Reconvened at 1:10 p.m. as a meeting with Johnson County Elected Officials.

Chairperson White called the Johnson County Elected Officials Meeting to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 1:10 p.m.

Elected officials present were: County Attorney Pat White; County Auditor Tom Slockett; County Recorder Deborah Conger; County Sheriff Bob Carpenter; County Supervisors Joseph Bolkcom, Charles Duffy, Jonathan Jordahl, Stephen Lacina, and Sally Stutsman; and County Treasurer Cletus Redlinger. Staff present were: Board of Supervisors Administrative Assistant Carol Peters, Board of Supervisors Deputy Administrative Assistant Deana Pillard, Deputy Treasurer Deb Jensen, and Auditor's Office Recording Secretary Casie Parkins.

County Attorney Pat White introduced 2 guests, Treasurer-Elect Tom Kriz and Recorder-Elect Kim Painter. He said one of the things they would learn about the Elected Officials Meetings was that none of them could speak for all of the elected officials. White said he didn't have any specific goal or direction for this agenda item, other than to give people a chance to ask questions. White said his sense was he was far from the only one who hadn't gotten to where he should be yet on the budget.

County Auditor Tom Slockett said he explained earlier that the Auditor's Office had another priority which was the election. He said that today was the canvass. He said that 28% of the people voted before election day. He said this is a totally new requirement for the Auditor's Office to service the voters early and it's not included in the budget so it depends on being able to deploy office resources. He said one of the things that this will do, is when the state canvass is done Johnson County will have one of the highest turnouts. He said in terms of the budget they have a meeting scheduled for the 23rd of November. He said as it also happens the annual audit is due right now and Deputy Auditor Rosemary Stratton, who is the lead in the budget has to work with the Auditors. Slockett said that only one of the elected officials had submitted their budget. Jordahl said they were also having a budget subcommittee meeting on the 17th of November.

Slockett said this was the first year they have moved the budget process up. He said they are also having trouble finding a date when the Compensation Board could meet. Bolkcom asked if they were going to have budgets to work with during their first budget meeting on December 2nd. Slockett said he couldn't predict that. White said one of the questions he hears that could have an impact is, isn't the new Board the group of 5 people that are going to decide on the budget. Since 2 of the 5 people who will vote to certify aren't on the Board yet, it is influencing people to wait on their budgets. Bolkcom said that was bogus because the Board made a judgement about what it wanted to do and he doesn't know why people would second guess that. Stutsman said the Board made a very conscious decision to want experienced Board members to be a part of that process. She said she feels that the 2 new Board members would agree with what the rationale was for that. She said they have 2 people who are very knowledgeable and experienced who are leaving the Board and the County as a whole could benefit from their input. Lacina said he could understand because if a department comes to the Board in January, they are able to make a presentation. They have an advantage over one making a presentation in December because they've got the ear of the 2 new individuals. Lacina said they were kind of hung up until they get the rollbacks and some numbers as far as what they really can do. He said an indication to the departments was that the 1 to 5% was good but they were going to try to second guess and figure out what they were actually going to get. Stutsman said she did talk to Supervisor Elect Mike Lehman about their process and what they were doing and he conveyed he didn't have a problem with this Board dealing with the budget. Duffy said maybe Lehman didn't, but he thought he did because they have 2 new Board members why should they do 2 budgets in one year. Duffy said they should be a part of the process. Stutsman said the Board had this discussion when they put the schedule in place. Bolkcom said in December they're going to have departments come in and explain their budgets. Bolkcom said it would be great if all of the people that were going to be on the Board were going to attend, but the Board's decision to do it in December was not to get into a process in January where they were rushing through everything. Bolkcom said at least 3 of the Board members who will be here next year will have a very deliberative understanding of all of the departments' needs and be able to put it in the context of past budgets. He said if they waited until January and had 2 new people they were going to be overwhelmed. Stutsman said they had all been in that position in January. Duffy said it looks to him like this Board might have the budget all wrapped up before the first of the year and he didn't like that. Bolkcom said he didn't think so.

Slockett thought they had a lot of good intentions of moving ahead earlier but they had a Supervisor that was sick for a week and realities impinge when they try to move a schedule forward. He said from the Auditor's Office from Elections and Accounting divisions there was a window where they were able to work on it before the elections process really impinged on their operations. He said in redesigning the forms they got past that window to the point where they were heavily involved in elections. He said they weren't able to do what they would have been able to do earlier on the budgets. He said they are moving the process forward significantly. He said from the outset that they knew that there might be problems with that and that they would be lenient and accepting of the problems that that might create for people. He said they should continue to look at it that way. He said he agreed with Stutsman, not having spoken to the new Supervisors, but he would assume they would be very happy if the decisions were made by the previous Board and they could then decide whether or not they agreed with it. He said it was a good idea to try to do this as quickly as possible and he still asks for everyone's cooperation moving forward but also they're going to have to be tolerant of the problems that that they have as they're trying to do this. Lacina said that bottom line, the decision has been made and if they have delays they've got time to recover. He said if it were in January the Board's back would be against the wall as far as publishing.

White asked if it was fair to assume that this Board would be comfortable with Supervisor Elect Mike Lehman sitting in. Stutsman said yes. White said sending him a copy of the presentation schedule would be a good idea. Slockett said it would be good if Kriz and Painter felt welcome at the budget process also. Stutsman said she didn't want to ever convey the feeling that they were trying to pull a fast one. Jordahl said decisions would not be made by January, they were just trying to focus before January. Stutsman said the Board also wanted plenty of time to deliberate on the budget process. White asked who was going to contact Lehman. Stutsman said she would.

White asked if Slockett had any discussion with old or new Recorders and Treasurers about the vacancy on the Board. Slockett said he hadn't. Slockett said what he had in mind doing was contacting the current Recorder and Treasurer, but that it was appropriate for the new Recorder and Treasurer to make the ultimate decision about who fills the seat because they are the ones who are going to have to serve with them and will bear the consequences of the decision. Slockett said it seems to him also that a shorter time period they have without a 5th Supervisor the better. He said he was going to propose that they consider getting together with the new Recorder and Treasurer and if they can agree that the new Recorder and Treasurer should make the decision then they could go ahead and announce that they intend to appoint and take résumé's, let people begin thinking about it because it's a big decision and often times, a sacrifice. He said they could publish the notice and take résumé's so that when the new Recorder and Treasurer come into office on January 2nd they will be ready to look at the résumé's and make a decision on whether they want to appoint or call an election. He said his feeling is that the public has demonstrated through its votes in the past that it doesn't like to pay for an election if it's not necessary. He said if they can make a decision on someone they think is the type of person who would be selected by the voters to serve and has the qualifications that the public would then be given the opportunity to have the selection made without the cost of an election. He said that would have to be ratified at the next general election but they could avoid the cost of a special election. He said it's possible they could make a selection that would be acceptable to a broad enough segment of the community to avoid that cost and a lot of people think its worth trying to do that.

Bolkcom reiterated what Slockett said. Bolkcom asked what if Kriz and Painter wanted an election. Slockett said if they wanted an election he would suggest to Bolkcom that he not submit his resignation yet. He said Bolkcom's resignation should be contingent on their agreement to this process. Slockett said it was a rational way to proceed but Bolkcom was in the driver's seat. Stutsman said she would prefer the appointment for the fact of getting somebody on the Board as quickly as possible. She said their busiest time is in January and they need to have a Supervisor in place as quickly as possible. She said if they have an election it could be March or April before somebody would be on the Board. Slockett said they have to give 30 days notice after they decide to have an election so it would be before that. Lacina said by the time they publish the budget the third week in January, they are going to have to be pretty well done. Jordahl said the Treasurer and Recorder are not actually empowered to make that decision until January and they might change their minds. Slockett said their committee is not created until the resignation is submitted. He said if it is submitted ahead of time they are creating it immediately at that point in time. Slockett said if they all agree that the orderly way to proceed is to make the appointment they could then ask Bolkcom to submit his resignation in advance. Slockett said he doesn't have to do that. White said the most expeditious procedure was for the 5 people potentially involved to meet and if there was unanimity, convey that to Bolkcom and if he agrees with whatever the decision is. Jordahl asked if that was a public meeting. White said yes. Slockett said it wasn't a public meeting unless Bolkcom submits his resignation because they aren't empowered. White said if they know there is going to be a vacancy, the only question is when, it should be a public meeting. Slockett asked if that meant that anytime he talked to Redlinger he has to post an agenda. White said that would be his recommendation. Jordahl said his point was that members of the public might want to have input to the decision making process. White said it was correct they don't have one but they know they're going to have one. County Treasurer Cletus Redlinger said if they don't want to have an election whoever they appoint will have a lot bearing on whether or not they have an election. Slockett said if anyone who threatens to circulate a petition gets their way is not a good situation either. He said what they have to do is pick the best person for the job and then let the public determine whether or not they agree with them or not.

Stutsman said the Space Needs Committee reported to the Board of Supervisors to give them an update on where they were as far as decisions and plans with space needs. She said they asked the Board for direction on priorities on where they should be directing their attention as far as space needs. She said it came down to recognizing the needs with the Department of Human Services (DHS), and directing their energies into addressing those concerns and then the Jail. Stutsman said the Board directed White to begin the process of negotiations with a piece of property that's available for the Department of Human Services and then the Board has hired a consultant to begin working with architect Dwight Dobberstein on recommendations for the Jail. She said so many of the decisions to be made on space needs are timing issues. She said one thing has to be in place before you can do something else. She said they need to make decisions on the jail also. County Recorder Deborah Conger asked if they were looking at renting DHS space. Stutsman said it would be purchasing land and building.

White said the Board has reiterated the County's interest in acquiring the Armory. He said the Space Needs Committee identifies that as a 5 to 10 year time table. He said the Board has indicated agreement with a recommendation of the Space Needs Committee that they try to position themselves to acquire property in the block immediately north as it becomes available. He said they will be letting people who own that property know of the County's long term interest in trying to position themselves fiscally to be able to act when a property becomes available. He said they can make owners in that block aware of that interest so when and if they put their property on the market they would be in a position to acquire it. He said the long term goal is then to create a quasi campus setting with the Administration Building being in the middle.

Bolkcom said he had a communication with the Federal people that run the Post Office. He said they have a lot of space available there right now. Stutsman asked who initiated the contact. Bolkcom said he got a call out of the blue. Slockett asked if they had looked at purchasing the Post Office site. Lacina said part of the deal with the Armory was an exchange of a building for land where they could build a new armory. He said they would hopefully with no money out of pocket swap County land for the building. Lacina said over time they would take components of it down and build a new facility increasing the parking. He said if they had more parking they could mirror the County building in the Armory parking lot. He said there would be options with the piece of ground with minimal expense. Lacina said the Armory could also bring in revenues. Slockett said this was all theoretical at this point. He said it was good to look into it but it would be good to look into the post office site. Stutsman said the committee was meeting again on the 20th so that would be something they could discuss. Slockett said it might be a total dead end but maybe worth talking about. Stutsman said they need to look at all of the options. Stutsman said she made an informal inquiry with the school district also and they said as long as it was what they termed facility neutral. Slockett said there was tremendous potential in that area and he'd really like to take a serious look at it. Jordahl agreed with Slockett. Duffy asked Tom if the Post Office was going to move. Slockett said they might be willing to because they had moved before. He said they have vacancies in their system. Slockett said it was also right across the street from the School Administration Building and the federal parking lot was south of the Courthouse. Slockett said there's a large chunk of land that's at least potentially available. He said the Courthouse is never going to move because it's a historical monument. He said if they really want a campus and could do things in conjunction with that, that would make things a lot more centralized. Stutsman said she thinks everyone agrees on the concept of a campus. Jordahl said they had the jail expansion needs too and that's a valid point.

Stutsman thinks the Board has talked consistently about using revenues from the local option sales tax to address space needs. Slockett said he's very pleased with the Press Citizen editorial yesterday against it. He thought it was an important piece of the discussion before voters decide what to do. Slockett said one of the considerations that's repeatedly brought up in terms of filling the vacancy when Bolkcom leaves is the public does not want to pay for an election. He stated that the local option sales tax failed in Linn County and Washington County. Slockett said the Press Citizen had editorialized against the sales tax. He said he's against the local option tax. He asked why the City Council should force the election, which has to be paid for by the small towns and Johnson County as well as themselves, when it's probably not going to pass. He thinks there should be a credible case that the tax is going to pass before the tax payers are forced to pay for an election. Slockett said if they are unable or unwilling to do that they ought to call it off. County Sheriff Bob Carpenter said he read it a little differently. Carpenter said that it might pass if the council said they would spend the money on the water plant, it might pass. Stutsman said she didn't read the article but the legislature says the City can call an election. She thinks the voters should decide, rather than the City Council. She said it was appropriate to have an election to determine that. Slockett asked if she encouraged them to put it on the ballot. She said this way everyone has a chance to vote on it. Slockett said it's going to cost $43,000. He said he can't see how it would pass and why Johnson County voters would be in favor of it if the other Counties weren't. Stutsman said that they aren't Washington or Linn County and they have different needs and different things on the ballot. She stated she's not saying she's for or against it but the process needs to go forward. She said they put down what they need and what they would spend the money on and then the community decides. She said that they shouldn't assume because Linn County and Washington counties defeated it that it will be defeated here. Slockett said he hasn't talked to anyone who thinks it's going to pass, Stutsman said she hadn't either. Slockett said if he felt like it had a chance of passing he would understand why they would need to pay for it. Stutsman said, then again, she could say that nobody thought Vilsack was going to win. Bolkcom said unfortunately local option sales tax is the only mechanisms local governments have to raise money. Bolkcom said it was a regressive unfortunate circumstance. Slockett asked Bolkcom why he said that. Bolkcom said that property tax would be the other option. Bolkcom and Slockett agreed that the state needs to give them more options. Slockett said with Vilsack being Governor there are options they may have ahead without implementing the most regressive property tax allowed by law. He stated there's an undeniable emphasis for payment of sales taxes on the people who can least afford to pay it, in spite of the exemption for food and prescription drugs and so forth. He said they should make taxes more fair and look at the impact on the individuals. Stutsman said she agrees with what has been said about the regressiveness of the sales tax but she is thinking how are they going to generate 40 million dollars without an undue burden on the property tax payer.

Redlinger stated that former Iowa State Association of Counties Director Paul Coats thought they should tax because of all the tourists in Johnson County. Jordahl said that point needed to be made. White said those were the arguments. Redlinger said a reason for it not to pass would be what they say they're going to spend the money on. Redlinger said that if it were brought up for water, it would pass. Slockett said even that was problematic. He said the best reason to pass a regressive tax on the poor is because it's less regressive than the charges it's replacing which is true on a sewer charge. Slockett then said they get into fairness and asked why people from Solon, Hills, Oxford, Swisher, Shueyville and Lone Tree pay for Iowa City's sewer plant. He asked why should the rural people of Johnson County pay for Iowa City's sewer plan. He said there are very strong views to the contrary about that. Slockett said it was taxation without representation. Slockett said for the people of Iowa City it's a great deal because they're shifting the taxes onto the rural areas, the towns and the visitors. Carpenter said he doesn't think a lot of people in the community will say much. Stutsman said she could ask Carpenter how many people outside of the Iowa City area end up in jail over the weekend. Carpenter said if it passes in Iowa City, it will pass. Carpenter said what would make or break it would be Iowa City selling it to their own people in Iowa City. Stutsman said that she was under the understanding that Iowa City called the shots. Carpenter said Coralville had some control. White and Slockett said that wasn't right. Slockett explained that contiguous communities, Iowa City, North Liberty, Hills and Coralville all vote as one block. Jordahl said Tiffin was included now too. Slockett stated that each noncontiguous block and the rural areas all vote independently. He said if the contiguous block votes in favor of it, it will pass for that area. Slockett stated that for each noncontiguous area that votes for it, it will pass there. He stated that now any individual municipality could vote by vote of their City Council to eliminate it. Redlinger asked why they passed hotel/motel taxes. Duffy said good question. Bolkcom said because they could. He asked if they shouldn't vote for those. Slockett said those are a different set of issues, with some similarities.

Bolkcom asked if they needed to respond in anyway to the Post Office space availability. White said they could make contact with them. Bolkcom said he didn't know of an immediate need for it. Stutsman asked how many square feet were available. Lacina said historically it's been very expensive ground. White said that their former experience when the Board was housed in there was it was fairly expensive and access was uneven. Slockett said he was more interested in purchasing the whole thing. White mentioned that they were already in the building with Veterans Affairs.

White said he put this on the agenda because he saw a GIS Committee agenda and he hasn't had a chance to talk to anybody on the committee. He said the rest of the elected officials should know that there was some discussion going on about an administrative structure for GIS. White said questions were whether they should make it part of the Auditor's Office, Information Services, or create a new department under the Board of Supervisors. Jordahl said he chaired that committee meeting and that the Auditor made a proposal from his offices' point of view in terms of the statutory responsibility that they have for mapping and efficiencies of having GIS housed there. Jordahl said that Information Services did not seem interested in having GIS housed there. He said there was a lot of support expressed to have a new department under the Board of Supervisors. He said the major reason given was the independence of that person relative to other departments needing to balance the needs of all department rather than being subjected to the transient needs in other areas of some department. Jordahl said that people also wanted an equal shot at the GIS person. Jordahl stated they took a straw poll and 8 or 9 department heads voted to have a GIS Coordinator under the Board of Supervisors. He said it would not necessarily be a department level appointment but a person under the Board with independence. He said that they recommended that be submitted as a budget request through the Information Services Department. Jordahl said this will go to this Friday's meeting of the County Computer Committee. White asked if the current discussion was that there would be one person who would coordinate and oversee GIS functions. Jordahl said yes and they would have a lot of coordination to do between Information Services and the Auditor's Office, with the mapping project. Jordahl said a tangent decision that was made of the subcommittee was that the Auditor's Office should proceed with the project of closing the polygons and assigning the permanent parcel numbers and submit a grant proposal on behalf of the County for the ARC View and ARC Info software as a way of getting the County started on GIS. Jordahl said it is being recommended that GIS be budgeted for $100,000 for this budget year.

Slockett asked if the independent GIS Department Head would have any ability to manage the people in his department. Jordahl said they would just coordinate and make sure the pieces fit together. Slockett asked if this person would be purely administrative and if they wouldn't help create the GIS. Jordahl said they would and Slockett asked what they would do. Jordahl said that remained to be fleshed out. Redlinger asked if this would be a position similar to the Human Resources position. Jordahl said yes, they would work with departments to accomplish things in a central services type of function.

Bolkcom said he doesn't think they can afford a new department and that there hasn't been a case made for it yet to spend that kind of money. Bolkcom said there was some money being spent and they should continue to be committed. Bolkcom said by analogy they will probably find this year from the Human Resources department that they have a request for a full time employee. Bolkcom said GIS is going to be the same thing. Bolkcom said it hasn't been demonstrated at the department level what the use of GIS will be, what need it will fulfill that the County currently has that's not met. Bolkcom said he was skeptical about putting that kind of money up front in this kind of administrative position which wold cost about $60,000 or $70,000 to hire somebody with the skills necessary to do this. Bolkcom said in the context of this years budget he doesn't think they can afford it. Bolkcom said this won't score a high enough priority against other departmental priorities. Bolkcom said he would like to see the County more towards a more incremental lower cost approach that utilizes the expertise the County already has. Jordahl said the grant application that the Auditor's Office is putting together would give them the opportunity to do an incremental approach by giving them free software, and utilizing the resources of the Auditor's Office and the mapping project to do this stage of the process which is an essential stage of the closing of the polygons and the assignment of permanent parcel numbers. Jordahl said this would be in house using existing staff and free software, they would be able to move to a very significant level. Jordahl said there would be support coming from the Assessor's Office for the position and the process of implementation. Bolkcom asked if support meant money and Jordahl answered yes. Bolkcom and Slockett said that wasn't said in the meeting. Jordahl said the Assessor's office said during the meeting they would support the position. Jordahl said it was prior to the decision that there would be a central GIS coordinator. White said that wasn't the Assessor's Office call, it would be the Conference Board.

Lacina stated that if you look at the counties that they use as examples for GIS such as Whiteside in Illinois, or some of them in California these are expensive departments and projects. Lacina said if you're looking at a city where they need to physically locate utilities and those types of things its important to have accuracy so if you're laying a gas line you don't hit the electrical lines. Lacina said Coralville is really in the lead right now so instead of having a coordinator they could work with Coralville and the utility companies could do some of the work. Lacina said in the first place once you start the project it isn't competed, it's ongoing. Slockett said it's truly a process. Lacina stated that the planning was good and the time would come, but given the situation the County is in right now, Iowa City and Coralville are the 2 that continue to be the major players and the County can continue the mapping project and close the polygons. He said it wasn't a wise investment of the money unless they could get the software for free. Jordahl said they were requesting $100,000 but it wouldn't need to be spent in the following fiscal year in order to do anything for GIS. Jordahl said the money was going to be a request through the Information Services department money to pay for the software necessary to do the closing of the polygons in the Auditor's Office whether or not they got the grant. Jordahl said if they got the grant then the $100,000 would not need to be spent for that purpose. Jordahl said similarly the GIS Coordinator is included in the $100,000 but the Board or Computer Committee might decide they don't need that yet, they'll spend a year closing polygons and getting County staff up to speed and then they will make another step and hire the coordinator. He said there was room for spending relatively little money during Fiscal Year 2000.

Slockett said for 4 years they haven't proceeded on this and he hopes they can move forward. Slockett said it seemed like the $100,000 was pulled out of the air. He stated he was concerned with spending resources on a person when they could use it on a product. Jordahl said they were putting together pieces of an incremental process. He said they weren't talking about let's create a department now. He said it has stages of review to go through. Carpenter said he agreed with Slockett and that the last several meetings he had been to it seemed like they were pulling a lot of $100,000's out of the air. Carpenter said he was concerned they were trying to put a budget together for next year, they're being told they are going to have problems getting money and where are they coming up with all of the hundreds of thousands of dollars for new projects when the department heads and elected officials are trying to put together budgets just to get by. Carpenter said somewhere along the line the $100,000 will come out of somebody's budget. He said it won't be able to come out of his very easily because he doesn't have it to give. Carpenter said somewhere there is a bottom line. Carpenter said it really concerns him because when they don't know for sure where they're going to come up with $100,000 for a new program he has a problem with that. Slockett said there was a real taking for granted of the County's existing services. He said they were just assuming they weren't going to cost anything more. Slockett said during the election the office really was strained in conducting the election and they've got to do something about it to create the resources so that they don't put the office under pressures because something will go wrong sometime. Carpenter said he would give an example: White's office was going to be under a real strain for the next year or so because they just got through dumping 4 first degree murder charges on the Attorney's Office. Carpenter said that would be an expense on White's office and $100,000 won't go a long way on trying to prosecute these crimes. Lacina said didn't they just discover this morning they were $200,000 over on Juvenile detention costs. Bolkcom said it was about $110,000. Carpenter said it was going to get worse.

Lacina said Jordahl had a good point because there are some improvements they could make such as the closing of the polygons and trying to get the grant for the software. Lacina said when they initiated the project it was to generate more tax revenues with greater accuracy. Lacina said legitimately they should ask the Assessor's to continue updating so they're not falling back. Slockett said it was still coming out of the tax payers pocket. Bolkcom agreed. Lacina said the other side is don't, and let it sit there. Carpenter said they have 3 juveniles that are going to be in some type of custody for quite awhile, and that isn't cheap. He said it was $150 a day per person. Jordahl said the GIS should be an extension of the Computer Needs Committee's work in looking at modernizing Johnson County's use of it's own existing resources. He stated the GIS system would be a tremendous benefit to Carpenter's office. Carpenter said he wasn't saying they don't need GIS, but before they get in on new projects they should make sure they have enough to take care of the projects they have. Carpenter said the way he understands it, the County may be strapped. Bolkcom says the Board does a good job of trying to balance needs and they don't need to be lectured. He said they recognize that this is an issue and there are going to be a lot of new competing needs that the Board will have to wrestle with. Bolkcom said they should be able to look at new things like GIS and any other thing that comes along that they might want to do and it doesn't mean they are spending the money on it, they are just talking about it. Carpenter asked if he said they couldn't or shouldn't. He said they have got to be careful. Bolkcom said point well made and point taken, that they have been careful and will continue to be.

Duffy said things were getting out of hand. He said they knew this would happen. He said he agreed with Stutsman. He said the Board has spent money that they don't have. Duffy stated they needed to pay the County employees a good wage or they would lose them. Duffy said he would rather see local option sales tax happen than have the Assessor assess homes for more money which would raise property taxes. He said he didn't want any new programs until they see how they come out. Duffy said the $100,000 adds up and he has been trying to hold the Board of Supervisors down for spending. Duffy said the money has to come from some place and it has to be spent on the right kind of things. He said local option sales tax lost in Cedar Rapids and if it was done right it probably would have passed.

Lacina asked if the predominant County departments that would use GIS would be the Auditor's Office, Secondary Roads, and Planning and Zoning. Slockett added the Assessor's Office and Health. Conger said one of her points about GIS is that it is a critical project because it will affect every single department in the County. Slockett said it will affect the public as well and they have had abstractors and real estate people who are interested in being able to hook onto it on line. She said one of her concerns about having an independent person is that in the past they have tried to do things cheap and internally and sometimes they come out with a product they aren't ultimately happy with. Conger said GIS is critical, it takes a lot of expertise and experience and they don't have that in Johnson County right now. Lacina asked if she was suggesting they hire a consultant. Conger said it should be an independent person that isn't coming out of any County department and that person should function similar to the Human Resource Administrator. Lacina asked who they would answer to administratively. Conger said the Board of Supervisors. Lacina said while it is technology driven an, Advisory Committee would be a tool.

Slockett said he would like to put on the table the opposite point of view. He said whenever you don't know something it's easy to spend a lot of money and hire an expert. Slockett said his office knows something about this because they've had computer-aided design programs for 10 years now. He said they have been ready to proceed for 4 years and haven't been allowed to. Slockett said there has been quite a bit of talk about what the Zoning Department has been able to do with one program it bought that utilizes the Auditor's Office equipment with one days training. He said Conger would be amazed at what the Auditor's Office could have done if 4 years ago they had been allowed to proceed with the relatively inexpensive software and hardware. He wants the opportunity to demonstrate it through a pilot project or something because they can do it without a $70,000 per year person. Slockett said they can demonstrate it and make it available to everyone and when they're done the Assessor will complain about it just like they complain about the maps. He said they can demonstrate that this is a good product and there is nothing wrong with the product that isn't wrong with every product done by expensive consultants throughout the states. He said this is hard to bring up and nobody likes to talk about disagreements but this is a case where the Assessor opposed this from day one and they haven't ever changed their tune. Slockett said they have held meetings to talk about their complaints and they have dissolved into thin air. He asked Conger to get specific about the problem and talk about it instead of perpetuating vague allegations. Conger stated Dan Hudson said he had a lot of corrections for the maps.

Bolkcom said they had a meeting with the Auditor's staff and the Assessor's and they talked it through. He said at the meeting they developed a form that if there was a problem, there would be a paper trail and responsibilities along that paper trail to make sure the corrections were done. Bolkcom said there was another meeting scheduled but the Assessor's didn't want to have it and felt that things were resolved at that point. Slockett said some of their items were incorrect and the rest were routine things. He said when there is a problem they can fix it faster than some other counties who have to mail their information to a consultant. He said Conger knows that there are little gnashing's of temperaments and disagreements in the County, they're not always fair or accurate. Conger said she wasn't referring to that, but to the Comprehensive Plan that they were going to develop in-house at no cost. She asked what happened to that. Duffy said it got expensive. Conger said it didn't go anywhere. Bolkcom told her they were getting ready to present it. Lacina said they did bring in consultants.

Lacina said that GIS was a huge investment so they had to make sure the base maps were right. He stated the polygons had to be closed and the base maps needed to be right and then you build on that foundation. He said without a good foundation, you'll invest a lot of money into something that no one is going to use. Jordahl said that was the point made in the meeting. Jordahl said the experience they've heard repeated in GIS meetings is that they shouldn't start trying to cobble this together on their own and then find out down the road that they have problems. He said they need somebody to come in and make sure it is set up right. Slockett said this is a process that's going to improve as it goes along and is never going to end. Jordahl said they should do a full-blown needs assessment and pay what is necessary to get it. Slockett stated the consultants will interview people who have no idea about what GIS can do for them. Conger stated by hiring Human Resources Administrator Lora Shramek they have gotten a lot of expertise they did not have in the County already. Jordahl said the GIS person is going to bring in expertise in speaking with departments who do not know the potential for these things to talk about what potential they may have. Slockett said instead of doing this in a revolutionary way, they should do this in an incremental way. He said they should provide the capability to use the GIS and to begin to demonstrate some of the uses within the County and let other departments see how they're being used and then allow them to develop their own ideas about how it could be used for them. He said that's another legitimate way to proceed and a lot more incremental and takes a lot less money. Conger said it puts them at risk because the County becomes a learning curve. Jordahl said someone else such as a consultant has already learned this and can come in and predict errors. Jordahl said someone could keep them from going down the wrong track. He said it would be more expensive to make mistakes. Slockett said the conversation was getting really abstract. Jordahl said what wasn't abstract was that the Committee recommended a needs assessment be done at a cost of $15-25,000.

Lacina said this would be a good discussion to have with Coralville. He said they don't want to duplicate it and have 2 systems or have a system that doesn't mesh with theirs. White asked who does it in Coralville. Lacina said he thought the Engineer but he wasn't sure. Slockett said a good thing that came out of the meeting was they decided to make a grant application for the same software that Coralville uses. He said this would allow them to communicate and help each other. He said Iowa City should also be included in this. Slockett said if Iowa City, Coralville and Johnson County would all use the same software so they could communicate and help each other that would be the most important step of all. He said almost everyone is using the same software, and Cedar Rapids is using the same software also. Jordahl said he argued in the meeting to do a joint application for the entire region. Slockett said they've got a potential to get a grant for software, they can get it for the County. He stated that ESRI wants the County to get it. Jordahl said the point the ESRI representative made was they would have a better chance of getting funding for this if they were coordinating efforts with surrounding cities and counties. Slockett said they have a different interpretation of what occurred. Slockett stated they demonstrate the coordination by getting letters of support and creating the precinct map for Iowa City, and that is an example of cooperation. He stated they would supply all of the empirical data used by Coralville for their GIS system. He stated they would write a letter of support to them. He said if they only grant one copy of the software to Johnson County, then which entity would get to use it? He said all of the entities are free to apply for the grant themselves. Slockett said he agrees in an overarching level with what Jordahl is saying but at this point in the grant process the deadline is too soon. Jordahl said he wants coordination among the GIS software because it would make the application stronger. Slockett said sharing the grant among Johnson County and it's communities would create a lot of problems.

White stated that he has spoken with Lewis Systems and explained the objections with the contract draft for armored car pick up of County deposits. He said Lewis Systems said they could redraft it any way he thinks is appropriate but he hasn't found the time yet. He said he promised Conger and Redlinger would sign it before they left office. Redlinger said he talked to Treasurer Elect Tom Kriz and he is against it. White said thanks for mentioning that because it will save him time. Redlinger said if Kriz doesn't want to be involved in it there is no need to move forward. White said the service would be for the Recorder and the Treasurer and technically the Recorder could do it independently. He said he will work on a revision and provide it to Conger, Redlinger, Painter and Kriz. He said he envisioned a 30 or 60 day trial period at the end of which they could opt out or sign a longer contract. Redlinger said one of the points that Kriz brought up is that it was a good idea for County people to be seen making deposits at the bank. Redlinger said he agreed. Kriz said he has dealt with Lewis Systems at the banks and it was anything but a pleasant relationship. Kriz said the involvement and contact with the community is important.

Lacina left at 2:37 p.m. and returned at 2:39 p.m.

Conger said there's a big risk because they are taking up to a million dollars in the trunks of their cars to the bank. She said she doesn't want to put County employees at risk just for the public relations. Kriz said there are also large deposits going to banks from merchants throughout the year and very few use courier services. Conger said if the County wanted to put it self at risk, it could get robbed at some point. Jordahl said they have a Sheriff's Department and asked if that had been discussed. Bolkcom and Stutsman said yes. Slockett said they should think about what they would say if something like a robbery did happen. Conger said they were no longer talking about taking up to $50 a day. She said it's gone way beyond that and it's too risky. Duffy said he thought it was a good idea because they were talking about a lot of money. Duffy said it wasn't all White's fault that this hasn't been done because he had scheduling problems with Lewis Systems and they didn't want to pick up as much cash as the County had. Slockett said they had more than their standard contract would allow. White stated the biggest stumbling block in the drafting was that some days deposits were larger than Lewis Systems is willing to cover. Bolkcom asked if there was a cost analysis on it. He asked what the staff time in those 2 departments versus an outside company doing it was. Redlinger said it was cheap because he has been doing it for 14 years for nothing. Jordahl stated the question was not just the amount of money they might lose, but if he were walking downtown with the money bag, he'd feel at risk personally. Slockett said if the checks disappeared, it would be a major accounting problem.

Slockett stated they shouldn't take for granted the change in Governor. He said there's an enormous opportunity to have an impact on what happens at the state level and he hopes all of them will think carefully about that. The elected officials decided to meet again on Tuesday, January 19th at 1:30 p.m.

Recessed at 2:50 p.m.

(Continued in Part 5)