**These Minutes were prepared by the East Central Iowa Council of Governments**
Minutes of the Public Leadership Group
Johnson/Linn County Public Leadership Group
North Liberty Community Center
Russ Gerdin Conference Center
North Liberty, Iowa
May 21, 2009
5:00 p.m.
Co-chair Barron called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m.
Present: Linn County Board of Supervisors Lu Barron (Co-chair), Linda Langston, and Ben Rogers; Johnson County Board of Supervisors Terrence Neuzil (Co-chair), Larry Meyers, and Sally Stutsman.
Also present: North Liberty Mayor Tom Salm; Iowa City Mayor Regenia Bailey, Tiffin Mayor Royce Phillips.
Others present: Andy Johnson, Assistant to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors; Beth Pearson, Johnson County League of Women Voters; Peter Hoehnle, Iowa Valley RC&D; Les Beck, Linn County Planning and Development; Britt Hutchins, Purchasing, Linn County; Ryan Heiar, North Liberty City Administrator.
ECICOG staff present: Doug Elliott, Gina Johnson
2. Welcome and Introductions: Barron welcomed all to the meeting.
3. Local Foods Systems
Peter Hoehnle provided an update on the RC&D’s local food initiatives, including a business revolving loan fund, the planning process with Linn County, the resulting desire to establish a local foods incubator, and recent funding from the Ben and Jerry’s foundation. This funding will allow the RC&D to establish project associate. The position will begin June 22. A meeting regarding “buy local” will be held at the ECICOG offices on Wednesday, May 27.
Phillips asked for clarification on the Leadership Group’s interest in this initiative. Elliott responded that representatives of the local foods industries in Linn and Johnson Counties had presented to the group last year, and asked the support of local governments for this sector of the economy. Bailey spoke to the economic impact of local foods in the corridor. Langston reminded the group of the presentation regarding similar efforts in Woodbury County.
Barron asked Elliott to address the “Local Foods Tour Day” item on the agenda. Elliott said he and the co-chairs had met and discussed the possibility of organizing a local foods tour, similar to the trail connections tour taken in 2007. The proposal is to schedule a half-day tour of two producers in each county. The tour could end with a lunch meeting featuring local foods. Stutsman said the trail tour had been very effective, and supported this idea. Elliott said ECICOG would coordinate with a regional transit provider to arrange for transportation. The group selected the date of Friday, July 17. Elliott said he would also work with Hoehnle to select tour sites.
Gina Johnson gave a presentation on ECICOG’s participation in “Healthy Iowans,” a collaboration of several of Iowa’s COGs, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and the Iowa Department of Public Health. A day-long event, “Parks and Produce” will take place on June 20 at Pleasant Creek State Recreation Area. Johnson reviewed the planned activities. Neuzil asked that a schedule be sent to the Leadership Group when it is finalized.
4. Managing Budgets in Tough Times: Hutchins gave a presentation on joint purchasing activities in Linn County. The primary participants are Linn County, the City of Cedar Rapids, and the Cedar Rapids Community Schools. Activities include shared RFP formats, bid specifications that allow the results to be available to other governments in Linn County, bid add-ons, and technical assistance, e.g., roadside vegetation in Palo. Hutchins described mail room services, which Linn County provides for the City of Cedar Rapids, resulting in significant cost savings. He also discussed the National Institute of Government Purchasing and the emerging statewide association. Phillips asked if Johnson County was considering joint purchasing. Stutsman thought the issue should be brought to the intergovernmental group including the county, cities and schools in Johnson County. Hutchins offered his assistance as Johnson County pursued the issue.
Elliott said that the co-chairs hoped Group members would suggest other topics for this standing agenda item. He encouraged members to suggest other models, case studies, or budget issues they’d like to learn more about.
5. Stimulus Update: Elliott distributed information including helpful websites, including information from Iowa’s Economic Recovery website, and deadlines from the Council of State Governments website. He asked if it would be helpful to establish some shared-government capacity to track stimulus programs/opportunities for local governments. Stutsman and Langston thought it would be helpful. Bailey felt city staff was effectively monitoring opportunities for Iowa City. Elliott said he would send a follow-up email with suggestions of how the Leadership Group might help local governments with this issue.
6. Commission Balance Requirements: Sullivan not being in attendance, discussion on this item was limited. Bailey said the deadline for achieving gender balance was June 2012.
7. Adjournment: Barron reminded those in attendance of the July 17 local foods tour. Neuzil thanked those in attendance, and the meeting was adjourned at 6:00 p.m.