Stutsman: Pat, do you have a report?

White: A footnote to you discussion about combined meetings without in any way intending to suggest any change or action needed. But I think there’s an interesting historical evolution here. The development of informal meetings by the Board, whenever it developed, was in large part to reduce the cost of printed minutes, and the context of that included not infrequent disagreements among Board members with the Auditor’s Office over content. There actually are counties that publish minutes of their informal meetings for precisely the reasons that you folks have articulated taping them and airing them, as a vehicle to get the information about what you’re doing other than taking action into the printed form. The Johnson County Board of Supervisors stopped doing that as a conscious choice to try to save some money, partly because they couldn’t agree on what went into those minutes. That’s actually one of the beauties of the videotape. You don’t have to have that hassle. Since you started discussing this issue a few weeks ago, one of the other observations I have is occasionally the fact that you have 2 types of meetings presents an inconvenience. If you’re going to be doing both formal and informal on the same day, you might want to think about whether the need for separate meeting distinctions still really exists. It would unless you could come to some consensus with yourselves and with the Auditor’s Office as to what would go into those minutes. If you eliminated the informal meeting, then there’d have to be published minutes for all of the meeting, including what’s now informal discussion. That would be another device to try to get information to the public about what you’re doing through minutes of the informal sessions that get published. I don’t have any grand solution, but I just have reflected on that history over the last couple of weeks, listening to your discussion this morning, decided I’d share it with you. That’s all I have.

Stutsman: Thank you for sharing that. Inquiries and reports from the public?

Welsh: I just want to express appreciation that you’ve made that decision to combine those meetings. Contrary to what Pat said, I usually agree with Pat, I think there’s a real advantage in separating. As Mike said, in your informal meeting, you’re discussing among yourselves, (inaudible) and others in the public, issues that then becomes under this schedule a week instead of 2 days until you take formal action. Through the press, both newspaper and radio stations, plus your telecast on Thursday nights and on Sunday afternoons, people can become aware and contact you prior to your making your decisions formally. It seems to me that that would mean your fall sessions would be fairly routine and would move along fairly speedily, although you’ve always going to have, on that Thursday night, a great deal of discussion in relation to zoning matters and all. If I had to make any objections, it would be I don’t know why you only want to do that for 3 months. It’s going to take you that long to get your feet wet and juggling the agendas. It does mean not only discipline among yourself and the public in terms of during meeting time, but it means arranging items on the agenda, because sometimes your meetings get loaded. Other times, not too much. It means that you have to, with Carol’s great guidance if you give her that authority, to just say gee, that’s getting pretty loaded, can we do this next week. I personally think that it’s the wisest procedure. The other comment I’ll make, when you went over your appointments to the boards and committees, I think most people in this County are not aware of all you do. Those who think that yours’ is a part time job are surely mistaken. Since I’m talking I’ll say more thing. I know you’re in the budget hearing, and I know you all are committed to keeping tax levies and (inaudible). Let me urge you not to do so at the sacrifice of services. Where there are needs, you should tax me and other people to meet those needs. That’s what the whole business of government is, a corporate responsibility. I’m not urging you to give everybody a blank check, but I’m also urging you not to pinch, at least (inaudible).

Duffy: It looks to me like we’re not pinching this morning. We just spent money, Bob. You live in town too, don’t you? Probably have cable?

Welsh: Yes, I do. I do watch you on your Thursday night meetings that I don’t attend.

Duffy: Getting back to Mike’s…

Stutsman: Charlie, this is reports.

Duffy: Yes, can I say one thing that Pat brought up about the minutes? I don’t know what they call (inaudible)…

Stutsman: This is reports from the public, so I guess I want to keep it reports from the public. Anything else? OK. Let’s move on to reports and inquiries from members of the Board of Supervisors. Charlie?

Duffy: Y2K last Friday. We have a terrific group of people that respond to emergencies in Johnson County and we have a good Committee. I’ve been on it for 11 years. For example, the Sheriff’s Department stayed up most of the night. I happened to have the opportunity to ride along with one of the deputies, Keith Slaughter, and about 9:00, we… There were other deputies checking on other… Like volunteer fire departments, but we did stop at the Ambulance department, and they sure were glad to see us. There’s new shifts coming in, going to stay open most of the night. Then we went down to Hills. They have a fine volunteer fire department. We stayed there for a while. Incidentally, we had some pizza that we left off at these places. I think that was a good thing to do. Then we went to Lone Tree and stayed there a while, and then ended up in Riverside. The reason why we were at Riverside was that we have an agreement, like if there was a major fire, they would come in and help Johnson County. We got back about a quarter of 12. A lot of folks that were concerned about this, it was not a waste of dollars. I think the State put in something like 35 million into this. Low and behold, don’t forget what happened last year when the tornadoes came through, and that’s emergency management, too. We can use some of these things that we did through this Y2K, and maybe it isn’t over with yet, but it looks pretty good. That’ll be all I have to report on that.

Stutsman: Thank you, Charlie. Carol, do you have anything to report?

Thompson: Well, on Monday afternoon we all participated in interviews for the new facilities manager, and we’ll be having more interviews on Friday, and hopefully making a choice next week. Yesterday afternoon that progress report at the Ambulance Department, also something we all attend. It’s always fascinating to learn more about how Emergency Management and Ambulance Service runs. Last night I attended the last County meeting of the United Way Planning and Allocations Committees. I have to say I hadn’t been to a United Way meeting for about 7 years and I was really positively impressed with the changes the agencies have made in their management styles, and how they’re doing more with their money than in the past. That was a good experience this year. I know Sally did most of the meetings too with me.

Stutsman: Carol and I will be meeting with Linda Severson today at noon, and then we will make a recommendation to the Board about budget requests for these agencies that will be included in our regular budget discussion, because we usually do a block grant.

Thompson: That’s all.

Stutsman: That it? OK, thank you. Jonathan.

Jordahl: I wanted to pick up on Carol’s comment about visiting the Ambulance Department, and particularly speaking with Mike Sullivan, the director. I’m always impression by Mike, the degree of organization and professionalism that he displays. Any question that any member of the Board asked him was responded to with a degree of detail. There was no umming and ahhing, hemming and hawing. The man knows his business, was able to explain to us in terms we could understand the issues of reimbursement and the fees that are charged, and what portion of his service is covered by County tax dollars. It’s just so crisp. It made me very proud. I wish I had been involved in getting it started. I wish it was my idea. But it’s already there, Mike did it. Wow. Good man, good company. Good, what do I want to say here? Department. The budget and interviews, same as everybody else. We’re just kind of swimming in the County business together.

Stutsman: Trying to keep our heads above water. Mike, do you have anything this morning?

Lehman: I want to chime on the United Way. My daughter is a representative as a high school student, and it’s been pretty enlightening for her. As a future taxpayer, it’ll give her an insight on where her dollars go. Also a report on Rudi’s Bakery, a firm in Boulder, Colorado, that hopes to locate in the North Liberty area. They were successful in getting their first step of applications for industrial revenue bonds, which they’ve asked us to endorse. They had a representative, a law firm that’s representing them in Des Moines getting in line on Sunday night at 11:00, and they were the second persons in line. It was a first come basis. They have reached that step. I’m going to ask Pat maybe to comment on the next step for public hearing on that, scheduled for the 27th of January.

White: Yes, 27th. Based on the news that we had that they hadn’t been successful by waiting overnight in line, we’ve finalized the notice of public hearing. It’s in the process of being published, the hearing to be held on the 27th. My guess is that procedure will not be repeated. I can’t imagine that State government wants to hand out money by the same method that people get tickets to rock concerts and having now experienced it, I’d be surprised if it doesn’t get changed.

Stutsman: You think in this day and age, with everything electronic, that people still in line. Yes, it seems real…

Jordahl: Especially in January. Maybe July…

Lehman: To base the criteria of need or necessity on who gets there first. Sometimes that’s the way the systems work.

Stutsman: Yes.

Jordahl: Thank you, Pat.

Lehman: That’s all I had.

Stutsman: Thank you. The only thing I have is that I attended the Executive Committee meeting, the MH/MR/DD Planning Council. We have a Planning Council meeting on Tuesday and it is strongly encouraged that all the Board members attend that meeting. We’re going to be talking about some issues regarding the budget and where that budget is and maybe some difficult decisions as far as services, because the budget is running very, very close. We just need to deal with it, so all Board members need to be informed and be a part of that discussion. Other than that, that’s all I have.

Jordahl: Was that 4:00 or 4:30, Sally?

Stutsman: I have 4:30.

Jordahl: I have 4:30 also. I just wanted to make sure.

Stutsman: I hope everybody will make every effort to attend that meeting. Let’s see. Anything else? Any announcements? If not, we’re adjourned.

Adjourned at 9:55 a.m.

Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor

By Casie Parkins and Amie Kelley, Recording Secretaries