Chairperson Jordahl called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 9:02 a.m. Members present were: Charles Duffy, Jonathan Jordahl, Mike Lehman, and Sally Stutsman; absent: Carol Thompson.

Jordahl: Johnson County Board of Supervisors in session on Tuesday, September 28th. We’re almost done with September now. Everybody ready for October? Review of the formal minutes of the canvas votes for the school election of September 17, and the formal minutes of September 23. I wasn’t present for the canvas on Friday, an obligation I had elsewhere. Does anyone have comments on that process?

Stutsman: It went just fine. We got through it. Things seemed to be in order.

Jordahl: You didn’t discern any ballot box stuffing?

Stutsman: The Auditor’s Office was right on target.

Jordahl: Very professional unit down there. If there are no changes now, we do have the formal minutes of September 23 that you all received on e-mail, and those will be posted on the Internet that you can reach through the Auditor’s page. Johnson County website, our web address is posted over there on the wall

Jordahl: Lisa’s here. Good morning. Lisa Dewey, Director of SEATS. Discussion/Action needed regarded weekend shuttle service for the Senior Center. Now there’s been some interest in this topic.

SEATS Director Lisa Dewey: Yes, there has, hasn’t there. I’ve been asked by the Board to look at whether it would be possible for Johnson County SEATS to operate a shuttle service for the seniors on the weekends for the meals. My understanding from that bus was that it would only operate on a limited basis on the weekend, so I was looking at operating from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. If we do this service, and it would be the recommendation of SEATS to go ahead and do this service and then review in December to see if we want to continue, the reason being is that this county, the County currently operates a Senior Meal Program that operates 7 days a week, but the shuttle service only operates Monday through Friday, and it is operated by the Iowa City Parking Department. They have explained that they’re not able to man a weekend shuttle service, and therefore you asked to look at it. Currently, because I do not have all the vacancies filled in my personnel areas, and due to some of the deficiencies we’ve developed in SEATS, we could currently do this service at no requirement for an increase in the budget. But that does not mean that if those positions get filled, that I would not need to come back and request a budget increase in order to continue this service. The recommendation that I’ve made for this program to go ahead and be done, and then review in December is twofold. One, to look at the budget, to see if there is an amendment that would be required, and 2, to see what the usage is on the weekend, because it may not be feasible to even continue. It may not be cost effective at all. That’s the twofold reason for recommending it. We go ahead and do it, and we could do it with no increase to the budget at this time, and that we look at it in December to see how we’re doing with it and whether it’s feasible to continue that, and whether a budget increase would even be needed. I did give a breakdown of what this costs. There is a spreadsheet which kind of shows you the drivers’ expenses per hour, the mileage for maintenance, and then the admin. and overhead expenses on an hourly basis. On a weekend basis, and that is based on operating 3 and a half hours a day for the 2 days, it would cost approximately $223.87 per weekend to operate. There are approximately 66 weekends that this program would be required to go through based on the projected completion date of the parking and construction areas downtown. Based on that, the total cost would be $14,775.

Stutsman: That was one of my questions is how many people would be using this? We don’t have any idea right now?

Dewey: I have no idea what they would be doing on the weekend. I do know that during the week, that the usage is quite good, and it is feasible to do.

Stutsman: What is quite good, do you know?

Dewey: 65 to 70 a day, which is actually a good number for even just a fixed route to operate.

Lehman: Iowa City wasn’t able to give you any numbers?

Dewey: Not on the weekends.

Stutsman: They don’t operate.

Lehman: They haven’t operated at all?

Dewey: No. They don’t operate the shuttle service at all on the weekends.

Stutsman: Lisa, why does it have to start at 10?

Dewey: The meal program actually starts serving around 11, so we were looking to getting people there in time. We would start operating the shuttle service so people could get there in time to go to the meal program.

Stutsman: There wouldn’t be any cost by starting at 11:00, that much of a savings?

Dewey: No.

Stutsman: OK.

Jordahl: There are people who like to go there before the meal to hang around.

Dewey: Right, because this is socialization for them as well as a meal. It allows people to have that socialization with a hot, nutritional meal.

Jordahl: I’m glad you added that component, that hour. Imagining that system myself, I was trying to pare it down to the minimum number of hours. OK, this is when the meals are served, and I think Mike Foster played into the same notion, that this is when we need it. I think the way you’ve imagined it maybe is better.

Stutsman: I really like your plan to do this and then to evaluate it at the end of December. That seems like a reasonable length of time to just see if people are using it, for one thing, and then just see where we’re going.

Dewey: Yes, because at this time we don’t know.

Stutsman: I don’t know how the Board feels about maybe going to Iowa City and ask if they would be willing to help with the cost of this? Is that appropriate?

Jordahl: I think we could. The issue has been raised about the benefit of the parking ramp, it’s going to go to the City once it’s built. They’ve kind of created this situation as a moneymaking opportunity for themselves. That’s one way of looking at it, or you could look at it from the point of view that we’re paying 20% of the cost of operation of the Senior Center, and this is sort of the cost of operating the Senior Center. With them covering 5 days for longer periods, and us covering 2 days for shorter periods, maybe we’re getting off easy. Which way do you want to look at it?

Dewey: The other thing you might consider is that the City may say we don’t operate on Sundays for fixed route, and we wouldn’t have that shuttle service available based on when you’re operating the fixed route. There may be some other operational issues that they have.

Stutsman: But if we’re thinking about providing a service, more than 2 residents, and I’m sure the majority of these people will be residents of Iowa City. I understand the taxation and all of that business that goes into that. I just threw that out.

Dewey: I think we ought to wait and look at it in December, and then we could determine whether it’s cost-effective, and then also talk to the cities at that time and say look, this is how many riders you have going to this program. Maybe you should assist and subsidize in the program.

Jordahl: Part of that question in December will be do you need to come to us for more money? If we’re able to do this within our current budget, justification is less for going back to the City. Other members of the Board? I know you gentlemen are concerned with the issue, any questions or comments?

Lehman: I’d be all in favor of trying it and looking at it again in December. It’s hard to look at dollars when you’re trying to provide a service, sometimes.

Duffy: In other words, this would start in December, or from now to December.

Dewey: Actually, we would not be able to start it until the weekend of October 16, whatever that weekend is, the 15th and 16th.

Duffy: We’ve already put money in Congregate Meals, it’s really a federal organization.

Dewey: The Congregate Meals that we receive funding for from Heritage is actually for Solon and Lone Tree. The City meal service is done through the ADA.

Duffy: Yes, that’s right, but it’s federal funding. There is a George Sterba Trust account that maybe we could use the interest on some of those dollars for this until we see if it’s going to work.

Jordahl: Good idea, Charlie.

Duffy: I’m not so sure, we’d have to find out exactly just what it said, and when it was left, I suppose, maybe 11 or 12 years ago.

Stutsman: It sounds like there’s… I’m hearing a straw poll agreement to go ahead with this from the Board members?

Jordahl: I can name a member of the public who may object though.

Harold Stager: Did Heritage pick up some of that cost?

Jordahl: Who, Harold?

Stager: Heritage.

Jordahl: Heritage.

Duffy: That’s what I was thinking.

Stager: Couldn’t they pick up some of this cost.

Jordahl: There’s a good thought.

Dewey: They do have limited funds. I will tell you, when we did the negotiation on the nutritional transportation for the meals, we looked at the rural areas as really needing that, because the ADA is able to do it for the Iowa City residents. I don’t know that Heritage has the funding in order to do that, but it’s something that we could explore.

Jordahl: I have another twist on that. What we could do is we could talk about these dollars as being part of our dollar contribution to the cost of operating the Senior Dining Program, and reflect that to Heritage. We have it in our budget to give some $26,000, I think it is, to the program this year, and this would just about be the slack between the Elderly Waiver dollars and the County dollars we were supposed to contribute in the first place, and if we do that out of the existing SEATS budget we’re way ahead of the game. I wonder if they’d buy that?

Stutsman: Those are things I think you need to look into, and maybe that could be part of our discussion in December, if that might be some ideas for additional funding.

Duffy: Harold, are you still on the Board?

Stager: No, I’m not.

Duffy: Who represents us now, do you know, in Cedar Rapids?

Stager: Bob Simpson is Chair, now.

Stutsman: Yes.

Duffy: I don’t mean the Task Force, I mean the group that goes to Cedar Rapids. You used to be on it, I believe.

Stager: I think Irvin Pfab goes up there. I couldn’t be sure. I’m out of it now, and Bob Simpson and Pfab are the 2 people who are supposed go to Cedar Rapids about the budget slashing.

Jordahl: I’ve been up there.

Duffy: That’s through a different, you said people in the Nutrition Committee, and a group to go up there and say we need some extra funding because our seniors and people with disabilities can’t, there’s no place for them to park, and they can’t walk from the ramp themselves. Sunday used to be a pretty big day up there. Saturday wasn’t that great, but Sunday was.

Dewey: We could look at that as an avenue in December.

Jordahl: Lisa, is that an approach that you would make, or that the Board would make. I’m trying to understand this, because you have Heritage contracts relating to those outlying services, but we decided not to pursue that with the Iowa City program this year.

Dewey: If we’re going to wrap it into the Senior Program, that would be something that would need to come from the direction of the Board. It doesn’t mean I can’t assist in the discussions, but it would be something that would have to come through the Senior Program, from their funding source.

Lehman: This discussion needs to take place before the weekend schedule even starts, or they’re going to say you’ve…

Dewey: This is something we could look at before December’s meeting, to talk about whether it’s feasible to continue and then get it right.

Lehman: They might say you’ve already started this without asking us anyway, so it’s your…

Dewey: Right now we’re fine.

Jordahl: I can make a call up to Heritage and tell them that we’re doing this.

Lehman: I think I’d like to forewarn them, otherwise they’re going to say you apparently approved this on your own.

Jordahl: Yes, I have to call them anyway.

Duffy: Find out who’s on the committee, Jonathan.

Stutsman: I was going to ask about education, or informing people that this will be offered. Who’s going to do that?

Dewey: I think that should be an avenue from the Senior Program itself. That should be part of their outreach requirement. I did not put the funding in there for marketing this program.

Stutsman: I’m just wondering, if we’re going to look at usage, then I think we need to have some way to tell people.

Dewey: The Senior Program should be able to do that in their outreach.

Stutsman: I agree. Who’s going to follow up on that?

Jordahl: I’m going to call Tom about a couple of things. Transport cost part, County contribution, and what was the point?

Dewey: Mike Foster you need to talk to.

Jordahl: Mike Foster for advertising. The weekend of the 16th.

Dewey: Weekend of the 16th. I don’t know if it starts on the 15th or the 16th. I just remember the 16th.

Jordahl: October 15th is Friday, so your first day would be the 16th, a Saturday.

Dewey: 16th and 17th.

Jordahl: There’s a related question to this, and that is the parking spaces themselves in the Chauncey Swan Ramp. There have been reserved spaces for the Senior Center, but those only hold for the 5 day a week period on that ground floor, in part because of the farmer’s market.

Dewey: I don’t think that will be an issue. Joe Fowler will probably be more than happy to allow us to continue to use it, because our vehicle stays there anyway. Our vehicle currently stays there right now.

Jordahl: Stays in the ramp?

Dewey: Yes.

Jordahl: The question is reserving the spaces for the public, for the seniors.

Dewey: I did not talk with him, but I don’t think that was the issue for him, I think manning was, so I think the parking availability would still be there, but I will confirm that.

Stutsman: I don’t think that’s our issue. Our issue was providing the shuttle. The City needs to work on the issue with the parking ramps.

Jordahl: Yes, but they need to be informed that we’re going to start doing this, so that they may adjust.

Dewey: I know that Joe knows that we are planning to let him know that we were looking at whether we could do it or not. He told me that his problem was manning. That was why they couldn’t do it.

Jordahl: Yes, I’ve spoken with him about that, too, but as much as I’m going to contact Mr. Miskimen and Mr. Foster, I hope that you will contact Joe Fowler.

Dewey: I will contact Joe Fowler and Mr. Manuch.

Jordahl: At least raise the question, and maybe, for example, Mike’s advertising might want to indicate that while there is no parking on the ground floors, there’s parking on second and third, and we’ll pick you up over on Washington, or on College, or whatever is going to work out.

Dewey: I’ll let Mike know that, also.

Jordahl: Coordination needs to take place. All right, thank you. That seems like that’s only one of a couple of topics on the Lisa Dewey agenda this morning. Discussion/action needed regarding approval for conversion of part-time confidential secretary to full-time confidential secretary.

Dewey: I am currently requesting that the confidential secretary position that I have, which is currently part-time, be converted to a full-time position. When the position was first initiated, it was mainly for the clerical of the invoicing and accounts payable, and that department has grown and those requirements of what that secretary’s responsibilities are has grown in addition. The position change does not require a budget increase, based on some of the efficiencies we’ve developed within the department, in addition to utilizing a casual driver in place of a part-time driver, because right now, with some of the efficiencies we’ve done with our scheduling, we have a part time driver position which is vacant. This is allowing the other part-time drivers to have more hours scheduled. If I fill that part-time position, the current part-time drivers are going to lose hours. The contract requires that part time drivers receive a minimum of 20 hours and have the ability to work up to 40 hours a week. Currently our drivers are managing between 28 and 30 hours. If I bring on another part-time driver, that will reduce those hours down for those part-time drivers. It is not really necessary that I have another part-time driver. What I do need is a casual driver who can work up to 20 hours. What I also provided was a cost analysis to show you the difference with what we had budgeted, which is the line titled Barbara. This is what we had budgeted for that part-time secretary position. I showed what a part time secretary position would be with a new part-time secretary, and what a full-time secretary would require, salary-wise, with all the cost and the benefits.

Jordahl: Are there copies of this that people are able to see there? OK.

Dewey: I did provide copies.

Jordahl: Anyone interested in looking at this question.

Dewey: I also indicated what a part-time driver cost is, and what a casual driver cost is, on an annual basis. These are all on an annual basis. Based on the budget, with the part-time secretary position and the part-time driver position, we had budgeted $51,000, that’s benefits, everything. With a revised budget requirement, it would require $49,000 for those 2 pieces, part-time secretary and part-time driver. The budget requirement for a full-time secretary and casual driver would be $46,000, which if you look at the cost savings in the budget, there’s a reduction in personnel costs of $3,960, if I were to hire a full-time secretary and a casual driver. I am requesting that the confidential secretary part-time be upgraded to a full-time secretary position.

Jordahl: How long has the part-time driver slot been vacant?

Dewey: It has been vacant now a month and a half.

Jordahl: Between the higher paid recent secretary and the absent driver, then with the cut in salary for an entry secretary, there’s actually some additional slack in the budget beyond what you’re reflecting here.

Dewey: Right.

Stutsman: Lisa, the job description for the secretary, will that change? Do you expect there’s enough work for full-time?

Dewey: The new one that was done in January of 1998 is a very comprehensive job description that was done, and it indicates all of the job requirements that are currently needed by that secretary.

Stutsman: There’s no change in that, it’s just that there is enough work for somebody to go from part-time to full-time in that position.

Dewey: Yes.

Jordahl: Well, as we like to say, you’re the boss. If this is what you want to do, it looks like you can do it and spend less money doing it. Are the other part-time drivers persuaded of the wisdom of your choice here?

Dewey: Yes, they would like more hours. That’s one of their constant issues, is that when I do find efficiencies in the service, it cuts hours. Since they have lost hours previously, they were averaging around 35 to 38 hours a week, and that's now down into the 20s, to the high 20s.

Jordahl: This time, when Lisa makes a change, it’ll be good for them. That’s a nice direction. Are there further questions or comments from anyone? We have another item?

Dewey: I didn’t have any others.

Stutsman: You will start advertising for this position immediately, then?

Dewey: Once it’s approved on Thursday, yes. I’d certainly like to get it filled. I do have a driver who’s interested in it that may be qualified. Like everything else, we want to hire from within, if they’re qualified, and we would look at that.

Jordahl: Thank you very much, Lisa. I’m particularly grateful for your quick response on the question of that Senior Center shuttle.

Stutsman: I also want to mention that I love this executive summary, almost to the point where I would request that we ask all department heads to present information in this format. It really helps.

Dewey: Don’t tell them who started it.

Jordahl: We read about this in a good governing magazine.

Stutsman: Maybe we could put that on for a department head meeting.

Dewey: Thank you.

Jordahl: Under the heading of changes you’ll really like. If you’ve seen the budget, you’ll love this.

(Continued in Part 2)