Stutsman: First of all reports and inquiries from the County Attorney.

White: No report.

Stutsman: OK. Thanks Pat. Inquiries and reports from the public. See none. Reports and inquiries from Members of the Board of Supervisors. Carol, why don’t we start with you. We start with Charlie every time. We’ll change the order a little bit.

Thompson: Well, let’s see. On Tuesday, we all had our work session on the 5-year road plan and also attended a meeting of the MH/MR/DD Planning Council. We’ve had interviews for the Facilities Manager and other than that it’s been the budget.

Stutsman: And that’s a lot of time spent on the budget.

Jordahl: Yes. Aside from underlining that spending time on the budget is just about without lunch. I mean, this is just kind of, this is a constant thing. And I know it for Pat, too. It’s just been crazy with the negotiations on the Union contracts and I’m surprised you don’t look groggy. We have, in addition, a variety of other things that we’re keeping track of. Space Needs Committee is looking at the building needs of the County and that’s going to be a big item in the budget. The GIS needs assessment has given us a preliminary report and we’re meeting again on Friday, the 21st at 1:00 to discuss the details of that and try to get to some budget numbers that we could realistically propose. So, it’s all about spending money right now and there’s very little energy for anything. I’ll pass with that.

Lehman: I just might report to the public that some discussion they didn’t get to hear on Tuesday was a discussion of tax abatement for Novartis Seeds in the Lone Tree area. We discussed a little bit with the personnel in Zoning and I think they’ve been in touch with Pat on how we might want to proceed of writing a policy. We decided we’re not able to discussion centered around not being able to honor their request without being able to have a policy to refer to. So, we’ll work on that. Hopefully have something on the table here sometime down the road.

Jordahl: Thank you.

Stutsman: Good.

Stutsman: A couple things. I received a memo from Laurie Lynch, from the Chamber of Commerce, concerning the Gold Rush 2000, the annual business fair. And as part of that business affair they always have a booth with elected officials. So, she faxed me a sign up sheet and so I will circulate that among Board Members, if you’re interested in signing up. For new Board Members, I don’t know if you participated in this before, but it really is a lot of fun. They have a booth separate for elected officials and you sign up and a lot of times you’re matched with other City Council Members from Coralville or Iowa City or the surrounding areas and it’s good exposure for elected officials. A lot of people go through the business fair and it’s a good opportunity to visit with the community and I think it’s a good idea. So, I will be passing it around. That business fair, if you want…

Jordahl: You might emphasize that that booth does not involve any swimming. No dunking, no throwing of balls.

Stutsman: Well.

Jordahl: At least not as far as I know.

Stutsman: They may change.

Thompson: No eggs, no tomatoes.

Jordahl: Tomatoes a possibility. Especially after tonight.

Stutsman: It starts Friday, March 24th and runs through Sunday, March 26th. The other thing I wanted to mention is that yesterday I attended the first meeting of the State Mental Health Risk Pool Board. I’d been appointed to that Board. The purpose of this is this is a part of the Senate File 69 legislation, where they developed a risk pool for those counties that were running a deficit on their budgets for mental health spending. We are under a cap on that budget and for some counties that are running into problems meeting their mandated services, this risk pool was developed so that they could access those dollars. The legislation and the Risk Pool State Board has been a part of the legislation for like 2 or 3 years, but it has never been formalized. So, we’re in the process now of developing policies, developing applications so that counties if they need to apply for those dollars, can have the mechanism to do so. That concludes my reports. There’s anything else?

Jordahl: Charlie?

Stutsman: Oh. I’m sorry Charlie.

Duffy: That’s all right.

Stutsman: See what happens when I didn’t start with you first.

Jordahl: Can I get out of the system here.

Duffy: Some of my reports are probably yours anyway. But, yesterday, Mike Gardner and Al Miller and I, Mike Gardner is the County Engineer and Al’s the Assistant, had a very productive meeting in Cedar Rapids. East Central Iowa Council of Governments, it’s a technical advisory committee is what it is. It was very interesting because they have a list here. Actually we get gas tax dollars through this Transportation Equity Act. It looks to me like there might be some extra dollars for enhancement. You listening to this Jonathan.

Jordahl: I’m listening, Charlie. I’m just waiting for the money.

Duffy: An enhancement process will continue and there could be additional funding for that enhancement, being bicycle trails.

Jordahl: And other things.

Duffy: Other things. And it can’t be used for the roads their selves. But, it does explain a lot of these things, where the money is going. You’re talking several million dollars. For example, here’s one. IWV Road in Johnson County, which really the total and we have this finished, is $420,000 on the West side, on the West end of IWV Road and $336,000 of that came from this state funding, with only 82 local match. Or 84, pardon me, local match. But, there is several of them here and it is interesting reading, so it’s a good one to go for so you can speak for our County, because it is a county region. Anybody wants to read this it’ll be on my desk.

Stutsman: All right. Anything else Charlie?

Duffy: No. That’s it.

Stutsman: Before we…

Lehman: Might just note the passing of Bob Lens, the former Johnson County Supervisor.

Stutsman: That’s right.

Lehman: I talked to Bob before I ran for the office, and his advice to me was just do what you think is right and you shouldn’t have to apologize. I think that’s something that we all don’t always agree, but we always try to do what we think is right. So, a note there.

Jordahl: Thanks Mike.

Stutsman: I would just like to thank the Board for their tremendous hard work the last few weeks and today, in particular. We have been in meetings since 10:30 this morning, had a 45-minute break for lunch. But one good thing is that it was a variety of things that we dealt with today, so it kept our attention. But, the Board has been working really hard and I appreciate your hard work in keeping meetings moving along. With that I think… Oh right. Rick announced that earlier. But, to announce once again the building code public hearing is scheduled for February 1st, at 5:30, and that will be at Montgomery Hall, for anybody that’s interested in that. We also have a scheduled a 2nd meeting with the 5-year road plan, and that will be at 6:00 on February 17th. That’s a Thursday evening and that will be here at the County Administration Building. And finally, at the end of the month, we are going to have our budget hearing presentation at 5:30, and that will be February 29th, Tuesday evening here in the Board Room. Hopefully, well, we will be done with the budget by then, right Deana.

Pillard: I hope.

Stutsman: OK. If that’s all for right now, there aren’t any other announcements, we will recess until 8:00 when we will have a public hearing on road vacations.

Adjourned at 7:45 p.m.

Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor

By Amie Kelley and Casie Parkins, Recording Secretary