing crimes because of some substance abuse problem and/or mental health problems and get them into really intensive supervision. They meet regularly, either daily or weekly, with treatment providers, probation officer, and the team. The team is made up of a Judge, a treatment provider, probations officer, prosecuting attorney, defense attorney, and someone from the Jail Alternatives Program to cover the mental health component. Lyness said every Wednesday morning the team meets and reviews reports for each client from the treatment providers, probation officer, defense attorney, prosecutor, and mental health. They discuss how the client is doing and what needs to happen. They routinely drug test the client to find out if they are using. In the afternoon they meet with all the clients in Drug Court and initially they have to attend every session. As they progress, follow through, and maintain sobriety, they are required to come to drug court less and less. It is very intensive supervision to be sure they have a job or are looking for a job, have stable housing, and are making it to their appointments.
Lyness said she was at the Steering Committee who organized the Drug Court program for both Linn and Johnson County. Linn County will be having four graduations on June 29, 2009. In the fall, Johnson County will be having a graduation ceremony to congratulate the people who have made it through the program. She asked the Board to attend. She said hopefully by then they will have four individuals who have made it through the program. The idea is to get these people’s lives turned around and it is cheaper in the long run working toward treatment rather than housing them in prison. Harney asked if there is follow-up once they graduate. Lyness said yes and they still might be on probation for a while. In different programs that have been around longer, they have alumni groups. In this community, there are not enough graduates at this point. Some committee members went to Polk County to see how they are doing things. She said they also received funding again this year. Stutsman asked if that funding is coming from the State. Lyness said yes.
Lyness said the other program they have started is called Rocket Docket. This is for people who have their license suspended for non-payment of fines. The idea is that people get on payment plans, get their license back, and then the charges are dismissed. They have a financial incentive to do it plus they no longer have a suspended license. When law enforcement officers cite someone for driving with a suspended license, they give them their date for initial appearance. All of them are handled on one day. They work with a magistrate, someone from the Clerk’s office, and individuals from DOT who can tell the driver exactly what they need to do to get their license back. For example, how much they have to pay, whether they need high-risk insurance, and how long the suspension will be. The County Attorneys Office help set up the payment plans. The drivers are required to check in periodically and once they have complied with everything the charges are dismissed.
Lyness said this program just started so they do not have great statistics at this point. The initial numbers indicate they are around a 40% success rate for people who are in the program. The other ones who do not choose to participate in the program may get their licenses back on their own. Lyness shared a letter from a probation officer that stated an individual in this program was encouraged by the fact that people cared and were willing to work with him. She said it would be easier to prosecute these cases, however, they would end up with the same people back and it would keep spiraling down. They are happy with the program.
Lyness said they have been working on imaging. Physical plant employees took seventy large boxes to storage and to make additional room for files, they scanned criminal file documents from 1991 to 1993 into the computer. They are currently working on 1994. They only have room for about three years worth of documents in the office area. They have requested and will receive summer help through Kirkwood Creating Futures to help with this scanning project. Harney asked how the Court looks up original documents. Lyness said original documents are still original documents. Rules would have to change to allow for scanned or faxed documents. For the purposes of her office it should not make much difference. The originals should be with the Court and for what they keep, scanned will be fine.
Sullivan asked who is taking care of the shredding. Lyness said they have been paying for shredding after the scanning. Sullivan asked if it is through Image Technology. Lyness said yes. She said they have also had Michael Tiffany, the Autistic son of one of the attorneys, help with shredding. He has been working with a job coach who wanted to give him some experience as a volunteer to work in an office for job training. He wants to work at Systems Unlimited because they have shredding. Harney asked if the shredding could be done at Systems Unlimited. Lyness said she would have to look into that. If they could that would be perfect.
Lyness said they have been having regular meetings that include several individuals from the Department of Correctional Services, the Jail, Jail Alternatives Program, MECCA, the County Attorneys Office, and John Neff and John Stratton often attend. They discuss their system, how it is working, and what they can do to improve it. It is an ongoing discussion to determine what they can do to decrease the number of people in jail and things they can do to make processes move faster and smoother.
Lyness said she also attends the Jail Populations Meeting with Jail Administrator Captain Dave Wagner, Jerri Allen from the Department of Correctional Services, and Jail Alternatives and Treatment Subcommittee representative Jessica Peckover. They meet every three to four weeks to go over everybody who is in Jail for probation revocation and look to see if they can be released sooner. If they are sitting in jail, they have already served 30 days and that is all they want on them, they work to get them out so they are not just sitting there waiting for the hearing, which may be two months down the road. Due to furlough dates for the court, everything has been pushed back. It has been hard to get cases moved up on the docket because there are not that many court days. She recently heard they are cancelling all but one of the furlough days so that may help. One of their biggest problems is getting the Public Defenders to move things along more quickly. She understands they have a lot of cases too and want to spend the time they need to on individual cases. Her attorneys get busy on cases as well and it is often difficult to prioritize. Lyness said she added the position of Case Expediter to her budget. This individual would look at the cases to see who is in Jail and who they can move up quicker based on how much time they want on the person. They would contact the defense attorney, court administration, and prosecutor to push everybody to get these cases moving faster.
Lyness said in the future they are looking at substance abuse diversion programs, including low levels of marijuana. They plan to work with The University of Iowa to come up with treatment options and determine if they want to dismiss those cases. This is something she would like to do within the next year.
Lyness said the greatest need for the County Attorneys Office is space for storage and staff, which she will demonstrate on the tour. She said their collections numbers are up this year. Instead of receiving 35% for delinquent fines they now receive 40%. The attorney handling collections is doing more with garnishments and wage assignments, which has brought in a lot more money. The State also changed the rules for people to get their license back. They can work with the County Attorney's Office to set up a payment plan. She clarified the Rocket Docket program deals with individuals who have been charged with driving under suspension, the County Attorneys payment plan deals with those who have not yet been charged but have a suspended license. This process has taken up a lot of time and resources but in the fall of 2008 they had five or six law students volunteer to do those County Attorney payment plans. It has been a great win-win for everyone.
Neuzil asked for a heads-up from Lyness of things the Board needs to follow-up on. He updated her regarding Sutliff Bridge and said it seems to be moving ahead. He said the Animal Ordinance is still out there and there are a couple of pieces of property the County owns on Prairie du Chien and Camp Cardinal. Harney said the Prairie du Chien property has been sold. Neuzil said individuals from Southgate have contacted him regarding Camp Cardinal and asked Lyness if they want to start that process now. He also mentioned residency requirements. Harney reminded Neuzil that this is an issue with Secondary Roads. Neuzil said there is an issue with Human Resources because County Engineer Greg Parker has an employee who lives outside of the County. He said he believes Human Resources Administrator Lora Shramek said it is in the County Attorneys hands. Lyness asked if they mean it is in her hands. Neuzil said yes. Harney said the issue was whether they enforce this residency requirement because the employee is supposed to live in Johnson County. He said he rented a place in North Liberty but never lived there. Neuzil said the employee lives in Linn County. Lyness said she talked to Parker and he thought the employee was living in North Liberty. She said she thought the issue had been addressed but she would look into it.
Sullivan said they talked about a right of first refusal for the City of Swisher on the Swisher Shed. Lyness said yes. Sullivan said they need that so they can raise funds for a library. Neuzil asked if they had the issue resolved regarding the Shueyville Road bonding project. Sullivan said that was Parker’s project. Lyness said the National Guard Armory will officially become the property of Johnson County May 6, 2009. She asked Meyers if he is a member of the Sutliff Bridge Committee. Meyers said yes. He said he talked with an individual from Iowa Homeland Security and he did not seem to be concerned about the deadline, however, in a more recent call an individual from Cedar Rapids now wants to discuss the deadline. Meyers said he is not sure if they have to write a letter but his thought is whatever they have to do they should do it. Neuzil asked Lyness if she had any advice. Lyness said if they want Conservation to take it over, they should be talking to Conservation more.
Meyers said the County took it over because the bridge would just sit there otherwise and because FEMA will not give anyone else any money except the County. Now they have to determine if it is salvageable and if it is who will take it over. Conservation seems like a logical fit because next to the bridge is a Conservation site with access to the river. Lyness reiterated they should be talking to Conservation if they want them to take it over. Meyers said they had a joint meeting with Conservation but they apparently have not made a decision.
Harney said they need an engineer to determine if it is worth anything. Lyness agreed and said the first step has to be to determine if it is worth doing anything other than removing it. Meyers said even before that, they need to get the extension in place. He said it is his understanding that FEMA will pick up the costs of evaluation. Harney said he did not think they would. Sullivan said if they decide to rebuild, FEMA will reimburse the County. Harney asked how they are going to know until they have an evaluation. Lyness said they will have to spend the money first. Neuzil said they need to determine where that money will come from. He said maybe the Sutliff folks would be willing to help.
Neuzil said they need to continue the conversation with Conservation. He said they obviously have a lot of concerns and ultimately it comes down to money. Lyness said some of Conservation’s concern is that people go to Sutliff, they drink a lot, and do they want to be responsible. Neuzil said the main thing for the Board is that Lyness needs to talk more about Conservation at the Board meetings May 7, 2009. Lyness said it is really not her decision. Neuzil said the main thing is to look it over. Lyness said she does not need to review the letter to FEMA. Sullivan said the key is to have FEMA respond to the County before the deadline.
Neuzil said the Animal Ordinance issue is with Planning and Zoning Administrator Rick Dvorak who he believes is working with Assistant County Attorney Andy Chappell. Lyness said she believes it is Assistant County Attorney Scott Finlayson rather than Chappell and will look into it.
Lyness asked if the Board would like to meet with her on a more regular basis. Neuzil said it has been talked about in the past when they set up the liaison meetings whether they should set up a liaison system for the elected officials. He said this may be something to consider. Or do they want to do a quarterly type visit, or meet twice a year versus once a year. He said he would put it on a Key Issues agenda.
Lyness led the Board through the office area. She said they could use more space and explained that mental health and substance abuse cases have hearings three days a week with many appeal hearings which takes up quite a bit of space. She took the Board through the area where three to four volunteers manage the County Attorney’s payment plan. She introduced Assistant County Attorney Dave Tiffany.
Lyness introduced the Legal Assistant who handles extraditions, forfeitures, and finding people who have not shown up for Court. The Board stopped at Assistant Attorney Andy Chappell’s office. They toured the room set aside for witnesses or victims meeting with attorneys. She introduced Assistant County Attorney's Scott Finlayson and Vera McDonald.
Lyness said one of her concerns has been that now they have a staff member in an electric wheel chair who cannot come into 1/3 of the office because of the narrow hallways. Lyness said she has to assign this attorney to work with others based on which offices she can get to. Lyness noted that the Courthouse does not have to comply with the handicapped accessible laws because it is so old.
Lyness showed the Board where the Law students work. She said they have six during the school year and four full-time during the summer. She introduced Assistant County Attorneys Deb Minot and Pat Weir and also Legal Assistant Teresa Jensen.
Neuzil asked Lyness to show him her thoughts on the front foyer area and the issues she has. Lyness said she is worried that people can easily walk into attorney offices, have access to files, and it is also a security issue. They also do not have a good place for the interns to meet with people. It requires people at the front desk to be watching out for people entering the area. She is also concerned that the front desk is completely accessible. Frequently someone comes in who is angry and yelling. She is very concerned about the security. It is rare that a County Attorney’s Office does not have a way of locking the office to protect the staff in the front. She said they have had an electronic system setup for the last year but it has never been activated. She said she stopped bugging Facilities Manager Dave Kempf about it due to the building of the Health and Human Services Building.
Neuzil asked if Lyness has been a part of the Space and Needs Committee. Lyness said yes. Neuzil advised her to stay on that committee.
Adjourned at 11:58 a.m.
By Nancy Tomkovicz, Recording Secretary