Reconvened at 1:10 p.m. as a meeting with County Department Heads.

Chairperson Jordahl called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building as a Department Head Meeting at 1:10 p.m. Members present were: Charles Duffy, Jonathan Jordahl, Mike Lehman, and Sally Stutsman.

Department heads present were: Ambulance Director Mike Sullivan, Conservation Director Rod Dunlap, County Recorder Kim Painter, County Sheriff Bob Carpenter, County Treasurer Tom Kriz, General Relief Director Kay Hull, Human Resource Administrator Lora Shramek, Information Services Director Jean Schultz, Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities Interim Director Deb Conger, Planning and Zoning Administrator Rick Dvorak, Public Health Director Graham Dameron, SEATS Director Lisa Dewey, Veterans Affairs Commission Director Leo Baier. Staff present were: Board of Supervisors Administrative Assistant Carol Peters, Board of Supervisors Deputy Administrative Assistant Deana Pillard, Sheriff's Department Captain Duane Lewis, and Auditor's Office Recording Secretary Todd Schanbacher.

Jordahl stated the first item discussed would be information for the County web. Information Services Director Jean Schultz said the County has an area on the web for press releases. She said many departments issue press releases and if the department heads could get those releases to them, they could put them on the web. She stated they would like the press release section to be complete. She stated there is also a section for County job openings. She said they are trying to expand the web site so if departments don't have time to work on their web-sites, but have brochures that have information about their department, they could give them to her office.

Stutsman asked SEATS Director Lisa Dewey if the draft proposals for SEATS could be put on the web. Dewey stated those were not press releases. She stated that she didn't want to put a draft on the web because people would mistake that for an actual policy. She said she'd rather wait for it to be confirmed. She stated she and Schultz had developed a Rider's Guide. She said they had put a the brochure on the web, but that's all they were comfortable doing at this point. Schultz said that occasionally for Zoning they have to put big, red letters saying draft on ordinances. She said it was up to Dewey's discretion. Dewey said she doesn't want people who use SEATS to think this is an actual policy. She said they've had meetings where people think it is already in place. Jordahl said they could use different colors and possibly ask for the public's opinion on the issue, allowing them to respond via e-mail. Dewey asked if they could have feedback on the web site. Schultz said it was possible to e-mail. Dewey said she would meet with Schultz to discuss this further.

Jordahl said the web-site has been very useful for Zoning because they have had several different policy development drafts on the web, which saved a lot of trees. He said it saved a lot of mailing expense and photocopying. Planning and Zoning Administrator Rick Dvorak stated he wanted to compliment Ann McGinley and Jean Schultz because he had promised the Board that the Land Use Plan would be on the web as a document within 4 or 5 days and they did it. He said they have been very helpful to his office by getting everything they wanted on the web, making corrections, and assuming some responsibilities for making sure they were doing things right. Jordahl said the computerization effort was providing a lot of work. He asked Schultz if they were looking for pictures. Schultz said they are always looking for ways to spice up the pages. She said if there are relevant pictures, they'd put them up.

Jordahl said the County Assessor's Office has a digital camera for department use and they wouldn't need a scanner. Veterans Affairs Commission Director Leo Baier stated his department uses it once a month and they like it. Jordahl asked Baier how he used it. Baier explained he writes a column every month for several publications and photographs things about Veteran's Affairs. Jordahl said the press releases should be current and constantly showing new things. Director of Public Health Graham Dameron asked if there was a highlight on press releases. Schultz stated she was adding a release date. Dameron asked if it would have a flashing word. Schultz said they could do that and that there's a What's New section. She explained this allowed people to see what has been updated since the last time they were on the site. Dameron said they might want to do that on an urgent press release, like a rabies case. Jordahl suggested that be an alert. Schultz said occasionally they had put things on the homepage.

Dvorak said he was looking up something last week and he noticed the counter. He asked if there were a way to actually count the number of people who accessed the site. Schultz said you can tell how many people actually go on a page and get statistics. She said if you go to community network, there's a button that will show the statistics. She stated you can also see what countries reached the site. Dvorak asked if it was capable of doing that now. Schultz said yes. Jordahl said some sites tell you how many visitors there have been. He asked if it would be fairly easy to add that to the site. He said it might be embarrassing though. Schultz said she didn't have the current statistics with her but many people do access the site every month.

Jordahl stated they had a County Computer Committee Meeting called for the special purpose of addressing the Auditor's request that the Computer Committee's conclusion about the grant application for free GIS software not be proceeded with until after they had a needs assessment and had hired a GIS Coordinator, and for the request to be reconsidered. He said they discussed it for over an hour and the Committee decided to sustain its earlier recommendation that they wait for a needs assessment. He explained there is a dollar amount requested in the budget proposal for a GIS needs assessment. He said they haven't made any decisions about funding that. Dvorak stated that Network Support Technician Fred Brown and Deputy Auditor Mark Kistler attended a Pro-Map Conference yesterday. He said he was hesitant to approve the grant application because he has learned that Pro-Map offers the similar features as an ArcView extension, which might be a less expensive option and have a smaller learning curve. He said they hadn't investigated all the other types of software that could accomplish everything ESRI claimed they could free of charge, which they later found out wasn't free. He said they had to guarantee training and the training was expensive.

Jordahl said there was a fair degree of consensus on the Committee that they will probably buy their software from ESRI and that the Auditor's Office will end up using this software to close the polygons on the maps. He said they didn't have a consensus about applying for the grant and purchasing the higher end ARC/INFO software that would require extensive training and additional personnel. He said it was putting the cart before the horse and they wanted to get a plan laid out. County Recorder Deborah Conger asked when that was coming before the Board. Jordahl stated they were currently making budget decisions and it should be finalized by February 5th. He said he wasn't sure when the Board would specifically decide on this issue.

Jordahl stated they had an all day budget session tomorrow. He said they had given their individual priorities for funding and space needs was a high priority for everyone. He stated the health insurance premiums had increased dramatically due to large claims in the past few years and the pool of money they use is now shrinking. He said premiums have not increased to keep up with that because they were hoping the claims would spike and it would go down again. He said that hasn't happened yet and it's time to take action to rectify that. He said that's approximately $340,000 in the general fund and an additional $100,000 for Secondary Roads and MH/DD budgets. He stated they examined the personnel requests and the link to technology. Jordahl said they had not looked at capital expenditure requests or technology budgets. He stated they tentatively put in the technology budget intact for the central technology fund but they have not accounted for the departmental technology requests that were not pertinent to specific staff. He said they have many more requests for new staff, equipment, and operating expenses than they have money to fund.

Jordahl explained they are already working towards $1,300,000 of funding. He stated tomorrow they will decide if they really want to tax for this much more money, and if not, where they are going to get it from. Dameron said they should think of themselves as candles with a flame of light that is burning at one end. He explained some people choose to, or try to, burn the candle at both ends in their lifestyle and behavior. He explained you only have one candle to burn and you can equate the budget with this candle. He said people want more candles but they don't have that luxury. He said there has to be some compromises made. He said he assumed they were figuring a cost of living increase of 3%. Jordahl said that was correct. Dameron stated the actual increase in the cost of living was only 1.74%. He suggested the additional 1.25% go towards the health insurance costs, which benefit everybody. He said they may need to take other action to cover the health insurance too. He stated the HMO's have not been able to contain those costs either. Jordahl said that was an important point.

Jordahl said they had to factor in the salary survey and the union contracts which have the 3% built in to them. He said they need to open their minds to the fact that the compensation package includes wonderful health insurance. He explained that's how they recruit and keep employees. H said they met with a representative from Blue Cross and she recommended various ways to contain costs without limiting services to people. He said an example of this was to require prenatal care and cover it, which would reduce complications due to pregnancy. He said she offered 3 or 4 other examples. Dameron stated there could be some tie in with the Health Department. He said people could go to the Health Department for their children's immunizations and limit some of those costs. He said they have also provide flu shots. He stated there could also be something in relationship to physicals. He said those kinds of things should be looked at to reduce health care costs. Stutsman said they talked about forming a subcommittee of Supervisors, Department Heads, and employees to begin looking at some of these options and come up with ideas on how to approach health care. Dameron said other needs exist and are much needed. Duffy asked Dameron if he was suggesting County workers pay for their health insurance. Dameron said he was not suggesting that. Duffy said the senior citizens are not the ones with the big health bills because they have Medicare and he wouldn't mess with it. He said it's a good program but other private businesses offer similar insurance programs so it shouldn't be tied in with wages. He said it was coincidental that they had some claims. He explained insurance was not a give a way program. Dameron said all he was suggesting was the cost of living was not 3% and the extra funding could possibly help out with health insurance. Duffy asked if that would include elected officials and deputies. Dameron said it would have to be uniformly applied. Duffy said they would keep that 1.1% in mind. Stutsman said it was just another way of looking at it.

Conservation Director Rod Dunlap stated the Board of Supervisors should consider that some County employees have not benefited from collective bargaining or the salary survey. Dvorak said a lot of people worked very hard to get employees up to a reasonable salary. He asked if this would be a way of moving backwards and then having to play catch up again. Jordahl said he has made that argument at least 3 times. Dvorak stated there have been years where County employees didn't get the cost of living increase because the Supervisors didn't have the money to do that. He said that happens no matter what county you're in. He stated if the cost of living was 5%, they could get only 1% because they didn't have the money for it. He said he sees them regressing because most employees have gotten cost of living adjustments for the last 10 or 15 years. He asked how many employees have gotten raises in the last 10 to 15 years. He said many employees have not received raises for a long time. He said they have gotten the cost of living or maybe a little less. He explained now they have the chance to give an employee a 1% raise. He said that's not out of line considering the facts Dameron was quoting and that the County has been in a tax freeze for 5 years. Duffy said they have increased the budget, but not taxes. Dvorak said the Board of Supervisors could move ahead, rather than behind.

Stutsman asked Carol Peters if there has ever been a time when employees did not receive the cost of living increase. Administrative Assistant Carol Peters stated it happened a long time ago. Dvorak said it was in the 1980s. Dameron said some years it was only 1%, under the Carter administration. Peters said there were some years with large increases so it's bounced all over. Stutsman said the bottom line is what they can afford and they have to be reasonable. She explained the Board of Supervisors puts everything out and then decides what kind of tax increase it's going to require. She stated it has to be reasonable for the tax payer too. Jordahl said if they could get everyone in the County at the same level, at a 1.75 increase, then they wouldn't be backtracking on the salary survey. He said the problem is with the union contracts that include a 3% increase. He said cutting some employees back to 1.75 would erase some of the gains of the salary survey. Dameron said he was assuming the Board of Supervisors was considering some merit increases in the next year as well, which would help compensate employees. He stated most unions don't necessarily increase and if they've been here a certain amount of time, they only have the cost of living.

Jordahl asked Human Resource Administrator Lora Shramek if the merit increase would balance the difference in the cost of living increase. Shramek stated not all employees would be eligible for merit increases because they are already paid above the particular range but the cost of living increase affects every employee. Stutsman said the Board did not want the merit increase to be an assumption. She said they need to be very clear about what merit increase are. Jordahl said that was a very good point because it's not required that a department head spend 1% for all employees in their department. He said they need to evaluate the performance of the employees and reward them accordingly. Schultz said the job market is tighter now and some departments are having a hard time filling non-professional positions so they need to stay competitive. Dewey said the salary survey brought them up to the same level as private industry employees and it shouldn't be considered a raise. Jordahl said it is being paid more money. Dewey agreed it's more money but it's what everyone else is making in that line of work. Dvorak asked if the 1.75 figure was regional or national. Dameron stated he heard that was the figure on the national scale. Dvorak said they historically have gone by the regional figures.

Stutsman said they have discussed communicating more with department heads and elected officials about where they're at. She said they do plan to do that with the new budget process. She explained they have some tentative figures put together and they will put some figures out on the web next week for departmental review. Dameron asked what time lines they have for the budget. Stutsman said they wanted to be done with the budget by February 4th with the hearing on March 4th. Dunlap asked if the March 4th date had been confirmed. Jordahl said they hadn't formally set it but that was the goal.

Jordahl said he's hesitant to post these tentative numbers on the web because it might create false expectations. Dameron said it would be difficult to post the budget on the web and have it be easily understood by a department head. He said they would need to put it in a general format so they could understand how they were being affected. Jordahl stated it is general and specific. Stutsman said they could post some information and get the feedback on it. Schultz asked if they wanted it to be viewed buy the general public or only accessible by County employees. Stutsman said she was thinking of just County employees, but she wasn't sure. Schultz explained they could add extensions on to the address and not have an actual link from the web page so other people wouldn't know how to access it. Stutsman said Deana probably knew all of this because she was coordinating all of the communication. Jordahl said the departments are familiar with that they requested and have some understanding of the County budget where the general public would need much more explaining. Dameron stated it would be good to post it just on the County web for now. Schultz said e-mail would be another option. Dameron said it is a fairly lengthy document. Jordahl said if people are interested they can come pick it up. He asked if it really made a difference. Schultz said the web takes a little longer and e-mail attachments are quicker. Dameron asked if it would bog down the system. Schulz stated it might between buildings. Jordahl said they aren't talking about the whole budget book, just a few pages. Ambulance Director Mike Sullivan said there is a limited amount of time and they should keep it within the departments. Jordahl said they could flag something too. Stutsman said departments could communicate with them about possible changes. Sullivan said it might help expedite the process and prioritize. Dameron said it would be helpful to have those in the same format as before. Stutsman said that would be the final page, which shows what's in and what's out.

Dvorak asked if everyone received what they wanted, how much of a tax increase would they require. Jordahl said there were $922,000 requests from departments and over $400,000 for technology. Dvorak asked how much that increase would really mean to a tax payer with a $150,000 house. He asked if it was $5 or $150. Interim MH/DD Director Deb Conger said it was $87 for a single person. Lehman said people are getting something for it. He said if they hold the budgets the same, the public will get fewer services and lower quality. Stutsman stated they do look at what it means to the taxpayer. Dvorak said the average housing start is $145,000 to $160,000, which doesn't include land. He said if you used $250,000 as an average, what does that person have to pay. Duffy asked if that included the total tax bill including the schools. Jordahl said it was just the County. Duffy said that was misleading. Dvorak said they have no control over the schools. Duffy said they have control over the tax bill and the public can tell the Supervisors it's too much money. Stutsman said it's another example of how they communicate. She said the school is the biggest part of it but the Supervisors get blamed for increases. Duffy said they shouldn't use that as an excuse for raising taxes. Dvorak said they lowered their tax asking approximately 5% last year and school raised it.

Duffy said Mental Health needed help and they received $7,133,000. Duffy said they need to do something about Mental Health. He stated they have pestered representatives in Des Moines for 15 years and they are finally acting on it. He said they might come out a little better than they expect this year. He explained the Feds have $77,000,000,000 they don't know what to do with so they are cutting Medicaid. He said schools in Iowa City cut $540,000 out of their budget and now they don't know what to do with the money in Des Moines. He said the Supervisors are going against the grain. Lehman said everyone understands the extra asking but they have to sell it to the public. Conger said if 20 people complain out of a community of 100,000, that's a small percentage. Stutsman said no one wants to raise taxes but they have a certain level of service. Conger said tax payers would rather pay a little more for good service. Lehman said everyone's costs go up and everything is proportional. Dewey stated the key is educating the public because changes in service are going to occur if you don't have the increases. Stutsman said they'd have a hard time justifying a lower quality of service. Sullivan said it's important to note that the increases are so small year to year. He said department heads try to write responsible, lean budgets. Jordahl said he discussed that with the elected officials and no one's budget is inflated. He said they can only meet these needs with a tax increase and they have to balance things. He said the Board of Supervisors is subject to public evaluation based on how they balanced that.

Dameron stated the Board had asked them to account for the future as well. He said that's why all those requests are there. Jordahl said that was capital budgeting. Dameron said requests are higher this year because they are trying to fund future needs. Lehman stated they are smoothing out the spikes. Jordahl said they have a jail need that they haven't saved for and they are trying to ensure that doesn't happen again. Dameron stated he put in vehicles over a 7 year period because the IRS gives them a 5 year depreciation, but the County couldn't handle it every 5 years. Duffy said the jail was new 18 years ago. He said the laws have changed and that's out of their control. Jordahl said they should have depreciated the jail from the start. He said the idea of an on going capital budget is very important. Dunlap asked if they lowered the tax levy last year. Jordahl explained they had a 14% reevaluation order from the State Auditor for farm land. He said they weren't eager to see that kind of impact on an agricultural community all in one year so they shifted where the funding for Secondary Roads came from. He said they are allowed to transfer a certain percentage from the general fund to Secondary Roads, which softened the impact of that order. He said there was no way to separate the rural residential, non ag, from the ag in doing that. He explained that would demand a change in State law.

Stutsman said the Space Needs Committee has met for a year and during that process they initially set out to prioritize some of the space needs. She said they were looking at needs in the jail, the Department of Human Services, the Courthouse, SEATS, Ambulance, the Health Department and the Administration Building. She stated the 2 most important needs were the jail and the Department of Human Services. She said the jail is obviously very short of space and DHS was dealing with a 5 year lease. She said they have explored a variety of options. She said the Board has agreed, with the recommendation of the Space Needs Committee, to hire a Criminal Justice Consultant. She stated this individual is from South Dakota and he's currently meeting with Bob Carpenter, Duane Lewis and Dwight Dobberstein to find some options for the jail. She said they will eventually have some drawings, concrete plans and figures for what they need. She said this consultant brings in ideas about changes in programming too. She said they need to come up with figures before the Local Option Sales Tax election. She explained the Space Needs Committee and the consultant are leaning towards staying in the same place and just expanding. She said they will compare costs involved in expanding with building a new jail.

Stutsman said the Board tentatively approved for the Income Maintenance Unit of the Department of Human Services to move to the Eastdale Mall location. She said they would enter into a 5 to 10 year lease agreement. She said this would only be a short term fix for DHS. She stated for long term needs they are looking at some land and possibly building a building. She said they would like to purchase some land around the Administration Building. She said they are talking with the Armory about swapping land with land from the County Farm. She stated when you deal with the Armory, you deal with the Pentagon. She said the Board wants to aggressively save for space needs. She said the space needs are not going to go away because they are a growing county. Jordahl stated they moved from $12,000 that was put away for moving expenses for DHS in Fiscal Year 1997 to $60,000 in Fiscal Year 98 for capital projects. He said for Fiscal Year 99 they had put away $600,000 for capital projects and their tentative figure for FY 2000 is $1,100,000. Jordahl asked how much jail $1,600,000 would buy. Sheriff's Department Captain Duane Lewis said he wasn't sure. Jordahl said this amount didn't begin to address the problem. He said they have to do more than that on a regular basis to keep up with the growth of the county. He stated it was the only responsible thing to do. Stutsman said the goal of the Space Needs Committee is to bring services and departments together and the Income Maintenance Unit move is just a short term move.

Jordahl asked how department heads spoke to people about their department's needs in relation to taxes. Dewey said they are talking about how to get more people to use the service without putting out more manpower and more vehicle, which will keep costs the same. She said if they got more people to use the service, the cost of providing the service would decrease. Lehman said it's being more efficient. He said the cost of replacing vehicles and such are going up. He stated anyone who has lived in Johnson County for some time will realize it's an investment in their future. He explained that someone who is transient might be more vocal because they don't understand the situation. He said they are all privy to information that the average person is not. Jordahl said he is asking the department heads to help sell the budget. He said he resents the image that the Board of Supervisors is a bunch of spend thrifts.

Dameron asked Jordahl to articulate the Board's position on the Local Option Sales Tax. Jordahl stated Iowa City put the item on the ballot. He said the Board of Supervisors might not have put it on the ballot, if it were up to them. He said they had to create language stating how they would spend the money, if it did pass. He said it became a question of who to spend the money on, everyone or just the rural tax payers. He stated Duffy supported giving it to rural tax payers but they agreed on 25% direct property tax relief for the unincorporated areas of Johnson County, 15% for library services in the unincorporated areas, and 35% for roads and bridges in the unincorporated areas. He explained the logic is only rural tax payers in Johnson County are voting for the imposition of the Local Option Sales Tax with regard to this ballot item. He said he spoke with County Attorney Pat White about ballot language where you could designate funds for rural tax relief and how the money would be spent for that jurisdiction. He stated in terms of this ballot issue, their jurisdiction is rural Johnson County because contiguous urban areas are voting as a block. He said the other 25% is for county wide benefit, 5% for Human Service programs, 15% for capital projects like the jail and 5% for other capital projects such as space needs. He said these needs are the responsibility of the County as a whole. He said this is a regressive tax that falls heavier on lower income people. He said the Human Service funding is to delay the impact of the Local Option Sales Tax on lower income people. He stated the funding for the Human Services building and the jail are related to primarily lower income people. He said his last comment about the jail could be erroneous. Lehman said he wasn't sure if the Board was supposed to endorse or oppose the proposal or just present the information. Dameron said the newspapers don't always publish the truth. He said we was still confused about details.

Lehman said their job is to write a ballot that the rural residents will vote on. He said if you live in Iowa City, you won't see their ballot. He stated Iowa City collects 75% of the sales tax now and would apparently collect 75% of the Local Option Sales Tax, and Coralville only collects 20%. He said the rural residents would get 25% of all the money collected back because it's redistributed by population. He explained people have asked for a collaborative effort among all the communities and the rural area. He said they felt they did that with the capital projects fund. He stated they are going to share the pie as equally as possible. Dameron asked how that was determined. Lehman said it was determined by population. Stutsman said they used a formula. Conger asked if they were saying that rural residents represent 25% of the population of Johnson County. Stutsman said the law recognizes that the County has certain responsibilities that impact all of the residents. She gave the example of the jail, which is the County's responsibility. Dameron asked if all of that would be distributed in these proportionate amounts. Stutsman said the tax would be collected county wide and this is their share of the county wide tax. She said if it passed everywhere in Johnson County, they would get $2,100,000 and it would be allocated using those percentages. Veterans Affairs Commission Director Leo Baier asked when the vote was. Stutsman replied March 30th.

Duffy said he wasn't sure if it would pass in the county either. He stated the 15% for the libraries will amount to $358,000. He explained that if it doesn't pass, the public is going to lose because they can't pay for it themselves. Stutsman stated they are going to be flooded with a lot more information between now and March. She said 30% of this tax will be paid by people who come to visit Johnson County. She stated they are in a unique position because of the University and its athletic events and the mall. Jordahl said he had heard an updated figure of 20%. He said they will get some tax relief from the people who come into town for the games. Lehman said they would have to increase the tax otherwise.

Dameron asked if the tax doesn't pass in the unincorporated areas, if they would they still share the money with them. Jordahl and Duffy replied no. Dameron stated that the money would be split proportionately somewhere else. Jordahl said it would be split among those who did pass it. Stutsman stated an example is Bertram in Linn County. She said Linn County voted for a local option sales tax and the next day Cedar Rapids rescinded it. She stated the only community that voted to keep it was Bertram, which doesn't have any businesses, and now they are receiving approximately $65,000 per year. Lehman said if it only passed in the rural areas, they would probably rescind it because they have very few businesses in the rural areas. Stutsman said other Supervisors think they are foolish not to pass it. She said everyone had to make up their own mind about it and that's why there was an election for it. Jordahl gave an example of his trip to Chicago where he spent over $30 in a hotel/motel tax. He said Johnson County has people coming for sporting events, to Hancher, to the hospital and they will come anyway. Stutsman said the election is March 30th but it wouldn't go into affect until July 1st.

Dvorak asked if there was someone taking responsibility to promote the local option sales tax. Conger said there was a committee of citizens. Stutsman asked if it was just an Iowa City committee. Conger stated it's a citizen's committee. Lehman said they broke down the Iowa City ballot language. He said they are business people. Jordahl said they have discussed him writing something representing the Board's position. Peters said it's only a situation of informing them of the facts, not encouraging it nor discouraging it. Jordahl asked when the newsletter deadline was. Dameron said it was February 1st. Duffy asked if they could hold an early vote on this. He stated that would be unfortunate because people are still confused and they need to hurry up and educate them. He suggested putting a flyer in the Advertiser.

Dunlap left at 2:30 p.m.; returned at 2:32 p.m.

Stutsman said it was a general election so there would be absentee ballots. Dameron stated they could include some facts about it in the County Newsletter. Jordahl said there a lot of people county wide with questions. Stutsman asked if that was something they could assign to the Communications Committee. Duffy stated the County would have to do its own thing because it's the City's baby. Dameron said it was the County's newsletter. Duffy stated he would still like Jordahl to write something for the Advertiser. Jordahl said something needs to be written to clarify matters.

Physical Plant Director Pat Langenberg stated City Carton plans to charge $25 a month for recycling as of February 1st. He said they also want them to separate white, colored and computer paper. He said they do pick up cardboard and newspaper at some sites. Stutsman asked if they would be charged this for every site. Langenberg said there is a question of who would pay the fee. Jordahl asked if they wanted some competition because they could open their own recycling operation. He asked if they were supposed to make money. Dameron said Linn County has some arrangement with options. He said he spoke with Goodwill and they have no interest in recycling because the market for paper is down substantially. Jordahl said maybe they should make trees more expensive. Dameron said they were concerned that City Carton would charge them per bin. Duffy asked him if he included that in his budget. Jordahl said Blue Stem has a mulching operation that makes dirt and he doesn't think it would be much different. Schultz said they had called the recycling company in Coralville and they aren't interested. Stutsman said it's just a reflection of what's happening in the recycling industry. Jordahl said it's a cultural crisis. Stutsman said it's market driven. County Treasurer Tom Kriz said they could put it in the dumpsters but then they would have to pay additional land fill costs.

Stutsman stated she thought everyone wanted to recycle. Kriz said some places won't even take the green computer paper. Schultz said the white computer paper can be recycled but they no longer take the recycled, tan paper. Langenberg said you can tell the difference between the 2 if they are next to each other. Schultz stated the older reports cannot be recycled. Jordahl asked for a recommendation. Langenberg said they get a rebate back if they separate the white paper. He said they have boxes at each office and containers in the hallway where they sort it themselves. Stutsman said that's what they do in their office to. Jordahl said he didn't understand this. He asked if it was $25 per month if they separated it paper. Dameron said you would be charged even if you do sort it, but there is a possibility of a rebate for sorted paper. He said they have not stated how much that rebate would be. Dameron said they used to give them $11 per bin and now it's nothing. Lehman asked when this would be implemented. Langenberg stated February 1st. Jordahl suggested they get clarification on what they defined as a site. Langenberg said it was a building, not an office. Kriz said it would amount to $300 per year for the Administration Building.

Sullivan asked if they could have a master dumping site. Stutsman asked if that would be practical. Dvorak said he could burn it. Langenberg said when they moved to recycling they saved a lot of money. Stutsman asked if it would be practical to only go to one pack of computer paper. Schultz replied all the reports now are printed on paper that can be sorted or unsorted white. Langenberg said no one is paying attention to the signs. Dewey said it is very consuming to sort. She said it's not worth the time. Schultz said it wasn't bad if you had to 2 containers by your desk. Dameron agreed, saying separating the 2 types of paper created only very minimal problems for his department. Stutsman voiced concern about the cost of recycling rising far beyond the cost which would go into effect on February 1^st. Stutsman suggested all departments consolidating their recycling, such as bringing their paper to be recycled to a central location. Dameron suggested using less paper such as using e-mail to distribute reports. Jordahl spoke about using only one kind of paper by all departments which would make recycling easier, but Dameron disagreed saying this would be too difficult. Langenberg was doubtful that County employees would sort their paper for recycling. Jordahl asked for volunteers to work with Langenberg on this issue. Dameron and Dvorak volunteered. General Relief Director Mary Kay Hull said her departments recyclables were picked up regularly, but she was unsure who did this.

Jordahl asked for department updates. Dameron said the Department of Public Health received Empowerment funds which meant an initial disbursement of $20,000 which was a 3 year grant that could be carried over. Dameron said the total sum of the grant was roughly $246,000 and that the grant monies were to be spend on parent and child education. Stutsman added the grant was also for childcare supports, childcare preparedness, in-home counseling and providing assistance for young children, ages up to 3, and their parents. Jordahl inquired about how soon the Empowerment grant could be used. Dameron said the Empowerment Board was in place but not quite ready. Stutsman said she had some confusion over who was ultimately responsible for Empowerment grant moneys.

Human Resources Coordinator Lora Shramek said the Muscatine Board of Supervisors was going to undertake a salary survey. She said she would need to meet with department heads that were the same as departments tagged for Muscatine County's salary survey. Shramek said she needed to meet with department heads to determine if certain positions in Muscatine County were comparable to ones in Johnson County.

Dewey said she had 3 policies under review which she hoped would be done by March and published in April. She continued by saying her department was investigating moving from a fair punch card to a coupon booklet. Dewey said she had received draft copies for vehicle's leases from the cities and the (inaudible) to the cities from the East Central Iowa Council of Governments (ECICOG). She said the vehicle transfer would most likely take place in March and the funds would go to the SEATS department.

Information Services Director Jean Schultz said the Year 2000 Committee sent out surveys which would help the committee identify systems which would need to be updated for the year 2000. Schultz reminded department heads to fill the questionnaires out, since they were distributed on December 17th and had only received 3 at that point.

Interim Director of MH/MR/DD/BI Deborah Conger asked what the status of the Communications Committee and if the internal and external newsletters were running according to schedule. Shramek said the external newsletter was on track, and the deadline for the newsletter was February 3rd. She continued by saying a mock-up would be created by Linda Schreiber on February 8th to be reviewed and would be published on the last week of February. Shramek said more information and photos were needed for the internal newsletter which was tentatively scheduled to be published in late January and more help would be welcome on the internal newsletter.

Director of Planning and Zoning Rick Dvorak said new rural 911 maps had been published. Dvorak said books containing information on each Johnson County township, which are normally only distributed to county employees, were nearing completion and Major Lewis should be contacted to receive copies.

Conservation Department Director Rod Dunlap announced the County Conservation Board's Education Center was going to be available for programming on February 3rd. Dunlap said announcements of Education Center programming would be posted on the Johnson County web-site, local newspapers and the advertiser. He added that the grand opening of the building would not occur until Spring. Dvorak suggested having the next department head meeting at the Conservation Board Education Center. Dunlap discouraged that idea, saying the Education Center was primarily used for environmental purposes.

Ambulance Director Mike Sullivan announced announced the 12th Annual EMS Saturday on February 27. He said every organization that provided emergency care in Johnson County was involved and speakers from around the country would be brought in. Sullivan also said the Heart Association and the University of Iowa received a grant for public access to defibrillation. He continued by saying 3 businesses within Johnson County had signed up to receive training on using heart defibrillators, and these 3 businesses had purchased pubic access defibrillator units. Sullivan added that the taxpayers had to pay nothing for this program, that the funding came from the grant and the businesses that purchased the equipment and training.

Dewey suggested that one-on-one meetings between department heads and 2 members of the Board of Supervisors be scheduled regularly on a monthly or bi-weekly basis. She said feedback from the Board for department heads and increased communication between the 2 would be a boon. Jordahl felt this idea had merit, as did Stutsman. Conger said she believed a forum for this purpose was already present, citing the agenda item on the Board's Tuesday informal meetings. Dewey said she would like to sit down privately with the Board to discuss issues and the informal meetings were public record. Lehman said he planned to visit off-site departments once the FY 2000 budget was finished. Dameron suggested rotating office hours for Board members so department heads could drop by. Jordahl said office hours might cause difficulty with scheduling meetings.

Jordahl brought up the date and time of the next department head meeting. It was agreed upon to have the next meeting on March 23 at 1:30 p.m. Dunlap offered to have the next department head meeting at the Conservation Education Center, since it would provide an introduction to the new building for the Board and department heads. Jordahl and Dvorak agreed with the suggestion.

Recessed at 3:13 p.m.; reconvened on January 28, 1999 at 10:35 a.m.

(Continued in Part 5)