Chairperson Harney called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 7:10 p.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Mike Lehman, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Carol Thompson.

Harney: The first item on the agenda is from Deb Schoenfelder, the Senior Center update.

Stutsman: Hi.

Harney: Sorry for the long wait.

Senior Center Commission Member Deb Schoenfelder: Well, that is what Carol said, too, but actually in comparison to where I work, which won’t be mentioned, this isn’t all that long. I have been known to sit in a lot longer meetings. It’s not a problem. I am going to report on our last meeting, which was December 17th. First of all, we elected new officers for 2003, and actually it was a reelection. We have the same officers again. So, Chair is Jay Honohan, Vice Chair JoAnne Hora and Secretary is Charity Rowley. Those were the same officers as we had the previous year. We had a report from the Participant Advisory Committee, mostly talking about the shortfall that we have to address at the Senior Center. As you can imagine, any of the feedback that we have gotten, we’ve gotten many different ideas, conflicting ideas, etc. Basically, what we came away with from that report was that it’s hard to get a consensus on how to make up that shortfall. In particular, the participants have been discussing the possibility of a membership fee. It sounded like they fell out about 50/50 on yay’s and nay’s for that. So, that seems to be still an issue for folks that we’re continuing to work on. The bulk of our meeting then was spent looking at a document. First of all we had our usual updates on operations, programs and volunteer efforts. But, the bulk of our meeting was spent looking at a document that I have here. It’s entitled, Planning for Change, FY04 Funding, Operational and Programming Changes at the Iowa City Johnson County Senior Center. This is a several page, 15 or 16 page document, that was prepared by Linda Kopping. Then, we spent the rest of the meeting going over that page by page, offering modifications, etc with that. Let me just summarize the document for you. First of all I would say that, and I know Linda would want me to say this, that it wasn’t just her document. She put it together, her own reading and research, but it also came from feedback from the Participant Advisory Committee as well as public meetings at the Senior Center and the Senior Center Commission itself. So, then she put this report together. It starts with some demographic on aging in the United States and Iowa, background information on the Senior Center, purpose of Senior Center programming how in the past traditionally the Senior Center has been financed. That was followed by some suggestions for short-term and long-term strategies for operational funding. Then addressed was programming. Here what was addressed was what might be continued in its same format and what we might see change. For instance, we’ve talked about programming that might be more short-term in nature, drop in and drop out. There is a feeling that people, especially the baby boomer generation that are coming of age if you will, might be more interested in that versus long-term sorts of programming. The same with volunteering. Might want to do some very short-term volunteering versus on a long-term basis. So, we are looking at some of those possible changes. Next addressed was options for membership fees as well as class fees. Understand, this is a working document. This is not the end all be all. It was a place to start with some discussion to pull together from feedback that we have gotten thus far. Marketing for the Senior Center was also addressed, then a timeline for transition and funding. As I look back at the timeline, let me just share this with you so that you will understand when you will be seeing some documentation of what we are doing. The timeline approved then was from December 02 to July 03, would be that the staff develops a written proposal outlining future changes in funding and programming. So, with this document in hand then, to actually come up with proposals, because for instance, this document talks about membership fees, but does not say it will be done this way. It gave some options of what might be possibilities. So, starting with that proposal from the staff, it will then be reviewed and modified by the Senior Center Commission. I believe that is going to happen. We have a special meeting set up the 2nd Tuesday in January. We meet regularly on the 3rd Tuesday. I believe that is when that will come forward and we will work on that and work on that only. Next would be the Senior Center presenting the proposal to the Center Advisory Committee for review and modification. It will also, as it has been modified then, will then be presented at a public meeting for review and more modification. So, we will continue to get more feedback. At that time then, it will come back to the Senior Center Commission to vote to approve or to not approve. If it is approved then, the plan will be reviewed, modified and resubmitted. If it is not approved, it will be modified and resubmitted. If it is approved, it will go to the City Manager, Johnson County Board of Supervisors for review and then finally submitted to the City Council of Iowa City for final approval. I didn’t mean to make that so long, but I wanted you to know that there is something coming forward that you will be seeing in writing as we continue to work on plans. It’s not only for budgeting operations, but it is also visioning for the Senior Center, what we would like to see in the next 10, 20, 30 etc years, so that we are forward looking. As with anything, things don’t stay as they are and we have new cohorts that we want to attract to the Senior Center. So, we are talking about image of the Senior Center, perhaps renaming it, how we want to change programming, what sorts of new programming. We just felt this was an opportune time to be doing this, along with discussing budgeting concerns as well. I believe that is all I have to say unless you have questions, or concerns, comments that I could share with the Commission. We’ve had some great discussions, and as I said at City Council when I was there not too long ago, no matter what we do, I just know there are going to be some unhappy folks, whether we have membership fees or we don’t, class fees etc. But, we are going to continue to look at what we feel is fair and inclusive for the Senior Center, and yet maintain the high quality of programming and participation we have there. So, we are very open to suggestions. But, at some point we will be making some decisions.

Lehman: I attended one of the public meetings and stuff. It was good discussion. You can tell people’s hearts are really into it.

Schoenfelder: They really are.

Lehman: I’d compliment the staff down there, the job they have done in the cut back on their budget so far. The people I have talked to said they visibly haven’t seen an impact, but the next step may.

Schoenfelder: Yes, it might.

Lehman: I really compliment the people involved down there, the staff and stuff.

Schoenfelder: Yes, they’ve worked very, very hard on that. Thank you.

Harney: Thank you.

Stutsman: Good report.

Schoenfelder: Thank you.

Harney: Next is Business from Elaine Sweet, Director of Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities referencing Service Provider Contracts, is that right, Mike?

Sweet: I’m bringing now 3 additional MH/DD Services Contracts for your consideration. These contracts are for ACAPT Associates in Counseling and Therapy, the Evert Connor Center and Pathways. These are 3 of our smaller contracts, but these agencies fill a very important niche for MH/DD Services clients. We have in the past contracted with ACAPT. These are new contracts for the Evert Connor Center and for Pathways. The Evert Connor Center provides counseling services to our clients. Pathways provides adult daycare. ACAPT and Pathways were not able to be in attendance this evening, but Chris O’Hanlon from the Evert Connor Center is with us. Again, this is a new contract. So, with your permission, maybe Chris could just take a minute to share with you what Evert Connor Center does.

Evert Connor Center Director Chris O’Hanlon: OK. Well, first of all, let me start off with I’m the new Director of the Evert Connor Center as of October 1st. So, between then and now I have been pretty busy trying to get a feel for all of this. I’ve been doing it for a very long time though, been involved in the counseling there. So, I have a very good understanding of what we do in independent living. I consider myself to be a perfect example of what independent living program and philosophy is all about. We want to have people with quality skills and abilities, but people who also have lifetime experience dealing with disability issues and understand it from a personal experience. We believe that people with disabilities should be in charge of their own programs and running their own lives as everyone should be in the world we all live in. We back it up by putting people with disabilities in charge of their programs. So, when I say I am the example, becoming the Director and really being in charge, having 51% of our Board of Directors has to be people with disabilities. So, we are really putting our money where our mouth is, so to speak. In the case of the contract, I agree it is one of the smaller contracts. It is a very minute portion of our budget. We get most of our funding from the federal government and from grants and so forth. We have to meet the standards and guidelines that the federal government establishes. Over the last 3 months I have been filling out the federal report. What we call the 704 report, which is our standards and indicators, which has this long list of things you have to do to be an independent living center. So, I have been very busy doing that to maintain that grant. But, what we do for Johnson County, which I’m sure is what you’re concerned about, is basically counseling services where we work one on one with individuals. Because we have been there, done that kind of thing, we provide a quality kind of counseling that is pretty hard to get from any other approach. We have very skilled people. I myself have a Masters Degree from the University of Iowa in Rehab Counseling, serve on the Advisory Counsel. Keith Ruff has been through the program at Iowa. So, it’s quality counseling with an added twist of lifetime experience. Keith does a lot of the contracting that… basically does all of it that we have had going so far in the past on counseling with individuals. He is a person who uses a wheelchair, uses PA services, provides that kind of support, lives with it. Has lived independently for years, helps deal with those day to day issues and understands what it is really like to be a person with a disability and to deal with those day to day issues. In counseling we call empathy is very, very strong. The skills and abilities and lifetime experiences are incredible. As you can tell, I am pretty proud of independent living. I think it is an approach that we all need. It’s not about charity. It’s about self-respect. It’s about taking care of yourself. It’s about providing people with the information and resources they need. Advocacy if they need it. Helping to get people started. The old theory of, if you give them a fish, they’ll eat today, if you teach them how to fish they will eat for a lifetime. We practice that in a wide scope. So, we do a very large umbrella of services, much larger than any other of the providers out here. But, when we focus in on certain core things that we do, we do them very well and counseling is one of those that I think we have been pretty efficient at providing for a long time. I could go on and on and on and on and on. If you have any questions, please. It would help me not to ramble on. I’m just so proud of it. I serve on the State Independent Living Council.

Stutsman: It’s great to see your enthusiasm.

O’Hanlon: It’s easy to be enthusiastic about it. As I was about to say, I serve on the State Independent Living Council, which is a governor appointed board, to oversee the development of independent living centers State wide. I have been on the Nichol Advisory Board for the national. It’s more of a whole national approach to providing services for people with disabilities. So, we bring it down from working with the individuals in the community, one on one, helping them deal with those issues to developing advocacy services, which we’re not billing you for, but we do those. Those come along with whatever we do because those resources are connected to that. So, it is very easy to be… They may be getting counseling, but they are also getting advocacy and information and referral and what is going on in the national level and all of these things that are immensely important to the lives of people with disabilities. So, to be enthusiastic about it is very easy. For me, that is my dedication in life. I had a CRC Certified Rehab Counselors Degree. To me, I don’t care to keep the credentials because I don’t really need them. This is what I am doing. This is my life for the rest of my life, is the independent living movement. It’s not about this job per se, because I will be doing this no matter what. Working with great people like Keith, when I walked in the door, Keith goes, you belong here. He was my mentor when I was in my internship program at Iowa. How do you beat that? He gets a job, he’s working, he’s providing income. He’s not drawing income from the community. In the process, he is teaching people like me, helping develop my self-esteem and my abilities and helping me develop and grow. As I have gone from being an intern to being the Director now, it’s been a long number of years, but that is what it is all about. How you do that, how you be a good example, how you be a role model, a peer. Not a peer sitting out there saying give me something, I need your help, don’t feel sorry for me. But, give me chance to work, don’t hold my disability against me. Don’t put the barriers there. Let’s get those out of the way. Let’s be expecting of ourselves so that we provide the other side of it. I always say it is a balancing between your rights and your responsibilities. I think sometimes we as people with disabilities have been used to raise money, feel sorry for us or what not and that really hurts. It’s not about charity. It’s about respect. It’s about equality. It’s about balancing that. I’ve got responsibilities, too. That’s another reason I do what I do because it’s about being responsible to your community. It’s about being out there doing things. I’m proud as I can be of it. So, I could go on and on.

Lehman: How long have you been associated with Evert Connor, Chris?

O’Hanlon: I want to say about 8 years, 9 years, probably 9 years now. I have been an intern there. I have worked as a counselor. I have done almost everything one way or another. I served on the Board of Directors for awhile. I did my internship there and then did a 2nd internship. Then, when I was doing that I went back and served on the Board of Directors because I wanted to stay associated with them. Then, when I got out of college and finished my degree, I stayed on. This was not all that long ago. My disability is physical, not all of it is, but it was at one time. I was sitting on the couch at home and kind of getting worse and worse and worse and kind of got nudged back into college by my wife with a crowbar and DVRS, which helped motivate me. A counselor there got me to back to school. That became my exercise program. Got through undergraduate school and said, well, what am I going to do now. I didn’t expect to get through that. But, then I got into the graduate program and Iowa has a great Masters Rehab Program. Again, having seen what they do and been through it, I serve on their Advisory Board. Dr. Tarvetis and Dr. Mackey are an incredible asset to this community. You guys sometimes don’t realize how valuable an asset the University may be, but the rest of the counseling profession in the country recognize the University of Iowa Rehab Program as top notch and rate it so continually. I think they are the only program in the Country that has 2 past Presidents of the National Association of Counseling and it’s a group you want to stay connected with. So, while we may just be small contract here, we do an immense job. We bring a good deal of money into the community in terms of grant money and so forth. We provide a lot of services that are hard to grasp. It’s like, when you do advocacy or you are trying for systems change, trying to make the system work better. You don’t always have these measured outcomes that are easy to get a hold of. It just is difficult. I always think of us as kind of the grease that makes the rest of it work better. But, if the rest of it is working better, like it is supposed to, then you shouldn’t have known the grease was there. So, we run into that quite often. I think we help people to live independently on their own. Well, then the people are living on their own, that is not you doing it. So, it’s not measurable. I think a good example is how the counseling services that we have provided have helped people to stay out of institutional care. That to me is beyond measure. You can’t measure the quality of life difference between being institutionalized or being able to live in the community. A lot of times the expectations people have for what an individual is capable of are far from the truth. People who can’t speak and don’t have mobility and need help getting out of bed, getting dressed, getting food, living their day to day life are capable of living independent lives. If they understand, how do I hire a personal attendant, how do I fire one, how do I be in charge of that process, how do I go through attendants and planning. Those are the kinds of things that the counseling helps people learn how to do. That’s why I am proud of it, because I have seen it do that, over and over again. Then, the people begin to learn, hey, yes, I can do this. We have kept people out of institutions. Sometimes they may have to go in for awhile to some institutional care, but then there is a chance to come out and we are there helping.

Lehman: I have to say your enthusiasm by…

O’Hanlon: Sorry I get carried away.

Harney: Congratulations on your accomplishments and your position. That is a real task that you have come through and attained. The outcome on that, it shows enthusiasm.

O’Hanlon: Well, let’s hope it shows professionalism.

Harney: It does.

O’Hanlon: I think that is really what we really need. When I say I think we’re the example, it’s because I want the professionalism along with. It’s not enough that people are there because they have a disability. We should be there because we are qualified to be there and we are good at it.

Stutsman: Elaine, is this the last of the contracts, aside from the non-traditional providers.

Sweet: Yes it is. It’s the last of the agency contracts.

Thompson: Is there a plan for these agencies to be in the CRIS process or will they always be outside?

Sweet: Because of the size they will probably always be outside the process. I could only echo though what Chris has said. While the Evert Connor Center is a small part of our contracting, the benefits that Johnson County derives from the Evert Connor Center go far beyond the contract. We have a very good working relationship with them. Johnson County clients are fortunate to have the Evert Connor Center.

O’Hanlon: I think there is that collaborative thing that happens, too. It’s not just that we are doing this in isolation with individuals. We are working with other people involved in the care of those individuals. It’s kind of a collective effort.

Thompson: What process will you use to establish your rate with them in the spring then? Will they fill out a spreadsheet like CRIS?

Sweet: We will probably be looking at their audited financial statements and looking at Statewide rates. Again, the CRIS process is virtually in its infancy. We will be looking at approximations and ranges more so than actual rates. The contracts that I bring to you, I have looked at comparable rates across the State and within Johnson County. The rates that are proposed are right in line with what we are paying other agencies and what other counties are paying for like services across the State. At least with the paper shuffle, I think I am getting closer to perfecting this process. I did not copy the entire contract documents for you, because they’re standard. The only thing that changes in those contracts are attachments A and B. A is a description of services and B is the proposed rates. So, you have those 2 documents for each of the agencies, with associates in counseling and psychotherapy. They provide only one service, which is described on page 13, attachment A and then the proposed rate for that service is on page 14. Likewise, for Evert Connor Center, they provide psychotherapeutic treatment for counseling and the proposed unit rate is on attachment B. Again, for Pathways, Pathways provides one service, which is adult daycare, but they provide different levels of adult daycare depending on the level of need of the client. Again, these rates are right in line with other providers and with providers across the State.

Stutsman: Elaine, who monitors these contracts to make sure that the provider is providing that service?

Sweet: On a routine basis, primarily that falls into the role of the Case Manager. It’s the Case Manager that calls the staffing and calls the teams together, with the providers being part of that. The Case Managers select the quarterly reports. They work with clients to be sure that clients are getting the needs, that their needs are being met at a level of service that is required. Our quality assurance initiative last summer was the first time that we actually had someone from the outside coming in and going in and looking at the agencies and comparing what the agency records reflected with regard to the contracts. So, that was a first time experience last summer that we hope to be able to continue. Not on that extensive of a level. But, our exercise last summer provided a good baseline for us to continue that and continue hopefully rotating through that, maybe a biannual basis or something like that. That is something we’ll have to talk about.

Thompson: So these would be on for next week?

Sweet: The non-traditional provider contracts, I am going to be working with the County Attorney’s Office and developing something shorter than the multi-page document that we have now. I am in the process of collecting some samples from other counties and working with the County Attorney’s Office on that.

Stutsman: When is a reasonable time that we could expect to see those?

Sweet: I will get them to you as soon as I can. It’s a priority. I have met with the individuals and there were a number of concerns that came up in meeting with them. We had brief discussion about some quality issues at the Continuous Quality Improvement meeting this week. We have to be sure that we have a mechanism in place so that the non-traditional providers are held to the same standards as our agency providers. Right now that is not there.

O’Hanlon: I don’t know about that. I think after having spent the last 3 months filling out documentation, my standards for being an independent living center, it’s different than standards. That has been one of the things that has kept us in that category. Rather than going to get the standards accreditation that would have opened up the doors for a lot of typical funding, we have chosen because we are non-traditional. We are under the federal guidelines, which the standards and indicators… We are having a training at our center on Monday, just to go over some of the standards and indicators. We are bringing in someone from Illinois to teach more about that. Those are pretty high standards. The State has established that these are the standards here, but if we go by those standards, then we become that same thing and we don’t want to be that. We want to be what we are. It’s different. It may not be…

Sweet: Perhaps I just need to define non-traditional. We are in no means addressing the Evert Connor Center. In Johnson County, our terminology non-traditional means individuals that just go into business without having to meet anyone’s standards.

O’Hanlon: OK. Sorry.

Sweet: I certainly wasn’t suggesting the Evert Connor Center didn’t meet and exceed standards.

O’Hanlon: Good. I just wanted to clear that up.

Harney: We’ll put these on for next week then. Is there any further business that you have?

Sweet: That is all for tonight. Thank you very much.

Harney: Thank you.

Stutsman: Thank you for coming Chris.

O’Hanlon: Thank you for listening.

Harney: Is there any business from the County Attorney?

Assistant County Attorney Janet Lyness: None, thank you.

Harney: Reports and Inquiries. Business from the Board of Supervisors. Discussion/action needed referencing appointment to Johnson County Integrated Roadside Vegetation Management Committee for an unexpired term ending June 30, 2005. This is one that we would expect to appoint a female for gender balance on that Committee. We have several applications.

Stutsman: Actually, Pat and I met with Mike and Al this morning as liaisons to Secondary Roads. We talked just briefly about this appointment. My understanding was that these are applicants that were carried over from last year, that we keep their applications on file.

Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan: Correct.

Stutsman: Mike did contact all of the applicants and they are still interested in being considered. Like Pat said, for gender balance, we do need to probably appoint a woman. Beyond that, Mike didn’t have any suggestions or whatever. We have 2 people to… Well, if we are considering just female, we have 2 to consider then. That would be Judy Nauseef and Kris Frisbie. Now, I notice that Judy does live in the rural area.

Thompson: She’s a landscape gardener. She could add a lot to the Committee.

Stutsman: I’d be comfortable with appointing Judy Nauseef.

Harney: Do we have a motion to that effect?

Stutsman: We have to put it on for next week.

Lehman: Give some more thought to that and put it on for next week.

Harney: Review those closer.

Harney: Next item is discussion/action needed referencing Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities audit response.

Thompson: In your packet you have a memo from Mike and me. We were the 2 Board members appointed to work with the County Attorney’s workgroup regarding the MH/DD special audit. As well as Sally did some meetings with the Auditors. This memo is intended to explain to you how the different items from the audit were handled. The Auditor’s staff is here, too, to help us. The items that were labeled as questionable or prepayments on the special audit… When we turned in the County’s annual report for the end of last year, those amounts were shown, the questionable amounts were shown as receivables. Which means that more or less our bill is owed to the County and the prepayments of course were listed as expenses in the 2003 Fiscal Year. I did want to note that this doesn’t affect taxation in any way. That money is all out there. I’m sorry I misspoke. The questionable and prepayments were listed as Fiscal Year 03 accruals, that unallowable items were shown as receivables. This means that as a Board, we will have to decide how to recover those funds. The Auditors pretty much made it clear that there wasn’t an alternative to recovering the funds. We asked about as many questions as we could think of and didn’t really get any satisfactory responses. So, we also were told that it would be responsible to ask for interest if we gave a long time for the repayment. So, what we are recommending is that the 1st amount, the Block Grants and provider grants, that those agencies be allowed to repay what they owe over a 10-year period at 1% interest, which is about as favorable terms for the agencies as we thought we could justify. We noted that the Auditors made special mention of the fact that the agencies acted in good faith and did nothing wrong in receiving this money. So, it does seem right to allow repayment terms that are favorable for the agencies. There was also some equipment purchased for providers that was never distributed to them. Information Services tells us that they can use that equipment as part of the 2003 equipment purchase. So, they would just pay the receivable amount back to the MH/DD fund and the equipment would go into the regular equipment purchase for this year. The HIPAA amount, that also will have to be repaid, but we’re not sure that the Auditors correctly understood the way the money was spent. So, we recommend that Board members and staff meet with the agency representatives and try to construct a more equitable repayment plan. What the Auditors did was, there were 12 agencies plus MH/DD that used the service. They just divided it by 13 and assigned 1/13 to everyone. We think that in actual fact the County used more of the service than the agencies and that the bigger agencies used more of the time than the smaller ones. So, it seemed like it would be fair if we sat down with them and tried to reconstruct. We are not sure we can find documentation, but if we can, the auditors indicated that they would consider a different repayment plan. Then, the last item in that category was the Chatham Oaks Retroactive Rate Adjustment. Here again, the Auditors understand that Chatham Oaks received the money in good faith and didn’t do anything wrong. We had a lot of discussion about this and everyone understands that the MH/DD Director advised the Board that Chatham Oaks’ service rate would be recalculated and that all of us as Board members agreed that we heard that and intended to do that. But, with no contractual language and with no documentation of our intent, the Auditors won’t allow the payment. Janet spent hours looking through minutes trying to find some place where we actually talked about that and could document it, but it is not there.

Harney: I would like to go over this perhaps in a work session where we could discuss this further, if there are any options. I don’t think I have enough to act on this and I would certainly like to sit down and perhaps Eide Bailley and the County Attorney’s Office or someone and go over and fully understand what our options may or may not be on this and what the procedures need to be on this and what the procedures need to be.

Stutsman: I would agree with that, too Pat. I see it too as an educational process because I take what things were said in this audit, not just in this department, but Countywide. I want to have a clear understanding of contracts, what we need to have in place, who monitors them, because we have other contracts with the County and I just want to make sure that we are doing everything that the Auditor says across the Board. I want education, too, as far as what is the public good, what is their definition of that, just so that I can be very assured as my role as a Supervisor that we don’t ever get into this situation again. I think so many of the things that happened were… I really do feel, there was no intentional cooking the books or bad intentions. I think there were just some errors that were definitely made. I just want to make sure that we don’t get into that situation again.

Lehman: I think we need to have discussion with the providers, too, or for lack of a better term, any inconvenience we’ve caused to them. We’re looking at some type of…

Stutsman: Yes. I have some grave concerns about that. Just because providers did what was asked of them. I just really am concerned that they are going to carry the brunt of these consequences and that is simply not fair. Everyone of these providers runs on a shoestring budget. I think it is going to create a terrific hardship and I have some real concerns about that.

Thompson: The chart that is attached to the packet shows the amounts that each agency would be required to repay and I used the Auditors method for the HIPAA, 1/13 for everybody. It’s a substantial amount of money.

Stutsman: It is. We’ve all had experience working either on boards of non-profit agencies or working with non-profits through the United Way hearing and there is just not a lot of leeway with these agencies as far as recouping funds like that. They were just innocent of what happened. I just really regret and I just thought time and time and time and time again how we could have avoided this and it was just a series of errors that really got us to this point. I just really regret we’re to this point.

Lehman: Suggestion to schedule a work session?

Harney: Yes, I would like to schedule a work session if we can in the near future so that we can get this ironed out and decide where we are going and what avenues we have to do to get this cleared up.

Lehman: We can put some tentative dates down. We’ll need to check with other parties.

Stutsman: Who are we going to have a part of this work session?

Lehman: We were thinking of a work group with members of the Auditor’s.

Thompson: One of the things we talked about in our meetings with the Auditor and County Attorney is the need for an internal audit of this department. That would probably be a work group of people. Maybe a representative from the Board and…

Stutsman: Who made that recommendation?

Thompson: It was just discussed in the meeting. There are questions raised about the operation of the department that we need to look into, sort of a fact finding.

Lehman: Maybe a policy setting so it doesn’t happen again type thing.

Neuzil: We should probably do that for every single department, right, I think.

Thompson: The Auditors make it pretty clear that they don’t have these concerns about other departments.

Neuzil: That is because the Auditor hasn’t gone in and looked at every department yet. Maybe they are going to single that one out, too. I don’t know. If the State Auditor would spend more time probably auditing their own books than picking on one county then maybe they would find something there, too.

Stutsman: But we did ask them to come in. They were asked to come in and do the audit.

Neuzil: That could be interpreted different ways too.

Harney: My thoughts on this are is I think we need to put together a work session with the Board and with perhaps Eide Bailley and the Auditor and just get this together of how we are going to address this and get it done.

Stutsman: We definitely need to respond, too.

Harney: I think what we need to do is just set a couple of dates and have a work session to work through.

Thompson: I think it is important to meet with the agencies pretty soon because now that this will be in the newspapers they will be hearing what they are expected to pay back.

Neuzil: That is yet to be determined, too.

Thompson: That is going to be a great concern to them. Several of the agencies…

Harney: I think that is something we need to work out, too, is how that would be accomplished and at what rate. There are some that have obviously spent the money and I don’t know how we are going to address that. I think we need to work through that, too. But, I think we as a Board need to sit down and discuss that. I don’t want to just take a plan like this and say that this is what we are going to go with. I think we need to look through it more thoroughly and make decisions based on that.

Budget Coordinator Jeff Horne: I think you should ask Mr. Jenkins to come, too.

Stutsman: Or Annette, the other representative. I am looking at this as education, too. What is best practices, what things we need to put in place to make sure that we are very much in compliance with the State audit requirements.

Thompson: What about Carmen, the Eide Bailley…

Stutsman: That’s who I was meaning, Carmen. Where did I get Annette?

Horne: Annette is from the State Auditor.

Lyness: Annette might actually… She’s the one that I think came down and was actually here. If we got somebody from the State Auditors it would probably be her.

Horne: Well, a representative from the Auditor’s should come.

Lyness: But I think Carmen from Eide Bailley’s also… She helped us out, too, in the office, so she would probably a good one.

Lehman: That goes back to what Terrence said. We had discussions with Eide Bailley and the State Auditors and they didn’t necessarily… We didn’t hear the same answers. So, the people that we hired to do our normal fiscal auditing… So there is some confusion all the way along the line. I am not going to get into that full discussion now, but it needs to be addressed. We may understand who called the final shots but we need to make sure that everyone along the line is dotting their I’s and crossing their T’s the same and 2+2=4 in everybody’s books.

Harney: I have the afternoon of the 16th open. I think I could open up the 17th, the morning of the 17th. We have elected officials in the afternoon.

Lyness: I am not available on the afternoon of the 16th.

Stutsman: I’m not either.

Lyness: The 17th is OK.

Lehman: I won’t be available on Friday, the 17th.

Harney: OK.

Thompson: What about…

Stutsman: Does anybody have anything on their calendar on the 20th?

Lyness: I do.

Thompson: How about the afternoon of the 23rd or the morning of the 21st?

Stutsman: The afternoon of the 23rd looks good, for me anyway.

Harney: Which one?

Thompson: The afternoon of the 23rd.

Neuzil: Like early afternoon, like 1:00.

Thompson: That would be good.

Harney: Is anyone going to ISAC? We have a meeting. I don’t plan on going.

Neuzil: I know I am going to be at ISAC just on the Tuesday.

Stutsman: Same here.

Harney: The afternoon is fine on the 23rd for me.

Harney: How does that sit with the Auditor’s Department?

County Auditor Tom Slockett: I just tried to look at my Pocket PC and the battery is dead.

Harney: Uh-oh, everything is wiped out.

Stutsman: How about the Friday the 24th?

Thompson: In the afternoon I could.

Neuzil: I won’t be able to in the afternoon.

Harney: I have a meeting at 1:00, Sixth Judicial.

Neuzil: Friday morning is open.

Harney: The morning is fine.

Stutsman: I could do morning. Carol, you said you couldn’t do morning?

Harney: The 27th is wide open for me.

Stutsman: How about the afternoon of the 17th? Oh Mike, you said you…

Lehman: I’ll be here later in the afternoon, at like 2:00.

Harney: We have an Elected Officials Meeting that day.

Thompson: I won’t be here in the afternoon.

Stutsman: On the 17th. It’s a Friday, the 17th and we usually don’t have elected officials on Fridays.

Lehman: Terrence and I will have SEATS Advisory at 11:00.

Harney: If we don’t have that that is fine.

Neuzil: 1:30.

Stutsman: On the 17th.

Neuzil: On the 17th.

Stutsman: Carol, you can’t be here.

Thompson: I could come at like 3:00.

Neuzil: 3:00? 3:00 is open for me, too.

Stutsman: Me, too.

Lehman: At 3:00 on the 17th. Friday the 17th work?

Slockett: As far as I know.

Lehman: I’ll just put it down tentative.

Stutsman: All right. So that will be the date and not the 23rd, or are we coming up with an alternate date.

Thompson: Maybe we better keep a couple of them. Should we keep the 23rd for an alternate, or is that… Tom did you say you were gone then?

Stutsman: His battery is dead.

Neuzil: It is also ISAC.

Slockett: On the 23rd I’ll be gone for the day.

Stutsman: That’s what it was.

Thompson: What about Monday the 27th in the morning?

Stutsman: I can’t on the 27th in the morning.

Neuzil: Me neither.

Thompson: Late afternoon?

Stutsman: Could, yes.

Lehman: I’m good.

Thompson: Of course the people that come from Des Moines like to come in the middle of the day.

Stutsman: They like to come in the middle of the day?

Thompson: They drive here 2 hours then they drive back 2 hours.

Slockett: If I can’t personally be there, as long as Joe and Chris can be there... I think it’s useful to state that despite differences that might have been stated during the meetings, Eide Bailley, the State Auditor’s Office and the County Auditor’s Office are in agreement with these findings. I think that we will have adequate representation there for the work session if I can’t be there.

Neuzil: So, our 1st choice is the 17th.

Stutsman: At 3:00.

Neuzil: At 3:00 p.m. If that doesn’t work, maybe…

Stutsman: The 27th.

Neuzil: Sometime in the afternoon of the 27th. I think my flight will get back in town.

Stutsman: OK. I was just going to say, I bet the State Auditor is going to love to come out at 3:00 on a Friday afternoon.

Lyness: Maybe there is a game that night they could come to.

Thompson: You’re going to make the appointment with them.

Lyness: I can call them, sure. So, try for the 17th at 3:00.

Harney: How is the 15th looking?

Thompson: Or the 27th.

Lyness: The 27th? What time on the 27th?

Thompson: That was the 3:00. They are both 3:00 as a matter of fact.

Lyness: OK.

Thompson: What about the afternoon of the 30th?

Harney: I was thinking the 15th.

Thompson: The afternoon of the 15th.

Lehman: I’m free then.

Stutsman: Yes, I could change some things. We have Ambulance at 1:00. Should we try that?

Lehman: 1:00.

Neuzil: As an alternate date?

Stutsman: Yes.

Lyness: What time?

Thompson: 1:30, 1:00.

Neuzil: 1:30. Just throw that out.

Stutsman: Let’s have that be the 1st choice and then…

Neuzil: You want that one to be. OK.

Stutsman: Don’t you think? I think the Auditors would probably appreciate that, too.

Neuzil: All right.

Lyness: I’ll call them and then email and send everybody a…

Harney: Thank you.

Stutsman: I think it is important to get this resolved and move on.

Harney: OK. Next is Reports and Inquiries. Do you want to start Terry?

Neuzil: Sure. I’ll give a brief report. The Board of Supervisors met to discuss our strategic planning and we are getting ready for the big budget season here. In fact, the first meeting will be held tomorrow on the 10th of January. We will be discussing 2 particular area, public safety and court services. We will be discussing Ambulance, Medical Examiner, Block Grants, Juvenile Crime Prevention Grant, some special revenue funds. Then under the court services we’ll be discussing Juvenile Justice Administration and then the discussion. The budget season pretty much is here through the month of January and also the very beginning of February. Anyone interested, come on over and see how we are spending your money. Carol Thompson and I attended a GIS Committee Meeting today and I’d like to say that I now what digital orthophotography is and feel pretty good about that. To you lay people, that is aerial photography. Thank you very much. Point out my new technological findings here by going to the GIS, which stands for Geographic Information System. Channel 7, KWWL, I had a chance to go out to Camp Daybreak, which is potentially the site for the Muslim Youth Camp of America. KWWL wanted to do a story about that and I had a chance to meet with them and go over the issues with their reporters Saturday morning. It was a little freezing rain, but it was pretty interesting to kind of walk through there and actually see some of the sites. So, that’s some of my week.

Harney: Sally.

Stutsman: I am just going to report to the Board about the meeting Pat and I had with Secondary Roads today. There were just a number of issues that we talked about that are going to have some bearing on future Board meetings and things. We talked a little bit about the contracts that they do out to Secondary Roads and who monitors them and who approves those. They said they’ve had very good response from the County Attorney’s Office as far as approving contracts, especially since Andy has been on board. That has made a big difference. They are under a lot of review by the Department of Transportation as far as contract review and monitoring and things. Let’s see, Road Performance Standards, they are meeting with staff tomorrow. That probably will be on the Board’s agenda towards the end of the month. So, we will look for a date for that. Had some discussion about Izaak Walton. We’ve gotten a number of calls about that little bit of road between the railroad track and the Oakcrest Hill Road, who maintains that. So, that has been under discussion. Hills is going to deannex that part because we felt it was Hills’ responsibility to take care of that. They are in the process of deannexing that and working with the railroad on that. Now we understand that Iowa City might be interested in annexing that. So, I am going to visit with Karin Franklin and see what the plans are for Iowa City as far as that and see if we can’t get a result about who is going to maintain this little bit of road. There are a number of potholes. We understand that Mike has talked with S and G and they are willing to maintain it, if somebody initially fixes it. We appreciate S and G’s cooperation on that. We just need to get that resolved. We’ve also spent some time talking with the City of Cedar Rapids that is going to now take over a portion of 965 that comes into Johnson County. So, Secondary Roads is going to do some research on that and see if that in fact is true and what that means as far as future plans. So, we will be doing some follow up on that. We talked a little bit about striping along Sand Road. We’ve had a question about why we don’t do striping on the Sand Road portion from 520th down to Highway 22. Because that is chip seal, the policy of the County is not to put striping on those roads. It’s as Al Miller, Assistant Engineer said, it is like putting striping on a gravel road. It just doesn’t stay. So, until that is upgraded to a paved surface that won’t be striped. Secondary Roads is going to put on the Board’s agenda for informal discussion next, discussion about where we go now with the 5-Year Road Plan and the feasibility study. We need to give them some direction so they will be bringing that forward to talk about that. I think that is pretty well everything that we talked about today. So, we had a good meeting. Kevin Hackathorn was also present. He is the Maintenance Supervisor, so it is good to have him part of the discussion so we can get answers to issues that are brought before us. So, we will be meeting with them again at the end of the month on the 27th.

Harney: Thank you.

Harney: Mike.

Lehman: I might just touch on the Continuous Quality Assurance of the Mental Health Subcommittee that Terrence and I attended on Monday. We worked on goal setting and also we heard, they have a staff member whose name escapes me but maybe he just assume remain anonymous. But he has been working out at Oakdale security out there identifying inmates that may have mental illnesses that need to use the County services and stuff. It’s kind of new territory, but he spent almost 40 hours a week. I thought that was interesting information that we received in light of our Jail Task Forces. Just trying to identify maybe some of the inmates that we have in Johnson County Jail are transferred to Oakdale that need our type of services that would maybe rather than just incarceration and stuff. So, I thought it was real worthwhile information. That is all I have to add today.

Harney: Carol.

Thompson: FinCore met last Friday and we had interviews with the 2 companies and we’ve now added another one. The reason was that this company has a really good reputation for client services. It’s apparent to us now that the technology is well enough developed that either of the companies that we’ve already looked at would satisfy our needs and some people like one better and some liked another better. But, they are both really well developed products. Of course, we all point out constantly that they are going to look a lot better than what we’ve got now. But, we are going to look at this one because we didn’t see their current product when they were here last summer. They’ve upgraded their product. The reason most people didn’t like them last summer was that the product looked clunky and we don’t think it’s going to look as clunky, that’s a technical term by the way, when we see it now. On Monday, Mike and I went to Chatham Oaks and talked with them a little bit more about the housing development that they are talking about doing. I’d say it is still up in the air, wouldn’t you? It’s hard for that many people to form a partnership in the short time before January 24th. Then on Tuesday I attended my first trails meeting. That was pretty interesting. We got rave reviews on the Mehaffey Bridge Road. Everyone liked that except for the people who are opposed to the shoulder. Some people would prefer to have the trail separated from the roadway. But, everyone said it was a great addition to the County’s trails. Then they also mentioned, there has been some questions about the Water Plant Trail that will hook up to the south end of the Dubuque Street Trail. That is going to open in the summer of 2003, but it isn’t going to continue under the Interstate, like we had thought, because there is some problem with obtaining the right-of-way. So, people will be able to ride into the Water Plant from the Butler Bridge, but they will have to stop there at the edge of the Water Plant property and there won’t be any access to Iowa City that way. I couldn’t tell how long that was going to be. There has just been a delay. There was also discussion of the Hoover Nature Trail, which was the railroad right-of-way that goes from Oasis up through Solon on into Cedar Rapids. At some point in time, that had been a plan to develop that as a trail. Apparently it fell on hard times. Now there is a discussion of having that come over to Highway One and go up along Highway One. Or John Yapp suggested that maybe we would want to have it come over to Dubuque Street, run up Dubuque Street and out 180th Street. So, there is going to be some ongoing discussion of that. I don’t know how long it will be before the final trail gets paved. A little bit more about the GIS meeting this morning. The contract is ready now. It will be coming to the Board pretty soon for people who want to buy the data, so that they will able to buy it like a CD with all of our data on it. This will be for abstracting companies and maybe like people who determine whether you can buy land on a flood plain, whether it can get insured. Companies like that will buy this at a substantial price so that we will be able to recoup some of the GIS costs. That’s all I had.

Harney: Thank you.

Harney: Just to touch on a couple of things here. I attended the Jail Committee Meeting Wednesday at the Coralville Public Library. Very interesting, they are getting down to the real issues now and what may and may not be. If anyone is interested there is going to be a… Their next meeting is going to be February 12th at the Coralville Library from 12:30 until 4:30. It seems like a long time but there is a lot of things that they cover. It’s very interesting at this point. They’ve got like 3 or 4 meetings left and may be coming up with some type of recommendation, so that remains to be seen. The Board also conducted 3 department head evaluations this week. That took up some of our time. Jeff Horne and I attended the United Way budget hearings last night as well. That’s about all I have other than what Sally had covered.

Harney: Is there any Inquiries or Reports from the public? Not much left.

Harney: Item #7 is a report and discussion from Judy Perkins referencing negotiations with Secondary Roads and the Sheriff and SEATS and Ambulance and the Social Service Units. So, there is an Executive Session requested for that. So, we will be moving to the Executive Session.

Lyness: You need to take a vote on that.

Motion by Stutsman, second by Thompson, to enter Executive Session at 8:14 p.m. to discuss collective bargaining strategy for the Administrative, Secondary Roads, Sheriff, SEATS, Ambulance, and Social Services Units under section 20.17(3), Code of Iowa: "negotiating sessions, strategy meetings of public employees… shall be exempt from the provisions of chapter 21 (Official Meetings Open to the Public)." Roll call: aye: Neuzil, Stutsman, Harney, Lehman, Thompson.

Recessed at 8:14 p.m.; reconvened at 8:20 p.m.

Motion by Neuzil, second by Thompson, to leave Executive Session at 9:05 p.m. Roll call: aye: Neuzil, Stutsman, Harney, Lehman, Thompson.

Adjourned at 9:05 p.m.

Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor

By Casie Parkins, Recording Secretary