MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
SEPTEMBER 29, 2009
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Board of Supervisors: Discussion with County Attorney Janet Lyness Regarding Process, Procedures, Legal Requirements and Board Responsibilities Arising from Vacancy on the Board of Supervisors 1
Board of Supervisors: Coverage of Committee Appointments and Internal Processes, Expectations, and Other Operational Issues During the Vacancy on the Board of Supervisors............................. 3
Chairperson Neuzil called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Health and Human Services Building at 10:05 a.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan.
County Attorney Janet Lyness briefed the Board on the requirements for filling a Board of Supervisor’s vacancy that comes from Iowa Code Chapter 69A. She said in the case of a vacancy on the Board of Supervisors a committee made of the Treasurer, Auditor, and the Recorder have the option under Chapter 69.14A of either appointing a replacement to the Board of Supervisors or calling for a special election. If they choose to appoint, there can also be a petition from the citizens to request a special election. Lyness said to request a special election requires a percentage of signatures and County Auditor Tom Slockett said that number is 7,299. She said the petition can be turned in anytime within 14 days after the committee makes an appointment.
Lyness said the committee decided September 28, 2009 they would proceed by filling the position with an appointment instead of doing a special election because the cost of doing a special election is approximately $75,000. She said they have set some dates specifically for it so they will be advertising soon to let the public know about their decision to do an appointment as opposed to an election. They have set the deadline of 5:00 p.m. October 16, 2009 for people to apply for this position by sending in a resume, cover letter, and any other letters of support they want to include to the Auditor’s Office. The committee will review all of the applications on October 20, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. in the Health and Human Services Building. On that date they will review the applicants and decide who they want to interview as well as discuss what questions they will be asking the candidates.
Lyness said the committee has set aside October 22, 2009 from 9:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m., October 23, 2009 from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., and October 26, 2009 from 9:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. to schedule interviews with the applicants. She said they have also set October 28, 2009 for a meeting beginning at 2:00 p.m. to make their decision about who they will appoint for the Board of Supervisor’s vacancy. The committee of County Treasurer Tom Kriz, County Recorder Kim Painter, and Slockett will be handling this appointment. Lyness said the Board of Supervisors does not have any authority to take action on filling this appointment.
Neuzil asked if the interview process has to be public. Lyness said yes. She said all of this has to be public including deliberation about applicants. Neuzil said if someone wants to apply for this position they need to be prepared to not only have their name public but also the interview process as well. Stutsman asked if there are 14 days after the committee makes the appointment that the public can request a special election. Lyness said yes. Lyness said that at any point in time people can start collecting signatures if they want to but they have 14 days after the appointment to turn them in. Harney asked if the committee makes the appointment on October 28, 2009 when that person can take office. Lyness said the appointee would take office right away but may not sustain the office.
Sullivan asked if the person had to be seated before November 1, 2009. Lyness said yes, the committee has 40 days to appoint someone. Sullivan said November 1, 2009 is a Sunday and asked if Lyness can swear in the new person. Lyness said yes and it is the intent of the committee not to delay so the new person could be sworn in on October 28 or 29, 2009.
Stutsman asked if the Board should refer inquiries to Slockett or the Committee. Slockett said to refer them to any member of the Committee or Lyness. Neuzil asked if the individuals interested in this position should turn their application into the Auditor. Slockett said yes, that is what the Committee decided and he will distribute them immediately to the other committee members. Neuzil asked for the deadline to submit applications. Lyness said October 16, 2009 at 5:00 p.m. Stutsman said 7,200 signatures is a lot and asked when a special election was called for in the past, was that the signature requirement. Slockett said the Code states that it is based on the number of votes for President or Governor at the preceding General Election. The 7,299 number represents 10% of the number of people who voted for President, not the number of people who voted in the election.
Sullivan said the Auditor, Treasurer, and Recorder are in an interesting situation because any time two of them are talking it is a quorum and they are required to abide by the open meetings law. He said the Supervisors need to be sensitive to the fact this committee is in a potentially awkward situation for the next month. Harney asked if the open meetings rule applies when they are talking to the Board about something else. Lyness said no, if they are before the Board for a Finance Committee Meeting or some other meeting that is covered by the Board of Supervisors open meetings requirements. She said they cannot be conferring about the appointment. Sullivan said just to be safe the Board members cannot meet with Slockett and Painter in their office. Lyness said the Board members can do that, they just have to be very cautious that people are not going to think they are discussing the appointment. She said her advice would be to err on the side of being very open and not making it appear that there are discussions going on with the majority of the committee in closed session where the public is not present.
Slockett said the committee decided not to ride in a car together and also not to send emails to each other because of the appearance of impropriety. He said this committee is illustrative of the problems of a three person Board of Supervisors. He said that it is just about impossible to follow the open meetings law and that is one of the best reasons to have five Supervisors. Neuzil thanked Slockett for keeping the Board informed.
Harney asked if the Sheriff will do background checks on the candidates. Lyness said that would be up to the committee but that is not a requirement by the Code. She said anybody has access to Iowa criminal records on-line. Harney said he did not know if they would do that because they have a committee making the appointment. Stutsman asked if there is a residency requirement. Lyness said yes, they have to have lived in Johnson County for at least 60 days prior to the appointment. Sullivan said they have to be 18 and asked if there are any other requirements. Stutsman asked if the committee reserves the right not to interview all of the candidates. Slockett said yes.
Sullivan asked if a person is appointed and no special election is requested, would that person serve until the General Election and be automatically sworn in, whereas the rest of the Board, when they were elected, were sworn in January 1. Lyness said she believes that is correct. Slockett said they would take the Oath of Office after the canvass and after they receive their Certificate of Election. He said under Iowa law, until the replacement is present for the position, the incumbent continues in the position. Sullivan said assuming there is no election, the person would start mid-November as opposed to early January. Slockett said yes, it would be about 13 months. He said the Iowa City Press-Citizen erroneously reported 15 months. Lyness said there are different requirements in the Code but based on how much time was left in Board of Supervisors Larry Meyers’ term, this is the procedure that is followed.
Executive Assistant Andy Johnson reviewed the master list of committee responsibilities with the Board. He said he received a question from FEMA about Sutliff Bridge because Meyers was the contact person on that issue. Neuzil said the subcommittee determined that Johnson would be the contact for FEMA. Stutsman said there needs to be an appointment or alternate to the Johnson County Council of Governments (JCCOG) Board because they have an important vote in December, 2009. Neuzil said if the rest of the Board is comfortable with Stutsman being the Vice-Chair of the Board that would be nice to get resolved, at least informally. Lyness said they could put that on the agenda for October 1, 2009.
Neuzil said the Vice-Chair sits on the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and asked Johnson to add Stutsman’s name to that item on the list. He asked if a particular Supervisor had interest in the JCCOG Board. Sullivan said he just came off that Board but would be happy to go back on because he is familiar with the issues. Neuzil said he is okay with that and it would be just one more meeting because they are only appointing a new Supervisor through December 31, 2009. He said if Harney is interested in getting on that committee, maybe he could do it in 2010. Harney said that is fine with him. Sullivan agreed.
Neuzil said the new appointee will fill in on the JCCOG Rural Policy Committee, Airport Zoning, Juvenile Justice Committee, MECCA, SEATS, Successful Aging, Justice Center, Facilities, Safety, Technology Plan, and serve as liaison for West Branch and Tiffin, Task Force on Aging, and AARP.
Neuzil said they will sort out the staff liaison appointments later and asked if Stutsman will be okay until then. Stutsman said yes. Sullivan said there are boxes full of papers from Meyers’ office and asked if somebody should go through those. Harney said they could have Johnson and Budget Coordinator Rich Claiborne go through those and get personal items back to the family. Stutsman suggested they let the new appointee go through the boxes. Neuzil said he does not have an issue if Johnson wants to go through the boxes and see if there is anything personal that needs to be taken out.
Johnson said they looked at the items in Meyers’ mailbox and if he was going through the boxes he would eliminate items that are available elsewhere such as agendas. Neuzil asked if the Board feels comfortable having Johnson assist the new person in sorting through Meyer’s files and the Board agreed. He instructed Johnson to forward pertinent items to the appropriate Board member. Johnson said if he finds personal items he will forward them on to Meyers’ mailing address for the family.
Neuzil said now that they are a four member Board, if a vote is two to two then no action is taken and they need to be prepared for that situation. He said he and Meyers had a process where they would put something on the agenda if they both agreed to it. If they did not agree, they would ask the Executive Assistant to poll the Board to see if they wanted it on the agenda. He said he would continue this process with Stutsman. Sullivan said if Board Members are going to be gone, they need to make sure there are three Supervisors all of the time. Neuzil said if anyone has any days they will be gone, to make sure Johnson is aware of it and they should get in the habit of doing it that way. Johnson said they should probably have Information Technology set up an automatic bounce-back on Meyers’ email account. Neuzil suggested that those emails bounce-back to Johnson.
Adjourned at 10:41 a.m.
______________________________________________________________________
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By:
On the _______ day of _____________________, 2009
By Nancy Tomkovicz, Recording Secretary
Sent to the Board of Supervisors on Date, 2009 at TIME.