MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS, AREA LEGISLATORS AND JOHNSON COUNTY ELECTED OFFICIALS/DEPARTMENT HEADS
DECEMBER 3, 1998
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chairperson Bolkcom called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 3:39 p.m. Members present were: Joseph Bolkcom, Charles Duffy, Jonathan Jordahl, Stephen Lacina, and Sally Stutsman.
State legislators present were: Representative Ro Foege (House District 50)., Representative Dick Myers (House District 49), and Senator Robert Dvorsky (Senate District 25). Also present, arriving at 4:12 p.m., Representative Mary Mascher (House District 46).
Department heads present were: County Assessor Jerry Musser, County Auditor Tom Slockett, County Recorder Deborah Conger, County Sheriff Robert Carpenter, Department of Public Health Director Graham Dameron, 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.
Staff present were: Disease Prevention Manager Kot Flora, Deputy Treasurer Betty Sass, Deputy Treasurer Deb Jensen, Board of Supervisors Deputy Administrative Assistant Deana Pillard and Recording Secretary Casie Parkins.
Board of Social Welfare/Cluster Board: Childcare Pilot Program
Bolkcom stated this was the annual opportunity to speak with their State Delegation about issues of concern with County Government. He said they had a number of people there today that want to present brief, basic synopsis of issues or problems, propose solutions and get reactions. He said they thought they should use most of their time to talk to them about these things.
Cluster Board Member Susan Wasson stated the Cluster Board discovered they have a lack of child care. She said they had a memorandum in front of them stating a proposal. She said they are looking for $10,000 to start a pilot project, one which would allow FIP recipients, or people with low incomes, who like children to help them with the problem. She said it would give them employment skills and self-employment. She stated they are asking for $10,000 for 5 individuals to start up their own at home neighborhood daycares. She said the second page stated all the different things that have happened in Johnson County. She said that 4C's was going to help them. She said 4Cs deals with Washington, Johnson and Cedar Counties and they are willing to give all the training and all mandatory education necessary to start up child care centers. She stated that when people have low incomes, they have limited access to transportation. She said they are trying to gather their children in one place and get to their job. Wasson said they found if you daycare in the neighborhood in at home settings, which are closed to low income areas, it alleviates an entire problem for many families. She said this will help build healthy families and healthy children and to get FIP recipients off of FIP and into self-sustaining jobs. She said this will be only a voluntary program and they will only take 5 adults who fit the criteria and like children. She said they already have training in process. She stated that 1,500 of the $10,000 would go to 4C's partially for the training that is listed on page 4. She said there are 4 mandatory courses in 4 divisions that they have, which they would be trained in. She stated 4C's also has a Best Beginnings Program where they buy cribs and double strollers. She said they allow people to use them and pay them back at a later date at no interest. She said the $1,500 goes for equipment and training. She said $1,000 goes to start up money so these people can upgrade their rental homes, buy further equipment, buy books, or stock up on diapers. She stated they currently have a major shortage for infant and toddler care. She said Johnson County received 800 calls requesting infant care in one year. She said this was documented by 4C's. She stated that 5 people couldn't take care of all 800 infants but they could help with ones that are getting help from DHS. She said it is extremely important to deal with the clients who don't have a lot of money and need the State Reimbursement Forms. She said she gave the legislators a proposal and a budget on page 5. She said it was probably the most bare bones budget they will every see. She said no money is going to any coordinator and it's all going to the 5 volunteers so they can provide a living for themselves. She said the last pages show monthly cash flow projections so they can see what kinds of expenses are involved in child care. She said one showed if they are reimbursed at the $18 a half day rate from DHS and one if they are reimbursed at a $23 rate, which DHS doesn't provide. She said one is a market reimbursement, which runs about $23 and the other one is an $18 reimbursement from DHS. She said they're also giving the 5 people an added incentive to take children who come with the DHS reimbursement. She said they're giving them $700 to make that up. She stated they are trying to move people off of FIP and into viable jobs and provide a child first attitude in healthy families in at home daycare centers. She said it's a pilot project to see if it will work. She asked for any questions.
State Representative Ro Foege asked if they had identified the geographical areas. Wasson said they had identified all of Johnson County. Foege asked where the neighborhood providers would be. Wasson said they know the low income areas within Johnson County and she said, in working with DHS, they could identify people with very low incomes or people on FIP. She said they have done some preliminary identification. Foege stated that the transportation issue was another piece of the problem. He said they'd have to zero in geographically. He asked if this kind of project has been done in other places. Wasson stated Kansas and New Jersey had. She said 4C's has done something like this before. She said they regularly train at home child care providers. She stated Johnson County is unique because they're looking at it from a county point of view, not an agency point of view. She said they are looking at what's best for the whole citizenry. Foege asked if this was in any way related to the community Empowerment process. Wasson said no because one of the FIP recipient helped them come up with the idea about a year ago. She said she attended part of the planning process for the Empowerment application and they had talked about that but they looked at it from an agency point of view. She stated she thought it works well Empowerment but it works well on it's own too. Foege said they had done a lot of work for not very much money and it was impressive. He said it appeared it would have a pretty good impact on quite a few kids. Wasson stated it would have an excellent impact.
State Representative Dick Myers asked if they approached the Board of Supervisors with this. Wasson said they had and the Board of Supervisors asked them to come back with more information. She said she feels if this pilot project works well in Johnson County, then it could work very well throughout the state. She said she'd like to see the state take a lead in this. She said the Cluster Board has wonderful cooperation with the Board of Supervisors and DHS. She stated she wanted them to be part of getting FIP recipients into self-employment and be part of the partnership of building healthy families and putting children first. Board of Social Welfare/Cluster Board Chairperson Bob Welsh stated they went before the Council of Human Services in July and strongly recommended that they increase the childcare reimbursement rates to be comparable to the market price. He said they turned it down. He stated the State likes pilot projects so this would give the State an opportunity to save at a low cost basis. He said they should try and see if increasing the childcare rate would impact it. Foege said there is a move to move it from 140 to 185 % of federal poverty levels and that reimbursement rates did go up 2% in the last appropriations. Welsh said he hopes the government elect will make some changes in that. He said there's no projected increase under the Council of Human Services. Foege stated he thinks there will be a lot of discussion on improving daycare. Myers said he agreed but he was concerned with the ability of the State to be a good partner. He said he likes local control of things and they've got that with the Cluster Board.
Wasson said they don't have childcare facilities that provide evening or weekend service. Myers asked who would determine the criteria for the training. Wasson said 4Cs would. Myers said there are a many daycare centers with less than 6 children so they don't have to be licensed. Wasson said these people have to be licensed and registered. She said it was built into the 4 mandatory courses on mandatory reporting, first aid, on blood pathogens, etc. Foege said they are reimbursed at an enhanced rate. Myers said he isn't a fan of everybody getting into the childcare business without supervision. Wasson stated that's why they are looking for volunteers who like children. She said that's why they are targeting people who really need to move into a work situation. She said they aren't opening the floodgates and advertising in the paper. She said it is critical that a child from 0 to age 3 has good nurturing and strong development. She said it saves everyone money and helps the family. Myers asked what their expected level of participation would be. He said they will get a lot of volunteers right away. Wasson said that would be excellent and the decisions would be made jointly with 4C's, who will do the screening. She said she is also the Board President and the original coordinator for the Mother to Mother Ministry Program in Johnson County and she works with low income and FIP recipients all the time. She said that's a mentoring and friendship program for women who have children and need friendship. She said they don't tell them how to live their lives. She said she's very aware of the program and the needs. Foege said his daughter and son in law, who are not low income, interviewed 40 people before they found a satisfactory daycare person. He stated it was a real problem and they aren't even low income. Bolkcom said they needed to move on.
COUNTY RECORDER DEBORAH CONGER: EFFECT OF TRANSFER OF VITAL STATISTICS
County Recorder Deborah Conger said she wanted to talk about the transfer of vital statistics on July 1st, 1997 and the consequences that legislative decision has had on county government. She stated that in 1997, the Iowa Legislature passed legislation transferring vital statistics from the State Clerk of Court Offices to County Recorders. She said that in prior discussions it was agreed that this transfer would include the technology necessary to electronically process and track these records. She said for 3 years the Department of Health had been designing a vital records system called the VRS that they promised would be ready by early 1997. She said the projected timetable showed the system being implemented in 10 pilot counties, including Johnson County, in May of 1997 with full installation to all the counties prior to July 1,1997. She stated vital records were transferred on July 1st but the critical technology to do the job was missing. She said the VRS system has already cost $4,000,000 and is nearly 2 years over schedule with no end in sight. She stated counties have had to develop their own systems for processing records. She said the Johnson County Board of Supervisors agreed to support the in-house design and implementation of a system to manage vitals. She stated the Johnson County Recorder's Office is now scanning, indexing, searching and retrieving records from an electronic database that they designed, developed and funded over the past 18 months. She said this was quite an accomplishment since they had not anticipated having to do this. She said since July 1, 1997, the workload in their office has doubled and prior to the transfer, the office processed an average of 88 documents a day and now this average is 164 documents a day, with some months averaging as high as 190 documents a day. Conger stated their document revenues have not doubled because the State takes from 60 to 100% of the vital document fee. She said County Recorders receive no revenue from the $30 marriage application, even though it is the most labor intensive of all the vital documents. She said the State of Iowa has not provided any technology, paper or materials to process and manage these records, rather the County has paid the bill. She said this is an unfunded, poorly planned, abysmally executed project that points out serious flaws in the decision making process at the State level. She stated that it took 17 years to convince the State to transfer the vitals to County government. She said since Recorders were facing a tenuous future, this insured that the department positions were preserved. She stated the transfer of vitals had been a victory for Iowa's County Recorders. She stated an article in the September issue of Governing Magazine entitled "High Tech Fiascos" stated 30% of all government technology projects are failures and 52% go over schedule, exceed the budget and product less than promised. Conger stated the VRS is only one example of high-tech State projects in Iowa that have gone awry. She projects like this need to be tracked, evaluated, verified and validated. She said people who will be working with the system need to be involved in the planning and decision making process from the start. She said the Iowa Recorder's Association is asking that $10 be appended to the $30 marriage application fee to address the Counties' processing costs and the inequities in splitting the revenues between the State and Counties. She said she would encourage support of increasing the marriage application fee to $40 to address the inequity. She stated that the policies, procedures and revenues in their departments are directly impacted by the decisions the Legislature make. She thanked them for taking their job seriously and for the difficult work they do.
Myers stated it was not a victory because there were other things involved here. He said County Clerk of Courts' Offices were closing one day a week and they were worried they were going to disappear. He said they wanted to keep this in County government. He stated the movement to get rid of Recorders is economic in nature, not political, and it was the right way to go. He stated he believes County government delivers better service than State government but they did give them an unfunded mandate. Myers stated legislation is the art of the possible, not the perfect, but they still have a lot of work to do on this. Conger stated 4 counties have Recorder's Offices that are closed one day a week. Myers said he wants it under the control of County government and not in Des Moines. State Senator Bob Dvorsky stated the State needs an Office of Technology Assessment where they actually have someone who understand technology and he will recommend that to Governor-elect Vilsack. He said Bolkcom will get an awakening in the Legislature computer non-support barrel.
INFORMATION SERVICES DIRECTOR JEAN SCHULTZ: CONNECTION TO IOWA COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK
Information Services Director Jean Schultz said they have been discussing changing the law to allow Counties to connect to the Iowa Fiber Optic Network. Dvorsky said the latest issue of Government Technology had an article about the ICN and County governments hooking up to it. He said he was quoted in it as supporting it. He stated it was political and U.S. West is getting information about taking ICN over. Schultz said the House File 726, which was passed in 1997, required additional information including in the property tax statements and Senate File 2061, which was passed in 1998, required representatives of the Treasurer's Association recommend a process by which Counties and the State achieve a uniform tax statement for all Counties in the state.
Lacina and Duffy left at 4:05 p.m.
Schultz said there was a subcommittee of Treasurer's who did meet. She asked them to support their recommendations. She stated the recommendations are listed, one that would allow a 5 year time line for Counties to have the uniform tax statement and one was not to require specific information. She said they print a lot of information that other Counties don't. She said they print deed holders' names, contract holders' names, the tax that's calculated on the houses and agricultural property, the taxes that they County is required to collect, the taxes the Cities certify for, delinquent sewer and water bills, and snow removal. She asked them to support the recommendations of the Treasurer's Committee when it comes up. She said she included a copy of the report from that study committee. She stated that it lists their recommendations on page 10 and page 11 lists the changes in the legislation. Myers feels that they have support of that Committee and the Ways and Means Committee as well.
He asked Deputy Treasurer Betty Sass what she would think of monthly property tax collection. He asked what they're doing in monthly property tax collection now. Betty Sass said it depends on the month. She said last month they did over $1,000,000 but that varies. Schultz said people have the option of making partial payments now. Sass said they could make $100 payments. Myers said people have been talking about monthly tax collection, instead of every 6 months because it would deal with County cash flow problems. Dvorsky said they are concerned with Counties that have too much money on hand. He said Johnson County handles it properly. He said the solution is to authorize collection of property taxes on a county wide basis every month. Sass asked if that would add a lot of work. Schultz said there would be some programming costs and forms costs because they'd be producing a lot more receipts. Myers said he's not saying that he's in favor of it, there's just discussion of it. Dvorsky asked if it would require more staff. Sass said she has 4 full time people, herself and part time people during the busy times. She said she shouldn't say because with the new Treasurer coming in, he might have different ideas. Myers said the opinion of the people who do the work is important. County Assessor Jerry Musser said he thought it would make his job easier. Myers said it will be discussed. He said the 5 Year Plan is important and there's a movement to let people know what they're paying for.
Craig Mosher said property tax relief for mental health will be a topic in the upcoming legislative session. He said at the ISAC meeting, County Auditor Tom Slockett asked Governor-elect Vilsack about the priority he would put on property tax relief for education compared to mental health. He said Vilsack said he wanted to do the mental health property tax relief this year and the education the following year.
Mascher arrived at 4:12 p.m.
Mosher said they will be debating this issue actively. He said he included figures in the memo to show how much it would cost for the State to completely buy out the County share of the Mental Health/Developmental Disability system. He said it would eliminate legal settlement but he is concerned that they might lose local flexibility and local control that is important to Johnson County. He said they are able to fund services for people with brain injuries here. He said the Board of Supervisors supported that. Myers said it had a history and that affected Senate File 69. Mosher said they can do unique things because they have the support of the Board of Supervisors. He said Empowerment is a good trend and they should look at having County control along with increasing State dollars. He said the Human Services Restructured Task Force might be a good group to be charged with finding solutions to this. Foege said Empowerment legislation came out of that group.
Mosher said numbers 2 and 3 on the memo are straight out of the ISAC Position Statement Booklet. He said the Mental Health Centers are not adequately being reimbursed by Medicaid and other 3rd party payers. He stated Merit Behavioral Health Care reimburses the mental health centers $49 an hour for psychotherapy and the local centers' costs are $91 an hour. He said the Counties supplement the State's inability to pay the actual costs of the services. He said they might negotiate a number between those but it would still be better than $49. He said having DHS require those rates be cost based is a good idea. Myers said the money that Counties are spending in this area seems to be going down and they have a surplus left over. He said it's very hard and they can't get any legislation passed because of this balance of unused funds. He said Merit hasn't been approving the expenditure and some of it is a lag in the reimbursement time involved.
Stutsman left at 4:14 p.m.
Myers said a problem is the amount of accurate statistics they get from the Counties themselves. He said many Legislatures want to solve this problem. Myers said managed care is a terrible burden but the key is the allowable growth formula. Mosher said they had substantial carry over last year but in the year 2000, they anticipate zero. He said they've had a major cut of $294,000 in funding for their system. Myers said he's waiting for the shoe to fall. Mosher said they're seeing a 7% increase in new consumers coming into their system. He said with a 2.89 percent allowable growth, the numbers are going to cross and they will run out of money. Representative Mary Mascher asked if other counties are dealing with that too. She asked why it was so high here. Mosher said people end up here because of the University of Iowa, the University hospital, the Veteran's Hospital, and they are right on Interstate 80. Myers said it also has to do with the lack of base services in the outer areas. Mascher said Johnson County has more to offer.
Mosher said his next issue was direct care staff wages. Mosher said people can make more at Burger King now because of the tight job market and they need to do something about it. He said additional dollars need to go to Direct Care Staff wages. He stated in order for the self-determination projects to work, they need State money and possibly an Interim Study Committee. He said it's a long term issue that needs some study. Foege said they are bringing someone in to speak at another meeting in Des Moines about the Adult Decat pilot project. He said there's a spotlight on this subject.
Graham Dameron said the Legislature appropriated $100,000 last year for the 10 essential health services and they think this is a very positive step. He said this allows more flexibility as far as funding goes for each county and they'd like to see this continue.
He stated Food Safety was a contentious item last year but the bottom line is they are doubling the number of inspections beginning January 1st, provided they give us a contract. He said the increase in fees is about 37%. He stated he has to ask the Board of Supervisors for $60,000 to subsidize this program and they feel either the State needs to subsidize it or increase the fees from the restaurants and facilities. Mascher said it sounded like an unfunded mandate. Dameron said it is except they don't have to sign the contract but it's abdication of their responsibility in regards to food safety in the county. Disease Prevention Manager Kot Flora stated the issue statewide is that the Department of Inspections and Appeals has multiple County contracts out there. She said Johnson County covers Iowa and Muscatine counties as well. She said the fees won't be increased until 1999. She said the fees haven't been increased in 21 years. She stated the program costs have increased. She said the position of DIA at this point is if they do not continue giving services to all 3 counties, they aren't going to give them the contract. Flora said they are in the process of trying to find some other county to take over Johnson County and our other 2 counties. She stated she has a lot less trouble going to Elected Officials asking for a budget amendment when it's to serve Johnson County residents but they can't justify, and the Board of Health didn't support, using Johnson County tax dollars to serve Iowa and Muscatine County. She said Iowa and Muscatine County ask why they should use their money to subsidize a State program. She said they aren't looking at it as an infrastructure problem with public health being at stake. She said they would like to continue providing services to Johnson County residents at an adequate level. She stated that people will either abbreviate the level of service to meet the budget or not be able to cover their own obligations. She said they projected fees would cover approximately 1/3 of the costs of the program and it's fairly close. She said there were some adjustments made for places having 2 licenses. She said they get both licenses at 75% but the Health Department doesn't provide 75% service. She said that really hurts because there are so many of those out there. She stated the Department of Inspection and Appeals is creating problems.
Myers said he thinks the Legislature is creating the difficulties because they passed a funding bill in the House but they couldn't amend it in the conference report. Dvorsky said it was raging incrementalism. He thinks some of the Legislators should look at the conflict of interest code because legislators who own restaurants are running amendments about them. Myers said he did support the higher fee and he owns a restaurant. Mascher said there was a lot of misinformation out there too. She said they were getting calls from people locally and they didn't have the right information either. Myers said a lot of the opposition came from large grocery stores. Dvorsky said it was tough when one of the largest employers in the state is Hy-Vee. Dameron said he isn't talking big bucks when they were talking about an inspection of $100 for the whole year. Myers asked how they wanted to pay for this, property taxes or fees. Myers said they voted for it because something had to increase. Flora stated the Department of Inspections and Appeals told them they cannot subcontract out services under this program area. She said if they want to maintain the contract but have Iowa and Muscatine County covered by their own employees, they can't do it because of Code restrictions. She said it's either all or nothing.
Dameron stated he received some program and funding guidelines for comprehensive tobacco programs from CVC. He said this will give them some direction as to where those programs should go. He said they would work with them as much as possible. He said they should consider all retail tobacco products and increasing the sales permit costs and divert those funds to help out the 1991 law that deals with adolescent smoking. Mascher stated she didn't know that chewing tobacco and the like aren't covered under this. Dameron said there's some kind of tax in the distribution at the State level but there's not a permit on the cigars or smokeless tobacco.
Bob Carpenter said there was a homicide in Iowa City last summer and they found the body in a ditch. He said it took them a couple weeks to identify the body and another couple weeks to get things going. He said they could have arrested people in the third week but they couldn't because of the lack of time to process evidence at a DCI (Department of Criminal Investigations) lab. He stated there's been a lack of funding for the DCI lab. He said they got 6 to 8 weeks turn around on different types of evidence because of a lack of manpower, space and the equipment to do the testing with. He said a lot of it is DNA stuff and very expensive. He said he'd like the Legislature to look at this. He said there are lot of cases where they are waiting to arrest people because they can't get their evidence back from the lab in time. He said they had multiple suspects and they made multiple arrests. He said they aren't sure they will have the evidence back from the lab before their trial. He said it's a problem throughout the whole state. Carpenter said when a new case comes in, the agents automatically get reassigned to it. He said it's going to be expensive, but they need to start somewhere. He stated they could have taken those guys off the street 4 to 6 weeks earlier than they did. Mascher asked if there was a lack of money for staff or the actual processing of the evidence that costs the money that they don't have. Carpenter said it was both equipment and manpower.
Carpenter said he's also concerned with the Law Enforcement Academy. He said the place is going downhill because of the lack of funding. He said he sends numerous officers there to assist in the training because they don't have the funding there to train new officers. Carpenter said it seems like things have really gone down in the last 10-15 years. He stated people don't even want to stay in the Academy anymore because it's so run down. Myers asked what things were run down. Carpenter said their facilities such as carpeting are run down and they have to furnish their own stuff like towels. He said the issue is the man power to take care of it. He said he feels they want the best trained officers in the country. Myers asked how long the waiting list is. Carpenter replied it was about a year. Mascher asked if they were decreasing the number of hours that it takes. Carpenter said it's now 12 weeks. He said they should look at it.
Carpenter said they have had a couple incidences in Johnson County with the Sexual Offender Registry. He said they had an Oregon man come out public and was evicted from two apartments. He said the man was still on probation even though he was 18. He said (inaudible) called and asked what they could do because the mother didn't have the funds and the kid couldn't go to any schools. He asked what they should do with these kids. He said he's on public record because of some things his mother did. He said his mother moved to another apartment and started a daycare so it moved him to a new category. He said the kid was now a non-complyer. He said he paid out of his pocket for a hotel room for the kid. Carpenter said they couldn't put the kid in a center. Dvorsky asked who did the public notification on him. Carpenter said Iowa City did. Dvorsky asked if they had a choice to do it. Carpenter said the State makes the notification. Dvorsky said the State isn't supposed to make the notification, rather they are supposed to notify the locals and then the locals are supposed to determine on their own whether to notify. Carpenter stated the kid hasn't committed any crime since he was in Oregon and now he can't go anywhere. Myers said the other side of the coin is that some sex offenders do re-offend. Mascher asked if he was a minor when he was charged. Carpenter said yes. Dvorsky said minors are on the list also. Mascher asked if the kid was working. Carpenter said he can't get a job. Carpenter said about the only choice the kid has is to go to a non-compliant state. Dvorsky said they wouldn't have had to notify anyone. Mascher asked what they are doing in other communities. Carpenter said they were the first ones to deal with this. Foege said the problem crosses so many systems like Human Services, Law Enforcement, Public Safety, and Public Heath. Dvorsky said they need to revisit the law. Carpenter said he called the Salvation Army and they wouldn't help either.
COUNTY ASSESSOR JERRY MUSSER: ASSESSOR'S LEVY
Jerry Musser said an Assessor levy increase is a problem that would give them the opportunity to curry some favor with their peers in the smaller counties. He stated under the current levy system, in the ISAC priorities, item 2 under the taxation and financing objections, many of the smaller southern counties that can't come up with the money to run Assessor's Offices. He said they are asking for an expansion of that levying possibility for Assessor's Offices. He said it isn't a problem in the bigger counties but the smaller counties do have a problem. He stated there was a rule change in the works dealing with apartments that are being converted to condominiums. Musser said there's a loophole in it. Myers said there may be loopholes but there aren't any overnight solutions. Musser said it was caused by the roll back. Myers said getting out of it is a political land mine.
COUNTY AUDITOR TOM SLOCKETT: ELECTION DAY VOTER Registration
Tom Slockett said there are problems with people not voting and he wants to look at possible solutions. He said in the past the Legislature has passed on-day registration twice and it was vetoed by Governor Branstad and they might have an opportunity to look at it again. He stated it's common to blame the public for not voting but the real theme is to increase the convenience to voters. He explained Iowa is beginning to pick up on early voting. He said they had 46% turnout on November 3rd and Minnesota had 60% turnout. He said one of the differences is that in Iowa 390,000 voters were disenfranchised because Iowa has a 10 day cutoff for voter registration. Slockett said that there were 390,000 people who weren't able to vote on election day because Iowa has no On-day registration. He said Minnesota has On-day registration and they had 330,000 people register to vote on Election Day. He said all of the changes are incremental but by making it more convenient, more people will vote. Slockett said a significant part of the population preferred to register on Election Day. Myers asked if the 2,133,000 asked if that was all the voters, registered and unregistered. Slockett said that's the voting age population. Mascher said they do more On-Day registering here in the satellite voting and the students voted because they could register and vote at the same time. Slockett said that cuts off 10 days before the election. Mascher said they are going in the right direction. Myers said they are doing the best they can. Slockett said you can't make a cause and effect case for Minnesota because they have had On-Day registration since 1972.
Joe Bolkcom said the Board is opposed to the property tax freeze because there's a significant capital need. He mentioned the Board had to raise money to cover the 27th pay period. He said they are looking at a local option sales tax as a way to fund expansion of the jail and this building. He stated they would like the flexibility within their own property tax budget to continue to do the things the people of Johnson County want them to do without the State saying this is the cap.
He said the Board recognizes the Empowerment Zone is a work in progress and the County has taken a lead role in trying to implement these zones. He said they have appointed a 29 member committee. He stated they are facing some staffing issues so they've asked JCCOG Human Services Coordinator Linda Severson to assist with staffing and she will do it on a part time basis. He said it requires some ongoing staff support and the grant money doesn't provide for that. Bolkcom said it's a huge community effort that they've never undertaken before and it's going to take some resources to do it.
Bolkcom stated they budgeted about $200,000 for juvenile detention costs but the Juvenile Court Services has indicated they need a budget amendment of $300,000 based on the business they're doing. Bolkcom said there are a lot of kids in detention right now. Bolkcom said they hope to work with Linn County soon. Myers asked how much the current budget was this year. Bolkcom said it was about $200,000. Bolkcom said they need more money for beds. Jordahl said they have $500,000 in it. Foege said they have a bad child welfare system and it's backed up. Myers asked how the rest of their budgets were doing. Bolkcom said they are holding steady for the most part, with 3-5% increases. Myers asked if he was projecting a carryover in the other budgets. Bolkcom said they have Fund 46 now, which is all the Mental Health budget, and Fund 45 is asking for more staff. General Assistance Director Kay Hull said they have more and more foster kids coming in. Bolkcom said the juvenile shelter care is an issue because there's a cap there and he said they need more flexibility in dealing with kids. Myers said there will be more flexibility with the new Governor. Bolkcom said this is a cost born by property tax. Foege said this is one of the things they shove on counties. Bolkcom said if they get back into a limitation and they see that kind of increase, there's very little they can do.
Jordahl said he's very interested in the work of the Legislative Commission on Land Use, Urban Sprawl, and Farmland Protection over the last year. He said went to Oregon 2 weeks ago to look at the Land Use Plan there and they were surprised by the role of the State in making sure local governments do things that embody general principles. He said the State has the opportunity to set a general vision and then the local governments were empowered to do things in their own way, within the guidelines the State set. He stated the guidelines weren't numerical, they were visionary. He said he is hopeful they will support some kind of State changes in land use that will encourage local entities to look at things and ask the right questions. Jordahl said they revised the Land Use Plan in Johnson County. He said they still need to address the question of the incompatibility of farmland and residential development which has been addressed by the Supreme Court. He said they are dealing with it by buffering, which deals with smell, noise and hunting. He stated the important thing to do is to balance concerns. Myers stated that using eminent domain for economic development, taking away land from people and reselling it was illegal but they are doing it under the Urban Revitalization Section of Iowa Law which allows it to be done for housing. He said there's no housing to go on this land. He said they had legislation saying they can't use eminent domain for that but it didn't go anywhere. Jordahl said that's exemplified in the Cedar Rapids Airport area too. Myers said he thinks it's an illegal use of eminent domain because it throws property rights out the window but it's going to be a big problem for cities which see this as stopping development. Jordahl said the 20% non-consenting acres is the sore spot. Myers said House File 2005 is probably unconstitutional when you look at it. He stated it was a message to City Managers and City Councils about respecting people's property rights. Jordahl said those people do have representation in their County government and they need to give the Counties a seat at the table when talking about annexation. Jordahl said they should require anyone who want to annex to have a growth plan. Myers said they have this situation in Coralville with the extension. Jordahl said the City of Cedar Rapids has a fund to pay for streets and they only assess rural residents when 51% request to be assessed for it. Mascher said if they weren't receiving City services like sewer, water, etc., that they wouldn't have to pay the taxes on that until they received the services. Jordahl said they could require the annexation be followed by the provision of City services.
Bolkcom stated Iowa has established some pilot programs around the State Ombudsman. He said they want to get the focus back on developing a pilot effort to provide better care in nursing homes. Mascher said it was a lack of inspectors and they don't do regular inspections. Bolkcom thanked everyone for being there. Myers said they should stay in touch with them.
Adjourned at 5:10 p.m.
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By Casie Parkins, Recording Secretary
Sent to the Board of Supervisors on January 4, 1998 at 1:30 p.m.