Lacina: Just this afternoon at 1:30 we start with our meetings. At 2:00 is our Department Head Meeting. Tonight at 6:00 the 6th Judicial is having a legislative meeting in Cedar Rapids that you and I will hopefully attend and that's about all.
Lacina: OK, Jonathan.
Jordahl: Yes. After last week's meeting on Tuesday, I did go up to Cedar Rapids along with Charlie to the meeting of the Intermodal Surface Transportation, is it Efficiency or Enhancement, Act Priority Setting Meeting of the Technical Advisory Committee. If that isn't enough words for one meeting I don't know. It was mostly County Engineers that were there. I was just filling in for Joe who had to be out of town. What was accomplished was that our project first of all there was a mistake made, our project was listed as a lower priority than it really had. So we were moved from 5 to 3 during the meeting because the ratings had come out that way. Other counties had, and this is something I should mention about his meeting is that other counties did rate all of the counties' projects. We prioritized our project as number 1 and then gave everybody else 2s. We were alone in doing that. The other counties participating all did rank all 6 of the proposals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. There was some question about that during the meeting. It was like why does Johnson County do that? Internally, it's kind of like well they know their County better than we do, but in the spirit of regional cooperation I think there was sort of a sense that we would be better served in terms of the way we might be perceived as playing ball with everybody if we did prioritize other people's projects. It came out as sort of a tough thing. I was surprised to hear someone say publicly that a project maybe should not have the priority that the others have and begin to explain why when it was in somebody else's county. I thought it was very brave and a very good thing to do in terms of what is a balanced approach for the whole area? But that was easier for that person to do I guess being an Engineer rather than an elected official. Anyway, so wound up prioritizing the first 5 of the projects, which were Linn County's underpass, Brook Street in Vinton, a GPS System for Linn, a trail for Lisbon and a Dubuque Street bicycle project for us. So our bicycle project did prioritized. The question is will there be funding? Apparently the ISTEA Program has not been reauthorized at the federal level so we don't know yet how much, if any, money will be available. So we prioritized projects assuming that the same enhancement total of a million forty would recur, but we don't know that. The Main Street Amana project, which would cost a million 6 all by itself, in other words more than this year's entire allotment, was not prioritized at all. It was not just 6th. It was not put on the priority list at all. A lot of notes here. I don't know how much of this you want to hear, but 2 of the projects had been submitted, I'm a little bit confused by this, were bridge programs which they stated that they did not intend to use ISTEA funds in the first place. So those were withdrawn, which allowed the greater likelihood that other programs would be funded in fact and ours was Wapsi, IWV and South Wapsi Avenue resurfacing. It looked like those would fall within the budget that they have for 99. It is not clear, and Charlie may be able to shed some light on this, his being a member of the Roads Committee and a little bit more familiar with these Secondary Roads concerns as to whether we may have to put off for a year the paving of one section of Wapsi Avenue into FY 2000, South Wapsi Avenue, Rather than doing it in 99 because of constraints of funding. That's something that will need to be clarified. We might want to talk to the staff of ECICOG about exactly where that stands too.
Stutsman: Any other high points?
Jordahl: Got there an hour early and enjoyed having lunch at Kirkwood. Nice choice of cafeterias and coffee machines. Other than that, I've been working on the response to the Zoning Commission about how the Comprehensive Planning process will go forward and I'm heartened that we're at a kind of turning of page on that. We're submitting our responses to the Zoning Commission. We're meeting with a strategic planning person, Tim Shields from the Public Policy Institute on Friday and that'll be the first item on the agenda is to do the Comprehensive Plan. So that's going to get rolling I think.
Stutsman: Good. Joe.
Bolkcom: Yes. Just a quick follow up on that point. So we'll be talking about that on Friday. Will we have the... Has everybody got their comments in? I know some presented to Rick. It'd be good if everybody had copies of what everybody submitted so that we know kind of where people are coming from for Friday.
Jordahl: Uh-huh.
Bolkcom: I guess I'll circulate mine.
Stutsman: I'll have mine.
Jordahl: Yes and it's public record in any case. That makes sense.
Lacina: Mine's on disk. I dropped my lap top yesterday and so it's severely damaged. It's still in draft form so I may be a day or so late.
Jordahl: I'm already a day late, so it's a good plug.
Stutsman: Well I am too and I'm...
Lacina: They don't survive that drop very well.
Stutsman: I wish I had an excuse that I dropped it it's just the inadequacy of the operator.
Bolkcom: It sounded horrible when it hit the floor.
Lacina: Then one of the cards flew out and it was...
Bolkcom: Steve has 2 witnesses that his fell out.
Lacina: Yes, when you don't zip your bag and you pick it up it just kind of goes whop.
Bolkcom: I had a couple short things. Not last week, the week before, I've been away. But I'm now back. I attended the Healthy People 2000 leadership discussion on health issues and getting that going and Jude West was there. I've heard other people talk about Jude West I've never seen or been involved with one of his leadership presentations. He did a superb job of presenting what leadership is and how it works. It would be I think of some benefit to us as an organization to see if Jude would be available to do an hour or 2 for our department heads and elected officials on basically, I'd be excited to see the same presentation actually. He did about an hour, kind of flew through it because he had a lot to present. But I guess I'd throw that out as maybe something to talk about as an in service at some point. But I think it'd be very, very much worth the time.
Stutsman: Should we bring that up at the Department Head Meeting this afternoon?
Bolkcom: That would be fine.
Stutsman: I think there'd be interest.
Bolkcom: Mike Sullivan was there and Graham was there on health issues. So they were there. They might be able to chime in. I'd be willing to throw that on the table under other business if you want.
Stutsman: All right.
Bolkcom: Anyway, that happened. Also, ISAC week. Folks were over at ISAC. I took the day Thursday, which was one of the ISAC days to attend the Iowa Environmental Council's Water Quality Forum. They had about 200 people from around the State of Iowa that are working to address water quality issues. The theme of the program was looking at the past 10 years of the Iowa Ground Water Protection passed in 1987. How have we done? Over the last year they've had 4 different committees evaluating that and it came up with some recommendations and they had former legislators that had worked on that law and current legislators there and kind of a passing of the baton on a ceremony over the lunch hour to say here's what we've looked at the last year. Here are some priorities that we need to continue to focus on. The state leadership in the legislature was and Stu Iverson from the Republicans and Mike Gronstal and David Schrader from the Democrats and they all spoke and basically made some commitments to continue to push us on ahead in working on water quality issues in the coming session. So that was good. Paul Johnson...
Lacina: Vice President Gore, there was a very interesting article in the Wallace's Farmer about the new initiative to locate non-source pollutants in the water and to try to restrict those and Chesapeake Bay was given as an example and areas that are known problems where they might really start focusing in and stopping these sources of pollution. So it's a national initiative as well.
Bolkcom: That's great. I note Trees Forever, which is a state wide organization working on trees, on Wednesday is having a press conference with the Iowa Farm Bureau as part of their meetings this week on a buffer initiative that Farm Bureau and Trees Forever are working on on farms. So that's kind of exciting on private ground. Paul Johnson, the former Natural Resource Conservation Commission Head also spoke at that meeting. Finally, tomorrow Wednesday the 3rd at the Senior Center from 2 to 4 p.m. there's going to be a discussion of senior issues with some of our state legislative delegation. The Johnson County Task Force on Aging is sponsoring that. Harold Stager is taking the lead on that. We will be talking about the Older Iowa Legislature bills and then kind of opening it up to any other concerns. So everybody is welcome to attend that.
Stutsman: Good.
Bolkcom: That's it.
Stutsman: I wanted just to remind the Board to get your top 3 candidates for the S.E.A.T.S. Director position to Carol.
Jordahl: You want 3?
Stutsman: Well, I guess.
Jordahl: 4. What?
Peters: 3.
Stutsman: I guess we did say 3. I wanted to also ask the Board, we had talked about meeting with Cedar Rapids Council and was the Board interested in meeting just with the Mayor or with the entire Council?
Lacina: I would like to meet with the entire Council because of the way that Cedar Rapids government is structured. Nancy Evans is the Safety Commissioner and you've got the Parks Director and I think it would be good... And then we bump into them. Nancy and I served on the 6th Judicial together and Sally I think, I don't know if she was on the same time you were.
Stutsman: No. No, she wasn't.
Lacina: I think it would be good for us just to interact with that whole council if we can schedule it.
Stutsman: OK. Then I'll...
Lacina: What do you think... I mean...
Bolkcom: Oh, I think that's a good idea.
Jordahl: Yes. I think absolutely. In preparation for that it would be nice to get some documentation of... I don't know what plans Linn County may have on paper for their development in the right direction of Johnson County but...
Lacina: Brett was going to try to get their zoning map to show just what's above the border and I think that will help us some. It won't show things still continuing to come in, but we'll have an idea of what's there now. The other thing was Kirkwood. Kirkwood with their jobs program, I don't know if we want them involved in this one. Perhaps not now, but at some point I think we should sit down with them and see. They now have an enrollment I think a little under UNI as far as total enrollment and with some of the programs they're doing for job training and that they've got a lot going on. I don't know what they had planned for the area.
Bolkcom: It might be nice to see some of the documentation before we actually establish a meeting. Also, it might be interesting to have Swisher and Shueyville at least invited to sit in on that.
Jordahl: Yes.
Bolkcom: I mean, just to hear the discussion. I think our interest is to make sure, I know that there's a concern up in Shueyville about Cedar Rapids coming down and concurring them. I'm sure they'd be interested in any discussion we might be able to put together on the topic.
Stutsman: OK. Well, why don't I contact Mayor Clancy and see what their schedule is like and how we can work this out and then we'll deal with the details once we get something on the calendar.
Jordahl: With regard to Cedar Rapid's plan, I'm referring to whether they have something analogous to our Comprehensive Plan, a Future Land Use Plan, or something that talks about their vision and perhaps actual budgeted plans for this southern corridor of theirs'. It would be interesting to have that document before the meeting so we could talk intelligently.
Lacina: The Airport Board would probably have some good maps as far as their expansion and future growth as well. I think they're probably the biggest player up there on that.
Bolkcom: It would probably be good to have a more specific conversation with Rick about what specifically members of the Board would like to see requested before, so he doesn't have to run all over to do that.
Stutsman: Right.
Bolkcom: He may have already made the request. Maybe it's something that we're talking about in January or February. Anyway, it's not a pressing thing I suppose on some of these.
Jordahl: Well, to me it's pressing in this regard that it's part of, for me, it's part of the question of the Comprehensive Plan update and I'd like to have that relationship opened up.
Bolkcom: That makes sense.
Stutsman: OK, anything else from the Board of Supervisors?
DISCUSSION: UPDATING OF DEPARTMENTAL INVENTORY
Lacina: Under other, and Sally and I talked briefly about this yesterday, I think we need to somehow address and update our inventory. The Auditor's Office does have a print-out of the equipment that we have in the different departments, but I know there's equipment out there on inventory that's not present. I know that some of it has been outdated in terms of old printers and things that may not be there. This is going to be a huge job because if I recall, I think there's like 8 million worth of inventory in Secondary Roads alone. But at some point I think we need to bring to the department heads' attention, go back through your inventory lists and if you don't have something put it on and if you do that's not there, bring that up to date. We might just mention it to them that maybe sometime next year, if things ever slow down, we would start doing that.
Bolkcom: When did we do the last one? It's been a few years ago I recall one happening at Health.
Lacina: Since I've been on the Board...
Bolkcom: Was it late 80s maybe?
Lacina: I don't really remember an overall county update. We did on the Informational Services.
Peters: Well it was my understanding, and I can go back and check on this, inventory is updated anytime something is utilized or something is sold.
Lacina: In theory. That's right.
Peters: It's an ongoing process.
Bolkcom: OK.
Peters: Probably what needs to be looked at is looking at the individual departments to see which department isn't, if there are departments that aren't updating or maybe just a note saying please get this updated within the next 3 months.
Lacina: I think too the department heads because it would be their responsibility. We certainly don't want to be out counting log chains and bolt cutters.
Bolkcom: Right.
Stutsman: Carol, could you put together a note? Is that how the Board wants to handle it? Just send a memo that we want it completed by after budget time, maybe the middle of January.
Bolkcom: Is it appropriate to bring it up this afternoon under other? Just to say...
Peters: I was going to say we could bring it to the Department Head Meeting too.
Bolkcom: Just to check in with people.
Lacina: We might mention that, but I also would like to just bring it up Bob Saunders our Insurance Agent because obviously this stuff is insured and if some of it's missing just alert him as well and just kind of go through the process.
Stutsman: All right. OK.
Jordahl: We don't want to start a new process in departments where there would already be a process.
Lacina: Right.
Jordahl: I think the Department Head Meeting is an important time to discuss this. Maybe they just did it 3 months ago. I mean, you know, it'd be good to just kind of get that out and talk about it. But it's a reasonable thing to do.
Stutsman: Steve, can you bring that up today at the Department Head Meeting?
Lacina: Sure.
Stutsman: OK and then we can...
DISCUSSION: TECHNOLOGY BUDGET LINE ITEMS; AND UPCOMING AGENDA ITEMS
Jordahl: I have a similar item that I'd like to bring up. I had a long conversation with Jean Schultz following up on the question of how budget lines are dedicated to computer purchases and how that fits into the overall computerization of the County in terms of the central budget and central things like the Networking Plan and I have some thoughts on that I'd like to present to the Board and it may influence the way in which we budget money to departments and centrally for computer technology this year. So at the very least, I think that should be put on the agenda for the next informal meeting next week.
Stutsman: I think that agenda is really full isn't it Carol? I agree Jonathan, we need to talk about it, but...
Peters: Let me get it.
Stutsman: OK. It just seems like the 16th, we've just put everything on.
Jordahl: Yes, being the week before Christmas.
Stutsman: Oh, is... Oh, wait the 9th. I'm jumping a week ahead.
Bolkcom: Don't be eating up weeks unnecessarily there Sally.
Stutsman: Pardon me.
Bolkcom: Don't be eating up weeks unnecessarily.
Stutsman: I know. It's bad enough as it is.
Bolkcom: It is. Next week is crazy.
Jordahl: We do have Walt Kelly of Clifton Gunderson scheduled to come on Tuesday the 9th...
Stutsman: Oh.
Jordahl: ...to speak about performance based budgeting to the Board and it might be interesting to have this discussion of the computer technology budget at the same time. Or it might be too much to have at the same time.
Stutsman: I know Juvenile Detention was planning on coming in on Tuesday to do the talk about their budget.
Lacina: OK, Carol...
Jordahl: It's on the agenda for the What When Committee meeting this Friday at 1:30 to discuss this matter. However, as has been pointed out to me by Joe this is a budget question. It's how the Board wants to do things. Ultimately it's a question of what do we the Board want to request from departments as to how they request computer technology in their budgets. I put it on the What When agenda because it seems like an appropriate forum to talk about that. We have talked about it before in the Networking Committee. This is just a way of moving that forward. So we might have a recommendation from the What When Committee for the Board that might simplify our discussion.
Stutsman: Well, why don't we put it on for Tuesday. How does the...
Peters: Actually, on the 9th so far you only have Carol Thompson and Brandon regarding Juvenile Detention costs and then review and discussion regarding proposals for Tax Impact Statement Study. Then, of course, you have all your...
Stutsman: All right. Well why don't we put it on for Tuesday?
Bolkcom: What's the performance based...
Jordahl: We should add on the 9th, we're talking about the 9th here right? A week from today?
Bolkcom: Right.
Peters: Yes.
Jordahl: The performance based budgeting thing is a gentleman from Clifton Gunderson Accounting Firm who has national standing and experience in performance based budgeting has volunteered to come out and do a presentation to the Board of Supervisors and to do, Sally can we recollect the conversation correctly here? Sally and I spoke with him on a conference call a few weeks ago.
Peters: But that's for the 9th?
Jordahl: Yes.
Peters: Oh.
Bolkcom: What time?
Jordahl: During the informal meeting. He would speak with us and then would be available I think to do some answering of questions and addressing concerns of departments during that same day.
Bolkcom: You think that will be enough time?
Jordahl: Well I think what it is is an introduction.
Bolkcom: I see.
Stutsman: Uh-huh. Basically what his firm can do if we wanted to utilize them in the performance based budgeting process.
Lacina: So this is a promotional type of presentation.
Jordahl: Yes. Right.
Stutsman: Well it's explaining...
Lacina: Their services.
Stutsman: Right.
Bolkcom: You might want to invite department heads to that meeting.
Jordahl: Yes.
Stutsman: That might be a good idea.
Lacina: Maybe with this memo...
Bolkcom: We could tell them if that's going to happen. Is it scheduled?
Stutsman: Right. He's scheduled to be here.
Jordahl: Yes. He's scheduled to be here on the 9th. I mean I need to call and confirm.
Stutsman: At 9.
Lacina: So he's not on the agenda as of now anyway.
Stutsman: Right.
Jordahl: But we're on his agenda.
Stutsman: Right.
Peters: OK, I'll call Carol and Brandon back and reschedule them for a different time.
Bolkcom: I guess I would say that it sounds like we need to talk to Carol about increasing Juvenile Detention.
Stutsman: Oh, we do.
Bolkcom: So you're not saying reschedule that?
Stutsman: No. No. She's just saying a different time because she's set for...
Lacina: Move them back
Bolkcom: Good.
Peters: The same day just a different time.
Stutsman: Yes.
Bolkcom: Good. Well, why can't the presentation be later in the morning?
Stutsman: Yes, before you do that Carol let's get with this fellow from Clifton Gunderson and see if he's going to (inaudible).
Bolkcom: 11 to 11:30 or something.
Lacina: Because that may go for a long time if there are questions.
Bolkcom: How long a presentation does he have for us?
Stutsman: Probably...
Bolkcom: We should give him some parameters probably.
Stutsman: An hour, I guess I was assuming.
Jordahl: Uh-huh. I would assume so.
Bolkcom: He's coming all that way.
Jordahl: Well, the thing that I was thinking about that was that the earlier he spoke to us the better in terms of making a general introduction to the gentleman is here, here's what he's talking about, them department heads go back to work with questions in their minds and he's been able to go around and respond to that. The earlier in the day that can happen the better it is for him in terms of, I would assume, in terms of being able to visit the County Departments. If he doesn't talk to us until 11 done at noon, he'll go to lunch, we're talking about the afternoon is the time that he is here.
Lacina: So he's here all day then?
Jordahl: He'll be here all day yes. He's coming from Indiana.
Bolkcom: Not to rain on this. I don't think there's probably going to be a whole lot of people scheduling appointments with this person in the afternoon to do more. I don't know if we're planning to foist him onto departments and say he's going to go around and visit you rather you want it or not, but my general sense is if we get a few people here we'll be doing good for the morning presentation. We may want to spend time with him in the afternoon and there might be a couple departments that would.
Jordahl: I guess I question the...
Bolkcom: He's leaving in the afternoon?
Peters: No. You have interviews in the afternoon.
Bolkcom: Oh, OK.
Jordahl: I question the use of the word foist in this context. I think what we're doing here is we're trying to provide a service to county departments rather than doing any foisting and part of the agenda here I think is to allow this gentleman to survey our situation and come up with some kind of preliminary proposal as to what it would cost for us to employee him. He has mentioned enthusiasm for doing this project because of the nature of our particular situation. He sees it as a challenge and something he's willing to cut us some slack on, even though he's, as I said, at least according to the resume I heard, a man with truly national standing and that would be interested in helping us out. So we might get a very good price on having him come in to help us implement performance based budgeting over the next couple of years.
Stutsman: For right now I think it's just exploratory to just see what he's...
Jordahl: Right. Exploratory, but exploratory in that he wants information about how to make a proposal to us.
Bolkcom: I'm sure he does.
Stutsman: Uh-huh.
Bolkcom: I'm sure he does.
Stutsman: Anything else then?
Jordahl: Well I contacted them.
Bolkcom: I know that. So we can't add anything more? I'd like to add a couple things next week. I could let one go. I think we need to talk some more about what we're going to do on budgets and how we're going to structure a process for January to do budgets.
Stutsman: OK.
Bolkcom: So I'd like to have that on.
Stutsman: Then Jonathan you we're putting computer...
Jordahl: Yes, that computer budget thing I hope is there. It could be part of a larger budget discussion but I very much want to see it discussed because I had Tom Slockett print out a list of the departmental computer lines and I have a very lengthy document that indicates we certainly have an interesting situation that needs to be addressed I think.
Stutsman: Anything else? Joe, did you say you had something else?
Bolkcom: Well there was one other item, but it could wait. That's a more thorough discussion of the County Investment Program, how we invest our money. It's been raised a few times. It's one of those things I think we can do better on if we focus a little attention on it. Now that we're approaching the budget again it might be time to talk about that. But it'd be nice to have that conversation in the next few weeks and maybe have the Treasurer come up and give us kind of an overview of how we currently do things and whether there's a way to get talking about interest money. Get a better return.
Lacina: There's the property tax collection issue.
Stutsman: Oh, right.
Lacina: It's been brought up to us and we probably need to form a sub-committee.
Stutsman: Uh-huh.
Lacina: Of perhaps someone from the County Attorney's Office, the Treasurer and maybe somebody from this Board to sit down and look at some options.
Jordahl: Uh-huh.
Stutsman: Maybe we should put that on Thursday when Pat's here on informal. Do you want to do that?
Lacina: That'd be fine.
Stutsman: Then, I like the idea of a sub-committee and seeing if it is worth the County's resources to pursue these delinquent taxes.
Lacina: Because there have been firms that have wanted to come in in the past and bulk buy and that would be an option. It may not be the right option.
Stutsman: Right. I think that's what we need to explore because it sounds very easy just to go out and start collecting these, but then when you really investigate it and find out all the work that's involved in doing that it's not as easy as it first seemed.
Lacina: But on the other hand, it would also be a way of cleaning up the books. There are some mobile homes that do not exist anymore that are on the books. That would be a way of taking that off. If somebody truly had a hardship, Code allows for a provision where we can abate or suspend taxes. I mean, we can start working on a few and maybe take the biggest ones. We've got some out there at 40,000. Take the top 10.
Jordahl: Brief
Stutsman: No. I was going to say I think we need to adjourn. I think we've got enough on our plate.
Jordahl: We have this issue of property taxes that arose in part along with our discussion of a recent zoning application for a conditional use permit. As a follow-up to that same situation, Sally and I met last week I think it was with...
Stutsman: Oh, with...
Jordahl: Jim McGinley and a gentleman from the State Emergency Management Agency and Rick Dvorak about the possible federal funding to relocate people from the flood plain. It's something I'd like to be able to present to residents who may wish to do that. They talked about a very advantageous program of looking at a person's ability to pay and federal government buying down the cost of a new, or of an other home outside of the flood plain so that it would be affordable for that person. So it's a very attractive notion. We may want to have the gentleman come and speak with the Board.
Stutsman: I think we need to because the way he presented it too is that we need to have some plan in place or it's going to jeopardize funding for future disasters. We need to be looking towards alleviating some of the problems that came up during the last flood.
Jordahl: It might be a problem in the future, he indicated, that if the County did not have such a plan in place that federal funding might be tied to the existence of a such a plan, but the good news is that there is federal funding available for creating such a plan. They will actually pay for a consultant to write such a plan for us and, interestingly enough, and I hope I understood this correctly, the same consultant, they would like to see these Emergency Management Plans articulated with Community Builder Plans. I asked the question, well all right, how about Comprehensive Plans and he responded very positively to the idea. So it may be that while killing the bird of getting an Emergency Management Plan in place we might also get some of our consulting help paid for with the Comprehensive Plan in the process.
Stutsman: Yes, we need to have them come in at some time and begin looking at that.
Jordahl: So in terms of the Comprehensive Plan, I think it would be nice to schedule that in terms of filling our plates up, it would be nice to schedule that sooner than later.
Bolkcom: Our cup is only half full. We could put something in our cup. Our plate is full.
Stutsman: Anything else? OK. Any discussion from the public?
?: Move the meeting be adjourned.
Lacina: We all second it.
Recessed at 10:50 a.m. Reconvened at 1:35 p.m. as a work session with Johnson County Elected Officials with Duffy absent.
WORK SESSION WITH ELECTED OFFICIALS
Elected Officials present were: County Attorney Pat White, County Auditor Tom Slockett, County Recorder Deborah Conger, County Sheriff Robert Carpenter, and County Treasurer Cletus Redlinger.
Staff present were: Board of Supervisors Administrative Assistant Carol Peters and Auditor's Office Recording Secretary Casie Parkins.
DISCUSSION: COMPENSATION BOARD MEETING
Stutsman asked the elected officials to give an update on the Compensation Board meeting. She said the Compensation Board was a new group this year so there was a lot of catching up to do, and all the Supervisors, along with County Auditor Tom Slockett and County Recorder Deborah Conger, had attended the first meeting. Stutsman said the next Compensation Board meeting was Monday, December 8 in the Board Office. Slockett said the materials his office gave the Compensation Board had been requested by Compensation Board members in previous years, even though the members that had requested the materials were no longer on the Compensation Board. Stutsman explained that one of the Board of Supervisors representatives would not legally be able to serve because she was an employee of the State of Iowa. Slockett said his representative was also ineligible and he had appointed a replacement.
County Attorney Pat White asked why the whole Compensation Board turned over. Slockett said that the members had moved or resigned. White said the Compensation Board members terms should be staggered. Slockett and County Treasurer Cletus Redlinger said that the terms were staggered, but that everybody quit at the same time. White asked if the appointments were made so that the Board would still stay staggered. Slockett replied that they were, and that a list should have been received by all of the members.
Stutsman asked if any of the elected officials would be available to attend the December 8 meeting, and stated that she would not be able to attend. County Sheriff Robert Carpenter said that he attended for a few years in the past, but then it got to the point that it didn't really make a difference if the elected officials attended the meetings or not, because the Board of Supervisors usually rejected the recommendations. Jordahl said that he hoped that Carpenter would have gotten a different impression from the last meeting. He said he among others encouraged the Compensation Board to follow the principle that was set out by the Board in the salary survey and looking at adjusting peoples' wages. He said he also encouraged them not to give across the board raises, but to adjust the various elected officials salaries as they saw fit. Jordahl said both the Supervisors and Slockett had spoken strongly in favor of increasing the Sheriff's salary to a level more comparable to other local law enforcement officials. Carpenter said he was glad the Board was finally looking at that, when in the past it looked like the Board was just trying to save money. He said it didn't appear to him in the past that the Board was actually saving that money.
Slockett said considerable argument had been made to raise the Supervisors' salaries. He said this concerned him, because historically, at the last minute the Board of Supervisors would get a lot of heat from taxpayers and farmers about raising their own salaries Then they would get cold feet and say they would really like to raise everyone else's salary but they wouldn't be comfortable about raising their own. Cutting their own increase would in turn cut back the other elected officials raises. He said if they were going to get the Compensation Board to do this, they should seriously consider approving their request and not using them as a whipping boy and negatively impacting the other elected officials' and deputies' raises.
Carpenter said in reading the minutes of the Compensation Board meeting, he wasn't sure whether they really knew what their role was. Slockett said he hoped the other elected officials could attend the next meeting of the Compensation Board; he wouldn't be able to attend, and the Compensation Board really wants information and input. Stutsman said that the Compensation Board's discussion about a County Manager was indication that they needed some direction. Carpenter said that he hasn't talked to his representative on the Compensation Board because he didn't want the representative to feel like Carpenter was trying to influence his decision. Carpenter said he could not attend the December 8 meeting, but if it was appropriate he would talk to his representative and tell him his job was really just to set the salaries of the elected officials. Stutsman said even the Chair of the Compensation Board was new, and usually the Chair is the one to keep discussion on track; it was a disadvantage to have all new members. Jordahl said he intended to attend the meeting to stress that if the Compensation Board members see inequities they should address them. Carpenter said that what happened in years past was that the Compensation Board would try to make everybody happy. He said that didn't accomplish anything, and past Compensation Boards were just trying to please the Board of Supervisors. Redlinger said that wasn't their duty; they were supposed to set the recommendation. Then it was the Board of Supervisors' responsibility to see if there was money in the budget to follow it. Carpenter agreed and said he would like to see legislation removing the Board of Supervisors from the process and making the Compensation Boards' requests final, to de-politicize the process. Stutsman said that it was an excellent Compensation Board because they take their job seriously.
Jordahl asked Slockett if the Board of Supervisors got a raise of a certain percentage and wanted to cut their own raise in half, if that would then result in cutting the raises of other elected officials in half. Slockett said it would result in that happening. Jordahl said that his understanding was that it may work if it was like 4% or 2%. Slockett said that he thought White ruled that it was possible, but this was a change from how they used to do it. Jordahl said that he read the section of the Code of Iowa that pertained to the Compensation Board and it seemed to him it was saying that everybody had to get cut by the same percent. White said Jordahl was wrong, and he should not start playing that game with the Compensation Board. Jordahl said he didn't want to play a game with the Compensation Board, he just wanted to make it clear to them. White recommended that the only thing that was needed to be told to the Compensation Board was that they should recommend what they think the salaries should be.
STRUCTURE OF FUTURE ELECTED OFFICIAL MEETINGS
Stutsman said these meetings were for the Elected Officials and the Board wanted some feedback as to if a half hour before the department head meetings was enough time and what are some of the items they would like to discuss. Bolkcom said it would probably vary from month to month. Carpenter said he thought half an hour was enough time. . Slockett said they could play it by ear. Carpenter said he liked the idea of having the meetings; Bolkcom and Slockett agreed. Redlinger said they should play the length of time of the meetings by ear for a couple meetings. He said they should stick with one half hour for now. White said he didn't think a half hour was enough time; Stutsman agreed. White said they just had to shut down a good discussion because of a lack of time; the length should depend on what the Board of Supervisors wanted to do and what their goals are. Carpenter said that his goals were that it's important that the Board has closer contact with other elected officials than they have in the past. He said he would like to be able to sit down with the Board of Supervisors and have budget talks. Stutsman said it would be good feedback for the Supervisors to hear what was going on in the elected official's budgets. Stutsman said she felt the elected officials should meet monthly for an hour before the Department head meetings, and if they get done in half an hour, then fine. Slockett suggested the idea of meeting on another day of the week so there weren't interruptions. Bolkcom said he was hearing that the elected officials wanted to be more involved in the County than they had been in the past. The Board of Supervisors and elected officials agreed to meet again on Tuesday, December 16th at 1:30 p.m. Suggested agenda items included the budget and security issues.
Recessed at 1:59 p.m.; reconvened as a Department Head meeting at 2:05.
Department heads present were: Ambulance Director Mike Sullivan, City Assessor Dan Hudson, Conservation Director Rod Dunlap, County Assessor Jerry Musser, County Attorney Pat White, County Auditor Tom Slockett, County Recorder Deborah Conger, County Sheriff Robert Carpenter, County Treasurer Cletus Redlinger, Department of Human Services Area Administrator Cheryl Whitney, General Relief Director Mary Kay Hull, Information Services Director Jean Schultz, Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities Director Craig Mosher, Physical Plant Manager Pat Langenberg, Planning and Zoning Administrator Rick Dvorak, Public Health Director Graham Dameron, Interim SEATS Director Burnell Chadek, and Veterans Affairs Commission Director Leo Baier.
Staff present were: Board of Supervisors Administrative Assistant Carol Peters, Johnson County Wellness Program Director Sher Hawn, Sheriff's Department Captain Duane Lewis, and Auditor's Office Recording Secretary Casie Parkins.
DISCUSSION: MECCA EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
Stutsman introduced Ron Berg of MECCA. He was there to talk about the MECCA Employee Assistance Program. Berg said EAPs have been around since World War II. The basic EAP is an assessment and referral service. The employees come in to see staff, explain their concern or questions, and then EAP conducts an assessment and develops a brief social history. At that point they can suggest referral options. Often, people are helped just by talking to them at the initial session. In other cases, things have deteriorated far enough that additional help is needed. He said any type of personal problem or concern is covered by the EAP, including financial problems, marital problems, children, health concerns, legal questions, and co-worker relationship problems. He stated they stay on top of referral options in the Iowa City/Johnson County area, as well as surrounding counties. They give the employee the choice of referrals by giving them more than one option. The employee makes the final decision. EAP helps the employee with the waiting time/list, insurance payment, sliding fee scales, expertise that the therapist might have, and how to get an appointment, and priority placement in emergencies. All services are free and confidential. EAP tries to see a client within 2 or 3 days of a phone call, but if it's a crisis, they will always get people in the same day. EAP also works closely with management. If they have an employee they're concerned about, EAP accepts a formal referral, which is still confidential. When they implement it, the EAP will come out and do specific training about how to make referrals. He stated they also follow up after the referral to make sure that everything is working the way they intend for it to work.
Berg said other benefits of the MECCA EAP program include training with supervisors and managers; past examples interviewing skills, conflict management, and progressive discipline. He stated they try to identify the tools that will help a manager be more successful with employees. Berg added they also get a lot of calls from managers or HR departments about a particular problem or issue. EAP can then go to the work site to provide training. He said the program prepares promotional material, and said a recent flyer on depression had brought in many clients. Some employers will put the material in an employee newsletter, others will post it around the work site, and others will distribute it to supervisors. Berg said they also have a newsletter called EAP News, which is distributed to managers and supervisors only. The main point of the newsletter is to remind the supervisors and managers that the EAP is available.
Berg said EAP also provides services to groups of employees. They have been involved in a number of cases where an employee has died and EAP has gone and worked with the employee group about grief and loss issues. They have done critical incident briefings where an employee group may be impacted by a serious event at work. Conflict resolution has been a very popular program. At the end of the year, the EAP sends the employer a report which stated how many people have used the program, without names of employees. Berg said the EAP is an additional tool that supervisors and managers have to try and manage their employee groups and make the work place run smoothly. Studies about EAPs have shown that they reduce turnover, absenteeism, and tardiness. Berg thought the main benefit to an EAP is the tool it can provide to supervisors and the support it can provide to the employees. These benefits are hard to quantify, but are very important.
Slockett asked how the referral process works and if self referral is available. He said it seems that if the person isn't receptive to it, it's not going to do any good, and sometimes the person isn't receptive about whatever is going on in the office. Berg said 80 or 85% of the employees who come to the EAP do so on their own. On a formal referral, he's not seen a single person come in that was happy to be there until the end of the first session. When they finally understood why they were there, they relaxed and took advantage of the assistance.
Chadek wondered if individual departments would be billed for the program or if the County would have an umbrella account for all employees. Berg proposed an umbrella account. Then it was up to the County how it was accounted for. In the majority of cases, there is just an annual fee that is billed and that can be paid in installments or one payment. Then it's to the employer's advantage to send as many people as possible. Berg explained that when an EAP is a fee for service, management has to debate if the employee is worth the money. They monitor the annual fee through quarterly reports and annual reports. Chadek also wondered if they were considering using MECCA for drug and alcohol testing, and if they do on-site testing. Berg stated the drug and alcohol testing they do now is for the Department of Transportation, and they do that on site at MECCA. Drug testing could be part of the proposal, but at this point it wasn't.
Dameron asked if EAP included part time employees. Berg said that was up to the employer, but he would like the EAP to be consistent with other benefits such as health insurance. The advantage of including part-time employees would depend on how they were structured into the overall workforce. Seasonal employees are not typically included, but a year round part time employee would benefit.
Hawn asked Berg how much counseling occurs at EAP before the employee is referred out. Berg said that was on an individual basis. MECCA has 2 licensed social workers on staff and they have the skills to provide therapy or counseling for some issues, but if they start doing that, then they will be too busy to provide prompt service. He stated some cases are very short term and the employee just needs somebody to talk to. They will go ahead and see short term cases 3 or 4 times, but typically they will see the employee 2 or 3 times maximum per incident before referring them out. He said part of the assessment was family history, legal history, finances, relationships. If an employee comes in and spends the 2 sessions developing that history, 6 months later it's not going to take as long to develop the history as it did the first time.
Stutsman asked if EAP works with human resource departments. Berg stated that when MECCA first started the EAP, he realized that as a person trained in counseling, his language was different than the human resource department, so he got additional training in human resource management. Paula Kelly, the EAP manager, has experience as a human resource manager in larger employee settings. Berg stated they do work very closely with human resources and ADA accommodations.
Hawn said the Wellness Program has taken on the role of a lot of resource and referral. She just wanted to be available about how the Wellness Program would fit with EAP or if there would be any conflict. She saw the 2 programs as complementing each other. She has made quite a few referrals to local mental health professionals. It would be a benefit to have the EAP as an intermediate step where the person might experience several sessions of counseling. Berg stated he could see working very closely with the Wellness Program in terms of the flyers sent out and coordinating those.
White asked for a price and wondered if the Board was hearing about this for the first time. Stutsman said they were. White said it was important to decide what the role of the department head meeting is and what their role is to the Board on issues like this. Bolkcom wondered if they talked about that at the last department head meeting. Dameron stated he brought that up at the last meeting. Stutsman stated she didn't think enough people knew what an EAP program was all about to really make a decision if it was appropriate, and the Board needed to find out if there was enough interest from elected officials and department heads to pursue it. White said it was about 4 to 6 months premature; within 4 to 6 weeks there will be a human resource administrator, and that person ought to be part of the discussion before a decision is made. He stated ultimately the question would be cost and budget priorities. White added that EAP programs are excellent ideas and MECCA is an outstanding agency. He said he would ultimately be supportive of a program through MECCA, but until the HR person is hired the timing is poor.
Bolkcom said Berg's presentation provides a good background for people, and any HR person is going to understand what EAP programs are. White stated the HR person would have been able to put this in a context for the department heads, rather than just bringing Berg into the room and saying the floor is yours without any background. Bolkcom said the presentation should have been set up differently. Jordahl stated that the discussion was appropriate at a department head meeting (as opposed to a Board of Supervisors meeting) because it involves all departments. Stutsman stated she felt the purpose of having Berg there was to inform them of what an EAP program is, and the Board could get feedback from department heads and elected officials. She didn't think the Board was going to make any decisions today.
Berg said the cost was about $20.00 per employee per year. Slockett asked if this was based on full time equivalents or how MECCA charges for part time employees. Berg said that would be up to the County. White calculated the cost at $15,000 to $20,000 for 400 employees. Mosher stated he thought EAP was a valuable program, but agreed with White about the timing.
UPDATE ON SALARY SURVEY AND REVISED JOB DESCRIPTIONS
Peters said Jack Lipovac and Associates are reviewing the questionnaires that have been forwarded. Peters stated they commented it was going to be a bit more difficult than what they first anticipated, so it may be a little longer. No date was set, but what was making it more difficult was the model used for the job descriptions.
Jordahl said the Compensation Board had requested information about the duties of elected officials, and suggested that the format used in the salary survey would be good. Then perhaps in the next year, they might also have the assessment from the consultant as to salaries for the elected officials. Jordahl asked for elected officials to fill out that same form, and that he thought it would not cost anything more. In either case, the elected officials could provide information on their duties to the Compensation Board. Carpenter said the duties of elected officials were defined in the Code of Iowa. Stutsman thought the discussion should be saved for the December 16th meeting with elected officials. Jordahl stated the Compensation Board meets again on December 8th. White said it took 10 to 15 hours per person to fill out the salary survey, and didn't think it could be done by Monday. Dunlap said it seemed to be geared a lot more to clerical duties, and it didn't apply to all employees. Bolkcom stated this wasn't the first time Lipovac has done a county assessment. He thought they should have a different level of questionnaires. White said that a questionnaire process is never perfect, and will never cover everything unless it's a very narrow target. He agreed that he underestimated the difficulty in those questionnaires. Peters wondered if anybody had called consultant Jerry Thompson to give feedback from the departments.
DISCUSSION: FY99 BUDGET PROCESS
Stutsman said that at the last strategic planning meeting the Board heard that elected officials and department heads do not consider performance based budgeting a priority. She said the Board is still committed to going ahead with the process, but will not implement it for this budget cycle. The Board will continue the budget process as in the past, and over the next year will look at options to see how they can go ahead with performance budgeting process. She said the Board was in the process of hiring a replacement for former Deputy Administrative Assistant Kim Benge. The Board will begin work on the budget the second week of January. Jordahl stated in the past the Board has had supplementary materials from departments that have enhanced their understanding of budgetary questions. He asked departments to give them extra insight as to the budget.
DISCUSSION: JOHNSON COUNTY SPACE NEEDS
Stutsman said space needs are another strategic planning goal that department heads clearly consider a priority. They are moving ahead to look at space needs. Architect Dwight Dobberstein met with the Board that morning and presented a proposal to begin identifying space needs in the different departments. Stutsman said the Board wants to establish a committee of elected officials and department heads to work with Dobberstein and a couple of the supervisors to start the process. Chadek wondered if it was a 2 step process as a short term and long term, as the long term would be more involved. Stutsman stated the committee would take care of immediate needs, but they would be planning for things down the road. She stated the survey would ask for those short term and long term needs. Dameron, Sullivan, Langenberg, Whitney and Chadek were chosen for the committee.
DISCUSSION: AGENDA ITEMS FOR MEETING WITH AREA LEGISLATORS
Stutsman said there is a meeting set up with area Legislators for December 9 at 4:30 p.m. and reminded people to come to the meeting with issues to discuss. Whitney listed decategorization and detention Lacina gave the example that they were looking in the area of Mental Health about other counties not adequately reimbursing services in Johnson County. He wanted a meeting with the counties to discuss the problem.
Lacina asked about prioritizing issues for the meeting. Stutsman asked about a more formal session. Dameron stated that if they had a problem and solution page, then 3 or 4 issues per department would be enough. Bolkcom stated that would be too many and suggested a time limit on each issue. Dameron suggested a time limit per department. Stutsman stated written materials would be good, including the problem and solution. The Board decided the written materials should be submitted by December 8th to get them organized. Stutsman said no more than 5 issues per department should be discussed, with 5 minutes per department.
DISCUSSION: POSSIBLE UPDATING OF COUNTY TELEPHONE SYSTEM
Dvorak said the past 2 weeks have been difficult and action was needed on the phone system. Stutsman said the phones have been down 3 of the last 5 working days. Stutsman said the Board was looking into voice mail in their department and had a presentation about other phone systems. She asked if they should be looking at a different phone system for the whole county and involving everybody. It was decided to revisit the phone issue after the first of the year. Stutsman asked department heads and elected officials to think about their phone needs. Lacina stated this should include consideration of a total communications system, including voice mail, fiber optics, ICN, rather than just phone lines. Peters stated there are 4 systems in the Administration Building, with each system having a number of cards, so there could be multiple problems. She stated the County does have a maintenance agreement. Dameron stated he called Clinton County and they have voice mail answering the phone. Peters stated the Board wants to set up a committee to discuss what kind of system they wanted to have. Lacina said they like to have a person answering the phone and then transferring the caller to voice mail or the appropriate person.
REPORT (STUTSMAN): STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS
Stutsman said the Board met again with Tim Shields in November and will meet with him again on Friday, December 5th to continue the talks about setting priorities and goals. She thought the Board appreciated everybody's attendance at the last session and thought there was good feedback and good discussion. Bolkcom said it was very helpful to have the entire organization included in the feedback they got, which will help them focus the agenda in terms of what priorities will be set. Jordahl stated he thought it was good to have everybody sitting down and talking about things and wanted to keep the sessions going.
ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM DEPARTMENT HEADS AND SUPERVISORS
Dameron distributed copies of the Wellness Program's new brochure. Baier said he had personally delivered fruit baskets for 21 Johnson County residents at the Veteran's Home.
Dvorak mentioned the letter to department heads regarding the needs assessment that he will be starting December 15th. He hoped that department heads who were not able to participate would find somebody in the office to come; it shouldn't take much more than 1/2 hour.
Dunlap announced that the County's Conservation Education Center at Kent Park is under construction. Completion is scheduled for late next spring, with the opening in late summer. They are through the 2nd year of a 6 year project, and with the construction of the building, they are on their way to having one of the most outstanding outdoor learning centers for a population count in Johnson County. The Conservation Board is doing a complete recreation of the 3 major plant communities of Iowa: prairies, woodlands, and wetlands. Most of the trail system was completed this summer. He stated the facility does not have to be used under any type of programming. Once it's in operation, most of the grounds will be open for the general public.
White mentioned a memorandum from ISAC legal counsel David Vestal regarding the gift law. White's advice was to read only the last line, which says the best course of action is not to accept any gifts.
Carpenter said the Sheriff's Department was in the middle of the communications center going in. The $370,000 project is paid for by 911 funds. He said they are hoping in a couple of weeks it will be done and invited department heads to visit after completion. He said they have only one radio that works, but it will be a nice facility.
Dameron said he appreciated the Board's support for additional Health Department staff to deal with the pertussis outbreak. He hopes the outbreak will get to a peak point and the resources that have been given will not be needed.
Lacina said the Board would like to check the inventory. He stated there are some items not on the books. He wanted an updated version of inventory at budget presentations, without obsolete items. Stutsman asked if there was a dollar amount on items that should be listed. Slockett said he thought it was $300, but he wasn't sure. Others thought it was $50.
Bolkcom mentioned he heard a presentation by University of Iowa Management and Organizations Professor Jude West on management and leadership. He wondered if people would be interested in having West come and give a presentation for about an hour. Dameron stated it was very good and a contemporary leadership style was mentioned; West also differentiated between leadership and management. Lacina said West had been the HR person for the Motorola Corporation and is outstanding. Stutsman wondered if he charged for his services; Dameron stated he did. Sullivan said West was very dynamic with a great sense of humor, so it was very interesting to hear him speak. Bolkcom agreed to arrange a presentation by West.
Bolkcom said the communications committee has been meeting. The Board has been trying to communicate more about what they do. He appreciated all the feedback they got on the service directory and the map. He also mentioned the What/When Committee is meeting on December 5th at 1:30. Jordahl stated it was a big agenda; a couple of items include the upgrade of the HP3000 mini computers. Schultz stated there was the policy issue. Jordahl stated it was the technology use policies statement. Schultz stated they wanted to talk about the budget.
Whitney said if Professor West would come to make a presentation, it should be in a space large enough for additional staff to attend. Suggestions included the Armory, the Highlander or the First National Bank.
Sullivan said the Ambulance Department just finished the 4th year of Home for the Holidays, a program to transport Johnson Counties nursing home residents home to their families for Thanksgiving day. In previous years they had about 12 participants; this year they only had 1 but it was very special for that family. Stutsman mentioned the media coverage on channel 9. Sullivan said Scott Long had resigned as Assistant Director, and Steve Spenler had been promoted to the position. A going-away party for Long is scheduled for December 4th.
Recessed at 3:23 p.m.; reconvened as an informal meeting on December 4, 1997 at 9:11 a.m. with Duffy present.