Chairperson Bolkcom called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 10:15 a.m. Members present were: Joseph Bolkcom, Charles Duffy, Jonathan Jordahl, and Stephen Lacina; absent: Sally Stutsman.

Bolkcom asked what they would all like to talk about. He asked if they should put the work session on hold and redirect Lacina and himself to get back to meeting with staff. Lacina said they should do that but he said he wanted to throw out ideas to brainstorm. Lacina said that personnel cards index needs to be on the web or have Human Resources Director Lora Shramek have it. He said it didn't need to be done in the Board of Supervisors office. He said that in time Shramek would need some help but that was a Human Resource function. He said payroll should be on the network. That can be done with new software. Lacina said they had already addressed minutes. He said they should purge their files to get rid of old documents. He said it doesn't look good to him to walk into the office and see all of the audio tapes sitting on the counter; he said that could go in the storage room. He said that for a plan of action for HR they need to have Shramek find out what they need to do get into federal compliance because they are now starting to address some of those things. He said there are other ones out there they probably aren't aware of that they need to clean up. He said they should ask Shramek to build them a business plan, what they need to do, her suggestions, and then they could talk about that. He said with the storage cabinets, the scrapbooks and Administrative Code could be placed on the network or put in the storage area. He said the EEOC and vendor lists from the Auditor's Office could put on the network.

Bolkcom said he was feeling uncomfortable about the format of the meeting. He said when they start talking about details and improvements, they need to look at those things, but he said he was uncomfortable because no staff was there to get back to them about the ideas. Jordahl said they should ask them to come into the meeting. Bolkcom said the other thing that he and Lacina were charged with was sitting down with staff to get their input on specific improvements rather than have the Board tell them what those improvements were. He said it seems to him they have a better handle on how to do this than the Board does. He said they are kind of in the same place they were a week ago, having a detailed conversation. He said he wanted it sent back to the liaison committee, to have that meeting, to develop that list of improvements. Jordahl asked why they didn't just get their input now. Bolkcom said they said that was going to happen in a subcommittee, in a less inhibiting environment and they didn't get that done. He said that today was the day to report on that meeting so they are still in the same place they were a week ago. Lacina said he just mentioned that to get the juices flowing about things they might have on the web. Bolkcom said he wished they were further along than they are on this. Lacina said because of sickness the committee meeting didn't happen.

Jordahl suggested that since they were all gathered they could toss out general topics. He said these are specific things that could all be gathered under the rubric of office paper efficiency and/or division of labor with the Human Resources Department. He said they could toss out a few other general things that might be the topics for that conversation with staff and they could throw out other things. Bolkcom suggested he toss them out. Jordahl said the Board has previously discussed the office configuration, physical layout, and whether they need more support staff. He said they have had the conversation of if they were to add a staff person should it be just in the Board office, Board and HR or HR only. He said additional support staff was a main topic and that crosses over into space needs. He said there might be some feedback they want to give to the Space Needs Committee on Board space. He said that offices for the Supervisors is an important part of that question and also a conference room for the Board. Jordahl said the role of Deputy Administrative Assistant vis-à-vis the Administrative Assistant and budget director evolution. Lacina asked if he meant job description. Jordahl said he meant clarifying. He said they have an evolution of HR and budget functions where things are coming from County Attorney Pat White's office and Carol Peter's office and they're being redistributed to Deana Pillard and possibly some support person and Lora Shramek and they have to stay abreast of that rather than assuming that it's happening. He said there could be input from all of the staff on that question. Bolkcom said he hoped there would be. Jordahl said they could discuss office hours and how do they get there. Jordahl asked who would lead the County strategic planning, the Board or would they hire someone. Bolkcom said that was a Board agenda item. Jordahl said they needed to address the phone system and voice mail. Bolkcom said it was in process. Jordahl said it was an item for discussion that people might have more input on it. He said they needed new chairs. Bolkcom said they have chairs. Jordahl said it looked tacky because the chairs don't match. Duffy said they should fix the microphone. Bolkcom said chairs would not be cheap.

Lacina asked Peters if she had any suggestions for the Board. Bolkcom said where they left it a week ago was that Lacina and he would meet with staff, they still feel like they need to do that before they have a meeting. Peters said she apologized for being sick. Bolkcom said that he and Lacina needed to query staff and then get another time in the next week where they could sit down and chat. Lacina asked Peters if there was anything she wanted to throw out now that they could look at. Peters said that since the last time they met she hadn't thought about it all. Bolkcom said both Lacina and Jordahl's summaries covered everything they could imagine. Jordahl said there was more of an intense personnel question which was the clarification of duties. He said it was one thing to talk about how the HR and how the budget thing are breaking out but beyond that there was the question of answering the phone. He said he complained about that when they were defining Pillard's job to begin with, and they still have work to do there. Bolkcom said that was going to be one of the central issues of discussion the first time they get together. Peters said she wanted to reiterate that the staff is here to serve the Board of Supervisors and so it's the trickle down effect. She said what the Board wants them do is what they'll be doing. Bolkcom said they are doing a very good job doing that. Peters thanked him. Jordahl said he wasn't criticizing the office staff, he was trying to make it easier. Peters said she know that. Peters said she truly believes that a new broom sweeps clean and any input from Shramek and Pillard of how things could change would be very helpful.

Duffy said he heard that in case of a computer breakdown the public has the right to come in and say look up this information. He said they still should have a backup of the original document. He said sometime it was going to happen. Lacina said they backup their files on a daily basis but all of the original contracts, they should keep an original copy. Duffy said someone might say they would like to have information on something. Bolkcom said he agreed with that. Jordahl said they didn't need to have duplicated documents and that's why they stopped receiving the printed minutes. Lacina asked the location of the drive with the minutes on it. Bolkcom and Recording Secretary Casie Parkins said they were in the "I" drive. Bolkcom said his computer was up again. Peters said that Information Services found them a used printer from another office. Bolkcom said that he and Lacina would meet with Peters and see if they could get a date to have a detailed conversation.

Adjourned at 10:29 a.m.

Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor

By Casie Parkins Recording Secretary