Shields moved on to the technology plan, saying the Board would articulate this and the Board would benefit from feedback. He said this is the level of talking, because it’s not an action plan. He said it does try to do a good job of defining the broad goal and some of those things they were thinking about doing. Lehman said some of the points were pretty obvious in the impact of departments, they would recognize that some cross-departmental lines. He said they didn’t say how they were going to solve all the issues, but they could add and redefine them as they pertain to each department.

Shields stated that on number five under action areas in the technology plan goal, the Board was envisioning some of the things talked about earlier in the change of expectations and the change of the relationship technologically with citizens. Neuzil said one of the issues had to do with the ability to provide information via email to the public. He thought that may belong in the technology plan, asking how to come up with an avenue, or centralized computer, in which they can provide citizens information off the County’s computers without going to the computer and potentially putting things on there the County would not like. Shields said the more specific sort of actions that would be reviewing technological methods of doing so or reviewing information. Neuzil replied that it would be reviewing an avenue of how to do that, but also living within the law, which is still being worked out. Shields said they would be reviewing legal issues in relationship to information accessibility. Lehman asked White if he had a suggestion for reviewing technology policy. Neuzil said they all face it as elected officials and there will be more people wanting to know that information as they use the computers more. Slockett said the whole area of open records is changed by the technology, the whole concept of what ought to be public record. When a person can anonymously look up information in whatever state of mind they find themselves in, he said it adds a whole new perspective in which they should look at public records. He thought they should look very seriously at the linkage of names and addresses on sites. He said the Assessor’s records are now on a statewide site and it’s better than in some counties where you can type in a name or an address and look up an individual. He said it could be an individual who is being stalked, who has an unlisted phone and a post office box and moves periodically to keep from being found. They could be found because they own property. He said this is a key area. Neuzil agreed, saying it’s an emerging issue. Noting they have the request to see all of their email, he asked how they find the avenue for that. Slockett said having to consult with the County Attorney about requests for information causes an unsatisfactory delay in getting the information. If there were a controversial situation in which a member of the public, political party or the press asked for it and an official gave that response, it would look like they were trying to hide something. He asked how accessible they wanted to make things. Looking at the costs, Stutsman said they send hundreds of emails. To resurrect e-mails could require a full-time staff person. Slockett said Information Services could solve the time problem by allowing a person to browse anyone’s email they want. He asked if they really want to do that. Stutsman said she doesn’t put anything personal on e-mail. Slockett said it could interfere with their ability to communicate with each other. Shields said the truth of what came out of the Vital Statistics Bureau last year is that they have new capacities. He said there are conflicting values now that are real. He said that on both sides of the issue there were real values. He thought they would need to develop information technology policies. He stated that open records would be part of it, but among other policies are accessibility, how they define some of those things, and response time. Slockett said it would happen and the question was when. Painter stated that changes were already happening. Noting states that had already put records on the Internet, she said people have slowly but surely become more concerned about their privacy and they are taking things off or changing how it’s presented.

White stated that he had a larger relationships question. He said the document was entitled Johnson County Strategic Planning Key Strategic Goals. He said he would characterize it as principally a Board of Supervisors planning document, although there is a mix. He said that one of the questions they keep struggling with is what involvement does the Board want with the five other elected officials. He thought they still haven’t really defined what that is. He said an example would be that the language of the goal is awfully narrow and it literally talks about communication. He said the action areas do some things that are broader than communications. He thought the technology issue that the five non-Board elected officials come in contact with most often is just capacity and getting office functions up to speed in terms of technology. He thought they still had yet to resolve a growing disconnect between individual departments and the central information services function. He said this risks sounding more critical of Information Services and he doesn’t mean it to be. He would identify a high priority as needing more flexibility and autonomy to create management systems within his own office. He said he doesn’t have the staff or resources to do that and for 25 years the Board has been focused on centralized information service delivery. He thought technology has outpaced that central role to the point where they should be talking about a mix, a central information services role but also more decentralized information service, so an individual department could develop a level of expertise. He stated it should be reworded to be broader than just communications and action area ought to be analysis of the structure of data processing functions. Shields suggested that goal statement could be to develop an ongoing technology enhancement plan that provides for an effective technology and communications infrastructure. He said that could go all the way to voting machines and e-commerce issues. The Board agreed with that statement.

Shields stated White’s other question was one of the function of Information Services. Harney asked White if he was looking at someone from Information Services to be assigned to help each particular office and develop what their needs are or someone within their own office. White said it would be someone within his own office. Stutsman said it comes down to a decision by the Board that they felt it was more cost-effective to have that centralized rather than spending the money to have individual departments have their own computer systems and the support that goes along with it. She said a decision was made to go that route, and it’s not to say it shouldn’t be revisited from time to time. Slockett thought the Board does tend to over-emphasize centralization. He recounted when prior Boards wanted only one copy machine and only one fax machine for the entire County. Shields said they were talking about an established policy and whether it makes sense when looking at the next year or two to review Information Services’ role in the broader organization and the policies that support that role. He wondered if they thought it should be reviewed in the next couple years. Slockett thought it should be. Thompson said it does make some sense because White’s office is not the only department that needs that kind of software assistance now. She said they should decide how they were going to provide it and also how is it going to interface with other centralized systems like the payroll and HR. Harney said he certainly understands the need of each department to have programs to fit their certain needs, but at the same time he wouldn’t want someone going off on a totally different program than Information Services provides now, that they should at least mesh together. Stutsman said it comes back to the question that they should put review of the existing structure and not make any decisions at this point but just say let’s review it. Shields summarized it as review information technology support, policies, and practices. He said it is interesting because he’s watched it move in so many different directions over the years. He said he’s also seen that there are still competing forces and there is still a need for central communication amongst all elements of any organization. He said that is one of the big deals. He said on the other side, the peculiar and specific things they do at local government run against the face of what is happening in many other sectors. He said the Attorney’s Office doesn’t have a whole lot to do with what the Recorder does. He said that local government is a mish mash of unlike things. He said there is some good reason they got to where they are. Stutsman said the Board felt is was the reasonable thing to do at the time.

Shields moved on to the topic of financial management and planning. Thompson said one thing the others might be interested in is that they talked about the goals setting pages in the budget packages in the prior years and they weren’t very effective. She said they would like to streamline that and either have usable goals or not include that. She said they are trying to have a budget process in which they appropriate money that furthers goals that they set. She asked for any ways that they could help them come up with a policy. White stated that the hard part of that has always been that fundamental service delivery is difficult to put in goals. He said that out of good faith, looking at difficult budget decisions, the Board would like a magical formula and it's not ever possible to get to a system like that. He stated that some policy things the Board works on are more susceptible to prioritizing that way. He said they would never get to a system that would tell them it’s more important to have a trail than it is to shorten the line in the Treasurer’s Office. He said that survival showed up in the response to Shields’ question and what that means to them is that they delivered the ongoing service that they are charged with delivering. Thompson agreed and stated a really strong emphasis on goal setting tends to make people try to do the new thing that they can set the goal for and phrase it out nicely rather than focusing on the ongoing service. She said that’s not what they want and they could see that happening, so they are going to revise the whole goal setting.

White asked the Board what their level of satisfaction was with the budget process they had this year. Lehman said that the personnel were there, citing Budget Coordinator Jeff Horne’s communication with the Auditor’s Office as the biggest improvement that he saw. Thompson said the big glitch was the stuff not coming in on time; that holds them back the most. Stutsman said when she approaches the budget she doesn’t pay attention to the goals or the decision packages. She said the policy decisions you make are based on what you feel from talking to people in the community is important. Lehman said they asked departments to measure their effectiveness, but like White said how do you measure one department against another? Stutsman said the budget process worked better this year because it was more focused. She said part of it was Horne, but they weren’t spending hours in the Boardroom hassling and it was just more focused. Harney said that coming in late in the process was a real problem because it depended on the rest of the members as to where they had been and where people were going. He stated the goals were good for each elected official to have for their department, but he really didn’t rely a lot on the goals. He tried to weigh a request and the justification for that request by the department and their needs rather than trying to look at the long-term goals. He said that was part of it, but the needs and what they need to satisfactorily do their duties is one thing they need to look at. He said it’s hard to shake those out, and they had time constraints when they came in not knowing what the past practices were and what the needs were and where they were going. He said that this fall they could request that the budgets be handed in a little earlier and then give them some time to make some good decisions as to where the money should be going. Neuzil said it was difficult to come in to the process in January when a lot of the decisions had been made well before that. He said he looked at the goals and the justification and this coming year should be much easier in getting to understand where the money is being spent. He thought one thing that was missing in the whole budget process was the idea of how departments and how other elected officials were trying to reduce the amount of money they are spending. He thought they were going into the budget process with the mentality of they are going to need more and more and more. He said the budget increases of some departments, that were much higher than the level they might want to raise taxes, didn’t even include the cost of what is going to pay for their employees. He thought they needed to reduce the amount of money they were spending. He noted Kriz’s budget presentation was very easy because he was under budget. Shields summarized that it would be helpful for the Board to set some meaningful guidelines early in the process as range of percentages to try to limit increases. It gives departments something to shoot for, and when they can’t meet it, there are exceptional occasions when they have a discussion within the context of the guidelines. Neuzil stated that when departments come in even or under, it made it very easy and then there may be a department that needs a new employee and that makes it difficult.

Stutsman asked White what he thought about the budget process. White said it was improved in that Horne was the primary reason and it will be improved again next year with his experience. He thought the communication between the Board and Departments on budget still has a long way to go. He said it’s very hard work and very time-consumptive, and he didn’t know what was in his budget once it was adopted and it took a fair amount of work to figure out what got approved and what didn’t. He said that one thing that would help would be starting earlier and suggested they have Horne and one or two board members come to every department for a couple of hours worth of pre-budget submission discussion. Thompson said that was one of their goals that they haven’t met this year. Shields said the pre-budget meetings would be a potential action step. Thompson said they would scatter them around the year. Neuzil said those were meeting towards just finding out what other departments are doing. Stutsman said she would like to add that as an action step, both of those things. Neuzil said they needed to have a specific pre-budget meeting, planning out long-term budgets. Thompson stated that was something they called year-round communication and they are meeting with the appointed department heads, but they haven’t gotten to the elected officials. Stutsman thought it needed to be spelled out in a specific goal and Neuzil agreed. Kriz said the information from the Auditor regarding what the impacts would be on levies was very helpful to know where they stood with the taxation and make decision about what to cut from the budget. Shields stated that this Board was really committed to the financial management system as a key element of policy leaders in the county. He said the Board had a good discussion on doing this as a team, which he said implies the other elected officials. He also said it is still the intention of the Board to get multi-year trend analysis in place. He said that looking at it from the outside it can be very valuable data for all of them to use and it could eliminate some questions over time.

Shields moved the discussion on to facilities planning. He said the space needs and facilities planning became one of the Board’s key goals as the result of a previous strategic planning session. He said this remains one of the key areas. Thompson said this is another area that is a turning point. She said the Board did a space needs study, also looked at delaying maintenance, and has worked on that by setting aside money each year for several years. She said that sometime next year they will have met their immediate space needs except for the Jail and all the buildings will be in acceptable repair with no leaking roofs and working heat systems. Thompson said that now they are ready to turn to the long-range plan to see what land they will acquire, and where they will build buildings. The goals this year include revisiting the campus concept because with new Board members they may no longer have on agreement about that, and to develop a longer-range facility plan. Neuzil wondered if they could come up with a way to avoid transporting prisoners out and get the public behind it, or if they will wait until the State Jail Inspector does say this is all you get and then they have to pay money to ship prisoners. He hoped they could take care of the problem before that happens. Harney said that since it was defeated so strongly, they need to take a look and try to answer some of the questions people were putting out there. He said they need to see if there is anything they can do in the certain areas to lower the numbers in the jail. Thompson said that they need to go back to publicize each baby-step to the public and ask the cities if there is a way they can help. She mentioned going to the court and asking about sentencing. She said each time they want the voters to know they are looking at that, what their solutions are, and if those decisions take the prisoner population down by 3 or 5; it’s going to help a lot, but won’t solve the problem because every month it grows by 7. Harney said that the population is growing as well and they need to look at that also.

White said this is an area they are still struggling for the community to understand who’s in charge and where they are going. He thought that was in part due to the county government structure. He said county government’s greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. He said it presents itself as a weakness in facilities planning. He added, who is in charge and who is going to do what, what’s the Sheriff’s role, what’s the Board’s role, what if any role does the Space Needs Committee have, is there someone on staff in charge one function, is there an outside contracted firm in charge of another? He said they never get those questions answered relative to capital projects. He didn’t know what the answer was because it tends to vary from project to project. Harney agreed with that and said Carpenter is the one that is in charge of taking care of the prisoners in the jail and the Board is responsible for giving him proper facilities to do his job. He thought more than the Board needs to be committed through each group or at least representatives to work on it together as a team. He said they are never going to reach a goal unless they are unified and they can sell it to the public. Shields asked if it would make sense under F, to develop a long-range facility plan, to include implementation methods. He said that part of what they are saying is that they can have a plan, but they need to figure out how to implement that plan. White said his question is earlier than that; they haven’t figured out who is going to take the initiative or oversee developing a plan for the County Farm or a plan for whatever is going to happen with the Jail. He said there are different people with different roles, and they need to mesh them, then communicate to the community.

Carpenter said a good example was the fact of the bond issue for the jail. He stated that he should have played a neutral role because there was a need. There was a committee approved by the Board of Supervisors to look into it, but not everybody agreed with the committee and there was a problem getting people on the bandwagon, including within the County system. He said there is no way you can get anything accomplished if you have people who are against it in the County functions. Stutsman said they have all observed the way the University operates in acquiring land and facilities and they implemented their plan logically and thoughtfully and one or two people devoted their full attention to that. She said, in the County they are all trying to squeeze the very important process into already busy schedules and didn’t give that responsibility to one or two individuals. Painter said they don’t have to answer to the voters either. She said one of the things does affect all of their decisions is what is the historical current in people’s opinions. She couldn’t remember when she has heard people coming at the issue of incarceration and criminal activity in so many different ways. Lehman said they were looking for someone to set the policy, which would be the Board, but they also need to find the role of a property manager, and asked what steps should go first. Carpenter asked if there comes a point in time where they go overboard trying to accumulate that property for a project, or if they need to put in place something they really need at the present time. He said a good example would be a lawsuit right now, which could wipe out any property they could think about building in the next 20 years. Shields asked for the answer to White’s question as to who takes the lead. Carpenter said the Board has to. Slockett said there were five Board members and he didn’t think that was an adequate answer. Stutsman said this would be the role of a county manager if the county had one. White said this person would organize the information, identify decision-making options, and presents them to the policy board. Lehman said there are different levels. There would be someone who would go out and investigate property and there would be somebody above them to give them direction. Stutsman wondered if that would be Horne. Harney said he wouldn’t feel comfortable without having some type of research done. He said they are looking at a lot of projects, but they don’t have a good direction as to who should be the person in the lead of that. Shields asked if they all agreed the overall responsibility in the County for the long-range facility manager rests with the Board. He said they would be the fundamental leaders in organizing a long-range plan with input from many people. Neuzil said they kind of have an avenue in the sense of the Space Needs Committee that would be able to at least make some suggestions. Slockett said he said it shouldn’t be Horne because he is new, he doesn’t have the perspective, and doesn’t know the community. He said there needs to be somebody who the Board puts in charge of communicating on the matter and then they abide by that route for communications. He thought it should be somebody like White if he’d be willing because of his resources and his knowledge of the community.

Shields said that from the outside looking in and knowing the local government, that the Board has to have a responsibility for pulling all of the different needs together and putting it in a plan. White said that a multi-member Board doesn’t administer effectively. Shields said he was still at the policy level. He said as far as he knows they still don’t have a multi-year plan in place about how to address the needs. He said it is the Board that lays that out. White said the Space Needs Committee made a recommendation. Lehman said they need to define roles after that of who does what. Stutsman said they have a plan, but they haven’t said what they are going to do year by year and she thought they were still being wishy-washy about their space needs. She said they are defeating themselves by not making decisions. Shields said they haven’t had a person to do the research though. Thompson said that this year the Board focused on the Space Needs Committee and they limited that to identifying the needs and making some recommendations to the Board about what priorities might be. She said they still need that long range plan and the Space Needs Committee was not working on the Courthouse or the County Home property so there are two facets to that plan that are going to come from outside the committee. Shields asked if they had agreement on what the issue is. He said the Board still has responsibility for planning whether they are using the Space Needs Committee or not. He said there are a couple of different operational issues, one being research. He said the other is how to sell it, package it, and pull it together. White said he is more concerned about how to staff the decision-making. Thompson said that in the past, they have relied on White. White asked why the Space Needs Committee was not working on the Courthouse or the County Farm. He brought up the issue of the property north of the Ambulance Building that is available. He stated that opportunity never matches up with the available money. He wondered if the Director of the Ambulance Department should staff that and bring a proposal to the Board. How does that decision get to the decision-makers? Thompson said they also need to work fast to decide before the property is bought up. White said the long-term advantage of a plan in place that says we go. Stutsman said it is so cumbersome having all these people involved and cited the example of the University. Shields said they need the framework of a plan that encompasses all the short-term and long-term needs and the Board with input determines priorities. With that in place an individual would know what to research and could lead to opportunities down the road. He mentioned city governments that have a list of properties that if they become open, they know if they want to buy them or not. He asked for clarification that the long-range facility plan would include implementation methods. Lehman said they should state that as define roles in decision-making and implementation. Shields added the word staffing.

Recessed at 11:05 a.m.; reconvened at 11:10 a.m.

Shields moved on to the next topic of Economic Development. Neuzil said some of these things probably don’t have as much impact necessarily on other elected officials like the economic development and transportation planning. He said this is a brand new thing for Johnson County in that they are coming up with a plan for how to encourage economic development and what kind of economic development is good for Johnson County and what kind is bad. He asked, how do they work with outlying communities to help them support the economic development? He said it is in the very early stages and they are right now just starting to get a concept through the Planning and Zoning Department. He wondered if they could identify areas in Johnson County where there is good development and what kind of development should occur in those areas. He said one would be Herbert Hoover Highway, another would be out by the Johnson County Fairgrounds said they do have a rough draft that they circulated and received comments back from Iowa City, North Liberty, and ICAD. He said some of the more detailed stuff as far as issues haven’t been laid out. Stutsman asked for other comments from other elected officials about the economic development, transportation, and comprehensive land use. Carpenter wondered about 965 from North Liberty to Swisher, whether that was prime ground. Lehman stated that comes into working with ICAD and the technology corridor.

Slockett said Iowa City has an almost schizophrenic approach to economic development. He said there is a big group of people against it and then there are boosters who want to promote it at all costs. He mentioned an Iowa State professor who used to live in Iowa City named David Swenson. He said he’s a great person to talk to about these issues because he has data you can’t believe. Swenson produced a map showing where economic development monies went and where economic development occurred and there was almost no correlation. Slockett said that Swenson’s basic theory was you can’t create economic development by spending money on economic development. Stutsman said part of this discussion came in when the Rudi’s Bakery came into being. She said there was a policy years ago about what the County’s role would be. She said they need to decide if they are going to put money in some of the new buildings and those also have to be decided right then and there when a project comes up. Slockett said there was no County funding that went into Rudi’s. Stutsman agreed, saying they only facilitated the bonding. Lehman stated they took some time. Stutsman said it was good that the policy was already in place, citing the quick turnaround needed for the Rudi’s project. Neuzil said they need to decide if they need an economic development policy at all. He mentioned the fact that Linn County does not have one; they provide $25,000 to Priority One. Stutsman brought up Novartis Seeds who periodically approaches the Board about tax abatements for expanding their company. She noted the Board is uncertain in such an instance until they poll individual Board members. She stated it’s better to react to things like that with a written policy rather than polling individual Board members. Neuzil said that is what they will be looking at for all these different kinds of questions. Stutsman said Kriz should probably be on the economic development issue because when they look at tax abatements she would want to know his input about that. Neuzil said they could really go through every elected official. He mentioned what kind of impact it’s going to have on the Sheriff, as far as generating a new pocket of development. He said that heavy industrial development is going to mean different kinds of services, emergency services.

Shields said they need to determine what the County’s role is in the realm. He asked, should they proactively determine that rather than simply being responsive when things are put on the table? He said there were any number of correct answers to that question. Thompson said the product of this meeting would be a working paper; it was a chance to lay the issues out on the table and let everyone look at them.

Shields asked for questions regarding transportation planning. White asked about the relationship to the Secondary Roads budget and wondered if it was something outside of Secondary Roads. He said that as soon as the road performance standards were adopted they were going to create more pressure to pave more roads and that is starting to show up already. He didn’t think there was any question of the funds being available because there were roads that logically need paving. He said the question is whether it includes Secondary Roads or if it’s something separate. Thompson said she would be interested in looking at other roads like 965. Stutsman said they had put this on as an outcome or vision statement to say how they see their role in the corridor concept and how transportation plays a role in that. She mentioned the SEATS busses and the possibility of a more regional transportation system. Shields said that explore was a well-chosen word and the Board was saying that transportation might rise beyond what they have dealt with traditionally in the Secondary Roads budget. He said they need to begin to explore those concepts. White said those are traditionally done through JCCOG.

There were no comments under this goal.

Shields brought up the next subject of Human Services goal. Neuzil stated that they would probably be working on this sooner rather than later, and particularly if the State of Iowa reduces the amount of money that the County is allowed to spend on Human Services. He said they would have to come up fairly quickly with a strong list of priorities and what are things that are mandated that they have to require and what things might be able to cut if they have to cut. Stutsman said that the County has always taken a very proactive role in Human Services, a good portion of the budget, and wondered if they would be able to continue to provide those kinds of services. Harney said SEATS is also a part of it in deciding whether they are going to have to make those cuts. Shields stated that what they have developed in Iowa has become a very complex set of inter-relationships and things need to be level around the idea of social services. He said the old notion of it being the county’s realm is somewhat true, but not the way it was 10 or 12 years ago. He said at some point they would have to take a broader look at it and look at what’s going on inside this realm. Thompson said she was worried. There is a five year limit on Federal eligibility for welfare, and as more clients come to the end of five years and don’t have jobs, it looks like they come back to the County, which is a responsibility the counties haven’t had since the 30’s.

Shields brought up the subject of Health Care Benefits and stated it was an issue internal to the County. He asked if everyone was aware of the trend-line. He said that there is no end in sight, according to the experts. Slockett said it was so sad because it’s one of the things the County has done a terrific job providing the benefit to employees in the past. He said he keeps hearing County HMO and all of the things that they have been reading about affecting everybody else negatively will be affecting the County now. Shields said that since August, while traveling around the State of Iowa, he has seen everything from a 15% increase to a 300% increase in health care costs for the local governments. He said that more importantly is that no one foresees anything less than double-digit increases in the foreseeable future. He stated that no one knows what paradigms will emerge now. He said that the HMO’s are collapsing and that is driving the issue nationally. Slockett said their voters and the public may support health benefits more than almost anywhere else with the University of Iowa Hospitals. He thought they might bite the bullet for those types of costs more than in other communities. White thought that an employee could read this and assume they think something is wrong with where they now are. Thompson said what is wrong with it is it keeps costing more every year and from a cost-benefit standpoint, when they say to the bargaining units are you willing to take a lower pay raise in order to get health insurance, they say we want both. Slockett said that is with good reason from his employees. White said they are already underpaid. Carpenter agreed that is the real problem, that if they look at the wages at the end of the year, they are way under Coralville, Iowa City, and the University. He said they do have a good health care package that they have maintained to make up for some of that. He didn’t see how they could change that with the tax base they have right now. Stutsman said she hears from the business community that they choke when they hear what the County’s health package is because they say they can’t provide that to their employees. She said they have to balance that. She said that the health care in the budget almost took care of all the allowable growth. Thompson said they stated the goal to say effective review of increasing costs rather than change the whole system, and they didn’t say anything about decreasing. Stutsman said that it’s good that they are recognizing that they have to deal with this. She said the Board may decide it is important enough to provide the continued coverage and find some way to fund it.

Shields said it goes right back to the labor relations issue in many instances. He said there would be some tough years ahead in terms of labor relations in local government around health care unless the trends change. He said a lot of time the local governments are locked in to what those provisions are. He said he didn’t know of any city that he works with that doesn’t have labor negotiations coming up that is not going to put this on the table. He said it’s not a common practice, but it’s almost common to have 100% coverage of local government employees around the state. He projected that in three years as contracts expire, there will only be a handful of 100% coverage in local governments in the future. He said they will have to look at the whole compensation package. In reference to the item list under Action Areas:, a. Explore labor relations issues, White said that the way it is written using the term labor relations almost automatically means unions. He said not nearly all of the employees are in unions. He said the discussion about health insurance unnerves employees more than any other thing they talk about. He said if this is going to stay in key strategic goals, it ought to be expanded to include as an action area making clear that all of the employees are going to be able to participate in the discussion. There was general agreement. Neuzil said they could say explore employee relations issues. Slockett stated that one problem is that the employees aren’t all under the same union. Neuzil said consistency would be a big part of making sure that everyone is receiving the same kind of coverage. White stated that when the County made the decision that it wanted to transition from one plan to what was then called Iowa 500, it took three or four years to do that moving through the individual union contracts.

Shields stated that if health care costs continue to be the budgetary issue they are today, one of the risks for cities and counties is going to be that they will have different classes of employees based on the success at the table. He said it has been many local governments’ goal to have equity and this will put that at risk. Stutsman said they had recognized this was going to be a big issue to be handled very carefully. Slockett wondered if they could communicate effectively to the Federal government to do something about this. Stutsman said that would be another action area, to continue to lobby for healthcare reform. White wondered who that would be, would it be Congress or the President? They have talked about it for years. He said nobody has an answer because the problem is simply that the cost of healthcare in today’s society is going up fast. He said people want to live longer and be well and the healthcare delivery system is meeting a need, but it’s expensive. Slockett said it is significantly less in Canada. Shields said that General Motors is going after the prescription drug companies and looking at legal action because of their behavior in regards to advertising and how that’s affecting their bottom line in providing health benefits. He said that is one of the pieces that is driving up the costs.

Shields brought up the next topic of Teamwork in the Board relationships with elected officials and staff. Slockett said they don’t always agree with each other and one problem is how that affects teamwork and communication. He said that he personally thinks it shouldn’t and when they disagree with each other they should still be able to work cooperatively and function and communicate. He said the disagreement is in many ways an advantage because the other party informs you what the arguments are against whatever it is you are doing or not doing, which only works to your advantage. He said it is human nature when someone disagrees with you to ignore them and go around them. He said, in government, it is better not to do that. If a person disagrees with you they are giving you information about how to persuade people. Shields said they need to not take it personally. He said there will be conflicting vested interests, personal interests, organizational interests and it’s not just the matter of conflicting opinions. He said conflict is a natural function of people working together. Slockett said the voters are not concerned about disagreement among the elected officials, that it is healthy. He thought a good example was in the last election, in which the jail was an issue on which he and the Sheriff disagreed. He said the bond issue lost county-wide and the top vote getter was Carpenter. Shields said that when you are an elected official, the potential for these kinds of things is even greater than some other settings. He said that the overall performance of the whole organization rests to some degree on all of them being able to work together effectively. He thought that even though the public elects them to individual offices, the citizens also have a right to expect that they do work together effectively.

Painter said this group of people has good communication and she’s been pleased with the conversations they’ve had. She said there has been some defensiveness, but that’s to be expected. She noted their different interests and ideas and that overall they have made good progress. White suggested they need to work at it, though. He said the elected officials meetings grew out of a process similar to the strategic planning meeting and they have hit a plateau in figuring out what to do with those meetings. He thought the answer would be to devise a list of topics and somebody could be assigned to staff and do a presentation on that. He suggested health insurance for a topic on which a staff member could research a paper and presentation on what are the three to five year trends. Board of Supervisors Administrative Assistant Carol Peters said the Board has already taken some proactive steps regarding healthcare mandates by authorizing the County to participate in a group bidding. White said that is a perfect example of having to move carefully to avoid employee reaction. He said the non-Board elected officials and department heads need to be kept on board for that decision-making so people don’t get worried. Peters said, to alleviate any fears, the bidding process was encompassing the very same package. Shields summarized that they needed to develop more specific agendas for the elected officials meetings. He also said they should get a more in-depth background of the strategic issues.

Painter said they didn’t have media participation for a long time and they have been coming to the last couple of meetings. She thought that can place a damper on people’s ability to discuss the issues. Neuzil said he didn’t say some things that he wanted to say in a prior strategic planning meeting because of the media presence. Stutsman said that they discuss staff teamwork a lot, but they didn’t have any goals or action areas regarding staff. Recalling a staff meeting in the past, she thought they could have continued the staff meetings, even though they have to do those after hours. White said it is important to have some focus in those meetings. Slockett said it would have to be on the payroll because it’s a County meeting. Stutsman stated the meeting before was after hours and people came on their own time, but weren’t required to come. Slockett said there needs to be no expectation of the staff to attend or there could be a grievance. Neuzil asked Shields if they were missing anything and whether they addressed the problems thoroughly. Lehman wondered if grants needed to be bulleted under several areas. Neuzil said he was wondering about how to generate additional revenue without raising taxes, whether it means fees or other ways. Lehman suggested economic development to expand the tax base. Neuzil wondered if they needed a grant writer in Johnson County. He mentioned that the University of Iowa has quite a number. Slockett thought they had decided they would do it on an item for item basis. Lehman said there was money in the budget but it wasn’t spent. Slockett said that grants expire, but if they can get start-up costs, it’s a good idea. After the grant money expires and you have a tax limitation, he asked how do you fund it? He said that some people are reluctant to apply for grants for that reason, because it causes expenses later.

Shields said he had try to record all the changes and he would try to get it back to the members present. He then reviewed the additions. On the technology plan they added the idea of reviewing information technology support policies and practices. He stated they added develop information technology policies, for example reviewing legal issues in relationship to information accessibility. Under financial management planning they added pre-budget meetings and to improve budget decision-making communication. He said that was a big area and the Board has been very aggressive in that area. Under facilities planning they added language to define the roles in decision-making and implementation and to look at the staffing or assistance; they may need to do that in the long-range facilities planning. In health care benefits, he joked that they are going to send Slockett to Washington to talk to his close friend Jim Nussle to try to get him to agree to universal healthcare on the Canadian model. He said they did change one word from labor to employee. He said, for teamwork, they were going to develop more targeted agendas for the elected officials’ meetings. He said they may explore County-wide meetings with staff. He said that as he looks at the list, there are a couple things highly specific to individual offices. One was possible State requirements for the Treasurer on drivers’ licenses. He didn’t think that would show up as a County-wide strategic issue. He mentioned the idea of being able to identify wireless calls on the Sheriff’s list. He said that was highly specific to that area of operation. He said that all other things mentioned across-the-board, they have talked about one way or another. He asked for any final comments.

Neuzil mentioned the ability to get the message out of what they actually do. He said he’s had a chance to work on the Communications Committee and he thought that the Committee is just starting to realize how important it can be in the sense of getting the word out and how they can justify the money they spend. He didn’t think Johnson County does a real good job of getting the word out to the community, statewide, and nationally. He stated the Committee had suggested things like a speakers’ bureau, an internal newsletter, and an external newsletter, which are just becoming effective. He said it’s an important part of the whole area for all of them, and how they market what they do. Shields said that it’s good for the other folks to be aware that that’s an issue for the Communications Committee. Lehman said getting the information out is helpful in saving time when there are new policies.

Shields asked if the elected officials thought the meeting was productive. White thought it was helpful. Shields said it was a pleasure to work with people he respects and he enjoys working with people trying to make communities better. He stated they could always feel comfortable calling him if they had a question and he would get back to them. He thanked them all as a citizen of the County for all they do. Neuzil said he had learned a lot in the meeting and that as a Board member it is important that if there is another elected official that has an idea or a concern, they need to approach him or the other Board members. He stated he was proud of the fact that all the County elected officials are at the table today. He said they were lucky they can all still work together. Painter thanked Shields for coming. White said the agreements page said review labor negotiations process and emerging issues with labor negotiations. He wondered if he needed to know anything about that. Shields said those were both related to healthcare discussions.

White asked about library funding. Harney said that the Board was going to look back and see if they were going to fund all the libraries and not just Iowa City, to see if they were distributing an appropriate amount of money to all libraries. White said they were approaching having contract proposals in front of them from Oxford, Solon, North Liberty, and Coralville. He said that North Liberty and Solon have nearly final drafts in their hands and it’s been a long time, delayed effort, which is another product of the new staff attorney’s, freeing up White’s time. He said those libraries should be on the agenda soon to discuss the contracts. He said he understood that they’ve all been requesting funds by the same formula that Iowa City’s contract provides. Stutsman said they should look at the libraries, but the Board wanted to look at all the funding, including the Senior Center and Ag Association. In regards to whether this is an emerging issue, Neuzil said they didn’t know where this topic should be included, so he just mentioned it. White suggested they put it under topics for discussion. Shields asked if there was a broader issue than library funding like review of 28Es and historical funding commitments. Stutsman suggested putting it under financial. Shields summarized by saying review 28Es and traditional funding commitments, under financial goals.

The elected officials scheduled their next meeting for June 20th at 1:30 p.m.

Neuzil asked White for an update on the June 10th Courthouse rededication. White stated they are finalizing a plaque to put on the front of the building to acknowledge the historic place designation by the National Register of Historic Places of the Department of the Interior. He said he was negotiating with Amana Furniture Company in ordering five clocks to replace clocks in five courtrooms. He stated he is trying to finalize the order for six Iowa Seals that are 15 or 18 inches wide that they could install in each courtroom. He said he was hoping to finalize soon a display case for a foundation stone that Bud Louis has donated to the County from the original County Courthouse at Napoleon. He said that Will Thompson, who has done some museum-like work for the University, would make a case for around $1,600. Thompson had suggested putting it in the entryway between the two sets of doors at one of the edges where there is a rounded edge to the alcove entryway. White said that bid includes a 2 foot by 3 foot museum storyboard that they would install at the left entrance which would include a depiction or two of the Courthouse and some historical information, including information about the architectural style. He said that Jim Leach will be getting a flag to them that has flown over the U.S. Capitol, which would be displayed in a case permanently somewhere in the Courthouse, depending on budget. He stated the Courthouse would be open at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday the 10th with an open house and tours, with Clinton and Harrison Streets closed. He said they were still working on refreshments with Clarence and Judy Haverkamp. He stated the platform program would start at 2:00 and the Governor hasn’t confirmed yet. He said that Justice Lavorato, who is the Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court has confirmed and will be a speaker, with Judge Russell as the emcee. He said that Terrence Neuzil’s brother, Wayne, will sing the national anthem. He said his daughter, Jennifer White, will be there from New York, and will sing something like America the Beautiful. He said the community band would present a concert when the platform program is over from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. He was hoping to get Bob Hibbs to do a slideshow in one of the upstairs courtrooms. He said the dedication in 1901 included a hot air balloon that people actually parachuted out of, so he was hoping to get the hot air balloon, which was a long shot. Stutsman said that Dennis Winegarden in Sharon Center did hot air ballooning. White said that is who he was going to contact.

White said, when he did the budget pitch, he had said $4,000, and he said there may actually be some room in his own budget that he could spend a couple thousand dollars out of. He said it’s been an eye opener raising the money, and the judges have done a lot of work, but they can’t raise any money. He said a few weeks ago he sent letters to First Star, Iowa State, University Credit Union, Hawkeye, and Hills Bank to tell them about the event and ask for a donation. He said that within three days after the letter went out, Hills Bank sent a check for $1,000. He said Iowa State called to tell him it was in the process and they hadn’t decided yet, but then sent a check for $250. Stutsman said Hills Bank is committed to community events. White said he has a meeting with the Masonic Temple Foundation Board and thought there might be a possibility that they would have a significant donation for them.

White said Judge Russell wanted to hang bunting from the front of the Courthouse, not just for the rededication, but for the major holidays. He stated that Facility Manager Mark Bulechek is working on finding what sort of work that would be and figuring out where it would be stored. He said he met Anne Hesse and Jim Maynard, who represent Project Green, and they want to do some sort of a landscaping project before the rededication. He said there is a follow up meeting on April 30th. White said Mid American Energy gives money to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to use for tree planting on the rationale that they cut down or trim trees and they have an obligation to assist with planting trees. He said they didn’t get that funding, but Natural Resources is going to give them at least $500 to buy some trees to plant between the sidewalk and the curb to recreate to a degree the old canopy tree appearance in front of the Courthouse. He said there would be up to four ash trees that would have a more vase-like shape. He said they would enlist the help of UAY to plant those trees. He said sometime after June 10th they might look at something to place on the foundation where the Ten Commandments is to be removed. There was discussion about differnet types of plantings and the maintenance involved.

Neuzil asked what the Board’s role should be, or if they needed any volunteers for anything. White said the open house would need people to be at stations. He said the most important role for the Board would be to be there to meet people and make them feel welcome. He said they would ask the Board if they wanted a representative to speak at the platform program at some point. White stated that Sue Feeney was working on an oil painting that hangs behind the judges bench in the large courtroom, and the painting is of a British legal dignitary authority named Blackstone who wrote lots of treatises and was instrumental in the history of American law. He said the painting is an oil painting by Isaac Wetherby who is an Iowa City painter/photographer who Wetherby’s Restaurant and Park is named after, and the painting is in pretty bad condition. He said Feeney had located an art expert who can clean and treat the painting to restore its color and its general visibility. He said it was an expensive process and she’s trying to find a benefactor who would be willing to ante up the $1,500 to $2,000 estimate to restore that painting.

White mentioned the Helzer murals that used to hang in the lobby of the Jefferson Hotel that disappeared and Feeney has tried to track them down and has located three or four of those still in town. He said one of them hangs at Longfellow School. He said that as a long-term project it would be good to get one of those donated to the County and install it on one of the walls in a north side courtroom. Stutsman wondered if invitations would go out to other county elected officials. White asked the Board for guidance on that. Lehman said they should invite the surrounding counties. Stutsman thought there was a way to email all the counties. White said the Visitors Bureau is going to do some sort of feature about the Courthouse and mention the event in their publication. White said they will move the platform program into the large Courtroom if it rains.

Neuzil said he wanted to invite everyone to be on his Sunday morning radio show to let everyone know what they do. Painter said she would love to do a short announcement to publicize registration deadlines. White said counties don’t do a very good job of using the public service announcement approach. He said most radio stations would run a tape of 30-seconds or less. Neuzil said one of the Senators provides the media with a taped message on the answering machine.

Adjourned at 12:50 p.m.

Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor

By Casie Parkins, Recording Secretary