• Human Resources Administrator Lora Shramek: Travel Reimbursement Policy; and Insurance Committee

• Discussion: Press Releases

• Discussion: Communication with Department Employees

• Budget Coordinator Jeff Horne: Budget Process

• Reports/Updates from Department Heads

Chairperson Thompson called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building as a Department Head Meeting at 1:35 p.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Mike Lehman, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Carol Thompson.

Department heads present were: City Assessor Dennis Baldridge, Conservation Department Director Harry Graves, County Assessor William Greazel, County Attorney J. Patrick White, County Engineer Mike Gardner, County Recorder Kim Painter, County Treasurer Tom Kriz, Disaster Services Director Tom Hansen, Facilities Manager Mark Bulechek, General Relief Director Mary Kay Hull, Human Resources Administrator Lora Shramek, Information Services Director Jean Schultz, Interim Ambulance Director Steve Spenler, Juvenile Detention Officer Brandon Beaudry, Planning and Zoning Administrator Rick Dvorak, Public Health Director Ralph Wilmoth, and SEATS Director Lisa Dewey. Staff present were: Human Services Accountant Kathy Lynch, Sheriff's Major Duane Lewis, Board of Supervisors Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan, Board of Supervisors Budget Coordinator Jeff Horne and Auditor’s Office Recording Secretary Casie Parkins.

Human Resources Administrator Lora Shramek presented a handout with the existing travel reimbursement policy inside and the proposed travel reimbursement policy. Shramek said she has been working with Thompson and Stutsman on revising the policy. Shramek said she presented it to the Board of Supervisors on the informal agenda and sent it out to all of the department heads. She said she has received a lot of excellent feedback. Shramek said one of the comments she received is the need to have clarification for mileage reimbursement within the County and outside the County. There were also concerns from a couple of department heads who had employees submitting meals for dollar amounts they were not comfortable approving. She said the suggestion is to look at the State of Iowa’s Department of Revenue and Finance reimbursement schedule, who regularly update their research on meal and mileage reimbursement. She said prices and cost of living are adjusted for in the research. Neuzil asked if the State allows for different lodging reimbursements since lodging can be expensive in larger cities. Shramek said the State has a $45 and $68 lodging rate. Neuzil asked if the way the draft is written means an employee couldn’t exceed what the State lists for lodging. Shramek said yes and that she would need to add that the rates are for in state in the draft.

Shramek said the issue of reimbursement for snacks has come up. She said that items purchased in between meals would not be eligible for reimbursement. She said that in the current policy tips up to 15% are allowed, but recommendation would be to have the total amount on the schedule include any taxes or tips. Shramek said that employees, who are gone all day and eligible for all 3 meals, could look at the total amount allotted for the day and if they wanted to skip a meal they could and perhaps have a nicer meal in the evening. Public Health Department Director Ralph Wilmoth said the State has a meal and lodging schedule that shows breakfast, lunch and dinner are different amounts. Thompson said they had talked about just deleting the different amounts and having the total per day be $68, including hotels and meals in state. Juvenile Detention Office Brandon Beaudry said the difference between the State and the County is the State doesn’t require receipts for the meals, just lodging. Shramek said there are also times for claiming meals. Breakfast can be claimed if the employee departs before 7 a.m. and dinner if the employee is returning after 6 p.m.

Stutsman asked why the State expects boards, commissions and advisory councils to have more expensive meals than state employees do. County Attorney J. Patrick White said the State policy has created more ill will between the State of Iowa and its employees than virtually anything else has. He is not a fan of adopting the State schedule. White suggested that if department heads are wary about claims then they ought to manage their departments and make the decisions as to where people can stay. White said he discusses lodging with his employees. Wilmoth at the State, if you go to a conference, you could stay at the hotel the conference is held at regardless of the price. He has never seen this written anywhere, but it’s the practice he has experienced. White said that when you have an employee traveling, you plan in advance. Stutsman said it is important to have guidelines and is supportive of having something for people to follow. She said there needs to be standard consistent guidelines that apply across the County.

County Assessor William Greazel talked about state rates, government rates and ISAC rates and said that sometimes the government rate is the more expensive rate. White said that is often a negotiated package that there are a variety of considerations for. Disaster Services Coordinator Tom Hansen said there always has been an inconsistency in reimbursement between the different forms of government. Hansen asked if anything he spends over the allotted amount is to be covered by him. Stutsman said yes. Planning and Zoning Administrator Rick Dvorak said the ISAC spring conference rates are higher than the proposed County rates. He said he agrees there needs to be a policy, but possibly not this one if the County won’t even cover the costs of ISAC. Shramek asked if maybe it would be better to not adopt the lodging schedule. Stutsman suggested changing the policy to the best rate negotiable. Facilities Manager Mark Bulechek suggested just saying 3 meals a day totaling $23 for the day. Stutsman said she doesn’t like it that some employees spend $50 and some spend $150 for hotels. Dvorak asked if anyone has checked with other counties to see what they are doing. Shramek said they do have a copy of Linn County’s policy.

Shramek said White suggested language under the lodging section that instead of an employee has the right to request lodging of their choice, choice of lodging should be coordinated with the department heads. White said this is a discussion that should occur between the employee and the department head prior to a trip. Shramek asked if it would create any problems for department heads within the same collective bargaining unit if they allowed their employee to stay at a nicer hotel than another department head’s employee. White said anything could probably create a problem but this hasn’t been a problem yet. Beaudry said lodging hasn’t been much of an issue at the State because they just stay at the hotel where the conference is being held. SEATS Director Lisa Dewey said the DOT has a standard rate, but if someone is attending a conference at a hotel they just have to submit the paperwork showing the conference and hotel rate. She said the DOT also has a certain amount per day for meals. Harney said Iowa City has a set per day rate for meals in state and out of state. He suggested comparing what others do. He said he would like to see a better policy for spending X amount of dollars and the hotels are going to change depending on where you go. He said the department head could control that.

Shramek said she asked the State what some of the complaints are about their policy. Shramek said they said the biggest complaint is regarding the $6.00 lunch figure. White said he hears more complaints about the $45 lodging. He said that either he or his managing secretary makes the lodging arrangements for everyone in his department and doesn’t understand why individual employees are making their own arrangements. Lehman said to include in the policy having department heads be responsible for scheduling trips. Wilmoth said he has a lot of people going to Des Moines frequently and it would be burdensome to make arrangements for each person. White said it’s easier to make direct billing arrangements this way. He said this policy articulates this as a goal. He said it isn’t more burdensome, but it shifts the work from the employee to management, but it is the same amount of work. White said that if one person does this regularly, they are going to know more contacts, ask for the rates and get direct billing. Lehman said there should be one centralized person in the department making the arrangements and signing off on them. Hansen said he would hate to see education stopped because it is costing the employees. He said that a per diem is the best way he has ever seen it done. Thompson said the reason the meals are broken down is because if you are only going for the day, you don’t get $23, you only get lunch.

Sheriff’s Major Duane Lewis said they send people to conferences where lunch is a buffet costing $8. He said that only having $6 for lunch means that if the employees want to eat lunch with everyone else, the rest has to come out of their pocket. He said that if there are abuses or questions they should be addressed at that time. Lewis said he isn’t sure about having $23 for meals all day because some conferences provide lunch and breakfast and then the employee would have $23 for dinner. He said the employee shouldn’t have to cover extra meal costs for a conference they are being told they have to go to. Wilmoth said the State addresses this differently. He said the State would say the buffet is included at the meeting and to eat with everyone, pay what it costs and then get reimbursed the whole cost. Stutsman said that if the meal is included with the registration then it’s all included. White said Wilmoth is raising a different question. Wilmoth said it is similar in that they are expected to share a meal with the group as part of the meeting. White said he is concerned about the rigid language about snacks. He said there are people who need to eat more than the standard 3 meals per day for medical reasons. Shramek said accommodations could be made. White said the proposed policy doesn’t say that and employees probably wouldn’t just know that. Wilmoth said that maybe there needs to be something about department head discretion in the policy. Wilmoth said he wants some kind of guidance for his employees. He said he thinks a countywide policy is more beneficial than each department having a policy. Stutsman said she supports a policy because she likes to have consistency and guidelines for people. The department heads and Board of Supervisors decided to discuss this at the next Department Head Meeting. Shramek suggested having others work with her to draft a new policy.

Shramek said the Board of Supervisors want to start an insurance committee that ideally will have representatives from all 6 collective bargaining contracts, non-bargaining representatives and management representatives. She said she is looking at getting the best value for the dollar. She said she made some initial contacts with AFSCME representatives who are willing to participate on behalf of the unions.

Neuzil said the Communications Committee asked County Recorder Kim Painter and himself to put together information about what press releases should look like and why people should use them. He presented a media contact list and information on how to write a press release to the department heads. Schultz said that if people have press releases they should email them to Network Support Technician Tim Knipper so he can put them on the web.

Stutsman said a lot is discussed in meetings and it is important for department heads to communicate the information with employees. She said there has been feedback that employees don’t always get the information. She reminded everyone to keep their employees in the loop about things that are happening.

Budget Coordinator Jeff Horne said the first round of presentations is complete with the Board of Supervisors. The Board will start deliberating on January 10, 2002 and 4 meetings are scheduled after that to work on different parts of the budget. He said the valuations aren’t very high. Horne said that General Fund this year is 2.8% and last year it was 6.8%. They are also seeing a large drop in revenues. Horne said he is going to give an individual report to each department about what they are going to receive for next year once the Board of Supervisors is finished with the budget. White said he thinks people are more interested in hearing progress during budget deliberations rather than hearing what was allocated when the process is over. Stutsman suggested Horne update department heads at the end of each budget work session.

Dewey said SEATS is working with some of the cities they do nutrition services with. She said Elder Services is taking over the Senior Dining nutrition contract and Heritage has requested proposals for next year from SEATS. Dewey said their issue is whether or not to continue the nutrition contract, is it cost effective and are other options available. She said that under MH/DD there are out of County residents who utilize SEATS under MH/DD and they are going to be charged individually, not under the contract, beginning this month. She said they are making changes in the contracts and still having issues with their software.

Shramek said the new employee formal orientation process began yesterday. She said the session went well. Shramek reminded everyone to have his or her employee pre-register or call the Friday before the Monday of the orientation to have everything ready to go. Shramek said the Safety Committee’s first meeting ever is going to be January 23rd at 2:30 p.m. and thereafter every 4th Wednesday of the month. The Safety Committee is part of the ICMA, which is the new workers compensation and insurance carrier. She said they would look at workers compensation investigations, training education emergency procedures, etc. She said there is a new County Doctor at Mercy Occupational Health named Dr. Buck, who comes highly recommended from John Deere in Waterloo.

County Treasurer Tom Kriz said there are a number of people extremely upset over the parking issue. Kriz said people were pleased with the cost involved, but upset that people at other locations are not paying the same amounts. White said they pay $5 a month at the Courthouse. Kriz said people are looking for consistency. He said employee’s question why they would pay for parking when Ambulance employees don’t pay. Kriz said document imaging is continuing in their office and is marvelous. Kriz said a lot of departments have received file cabinets from the Treasurers Office and there is still a waiting list for people who want them.

Beaudry said they lost an employee in the round of layoffs that the judicial department experienced. He said they are going to be picking up the Circle Program, which is a support group for girls, and also a shoplifting program, which is an educational program for first time shoplifters.

Wilmoth said that there is an abundance this year of the influenza vaccine. There is going to be a loss by the agencies that have purchased and planned ahead. He said that it has been an unusually warm fall, so people don’t think they are going to get sick since it isn’t cold. He said influenza is also down this year, so people aren’t inclined to participate. Wilmoth said there has been an ongoing pertussis (whooping cough) outbreak that they think is winding down.

Conservation Director Harry Graves said they developed an extensive cross-country ski trail system and since then have had no snow. He said the great weather has allowed them to do a lot of activities that they didn’t anticipate getting done otherwise, like removing dead and diseased pine trees. Graves said they a forgivable loan in the amount of $29,205 from a solid waste alternative grant program, for an alternative environmental classroom playground.

Hansen said they are waiting for the equipment that was purchased through the $80,000 grant from the Department of Justice which will be here in February or March. Hansen said he just received word from Des Moines that they sent him another grant for $30,000 that has to be spent on educational projects. He said he plans to start a program of weather radios in all of the rural homes in Johnson County.

Bulechek said they are installing parking lot signs for restricted parking at the Administration Building. He said that if you park in a restricted area, you will get issued a ticket. Thompson asked what the first day on the official new parking plan is. Bulechek said he believes it is Monday.

Greazel said he has only been in office for one week. They are just finishing up their re-evaluation of Lone Tree and are getting ready for their busy season. He said they have a deadline of April 1st that they have to have everything assessed by. Thompson said she likes their new web site. Greazel said the web site has been up less than a month and has had almost 3,000 hits. He said the realtors and appraisers are very pleased with the new web site because it saves them a lot of time.

Lewis said they are still struggling with the jail population on a daily basis. Harney asked how many prisoners are in Linn County. Lewis said it went down a little bit over the holidays. He said they have been running between 10 and 20.

Painter said they are terrifically busy, largely because of the interest rate situation. She said that normally for this time of year they would be looking at 100-150 documents a day and they are well above 200. She said they are bringing in about as much money as they normally do.

City Assessor Dennis Baldridge said they are doing their normal beginning of the year projects. He said they are working with new exemptions and picking up assessments on new construction. He said he is trying to get through the transition period right now.

Dvorak said the Building Code Enforcement Program has been in place for a year now and the public is accepting it very well. Dvorak said permits are down. He said quality of construction is extremely good. He said they had a jump at the last of the year that they didn’t anticipate because the weather was so good and the interest rates were so good. He said he would have actual figures when he submits his annual report to the Board. Dvorak said he has been working with GIS Coordinator Rick Havel, Hansen, and Assistant Planner Dan Swartzendruber trying to create a 911 mapping system that would facilitate the 911 Board and every department in the County. Hansen has been trying to find grant money to facilitate this.

Schultz said there are several projects they are working on. She said one of the things is finishing the conversion from the old IBM terminals to PC’s at the Sheriffs Office. She said Knipper is finalizing a 12-month training schedule.

Interim Ambulance Director Steve Spenler said they are remaining busy at the Ambulance Department. He said they have new billing software they are trying to get up to speed on. He said many of the staff are working with the EMS Association, putting together their annual conference at the Radisson which will be February 15.

Human Services Accountant Kathy Lynch said Service Area Manager Cheryl Whitney wants the rest of the departments to know that she is going to be based primarily in Iowa City. She said Whitney’s responsibility is Supervisor of supervisors in the Cedar Rapids area and primarily Linn, Jones, Benton, Iowa and Johnson County.

Stutsman said they are in the process of looking for a new Ambulance Director. She said they have had one round of interviews and are going to have the 2nd round later in January. Stutsman said the Communications Committee is also working on having some type of recognition for all of the members of County boards and commissions.

The Board of Supervisors thanked all of the department heads for their work. She said that on January 11, 2002, at Senior Dining, there will be recognition for Senior Dining Director Mike Foster because it is the last big day before Elder Services takes over that program.

Adjourned at 2:52 p.m.

Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor

By Casie Parkins, Recording Secretary