MINUTES OF THE JOINT MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS, AREA LEGISLATORS, COUNTY ELECTED OFFICIALS AND DEPARTMENT HEADS
DECEMBER 16, 2009
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page'
Work Session with the Board of Supervisors, Area Legislators, Department Heads, and Elected Officials 1
Introductions.............................................................................................................. 1
Mental Health/Disability Services Director: Legislative Priorities.................................... 2
Board of Supervisors: Legislative Priorities................................................................... 4
County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek: Legislative Priorities.................................................. 7
Discussion from the Public.......................................................................................... 7
Chairperson Neuzil called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Health and Human Services Building at 8:04 a.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Terrence Neuzil, Janelle Rettig, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan.
Department heads and County staff present were: SEATS Director Tom Brase, County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek, Mental Health/Disability Services Director Kris Artley, Public Health Director Douglas Beardsley, County Attorney Janet Lyness, Social Services Director Amy Correia, Board of Supervisors Executive Assistant Andy Johnson, Board of Supervisors Budget Coordinator Rich Claiborne, and Auditor’s Office Recording Secretary Nancy Tomkovicz.
Legislators present were: Senator Joe Bolkcom, Representative Nate Willems, Representative Mary Mascher, Representative Vicki Lensing, and Senator Robert Dvorsky.
Others present were: Life Skills, Inc. Executive Director Gillian Fox, Systems Unlimited Executive Director Dion Williams, and Chatham Oaks Executive Director Vivian Davis.
Neuzil thanked the Legislators for being present today and said the County is fortunate to have their representation. Legislators introduced themselves: Representative Nate Willems said he is from House District 29 including Solon, Swisher, Shueyville, Oxford, and the northern part of the County. Senator Robert Dvorsky said he is from Coralville Senate District 15 representing Solon, Swisher, Shueyville, and Oxford, plus Coralville and a few precincts in Iowa City, Tiffin, and North Liberty. Senator Joe Bolkcom said he represents Iowa City. Representative Vicki Lensing said she represents the east side of Iowa City. Representative Mary Mascher said she is from House District 77, representing the west side of Iowa City.
Mental Health/Disability Services Director Kris Artley said she is the Central Point Coordinator Administrator for Johnson County. She introduced Mental Health/Disability Services Assistant Director Jan Shaw, and Financial and Statistical Advisor Deb Guard. Artley presented a hypothetical scenario in which injured staff members were in need of medical care. Upon arriving at the doctor's office, they were immediately scheduled for an appointment one month in the future, at which time the doctor will amputate their legs from the knee down. Artley went on with this hypothetical stating that upon clarifying with the doctor that their medical needs did not require any treatment below the knee, they were told nonetheless, that is the treatment they are going to get.
Artley said she presented this hypothetical example to illustrate what is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2010, compliments of the Department of Human Services. She said that Johnson County has 300 people with no county of legal settlement who are supported by the State Payment Plan (SPP) and that over $1.2 million was spent in FY09 to support them. MH/DS and the providers were reimbursed for those services.
Dvorsky asked for this information in writing and Artley agreed to provide it. Bolkcom asked for a clarification of the situation. Artley said the State has been paying for those 300 people, and effective November 1, 2009, they started a waiting list and as of November 1, Johnson County has four people on the waiting list. She said the County does not know what services they need because they weren’t even able to evaluate them. Last week they were told that of the 4,000 clients statewide who are eligible for the SPP, 1,200 of them will lose their services beginning February 1, 2010.
These people have no money, Artley said. It is a cost containment effort on behalf of the State. However, Artley said they did see the handwriting on the wall last March, 2009, and realized at that time that come July 1, 2009, there wouldn’t be sufficient funds for the start-up fee, (the Sate usually gives the County start-up money to make the transition into the new fiscal year). Those dollars weren't available this time so the County paid up front and in turn billed the State. The State has been spending $1.1 million per month and they have less than $900,000. Artley said this did not happen over night but this decision is happening overnight, and 1,200 people statewide will be removed from the service realm, they will be amputated from service come February 1, 2010.
Bolkcom asked how many of those 1,200 individuals are in Johnson County. Artley said she does not know yet because of the priority given to court committed people whose services are provided through a court order as long as they are under commitment status. The State has requested a listing of all people under court order. She said she thinks this will work out well for Johnson County because of the collaborative relationships with the Mental Health Advocates and the Court System. They will probably be able to tag all those people as court committed so they will get services. But this will not be the case for many other counties statewide.
Sullivan said there is the potential of a perverse incentive for the State because if someone lives in the County for one year without receiving any services, then they gain legal settlement in that County. Potentially, the State can be setting up a system so those individuals will become eligible in the County and that doesn’t seem fair. Artley said this has the same effect as an unfunded mandate because these folks can’t go without services. From where she sits, the legislators have a lot of influence to make this right. They can give the Boards of Supervisors the authority to do an appropriate levy, they can change the levy system, or they can shift the risk pool money to the State, but that would only half way pay for it.
Artley said there isn't decision that will meet everyone's needs. Another option, which all the Central Point Coordinators would appreciate, would to be to give the SPP program back to the State. They dumped it on the County in October of 2006, and the County will gladly hand it back over to the State and let them handle it.
Stutsman said she wished to point out that it is a date when they will receive service, so those who have the most profound need will be cut off and those who may be getting work related service will continue to get service. Artley confirmed this and said the last one in is the first person out. There is no determination of need. There are no new applicants being accepted.
Mascher asked what Iowa Department of Human Services Director Charles Krogmeier's response was to this. Artley said she hasn't yet met with him as this just transpired this week. Mascher said they discussed this at their caucus on December 15, 2009 in Des Moines. There are Federal monies still available, there has been discussion about how to use those monies, and whether they would be used to backfill this situation. Mascher said there are 50 others in line needing backfill. Those decisions will be made in Des Moines in January 2010, and priorities will be determined then. No decisions have been made at this time and there is a lot of demand on the dollar.
Artley said she would like to see at least a prioritization of level of need. There are providers here today and she hopes that in the public comment time, they would come forward to explain how this would impact them. Artley estimated that statewide 1/12 of the people cut will be from Johnson County, but she doesn't know how many people that will be.
Bolkcom asked if Artley would please send an email detailing all these facts. Dvorsky added that he would also appreciate it if Artley could suggest possible solutions in the email. Artley said two representatives did come to the Iowa State Association of Counties Fall School and specifically asked for input on how to work with cost savings measures. A lot of ideas were generated but none were discussed further. Dvorsky asked if at the Fall School, there was any mention that this would happen on February 1, 2010, and, how it would affect personnel. Artley said no, this information was just released this past week.
Stutsman said the Board of Supervisors understand there is no money, and so the items they put on their list of priorities are things that are not asking necessarily for more money but changes in policy. For instance, the Board would like Johnson County to receive a waiver or exception to staffing the Veterans Affairs Office 40 hours per week. The local Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) puts Johnson County in a unique position being able to provide good access to services and benefits to Veterans without the mandate of staffing the County office 40 hour per week. This unfunded mandate is not necessary for the Johnson County office because of the VAMC.
Stutsman said a similar situation applies to the Medical Examiner Office because of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC). The UIHC is a Level 1 Trauma Center and so regularly, out-of-state residents are transferred to UIHC for advanced care. When any of these patients subsequently die in Iowa, the Iowa Code states the fees and expenses of the county medical examiner performing an autopsy or conducting an investigation of the death are paid by the State. Therefore, the Board is in favor of amending Iowa Code to provide for State reimbursement of these expenses.
Dvorsky said advocates for the Veterans were saying service must be available 40 hours per week. Neuzil replied that in Johnson County, Veteran's were already being served 40 hours per week because of the VAMC, therefore County employees now required to staff the County VA Office are underutilized. Neuzil said the State said they will pay for one year, but not the next. Dvorsky clarified if the County could get along with staffing the office 30 hours and Neuzil said yes, because of the VAMC. Stutsman said she would rather see the additional dollars go towards rent or food for veterans.
Neuzil said it seems that Polk County gets a lot of earmarked funds for Trails Initiatives. The Board would prefer that all the money sits in a particular fund where everyone can compete for the money with a grant. However, when the fund is drained due to repeated earmarks, it is hard to compete with the limited dollars. Mascher asked if the Dubuque Street and North Dodge trails were funded. Rettig said that Johnson County hasn't had an earmark in the history of direct legislative appropriations, and neither have the cities. She said that $750,000 in direct appropriations went to Des Moines and $500,000 went to Linn County. Des Moines also got $100,000 in a joint appropriation. Rettig said that in past two years, $1.6 million of trails funds were earmarked to Des Moines who did not have to compete for any of those funds. If this process is going to continue, which she said she would prefer it didn't, Johnson County would like a direct appropriation.
Bolkcom said trails funding is limited and Des Moines and Polk County have an extensive effort underway for trails and he is not sure the effort in Johnson County is as extensive. The State has focused earmarks around getting resources to recover from the flood for the University of Iowa, Iowa City, and Coralville. This last year, trails didn't rise as a priority and it isn't exactly clear to him which projects are priorities for Johnson County. Bolkcom said he would like to see a comprehensive effort between Linn and Johnson Counties and to date, that plan is unclear. Neuzil said there is a comprehensive trails effort initiated through the JCCOG that shows an extensive map. This was just approved a few months ago.
Bolkcom asked what Johnson County's contribution is to this effort. He asked what resources, if any, the County has dedicated to this effort. He added that only in the last three years, Johnson County has to put together an actual application for funding. Not only are key individuals on the committee from Polk County, Johnson County's involvement is relatively recent. Bolkcom said he thinks the proposal scored well, though there isn't enough money. Maybe an effort to put together a coherent proposal that gets attention is needed. Bolkcom said the earmarks will not go away and trails funding will probably suffer. Neuzil said Johnson County has continued to put aside money to match potential grant funding. Claiborne said it is about $700,000. Bolkcom asked if the County received Federal money. Neuzil said the County received a portion of stimulus dollars to continue a portion of the trail on North Dubuque Street from West Overlook to 275th Street. Neuzil said some of those dollars were matched with funds from the Johnson County Trails Fund. Stutsman said the County has made an effort to build wide paved shoulders so people can use it for biking.
Harney said that for the last three years, the Board has requested money for specific trails projects but that money always goes to Des Moines and Polk County. He said Johnson County would like a fair shot at some of those dollars.
Neuzil said if there are ways to structure this a little better, he would like to know about it. The JCCOG Trails plan will show a more comprehensive plan where the County wants trails. Retting said it is not necessary that an earmark go to County Government, but rather to trails in the County. Now a trail project is underway to go from Coralville to Tiffin, Tiffin will pick it up and hand it off to the County on the other side of town. The County now has easements or properties half way to Kent Park. Conversations with representatives from Iowa County and the Amana Colonies say that if Johnson County can bring the trail to the County line, they will tie it to the Amana Colonies. Therefore, an earmark for that project wouldn't necessarily have to come to the County. From her perspective, she doesn't think the earmark process is fair, but if it exists, then Johnson County cities or the County should be eligible to participate. She said that hasn't been the case in the past.
Dvorsky said a couple years ago they doubled trail money, but unfortunately Johnson County didn't get any of it. He said both Story and Polk Counties have extensive trails systems and he thinks the best bet to get money is to work with all the cities in the County to develop a comprehensive trail system, not some isolated trail here or there. That is the ammunition needed to move forward. In these fiscally tough times, people have to operate together.
Neuzil guaranteed that the plan is developed and he will see to it the Legislators get a copy. Mascher asked if all the cities in the County have signed off on this plan. Neuzil said Iowa City, Coralville, and Tiffin have so far. He isn't sure if Swisher and Shueyville are included. He said he doesn't think there is a separated trail to go to Hills. Mascher said the small towns need to be part of it too.
Rettig said North Liberty is getting transportation enhancement money to put the trail through the town and on the other side of North Liberty at Mehaffey Bridge Road, the County has applied for trials money and has received some through EICCOG for a separated trail. Johnson County will pay to expand the Mehaffey Bridge Road to have a pedestrian trail side which will extend it to Sugar Bottom Road. Going out of Solon towards Ely is problematic because the Hoover Nature Trail acquired all those deeds. Currently those deeds are being verified. Rettig said the City of Solon has also been approached about once the County gets to Solon, how they will get the trail through town and then the County would pick it up on the other side. She thinks Coralville, Iowa City, Tiffin, Solon, and North Liberty are all involved but there isn't a plan to get a trail to Lone Tree, Shueyville, Swisher, and Oxford in the near future. In Hills, the commitment for wide paved shoulders has been fulfilled.
Dvorsky said Johnson County ought to be the leading County in the State for trails. Mascher said this is usually a combination of Federal, State, Local, and private dollars and she asked if private dollars have been committed in Johnson County.
Sullivan said that over the last two years there was only one thing that ISAC registered against that passed. That was the sales tax TIF. He said he thinks it is a wonderful thing that the Legislature heard County voices. He said greater transparency on TIFs would be a good thing. Sullivan referred to a handout the legislatures had in front of them containing information on current year TIFs broken down by cities. He said the second handout shows what the TIF impact is per city and county and he noted there was an approximate $26.5 million impact on the Johnson County budget over nine years. Stutsman clarified that the County wouldn't necessarily have spent all that money, but it did have to raise taxes in order to fund services that the community expects to receive. Harney said a lot of the dollars are diverted through the TIF process and Johnson County could certainly use some of those dollars for operations expenditures. At the same time, he said he thinks they should really have to take a closer look at revenue returns from TIFs. He thinks they are abused and that there should be restrictions to allow those dollars to flow back to the City.
Sullivan said that the school TIF totals in Johnson County over the same period of time are $55 million. Now the State gives most of that back to the local school district. Bolkcom said the $45 million they will spend this year equals any of their major economic development initiatives at the State level. This is an unfunded mandate to the State from local governments. Neuzil clarified it is from the schools. Bolkcom said yes, so they too have an unfunded mandate.
County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said he understands there will be another push this session for concealed weapons permits. He said there is a vocal minority pushing very hard to take the discretion away from the Sheriff when issuing concealed weapons permits. He said Sheriffs are opposed to that because they believe each Sheriff knows their County best and has the inside information necessary to exercise proper discretion when issuing concealed weapons permits.
Secondly, through the State reorganization plan there is talk to put the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy under the Department of Public Safety (DPS) and he thinks that will have a negative impact on counties and cities. Now, when they send a young deputy to the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy, it costs the County about half the actual cost. If the cost is $8,000 to the Academy, likely DPS isn't going to have the money so Johnson County will likely have to make the $16,000 payment, another unfunded mandate that will be passed down to the County. Mascher said she doesn't think this is stoppable. Pulkrabek said the Iowa State Deputies Association is opposed to it.
Systems Unlimited Executive Director Dion Williams said he is concerned that in the State budget cuts, the MH/DS Home and Community Based Service waiver was only cut 2.5%. What that means is the State of Iowa loses $7.5 million in services, $5.2 million in Federal money coming into Iowa to pay for those services, and the State saves $385,000. He asked how that is a good deal. Williams said agencies will close and people will lose their jobs and the economic benefit for the State is unreal, only $385,000. He said he knows this wasn't the legislators choice, but effective January, 2010, they will be able to comment on this and Williams asked the legislators for their support.
Dvorak asked again for all this to be provided them in writing as there is too much information to keep track of without documentation. Williams said he will get them the information.
Stutsman said these cuts are part of the 10% across the board cuts the Department of Health and Human Services put in place. She thinks the department didn't really think through the unintended consequences and they had a difficult job to do. There will be other unintended consequences that will be profound. Williams agreed with Stutsman and said everyone was working quickly. Dvorsky said the Legislature appropriates money and the Governor can recommend a 10% cut across the board but it must be ratified through the Appropriations Committee. This isn't all done yet, they still have to make the appropriations. This is good to get this information today. Bolkcom said they do not want to drain Federal money, so there may be an opportunity to go back and fix things. Williams said this was already put into place effective December 1, 2009. All reimbursements were automatically cut 2.5%. By law, their companies are allowed a maximum of 2.5% profit and they never make that, in fact, they will loose money and people will lose their jobs because of this 2.5% cut, which makes no sense.
SEATS Director Tom Brase said those waivers affect transportation and he will send the information to everyone via email.
Chatham Oaks Executive Director Vivian Davis said in the last fiscal year, they provided services to 24 people who were considered State cases. Currently, there are 10 people who are considered State cases and of those, three are not committed and it is encouraging to hear that there can be a cooperative effort to get those individuals service. Davis said she is surprised that these people will have to receive a court committed mental health commitment because of funding. This does not seem appropriate. People need to understand the true impact this can have on the person. Davis said if this SPP is unavailable, seriously mentally ill people will have no where to go and they will probably end up on the street. Ultimately, this could lead to the death of some of these individuals; and this program is a lifeline for some people. At Chatham Oaks, there is $200,000 in budgeted revenue from the State. Without that, there would be a significant detrimental impact to Chatham Oaks, but more important is the impact on individuals who would lose funding.
Stutsman said another unintended consequence will be that some people will end up in jail, further crowding an overcrowded system. Also, this will cause additional burdens on the court case load. Rettig said that Linn County is considering issuing bus passes for individuals. Giving out a bus pass is rendering County services, and according to the one-year with no service requirement, Linn County will not become the county of legal settlement for those individuals. She said she isn't sure the problem is caused by the 10% across the board cut, but rather the demand for services. The demand for services during an economic crisis is growing and is paramount.
Life Skills, Inc. Director Gillian Fox, and chair of the Johnson County Mental Health/Disability Services Targeted Case Management Committee said their committee is charged with problem solving for the economic issues. The issue with the SPP will reek havoc on the County. It will put people out of their homes and on the street. Fox said some SPP money is used to pay rent, and so some people will wind up on the streets, incarcerated, in the judicial system, and the Department of Corrections. From a counseling perspective, it is absolutely unethical to issue a court commitment for purposes of making individuals eligible for services that are voluntarily received. Fox emphasized that to court order someone to receive services they are currently receiving voluntarily is an issue of inhumane behavior and absolutely unethical. She said she will have to train her staff to get used to the idea of people losing services and to overlook that. This is a very serious ethics issue and is not in their world view of how to treat others.
Neuzil announced that the Iowa State Association of Counties is scheduled to meet on March 4, 2010.
Adjourned at 8:59 a.m.
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By Nancy Tomkovicz, Recording Secretary