MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
OCTOBER 20 AND 22, 1998
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chairperson Bolkcom called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 9:05 a.m. Members present were: Joseph Bolkcom, Charles Duffy, Jonathan Jordahl, Stephen Lacina, and Sally Stutsman.
REVIEW OF MINUTES AND NEW PROCEDURE FOR DISTRIBUTING COMPLETED MINUTES TO BOARD
Bolkcom: I'd like to call the meeting to order, the informal meeting of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors for Tuesday October 20th. Good morning everybody.
Stutsman: Good morning.
Lacina: Good morning.
Bolkcom: Item 2 on the agenda is review of the formal meeting minutes of October 15th.
Lacina: They're on the I drive.
Stutsman: They have started putting those on the I drive, right Carol?
Administrative Assistant Carol Peters: Yes. There also was a hard copy, so...
Stutsman: There's going to be one hard copy that's going to be circulating?
Peters: What we thought we would do for a while is the copy that comes up in advance is not the approved copy, so if you want to make any changes. The approved copy will only be on the I drive which is the way it's been. But we'll keep doing this for a little while and see how it works out.
Jordahl: Now I have a copy of the one for the 15th, but it doesn't have the circulation stamp on it. Did we each get one of these this time?
Peters: Yes.
Bolkcom: All right.
SENIOR CENTER COMMISSION MEMBER DEBORAH SCHOENFELDER: SENIOR CENTER UPDATE
Bolkcom: OK. Item 3, business from Deborah Schoenfelder regarding a Senior Center update. Good morning. We're real informal.
Senior Center Commission Member Deborah Schoenfelder: (Inaudible) the speaker? OK.
Bolkcom: That'd be fine.
Schoenfelder: My name is Deborah Schoenfelder and I'm a member of the Senior Center Commission. My report is brief, it's from the last meeting which was about a month ago. We'll be meeting again this afternoon. First of all, the Washington Street entrance is scheduled to be replaced. There's going to be a large centrally placed door there. There have been center railings put on the Linn Street entrance. Unfortunately the roof has developed some new leaks and they're going to be looking at that. The roofers will be out to inspect and take care of that. The Center is getting a voice mail system that's not up and going yet, that's coming about. They did get 4 more portable radios. They were very proud of those at the last meeting. They were showing those to them. It makes it easier to get a hold of each other as they move throughout the building. Finally, we have, I believe 4 members that are going to need to be replaced. Sadly, Wilma Conner, in case you didn't know that, died September 2nd. So we will need to replace her. For the remainder of the year I will serve with Mary Kathryn Wallace as Vice-chair of the Commission. We also... let's see, Wilma was a County appointment. We will also need to replace Phillip Zell, Kenneth Mobily, and I believe they're... yes, they're City Council appointments. Also it may be that Joanne Hora needs to be replaced, but that wasn't certain at the last meeting. She wasn't able to be there. She is a Johnson County appointment as well.
Bolkcom: OK.
Schoenfelder: That's all I have at this time.
Bolkcom: Great. Any questions from members of the Board? We did appoint Mr. Larry Pugh for the County's appointment.
Schoenfelder: OK.
Bolkcom: That was maybe a couple weeks ago, to fill the unexpired term.
Schoenfelder: I did hear about that one. P-U-G-H, wasn't it?
Bolkcom: Correct.
Schoenfelder: OK.
Bolkcom: I assume he'll be joining you all at your next meeting.
Schoenfelder: I would assume he'd start in January?
Bolkcom: Actually he'll start immediately.
Schoenfelder: OK.
Bolkcom: It'll be to fill out the...
Schoenfelder: Oh, to replace Wilma. Sure. That makes sense. OK.
Jordahl: You said immediately was this afternoon?
Schoenfelder: Yes. At 3 o'clock.
Jordahl: 3 o'clock.
Schoenfelder: Yes.
Jordahl: That's at the Senior Center?
Schoenfelder: That's at the Senior Center.
Bolkcom: Any other questions?
Peters: Joanne called yesterday indicating that she is interested in the appointment, so she will be (inaudible)
Schoenfelder: Good.
Stutsman: I'm glad to hear that. She's done a good job (inaudible)
Duffy: Yes, she has.
Bolkcom: Thanks for coming in this morning. We appreciate it.
Schoenfelder: Thank you. Thank you for pronouncing my name correctly. It's unusual to get that.
Bolkcom: Item number 4 is business from Graham Dameron, Director of the Department of Public Health, regarding approval of the Johnson County Department Public Health application for the Iowa DNR fiscal year 2000 grant application for the Water Well Program or the Grants to Counties Program. Good morning.
Director of Public Health Graham Dameron: As you know this has been a program that we've had for several years. I believe last year they had reduced the funding a bit because I think, they didn't have as much carryover as they'd had previously in that program. But it's stable, at least for next year, about $22,000, 21,500. In an effort to use the resources to the extent that we can, they're not plugging cisterns any longer. But the rest of the wells and rehabilitation will continue. I'd be happy to answer any questions. It looks like we will have 120 wells to be tested, 39 wells to be plugged, and approximately 6 wells to be rehabilitated. That's the forecast. Those moneys though can be changed from one category to another, which they've allowed previously in the last couple of years.
Duffy: What do you mean, rehabilitated on the wells?
Dameron: If there's a particular well that needs some renovations, we can provide a share of that cost to get it renovated.
Lacina: An example, like some of the well heads used to be below ground in the old pits and with the change in the law they now have to be above. So to put that extension up...
Dameron: Yes.
Lacina: Those types of things.
Dameron: Yes.
Lacina: Keep water from going down.
Dameron: I think anything to preserve the integrity of the well itself and still utilize that well which is existing. I know it must have been in the old times where they just drilled a new well.
Duffy: Yes.
Dameron: As I remember there was a farm around North Liberty where we ended up... I think they had 9 wells on that farm. Over the years they just drilled a new well or dug a new well.
Bolkcom: OK. Any questions for Graham about this grant?
Jordahl: Is it normal for a well driller to inquire about an old well and automatically plug it when drilling a new well?
Dameron: We're pretty familiar with the well drillers and I think they might certainly ask about that and then go and... Of course I don't whether that would inhibit their business or not. People... They are generally the ones who help with the... with abandoned wells because they have the equipment necessary to do it.
Jordahl: I'm wondering, in the context of your revision of regulations, that maybe some kind of mechanism that would require that before a new well can be drilled that the old well be plugged or dealt with or inspected or something could be in place.
Dameron: The new water well rules proposals (inaudible) in the forthcoming months because we have to update them so that could be considered.
Jordahl: Let me offer that as a suggestion.
Lacina: Most of the repairmen will not work on a well that's out of compliance as far as the old pits and those types of things.
Dameron: Yes. They're really pretty good about that.
Jordahl: But I'm talking about if you're doing a whole new well. Like you said with 9 we might avoid that if we...
Dameron: Yes. Well...
Bolkcom: That sounds like a pretty rare case.
Jordahl: Cap the old one first.
Lacina: Most of them (inaudible)
Bolkcom: Right. Graham how much... So the grant's 21,495?
Dameron: Right.
Bolkcom: How does this square against the current year's grant?
Dameron: Same.
Bolkcom: Same? OK. So they're maintaining a fairly...
Dameron: Right.
Bolkcom: That's a pretty healthy amount.
Dameron: This doesn't start until July of next year.
Bolkcom: Right.
Dameron: They get into the game early here.
Bolkcom: Good.
Duffy: Would it be about a 50/50 split maybe or...
Dameron: Between what, Charlie?
Duffy: Between...
Lacina: Private dollars and...
Duffy: ... the grant and what the individual would probably have to pay. They don't pay all for replacing a well.
Bolkcom: Pay... the well...
Dameron: You certainly pay for all of the testing. The plugging, I'm not sure where that breaks out. We pay up to $200 for the plugging.
Duffy: Yes, that's right.
Dameron: It may take care of most of the cost, but not all of the cost for sure. There's some sharing.
Stutsman: Do we utilize all of the funds every year?
Dameron: I think we... Yes, I think we've utilized nearly all of the funds, Sally.
Lacina: We've had this for quite a few years, this program.
Stutsman: Yes, I knew we've... You'd think we'd be gaining on it, but...
Dameron: What?
Stutsman: You'd think we'd be gaining on it. As far as plugging wells and things like that.
Dameron: You'd think so. One of the interesting things about this is that they've granted the funds uniformly throughout the state. I'm sure that there's some disparity between one county and another. At some point in time they ought to look at that.
Stutsman: Uh-huh.
Dameron: Because there's got to be more wells in one county that need plugging than other... At least I would think so.
Bolkcom: Yes. We've been working on this for, what? Eight or 9 years? Since the program... We've been plugging wells every year.
Dameron: That occurs in every county, but... I don't know, maybe the could do some kind of an assessment of some sort to determine whether or not we need more money or less money.
Stutsman: Uh-huh.
Bolkcom: Yes.
Duffy: I think they started out, they got the deepest wells first and now we're down to any well. Is that right?
Dameron: Pretty much any well.
Duffy: Yes. Like, there's a lot of those that the water went off the roof and folks who used to keep rainwater and all of that.
Bolkcom: All right. Graham thanks for coming in.
Lacina: Little bit different topic, but sometime you might want to update us. The legislature changed the regulations on restaurant inspections.
Dameron: Oh, OK...
Lacina: You may not want to do it now, but at some time...
Dameron: We certainly will during budget time, because they will have a major impact.
Bolkcom: OK. Good. Great. Thank you, Graham.
Lacina: Thanks Graham.
Dameron: Thank you very much.
Bolkcom: All right. Item number 5, business from the Board of Supervisors, a) discussing financial agreements with Wellmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Iowa. We have something in the packet on that. We're going to turn it over to Carolyn to explain where we're at. Carol, we'd like to go over the Blue Cross/Blue Shield coverage.
Peters: Basically, what you have in front of you is... I did not copy the whole agreement for you because basically, it's boilerplate that has been the same year after year. I did want to make sure everybody saw the financial part. These are the exact administrative fees that they had proposed to you earlier in the year, which our excess loss premiums are 61.95 for those covered under the Iowa 500, and 10.44 for the retirees, and 54 cents for the dental. The administrative fees are 61.31 and the net worth access fees is 4.65. If you remember, this year we decided to try something a little different. By going to a weekly transfer or draw down we would probably save approximately $20,000. I just wanted to double-check with Blue Cross before bringing this to you, because originally the draw down was going to be 44,600. Then when the documents came it was 44,800, but that was due to the... the increase was due to increased benefits that we have. So anyway, everything else is the same it has been in years past.
Bolkcom: Are there any questions?
Lacina: What' our balance now, that pool?
Peters: I can't give you the exact, but it's like $695,000.
Lacina: 695. We always shot for a million dollar balance.
Peters: No. We were at a million at one time. And we're going to try to bring that down to where there was a little bit more equalization between a 3 month draw... The Code states that we have to have a recommended 120% balance.
Bolkcom: We have to have basically, 3 months worth...
Peters: Yes.
Bolkcom: ... of premiums on hand. We're exceeding that now. We were grossly exceeding it before. But it is clear that we need to make adjustment in next year's budget to...
Lacina: Because 3 months is not acceptable, while that may be a guideline our employee pool would not survive...
Stutsman: But you're not talking about the risk pool, you're talking about just for the premium?
Bolkcom: No, we're talking about...
Peters: No, we're talking about...
Bolkcom: ...just our major pool that we fund our self-insurance program.
Peters: Right. It was...
Lacina: That's going to have to go up.
Bolkcom: (Inaudible).
Peters: ... a million at one point and basically...
Stutsman: Uh-huh.
Peters: You don't have to have this much in your pool, but it's always nice to know that you have 3 months worth of claims for in case...
Stutsman: OK.
Peters: We have a couple of hospitals that people frequent, they just don't turn in their billing in a timely manner. Let's say, hypothetically, if you should ever change from Blue Cross/Blue Shield and go to another carrier, you'd want to make sure you had enough money in the bank to cover the run-out claims plus the new incurred claims.
Stutsman: So you're talking about claims, 3 months' worth of claims.
Peters: Yes.
Stutsman: OK, all right. I thought you said premiums.
Peters: But that's where the money for the claims come from is from our premiums.
Stutsman: Oh, OK, I see.
Jordahl: So there was a talk about a trend previously. That's kind of where Steve's concern comes from....
Peters: Right.
Jordahl: ... is that although our balance might be OK it had been being drawn down.
Peters: Correct.
Bolkcom: I think the Board over the course of the last couple years discussed this and made a decision that we would not increase premiums because we have a healthy pool. I think that strategy has paid off in the sense that we didn't go off and raise taxes to continue to build a surplus in this fund that we didn't need. It is whittled down and I think this next coming year we're going to have to make that step again, to increase the premiums for our self-insured program.
Peters: There are 3 things happening out there. Number one, you don't have as much interest coming in off of the unexpended balance, interest rates are down. Number 2, you're covering more people. You also have increased benefits and unfortunately, you have no control over this, but health care claims (inaudible) continue to rise.
Lacina: As Blue Cross/Blue Shield, as they've done their audits have told us in the past, we've got a young, pretty healthy workforce. In time you want to keep that into account, that we might be as fortunate on claims.
Peters: As Steve is so correct in saying, (inaudible)
Bolkcom: All right.
Lacina: OK.
Bolkcom: Any thing else on this, Carol, that we need... What action are we... do we need to make?
Peters: Just to approve it on Thursday.
Bolkcom: OK.
Peters: I know to a certain extent you probably are thinking, haven't we seen this before. What happens is they bring in the suggested premiums and then later on comes the financial part. So you do end up visiting about this on several different occasions.
Bolkcom: All right. Thank you.
Bolkcom: Item b, is discussion regarding proposal for videotaping of the Board of Supervisors weekly informal and formal meetings for 1998 and ‘99. We have a letter from Andy Small in our packet from the Video Center, basically suggesting that we have the same costs and the same proposal that we had from last year to this year. That would be for regular meetings $170 per meeting and for the live meeting that we have on the second Thursday of every month a slightly higher cost of $185 due to the extra work involved in making that meeting live.
Duffy: I looked up the last fiscal year, it was $8,111 which is cheap for...
Bolkcom: Yes. It really is.
Duffy: ...Andy to do that. He isn't going to raise that for next year.
Bolkcom: All right. Put that on for Thursday, if there's no questions about that.