MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:

JULY 6, 2000

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chairperson Stutsman called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 10:10 a.m. Members present were: Charles Duffy, Jonathan Jordahl, Mike Lehman, Sally Stutsman, and Carol Thompson.

COUNTY ENGINEER MIKE GARDNER: RECENT BRIDGE INSPECTIONS COMPLETED BY NNW, INC. AND RECOMMENDATIONS RECEIVED FOR STRUCTURE O-10-1 AND STRUCTURE N-32-1

Stutsman: Call to order the informal meeting for the Johnson County Board of Supervisors for Thursday, July 06. Second item on the agenda is business from the County Engineer. Discussion action needed regarding recent bridge inspections completed by NNW Incorporated and recommendations received for structures on Eagle Avenue and on Half Moon Avenue. We have Mike Gardner, County Engineer with us this morning.

County Engineer Mike Gardner: Good morning. I brought Les Kuehl with me from NNW as well.

Stutsman: OK. Great. Good morning.

Gardner: In case there were any questions that he needed to answer. I made a map to show the location of the 2 bridges that we’ve got a little bit of a problem with. They show a detail of what’s going on.

Stutsman: Mike, do you want to kind of explain to the Board about these Bridge inspections? What the tradition is of the process.

Gardner: Sure. Every other year, actually. We have to have all of our bridges that are over 20 foot in length inspected. And we have contracted with NNW historically to do that for us now. What’s happened is somehow there are a few bridges, 9 I believe this year that are off cycle and so this is our off year, we are not doing the majority of the bridges there were 9 bridges that we had to have done this year. And the remainder will be done next year. Les looked at 9 bridges out on our system this year for doing this inspection. Overall, it didn’t look too bad. There were just some normal maintenance type things, such as debris in the channel that needed to be removed or some bridge plank that needed to be repaired. But in two instances, O-10-1 which is located on Eagle Avenue, just North of the IWV, Harden Township. In 32-1 which is on Half Moon Avenue in Clear Creek Township just South West of Tiffin there. He found some problems that needed a little more attention then what were normally just comfortable with. So, Les got a hold of me last week and we went out, him and I and Al, went out to O-10-1 and Les felt that we should actually close that.

Stutsman: That is the one on Eagle Avenue.

Gardner: That is the one on Eagle Avenue.

Stutsman: OK.

Gardner: That one should be closed. It was in bad enough shape that it needed to have some immediate attention to it. So, we had our crews go out and close it immediately and we went out to look at it to see if there were any repairs that we could do so that it would only be closed temporarily. We kind of brainstormed it a little, looking at it to see if we could come up with something that we could do to get it back, opened up, for the short term, anyway. Les did come up with a plan. He drew it up and has dropped it off for me yesterday. We are in the process now of trying to locate a certified welder to go out and do the work. So we will do some of the work with our own crews. What it amounts to, is one of the floor beams that supports the stringers that supports the deck is bent, both laterally and vertically. So we are going to have to try and get that out of it and then strengthen the beam by welding some plates onto it and so forth. Kind of a bundle is what we are talking about doing with this one. So, it’s closed temporarily, hopefully, so we can get the repairs done and then that will be opened back up.

Jordahl: How do you suppose it got bent?

Gardner: I would imagine something came through there a little fast, I guess.

Jordahl: Is there a weight restriction on it now or could it be reduced or is it down to where…

Gardner: It’s posted right now I believe for 8 ton. And once the repairs are done, Les will come back out, take a look at it and see if… I am anticipating that it will probably stay the same on this one.

Jordahl: 8 tons is almost the minimum anyway now. It’s either 8 ton or close probably.

Gardner: Well…

Jordahl: Where are some of the other ratings? Are you 12?

Thompson: What’s 8 ton? What does a cement truck weigh? I don’t know what 8 ton is.

Thompson: A school bus, what’s a school bus. That is heavier than 8.

NNW Representative Les Kuehl: I just had a concrete truck question the other day. It was like 36,000 pounds. I think fully loaded. I can’t remember the distribution with the axles. That is what we look at as the axle loading.

Thompson: And a school bus?

Gardner: I don’t know.

Jordahl: You could go across empty, and see then the kids could walk across and then get back in on the other side.

Gardner: I would think they are about 5 empty, 5 ton if I remember.

Duffy: (Inaudible) one time we had one like that.

Jordahl: A semi with grain would be like around 60,000 but that is 5 axles and you are looking at spreading stuff out. That is not all one impact.

Stutsman: So what has been on this? I am confused. I am visual, I just need…

Gardner: I have a picture.

Jordahl: I meant to look up the traffic count too.

Stutsman: Oh.

Gardner: I believe on Eagle Avenue its 70 vehicles a day. See if my memory serves me right. I guess.

Stutsman: Oh.

Jordahl: Eagle, we got 60, 60, 50.

Gardner: OK 60. Maybe it is Half Moon that is carrying 70.

Stutsman: Oh.

Jordahl: Yes.

Gardner: OK.

Stutsman: So.

Thompson: (Inaudible) never know a high beam could bend like that.

Stutsman: Yes.

Thompson: Put enough on it, and I guess it can.

Stutsman: So this can be repaired? Is this bridge going to be on for replacement?

Gardner: It is on the 5 year program to be replaced in Fiscal Year 2004. What this may do is, we may want to move it up in the program, we will evaluate that when we go through the program process this fall. But it is in the program for 2004. We have sent the survey crew out and they started doing the survey on it last week once we found out that this was a problem. So, we will at least get the information in and have it available so that we can go ahead and get to work on the design if we decide that we want to move it up.

Stutsman: Mike, what did you say the traffic count was, there?

Lehman: 60, and 70 on Half Moon.

Jordahl: 60, was it 60 on this one?

Gardner: Yes, 60.

Jordahl: 70 on the Half Moon.

Stutsman: Everybody else probably isn’t confused. This one on Eagle Avenue that is temporarily closed, that we are going to repair. How much is it going to cost to repair and would it be better just to move that construction up and leave it closed for a longer period of time, and just replace it rather than repair it?

Gardner: The repairs that we are looking at are minimal.

Stutsman: OK.

Gardner: We are talking about welding the plate on the bottom flange of the beam and then some angle iron on the top flange of the beam. We will hire a welder to do that, but our own people are going to try and get the bend out of the beam, but it will be a matter of having a crew out there a few hours. Maybe a day or 2 get it done. So we are talking minimal costs for this repair.

Lehman: What replacement are we talking about. Culverts?

Gardner: I believe we were planning on 100-125 foot concrete slab bridge is what we are anticipating going back in there. If I am remembering right.

Jordahl: As an engineer, what happens when you bend a beam out and then back? Aluminum doesn’t take that very well, this is steel so…

Kuehl: Steel is very elastic material and it can withstand repair work like that. The thing we watch out for is fatigue. For additional load cycles, it tends to weaken the scale. And we are getting down to the end here. If we are talking 2 years till replacement, I don’t see a problem with the welding. Because the welding detail is usually the bad thing to do with the bridges because of the fatigue. They tend to get cracky and welds.

Stutsman: Alright.

Lehman: You come back to inspect this (inaudible) the jobs done, before its open, to give the OK?

Kuehl: Yes, I am willing to be out there during repair, after repair. I guess the thinking is we can have more frequent inspections to kind of nurse this bridge along until we get it replaced.

Stutsman: And then definitely reconsider when we look at the 5 Year Road Plan, come this fall, whether we want to move that one up.

Jordahl: Yes.

Gardner: Right.

Stutsman: Any other questions then about Eagle Avenue Bridge?

Duffy: You inspected 9 bridges, was it?

Kuehl: You have I think 247 or something. Quite a few.

Duffy: Yes.

Kuehl: And then we have a soft cycle here, there is only 9.

Stutsman: Are we ready to move on, then to Half Moon Avenue Bridge?

Gardner: OK. The Half Moon Avenue Bridge is on that we have in the program for Fiscal Year 2002 replacement. It has had some repair work done on it in the past. And this year Les said we really need to take a lot harder look at it. So what his recommendation to us was, it is currently posted at 6 ton, and once he found out that it was scheduled to be replaced in 2002, what we’re looking at is probably at letting a year from this fall for replacement. He felt that we should reduce the posted weight limit on that one, even further below the 6 ton that it is currently at to 3 ton, which is going to basically restrict it to car traffic and increase the frequency of the inspections so that we would probably take a look at it every 6 months between now and the time that we get the new bridge under contract.

Stutsman: My question is, will anybody pay any attention to the 3 ton if people are used to going across there with the 8 ton?

Gardner: Well, it’s currently 6, so we’re not cutting too many vehicles out that are currently legal to go over it.

Stutsman: OK.

Jordahl: It’s not like there aren’t alternate routes, too. To either the north or south side of that you’ve got pretty good roads.

Gardner: Right.

Kuehl: The detours are most usually 3 to 4 miles.

Stutsman: So, you’re asking today, Mike, to just go ahead with these plans or just for our information?

Gardner: Right. Like I say, we’ve already closed Half Moon Avenue.

Stutsman: All right.

Gardner: What I’ll do is next bring in a resolution to change the posting. We’ve closed Eagle. I’ll bring in a resolution to reduce the posting on Half Moon and any others that were changed. The ones that had the major problems jumped right out at me, the other ones didn’t. There was nothing major on them. There may have been some minor posting changes on some of them. I’ll get a resolution together for next week and we’ll go ahead and probably change the posting in the field and then just have the Board act on it next Thursday morning.

Stutsman: OK. So, Half Moon is open, but we just want to reduce the weight on that.

Gardner: Right. Then, keep an eye on it.

Stutsman: OK.

Gardner: Have an inspection done in 6 months.

Stutsman: Is the Board OK with that?

Lehman: I just want to ask, are you better off maybe switching some of your inspections half and half? Do you have to go with Les when he does his inspections?

Gardner: No. We contract with them and they take care of it in time.

Lehman: You’re better to do it all in one year so you can prioritize rather than have something pop up the second of the year when you’ve already got halfway a schedule made from the year before.

Gardner: Right. It works better for us that way.

Kuehl: The DOT issues the forms anyway, so it’s kind of whenever they generate them.

Lehman: OK.

Stutsman: OK. So, we’ll put that on then for Thursday to reduce that weight limit.

Gardner: OK. We will go ahead and get to work on repairing the one.

Stutsman: How is construction season going?

Gardner: It’s been a little wet?

Stutsman: Has it slowed things down?

Gardner: It’s causing me some problems. Yes, it is. Al’s not here this morning because he’s in the middle of another pre-construction conference. We’ve got the 2 boxed culverts out on Black Hawk Avenue that were let. The one up north on Naples, I believe, up by Solon, both of those projects are going to begin work on next Monday, the 10th. So, those will get under way, Sand Road is currently under way and the Kansas Avenue bridge is under way right now, too. So, we’re going to have a lot of things going on.

Jordahl: That last time you were in the Dubuque Street Rec. Trail, it’s kind of being pushed back and probably into the spring construction season. There was a question of where the crossing point was going to be there. Has there been some progress in that realm?

Gardner: Well, to meet the deadlines to make a fall letting we went ahead and submitted them with our original crossing location in place. Our recommendation is still going to be to move it, to have it north of the intersection. Now, we’ve got some leeway in there, but it’s not going to make much difference where it goes. But, we submitted our plans, just so we could keep on the schedule with the original crossing in place, feeling that we could make plan revisions, if necessary, between now and the letting date.

Jordahl: I’m wondering what process you might go through to make a final decision on where that goes.

Gardner: That was a question that I had e-mailed all the Board, asking how they wanted to do that. I guess we had several options. We could either put it on the Board agenda again, or we could notify all of the people that were at out meetings, our informational meetings, and let them know what we were planning to do.

Stutsman: It sounds like we almost need to put this on the agenda again and give you some direction on how to proceed with that.

Gardner: OK. All right. Great.

Stutsman: Anything else for Mike before he leaves? Thank you. Thank you Les.

Les: Thank you.

Stutsman: We’ll see you next week.

JOHNSON COUNTY COMPUTER COMMITTEE: GIS COORDINATOR job description

Stutsman: Moving on to Business from the County Attorney. Any reports or inquiries this morning Janet? OK. Business from the Johnson County Computer Committee regarding job description for the GIS Coordinator. Jean Schultz, Director of Information Services and Fred Brown, who has certainly done a lot of work on the GIS project for the County. Good morning.

Network Administrator Fred Brown: Good morning.

Information Services Director Jean Schultz: Good morning. Do you each have a copy of this? I think I gave it to Jo for your packets.

Stutsman: Yes.

Schultz: The GIS Committee had a subcommittee that put together this. It was submitted and approved by the GIS Committee and then submitted and approved by the County Computer Committee. So, now it’s going to you for your official approval. We have worked with HR. We initially looked at job descriptions from Black Hawk County and Linn County and pulled out things from those job descriptions to put into this one.

Brown: We also modified it to include some additional things that we felt would be beneficial to the County, such as working with the internet, so that we can make information available more readily to the public. But, essentially we are looking for who is going to be a very skilled individual who can give us direction for the whole GIS project. Make decisions that will affect the technical nature of what we’re doing, as well as look to go out and find money for grants to help fund it. New ways to help people in Johnson County utilize all of the information that we have here.

Jordahl: Pay grade 22. What’s that mean?

Brown: I believe that’s roughly $42-44,000 a year.

Stutsman: That’s been budgeted, so the position is ready to be filled.

Brown: That’s correct.

Stutsman: In this Fiscal Year, which we are already into.

Jordahl: In your knowledge of the GIS market, Fred, are we going to get somebody for $42-44,000?

Brown: Well, I’ve been looking on the Internet for offerings for government agencies and GIS Managers/Coordinator positions start somewhere in the mid $30’s and go up to the upper $70’s. So, we’re pretty much near the middle of what people are offering at this point in time. I think we should be able to find someone who will be able to do a good job. I don’t know if we’re going to be able to get someone with advanced degrees in it, but I think we can certainly get someone who has experience that’s looking to run a project of this nature.

Jordahl: Plus, we’ve got quality of life to offer. Let’s not forget that.

Brown: (Inaudible) and the County has great benefits.

Stutsman: So, if the Board approves this job description, then you begin the hiring process.?

Brown: We should advertise it as soon as possible after it’s been approved.

Stutsman: OK.

Brown: I suspect we’re going to need a month or 2 at least to get resumes and go through them so that we can try to find qualified candidates to interview.

Stutsman: I guess we can talk to Lora about the hiring process for this. Who will be on that committee to hire that individual, if that’s going to be taken care of through the GIS Committee or if the Board will be involved in that. I don’t know if you’ve thought that far ahead. We’re kind of just getting the fundamentals in place to start that process.

Schultz: Lora and Jan both have seen this and they both worked on this.

Stutsman: There has been good input from the Computer Committee and the GIS Committee about what should go into this job description, so I think it’s been well reviewed. I sat in on a couple of those GIS meetings and I had nothing to add to it. I think the suggestions that were included were put in place and I think it reflects very well what the County is willing to have.

Schultz: We did e-mail this job description to all department heads also, so that even if they weren’t able to come to the meetings, they have had a chance to review this and give input if they so desire to do that.

Stutsman: I also wanted to introduce Bill Horning from Information Services and he certainly has worked a lot on this. A lot of people have worked many, many hours on this whole project, so it’s good to be to this point in the process.

Brown: We put together a lot of people with a lot of skills to look at this and analyze it. The person who fills this position is going to be someone who will be able to do more than what we can do as a group. Hopefully they will be able to get us going in the directions we need to move and make sure work gets done in a timely manner.

Jordahl: It’s going to make a difference in the way decisions are made, too. I’m a big fan of making decisions based on facts. We’re going to be able to look at this stuff on the screen. All of this talk about the North Corridor 10,000 acres of land. We’re going to be able to pinpoint that and ask these questions. It’ll be up in color on the wall. This is a great thing we’re stepping toward here.

Brown: We’ll also be able to do a lot of what if analysis. So, we’ll help you with your decision making processes, so that you can say that you’re looking at something and someone says, well, if we let this type of development go in here, what roads will be affected. What water will be affected? It will be something we can all look at.

Thompson: There has been some discussion, actually several times, about the appropriate place for this in our table of organization and whether it should be under the supervision of the Board of Supervisors or the Information Services Department. I notice that each succeeding revision continues to have it under the Board of Supervisors. Could somebody tell me what the reasoning has been in the Committee? I assume you’ve talked about that a number of times.

Jordahl: Yes. There’s a long history of the mapping project in here in Johnson County and the nature of this job obviously does deal with computers, so it would make sense for it to be in the Information Services, on the level of, well, they know things this person needs to know, they can talk the same language. They’re doing the same thing, why not. The why not is that, this position is, is in its essence a coordinator. It’s more of a coordinator, I think, than most any other position you can think of in the County. Perhaps Human Resources, the Director of Human Resources, is kind of a coordinator in the same way of trying to not just deal with every department, but to help the departments work together. This is a blending kind of a role here. It may be that, in a year or 2 or 4 it becomes a part of the Information Services Department. But, for the time being, we’re kind of in a process of, I guess you might call it midwiving the birth of a coordinated County effort in this area, trying to bring what have been separate departmental dominions over information into one shared County information database that is accessible by all departments and by the public. It’s a unique role and I think it deserves the attention of the Board of Supervisors until that degree of linking cooperation, whatever, has been accomplished.

Stutsman: That decision has come after many, many discussions from the GIS Committee and they have remained the majority committed to having it in…

Jordahl: All but unanimous.

Brown: The other point, too, is this Board also passed, I’m not sure if it’s a resolution or a motion, but about a year ago, you decided that this person would be under your jurisdiction, directly. You can rethink that in the future if you decide it’s necessary. We’ve operated under the idea that from the direction of the Board, this person would be working directly for the Board, similar to the way that Human Resources does at this time.

Stutsman: Any other comments or questions about the job description? Otherwise, are we ready to put this on for formal action for next Thursday?

Jordahl: Please.

Stutsman: OK. We’ll put that on then for formal action at our Formal Meeting next Thursday. Thank you for all your work, Jean and Fred and Bill.

Jordahl: It isn’t over.

Brown: There’s more to do. There is always more to do.

WORK SESSION: SCHEDULING A WORK SESSION FOR DISCUSSION ON CIGARETTES, BEER AND ALCOHOL PERMITS

The Board scheduled a work session on Monday July 17, 2000 at 9:00 a.m. to discuss cigarette, alcohol and beer permits. The Board said that they should also invite County Sheriff Bob Carpenter, Sheriff’s Major Duane Lewis, the Health Department, physicians from the College of Public Health, and MECCA.

DISCUSSION: VOLUNTARY ANNEXATIONS FROM THE CITY OF CORALVILLE SUBMITTED ON JULY 24, 2000; VOLUNTARY ANNEXATION FROM THE CITY OF NORTH LIBERTY SUBMITTED ON JUNE 26, 2000

Stutsman: The next 2 Items are regarding Voluntary Annexations from the City of Coralville and from the City of North Liberty. The one for the City of Coralville was just basically a notice to the Board saying that River Products, who is opposing or has not agreed to the voluntary annexation has hired an attorney to represent them to the City Development Board. So, it really doesn’t take any discussion or action from the Board, it’s just for information. The next one is just the Voluntary Annexation with the City of North Liberty. That is just the first notification of that voluntary annexation. So, it doesn’t really require any action on our part or any discussion. It just basically is for our information. We will have a time at a later time to take that up again.

DISCUSSION: RECOMMENDATION FOR FINANCIAL CONSULTANT AND BOND ATTORNEY

Stutsman: Item D. Discussion Action Needed Regarding the Recommendation for Financial Consultant and Bond Attorney. This is for the Jail Project. Carol, I’ll turn that over to you.

Thompson: Dwight was here before, but he seems to have left. The Committee met yesterday. We released our request for proposals and only got one response from a company called Springstead Public Financial Advisors. So, we went over this very carefully. I looked at their credentials. I’m circulating their proposal to the Board, so it should be coming around and then I gave Sally a copy.

Stutsman: You mean we all didn’t get copies?

Thompson: No. We ordered 7 for the Committee Members, so Jonathan, you and I have copies and the other is being circulated.

Stutsman: Well, I’m aghast because I wrote in mine. So, I’m sorry.

Thompson: That’s OK.

Stutsman: I thought it was my personal copy and not for every Board Member

Thompson: The 2 parts I would point your attention to is the one that’s labeled Campaign Referendum Assistance. The following one, which has to do with how they would assist us in a bond issue, if we were to decide that we needed one. The Committee thought that these were very thorough explanations of what they’re able to do, backed up by experience with other communities. This is a company that has a Des Moines office and they have a staff person who is local, who lives in Coralville, who would be able assist us with this. The Committee unanimously recommends appointing the Springstead Corporation as our financial consultant. At this point we don’t have a recommendation about a bond attorney. We thought we would perhaps talk to this person first before we go into that one.

Stutsman: To add to their local link, not only, and you’re referring to Tony Roland, who would be Project Manager for this, but he was born and raised in Kalona. So, not only does he live in Coralville now…

Thompson: But, he’s been here a long time.

Stutsman: He’s familiar with the community I guess is what I was trying to say, which I think is real helpful.

Thompson: It showed in the proposal at various points, they mentioned things that we had already done that they would have recommended. They are clearly aware that we’re at a point in this process and they know they have to start with us here and go on to the end.

Stutsman: Yes. It’s not like they want to say, well forget what you already had in place. I picked up on that, too, that they want to build with what we’ve already done. What was the reason why there wasn’t more responses?

Thompson: I think because of our restriction that they wouldn’t get paid for their time unless the bond issue passed. Some companies didn’t want to participate on that basis. But, this company is willing to take that risk with us. Their fee is listed in here. It was quite reasonable. It would be dependent on the size of a bond issue, which we don’t know yet.

Stutsman: Do you have a copy. You were on that Committee, all right.

Lehman: It’s suggested here, depending on the size of the bond issue. Do you want me to read the figures here just in general?

Thompson: Yes. Please.

Lehman: A $10 million bond issue, their fee would be $16,425. A $15 million bond issue would be $18,900. A bond issue of $20 million, their fee would be $20,900. I don’t know what that works out percentage wise, but it’s fairly reasonable.

Thompson: This is for the time that they would spend helping us do this. I think there would probably be some other expenses, for example, if we decided to put this on the ballot in the fall, they would do some public education efforts. That we would probably have to pay for, for example, if there were an insert in the newspapers or some time on television or whatever they chose to advertise this, we would probably have to pay for that. But, we’ll be able to participate in those decisions as we go along.

Stutsman: I’m feeling that if they’re the only ones that applied, and I was impressed with what they put together, too… If it was the unanimous recommendation of the Committee I guess I have no problem putting this on for next Thursday and formal approval for Springstead as our financial consultant for the Jail Project.

Duffy: I think it’s reasonable really.

Stutsman: I thought the same way, too, Charlie, for the work that would be involved.

Duffy: Yes, really it kind of surprised me.

Stutsman: Yes. I thought so, too.

Lehman: They weren’t just going to prepare paperwork and sign it. They’re going to do the evaluation alternative financing arrangements. They were going to investigate our best source of funding.

Stutsman: Too, it’s interesting reading through that about how this whole process goes about and even to the point where they would be willing to go to New York to make our case for a higher bond rating and things.

Thompson: It looks like they have a good track record at getting a good bond rating. The one highest bond rating in Iowa is their client.

Stutsman: Cedar Rapids.

Thompson: Yes.

Stutsman: So, any other comments? I guess in view of the fact that if we want to continue with this process and the consideration, I think…

Lehman: Keep on schedule.

Stutsman: Keep the process moving along.

Thompson: Well, the Committee discussed whether we should resubmit the RFP, but we felt that this was a thorough enough proposal that it would be worth recommending to go ahead with it.

Jordahl: Well, the time table for the November ballot, too, is driving a lot.

Thompson: Yes. We don’t want to hold it up.

Stutsman: OK. So, the Board is OK then to put this on for approval? Carol, then should I pass this one around to…

Thompson: One’s going around.

Stutsman: Oh one is going around.

Lehman: I’ve seen it.

Stutsman: OK. I wanted to make sure that Mike and Charlie had an opportunity to see it, too.

(Continued in Part 2)