Chairperson Jordahl called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 2:37 p.m. Members present were: Charles Duffy, Jonathan Jordahl, Mike Lehman, Sally Stutsman, and Carol Thompson.

Stutsman said the Space Needs Committee has been meeting for over a year to talk about options concerning space needs in the county. She said that early on Neumann Monson Project Architect Dwight Dobberstein was hired to do a space needs assessment for the County and he put together a profile to show what the space needs are. She said they have been reviewing department profiles and have identified critical needs. Stutsman said at their last Space Needs meeting they were at the point of moving ahead and making decisions and they thought they should bring the Board up to date on where they are at and get feedback. Stutsman explained that this is an informational meeting to apprise the rest of the Board the direction that the Space Needs Committee is moving in. She said they aren’t interested in making decisions at this meeting but sharing what they’ve done in the last year.

Thompson said that the Space Needs Committee was formed by looking at the space study and noting which departments had the biggest space need problems. She said it was not just the people who needed more physical space in order to do the business of their office, but that it also included departments like Ambulance, because of the change in demographics in Johnson County were they have a need to have office space in a different part of the county. She explained the Space Needs Study was very comprehensive and as it went along if department heads notified the Committee of space needs, then they were included in it. Thompson said there was a consensus that the County develop 3 mini campuses; human services, secondary roads, and an administrative campus near the Courthouse. She said that they took a map that shows the Courthouse and the Administration Building and drew a line around them and agreed that they would explore and actively investigate any properties that were inside that line. She explained this a strategy that the University of Iowa has successfully used in buying a lot of land in this neighborhood. She said that brought about the question of which buildings were to be considered.

Thompson explained a worksheet that was handed out that showed the Johnson County Capital Projects Plan in alphabetical order. She explained that the kind of construction for each building was listed and very approximate cost figures and time constraints were also listed. She gave an example that the Health and Department of Human Services building’s lease expires in 2002 and they will need to make a decision to either stay in the old building or know what to do about a new one. She explained that the time constraint on the Jail is at the point when the State Jail Inspector tells the County they can not house any more prisoners in the current location. She said they would have to pay to put the prisoners somewhere else which is a constraint that would make them want to act sooner rather than latter.

She explained that if the County uses every available funding source they could complete their space plan within 5 or 6 years. She explained the funding sources that they would need to use. She said for the Jail, which could be 15 million-dollar facility they would need a bond issue and for the Administration Building they could use the money that they are saving in the Capital Projects account. She said that in the SEATS budget they could use the money that they are now spending on rent and that could be handled in the regular budget process. Thompson said they identified other funding sources and consequences of not addressing problems. She said that they looked at what money they might recover by moving the building. She said that for example if they built a Health and Department of Human Services building they would recover the money they now spend on rent for the Department of Human Services (DHS) Building. She said they also own the Health Department building and they could sell it and they could recover that money. She said they also listed the consequences of not addressing space needs issues, which ranges from inconvenience to serious cost and safety issues.

Thompson explained that this is a plan that makes a lot of assumptions but she wants to make sure they shows that if the County tries and works hard to save, they can accomplish their space needs within 5 years. She said beginning in Fiscal Year 2000 they will have some expenses, such as the money that they paid the architects when they did Eastdale. She said they showed 80,000 dollars in expenses for that project. She said they carry over 650,000 dollars from last years budget which is money that they saved towards their capital expense projects. Thompson said that County Treasurer Tom Kriz figured that they could earn interest on their money and the Board has already made a policy decision that interest that is earned on this account will go back into the account. She said they earned $27,000 in interest. Thompson said the Board budgeted this year to transfer $900,000 into the account and they have already committed to a payment of $175,000 for principle and interest on Mall drive. She said the Committee agreed to set aside $700,000 to use for possible land acquisition if they found available land near the Courthouse. She said that this is a popular area and they need to be able to act fast if they wish to anchor their complex in this area.

Thompson said at the end of this current year, they will have a balance of $622,565. She said the difficult part will be that the plan will require that the Board set aside $1,500,000 a year for the next 4 years to reach the space needs goal within the next 5 years. She said if they choose to do this and they add 1.5 million, subtract the budgeted spending and then added the interest, and subtract the Mall drive payment they would need to borrow money before the start. She said there is no specific order to what building they would begin working on first. Thompson said to borrow money the County would use the method that Kriz recommended for borrowing money.

Thompson explained that the County would leverage money by borrowing money against funds that they already have on deposit. She explained if they borrowed 2 million dollars they would have enough money to pay 3.75 million dollars of the Health and Human Services building. Duffy asked where they would borrow the money from. Kriz explained that they would leverage the funds that they have on deposit and use that as collateral to borrow at a low market interest rate. Kriz said they would leverage restricted funds that can’t be spent and use those funds to borrow at a lower rate. Jordahl asked if this would damage the funds earning power. Kriz answered that it does not change their earning power it just gives the County a bargaining point. Jordahl said the County is already borrowing money for the Mall drive property at 7%. Kriz corrected Jordahl and said they are borrowing at 7.5% over a period of 10 years. Jordahl asked if they could get the percent down to 1.5% with their leverage. Kriz said yes they could with their actual cost of funds. He clarified that that interest cost is interest cost but you have to look at difference in what you are earning or what you can get it down to. He explained that they wouldn’t borrow money at 1.5% interest but they might be able to borrow money at a half of a percent over what they are being paid. Thompson said that that would give them the ability to fund part of the first building in the 2001 fiscal year.

She said going into 2002 they would have to commit themselves to another 1.5 million dollars in the following years budget. She said that again they would have some budgeted spending which they estimate at $70,000. She explained that they added back in the interest they would receive, subtracted the $160,000 Mall Drive payment and they would have a payment of 510,000 if they paid their leveraged funds at 5.5%. Jordahl asked why they would have to repay all of that at once. Thompson said that they are not , but they would have a 5 year repayment schedule. She said they could finish paying off the Department of Health and Human services building. Thompson said that they should note that for all of numbers, they assumed that there would be a 3% inflation rate on the projected cost of the new buildings. She explained that the cost of these building are going up all of the time so the longer that they wait the more it will cost.

Thompson said in Fiscal Year 2003 the Board would again have to commit to another 1.5 million. She explained that they would subtract their budgeted of 70,000, add in their interest earned which would be about 75,000, and subtract the Mall drive payment of $152,500. She said they would again have to repay their leveraged funds which is a smaller payment because the balance goes down from the year before which would be 488,000. She said that County Attorney Pat White estimated that they could sell the Health Department building for about half a million dollars. She said they would recover the DHS rent of 80,000 and by the end of 2003 they could pay 1.6 million dollars towards the addition to the Administration Building.

Thompson said going into Fiscal Year 2004, the Board again would have to commit to 1.5 million, they would subtract to budgeted spending of 70,000, add in the interest of 68,000, and subtract the Mall drive payment which would be 145,000. She said they would have a $466,000 payment on their leveraged money, they would have the DHS rent recovery of 80,000 and they could finish the Administration Building, and they would have a partial payment on the completing the court house renovation on the 3rd floor. She said that at that point they would have a balance of $36,671. Thompson said that she wanted to stress that this is not a real plan but a way of showing that if they took the measures shown they could complete their building program in 5 years. Thompson explained that does not include the Jail because it would require a bond issue.

Jordahl said that he did not want to leave the impression that Thompson alone was suggesting that 1.5 million dollars be levied for this set of projects. He said that they have progressively increased the amount in capital projects for the last few years, and because of the recognition that the needs are out there. He said his personal goal is that they save at least 1.5 million yearly, where he thinks they need to be at as a sustainable level of maintaining their response to the growing population of Johnson County. Jordahl said that this is the only way to responsibly keep this operation afloat. Duffy said that he thought that they could get along with out some of the suggested projects like the Administration Building. He said that Health Department building has been remodeled a few times and seems to be in good shape.

Duffy also said that he was concerned about the trains near the Ambulance Department. Ambulance Department Director Mike Sullivan said that trains are not a problem for them there space needs issue is a low priority issue in comparison to the other departments. He said they are fortunate that they have a 28E Agreement with Coralville now, and an ambulance in Coralville. Duffy asked if the trains affect the Ambulance service. Sullivan said the trains do not affect them that much because they have alternate routes around the tracks where they aren’t delayed. Duffy said 5 minutes means a lot with a heart attack or an accident. He asked what happens when both of the train are running. Sullivan said they go down by the Sheriffs department if they have to go north. Duffy said that also can be blocked because a train goes by there too. Sullivan said they would then go north on Gilbert Street. Duffy said that you wouldn’t go that way either because there are 2 trains there. Sullivan said that to his knowledge they have never encountered that problem.

Jordahl said that he would like to discuss the bond issue and asked if someone could detail the bond issue for them and what it looks like. Thompson said the reason they would need a bond issue is that 1.5 million is the maximum they could put away a year, that it would be very difficult to set aside more than that for any long period of time. She said that if you assume a 3% inflation factor the cost of the Jail will go up faster than they could save up the money and have enough to buy it in the future. She said it is also good public policy to extend the cost of a building over some future generations who are going to get some use out of it. Duffy agreed. Thompson said that is also such a large expenditure that it should come before the voter and a bond issue allows them to do that. Jordahl asked if the voters really have a choice when there is overcrowding, licensing and so forth. Stutsman said that there is always a choice of whether they build a jail or pay to house prisoners outside of Johnson County. She said that if is gets to the point where the State Jail Inspector says that they need to move prisoners to another facility they have the choice to build a new prison or house them somewhere else. Jordahl said that the way it is phrased implies that it would be more expensive to house the prisoners outside of the county rather than build a new prison. Thompson said that to move the prisoners outside of the County it would be more expensive to house prisoners outside of the county than in our current jail but, that she does not know how it would compare to the cost of a new prison. She said that issue is moving forward. She said the Sheriff has established the Jail Overcrowding Study Committee and their plan is to look at this in detail and get back to the Board with a recommendation. Stutsman said she thinks that information will be part of their recommendation and they will present the vital information so that the voters can make a decision.

Public Health Department Director Graham Dameron said that in Scott County the Sheriff said it costs them $2,500 a day to house prisoners elsewhere. Jordahl asked Thompson what would it look like if they were paying for the Jail without a bond issue. Thompson said they would only be able to afford a 5 to 10 million dollar Jail and the cost of the Jail would double before they had saved enough to pay for it. She that it would already be past the time when the State Jail Inspector says the Jail is full. She said this is based on the projection they have seen so far. Jordahl asked that they assume that a bond issue was not a possibility and assume that 1.5 million was not the ceiling that the County would have to tax to pay for it. Thompson said it would be about 5 million. Kriz said it would be astronomical and the County isn’t going to have that option. He said that if a bond issue does not pass there is still the option of the free enterprise system where people come in build a jail and lease it. Dobberstein said that Thompson is just trying to get a range on a new jail and that it could be anywhere from 5 to 20 million. Stutsman asked if there are limits to the amount of money they can raise taxes. Jordahl said it is borrowing that has a limit on it. Thompson said they can bond for $800,000 on one project in one year with out a bond issue. Dameron said that they can bond up to 33 million. Thompson asked what is the minimum that they could do. She said that the cost of doing the minimum is that in a few years people are going to be asking why didn’t they do it right the first time. She said any minimum project isn’t going to last the amount of time it will take to pay for it. She said she is hearing from the public that they would like things to be done the best that can be done. She said that is why there are 2 options for the Jail, one is the minimum and one is what the Sheriff thinks they should do.

Stutsman asked if any Board members had anymore thoughts about what has been presented so far. Lehman asked if they wouldn’t start paying back the money until the other projects are done. Kriz said generally the payback would start within a year. Thompson said that in 2003 they would have a large bond issue payment to make. Lehman said they would have to tax for that pay back, and the rest of the Board members agreed. Jordahl said that the Jail, to him, is the first priority because it has some legal weight. Lehman said they would then be taxing 3 to 4 million plus the one and half. Thompson said it would depend on how long they have the bond issue, whether it would be 30 years, 20 years or a shorter time. Kriz said that they would normally pay a bond back in 15 years. Jordahl said they should maybe not build the maximum jail they can, but build it so that they can expand on the jail when the need to.

Jordahl said another aspect that could alleviate some of the storage space needs would be putting more money into the technology budget. He said that they know the County is growing and they should be prepared for what they can predict. Stutsman said they need to get a plan down on paper so that they can show the taxpayers what they need do to. Jordahl said that Johnson County is going to continue to grow. He said they need to set aside a realistic figure for the predictable growing needs of Johnson County. He said they should learn from their current situation and fix this, and establish a level of taxation that will be able to respond to the growing needs of the County.

Thompson asked if they agree that these are the building needs and that 1.5 million is the amount they should set aside. Dameron said that they have an arrangement with Eastdale Mall and the space there could be rented and they could add that in as an additional amount of income that would be saved. Department of Human Services Area Administrator Cheryl Whitney said it is about 40,000 a year. Dameron said that building for the future is a good idea. He said that in relationship to his building, they expanded by having other services moving out. He said that they could do the same thing with a new DHS building. He said that they could maybe build a jail with additional medical and kitchen space. Stutsman said she has no problems supporting funding to build a big enough building so that it can be expanded. She said what she objects to is putting 1.5 million away thinking that some where in the future they might have a need. She said the taxpayers would probably have a problem with that. Stutsman said she thinks that they are building up a cash reserve that should be in the taxpayers pockets until we have a definite plan and an identified need. She said that they are trying to develop a plan here so that the County can say this is our plan and these are the resources we need to get there.

Reverend Bob Welsh said he thinks Stutsman is misunderstanding what Jordahl said. Welsh said he understood Jordahl to say that even if they commit to 1.5 million a year until the year 2005, by the time they get to the year 2005 there are going to be new needs which they have to address. Stutsman said if the Board has had a discussion and they have a plan and a goal then she could support that. She said she thinks the County needs to continually have this discussion. Jordahl said they are in the situation that they are in today because they did not ask where they were going to be in 20 years. He said that it is incumbent upon them to think in those terms. He said that he prefer that they think in terms of a 100 years so they are better able to respond to situations as they arise. Jordahl said that there is going be an increase in needs and they should account for these growing needs which are inevitable. Lehman said that the Space Needs Committee should be a standing committee and adjust things from year to year as things change. Jordahl said they can project when a vehicle is going to wear out and they account for it in the budget so that when the vehicle wears out they have the money to replace it. He said the taxation remains constant and they have the facilities they need. He said they should do the same thing for the buildings and project when the Jail is going to wear out. Jordahl asked Dobberstein if they can project when the Jail is going to wear out. Dobberstein said they did that in the Jail report and projected it for 20 years. He said the Space Needs Committee did that with all of the departments, they projected the present need and the future need for 5 to 10 years and found that they have needs now. He said they have present needs and future needs. Dobberstein said that once they approve to build something it takes a couple of years to get the building and planning done.

Duffy said he personally thinks that they have been spending too much money the whole year. He said as far as jails are concerned at the last ISAC meeting it was brought up that there are many people that are put in jail with mental problems and that‘s not right. He said these people should get help and not be put in jail. Jordahl said that there are some improvements that can be made with the jail system however that does not change the fact that the county is going to continue to grow. He said whatever needs they have are not going to go away because they do what is listed on a sheet of paper. He said it is their responsibility to look forward to prepare for developing needs of the county. He said one thing that they can do without spending all of the money right now is to build in expansibility. Thompson said that another way to look at this is there were years of revenue sharing when the Administration building and the Jail were built. She said that was money that was available for capital projects and then there was the tax freeze and the combination of those 2 things gave the County deferred building needs. She said that this is a larger than usual need for any 5 year period that would normally occur in the County.

Thompson said if they can commit themselves to meet the need of 1.5 million a year for 5 years, then they can say in the future what will it take to keep up. She said she is not convinced that it is 1.5 million or a new building every year or any specific plan. Jordahl asked if the bond issue passes, won’t it require significantly more money than 1.5 million a year. Thompson said her figures do not include the bond issue. She said after Fiscal Year 2003 there will be substantial payments on the bond issue so there is overlap. Lehman said they have numbers they can work with, and see what happens during the budget. Kriz said there are 2 issues: there is a huge bond issue and then there is an ongoing problem for the other space needs. He said that until they have a better feel for the Jail they may be mandated to do something without any choice. He said that unless they stay proactive they will not know and they will always be playing catch-up. Stutsman said that they are trying to inform the Board today about what needs to be done and what kind of commitment it will take. Jordahl asked, assuming that that they need to go ahead with the Jail right away, what is their best guess of what the annual taxation will have to be to defray both the bond issue and the building issues. He said does that mean that the County put off the other needs because the Jail is a priority because they can’t afford to do both. Thompson said she guessed if they were on a 15 year amortization, they will have to tax about 9.9 million on the first year. Stutsman said if they are going to pull back they need to let people know. Dameron said if the Board has a plan and knows that they are going to follow it then they can plan accordingly. He said there are some existing space needs that the committee has been looking at, some are part of a short term plan which includes rental of other space until these other buildings are built.

Jordahl said if they were able to start on the Jail and were making payments on the bond issue by 2002 would it be 3.5 million dollars for taxation for the space needs or would they defer the other space needs for 15 years. Whitney said if they do that kind of deferment their rent will increase because there are substantial changes that need to be made to the DHS building. She said they are 2 years away from their lease renewal and if they were going to have to accomplish something by that time they would have to start making decisions about it in this spring. She said if that is not going to happen then they need to figure out how they are going to stay in that building which was built in 1974, and has many repairs that need to be done. She said to fix all of the problems it will be very expensive, and they already deferred the repairs 3 years ago. She said that unless they make a decision soon they will be in that building for another 5 years.

Jordahl said he is trying to find out what the decision is they are going to have to make. He said this is a nice presentation but it does not have the bond issue payments figured in, and the Jail is the highest priority space need. Thompson said the math here is to demonstrate that the projects other than the Jail could be accomplished in 5 years but it would take 1.5 million plus leveraging 2 million. Jordahl said they shouldn’t ignore the Jail and they should add the cost of the bond issue for the Jail which is about 2 million dollars a year, which they would then be looking at 3.5 million a year. Thompson asked if Jordahl was willing to do that. Jordahl said he is asking what is the plan. He asked if the plan is to not build a Jail and do the other space needs first and do the Jail after 5 years, or is there a plan to do both at once or do the Jail first and wait on the other projects. Thompson said the plan was to wait until the Jail Overcrowding Study Committee makes a report and a recommendation. She said that will be in about 2 months. Dameron said the other factor is if there is a bond issue and a new facility is built then what do they do with the old building. Dobberstein said because of the way the current jail is constructed you would have to look at the building carefully for whatever purpose you would want to do with it. Kriz mentioned it is in a desirable spot, where other entities in the County could be interested in it.

Stutsman said there are many possible options to consider. Jordahl said they need to have some decisions made as to whether the Jail comes first or do they try to do everything at once. Stutsman said this is more of an informative meeting about some of the decisions that the Board will eventually have to make. Duffy said if they are going to be taxing 1.5 million a year, he going to vote no right now, they can’t just double tax people and that the people should have the right to vote for the Jail. He said it looks like Jordahl is zapping the supervisors of the past and that he wants to stockpile money and it is not going to work. Jordahl said he wants to pay for the needs of County government. Welsh said he observed that the purpose of this meeting is to inform the Supervisors as to where the Space Needs Committee is at and to help the Board make a decision that should be a part of the budgeting process. Welsh said that he has observed that there is going to be a standing Space Needs Committee. Thompson said along those lines she would like to point out that a 1.5 million dollar commitment in the budget does not mean adding 1.5 million because there is already $900,000 in the budget so at the most it would be $600,000 increase. She said that they also have some areas in the budget that they could give up and use to fund this without raising taxes, such as the 27th pay period which we will not have in the upcoming year. She said there are other places they could take money from in the budget but it would mean they would all have to give up things that they want and they should not necessarily increase people’s taxes by 1.5 million. Lehman said they have a ballpark figure to work with so they can see what kind impact this may have. Dameron said the Board’s first decision should be whether or not to put that amount of money into the budget. Stutsman said it will be really expensive no matter what they do. Duffy said that the best way to deal with the Jail is with the bond issue. Duffy thanked the Space Needs Committee for the work they’ve done.

Adjourned at 3:52 p.m.

Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor

By Casie Parkins, Recording Secretary