Reconvened at 6:52 p.m.
INTERVIEW: CATHY FITZMAURICE
Slockett said he would be asking the questions in this interview. He then asked Fitzmaurice to give her opening statement. Fitzmaurice said one of the reasons she chose to apply is she doesn't have any backing. She said she is opposed to a special election and she might be able to offer the county an alternative that might satisfy people so they wouldn't have to have a special election. She said her background as an attorney and as a mayor would benefit the Board. She said as an attorney she has had the experience to deal with both sides of the issue. Fitzmaurice said as Mayor of Hills she has had an opportunity to run the City of Hills and get involved with that. She said that during the storm in June the City of Hills was without electricity for 4 days and she had to keep the City going and deal with FEMA and she thought if she could do that she was ready for the challenge of the Board of Supervisors.
Slockett asked what does Fitzmaurice consider to be the County's strengths and weaknesses, and how would she enhance the strengths and address the weaknesses. Fitzmaurice stated that the strength of County government is in what Johnson County has done with their money, by prioritizing it in Human Services and the safety and welfare of the citizens. To enhance that strength is continue to prioritize with those types if issues and budget for those types of things. The weakness is if your going to enhance that strength you're going to have to have the money to do it. She said you always have to work on that.
Slockett asked Fitzmaurice if she is in favor of restructuring County government and/or hiring a County manager. Fitzmaurice said she is not in favor of restructuring the government, that she knows the people running the department are good people, and the Board of Supervisors is a great group to oversee that. She said she can't see that hiring a County manager at this time would do any good for the County, although if you showed her that hiring a County manager would be cost effective and would open up some new things for the county then she would say they should explore it and look at it. She said in order to hire a County manager they might want to combine some positions. She said if the structure works right now then it's not really necessary to do that.
Slockett asked Fitzmaurice if she feels the County has additional space needs and if so how would she address them. Fitzmaurice stated the County definitely does have space needs, and the best way to handle that is to really look at the both the long and short goals. She said it usually comes up as something that needs to be addressed with some urgency but there are also a lot of cases where money can be put aside in advance to handle this kind of problem and it definitely usually deals with large amounts of money.
Slockett asked Fitzmaurice how she would go about selecting from a pool of applicants to serve on various boards and commissions. Fitzmaurice responded by saying that the first thing she would look at is their experience and back ground. She said you have to see ahead of time what they are going to add to the board or commission. She said she would want a diverse group of people so that everybody could lend to that board.
Slockett then asked what Fitzmaurice's long range vision for Johnson County is. Fitzmaurice then said that she does not see a large amount of problems so it would fall more under maintaining services and how they will be able to do that.
Slockett asked what criteria Fitzmaurice would use in making land use decisions and on what basis would she make decisions concerning road improvements, maintenance, construction and roadside weed eradication. Fitzmaurice said she knew the Board had recently been working with the Comprehensive Land Use Plan and any land use decisions should come from that. She said the Plan shouldn't be inflexible, they need to have the ability to make changes and amendments or variances on some of the uses. Fitzmaurice said as far as road improvements, maintenance and construction the first thing she would do would be talk to the Secondary Roads Department and get input and recommendations. She said she would also get citizen input.
Slockett asked what Fitzmaurice thinks the County's role should be in protecting the environment. Fitzmaurice said the County should have a role in that. She said the County's role should be in education, resources, offering things to residents of the County so they can have some alternatives. She said some of the things she can recall and are good ideas are disposal of hazardous wastes and tire disposal. She said it's hard to do recycling in the County but they should look at it.
Slockett asked Fitzmaurice to describe her approach to balancing economic and business interests with interests in the health and well-being of citizens, and environmental concerns. Fitzmaurice said they have economic and business interests throughout the County that are certainly important because they are going to add a source of revenue that they have to consider. She said if those interests negatively affect health, well being and the environment then they as a County have to put that at the top of the balance. She said they have to weigh the balance and see how many people are being affected by this, how is it affecting the environment and balance that against what that business can bring to the County.
Slockett asked what Fitzmaurice's opinion of the Johnson County Comprehensive Land Use Plan is. Fitzmaurice said she hasn't read it. She said it would be difficult for her to speak about it but she believes it is a necessary thing to have. She said she understood the legislature was going to introduce a land use bill that will require municipalities to have Comprehensive Land Use Plans. She said Johnson County needs to have an updated plan. She said within the framework of the Comprehensive Plan they should provide for some kind of dispute resolution with other municipalities.
Slockett asked what Fitzmaurice knows about, and what is her opinion regarding the impact and incidence of Johnson County taxes. Fitzmaurice said the impact of the taxes was to her, what they do with them and how they use them. She said they've got a good percentage of their budget that goes to schools and they have to continue with that. She said then they go down and the money is prioritized with Human Services, Secondary Roads, etc. She said the ability to have revenues increases each year but it's limited each year and is something they have to be aware of and take into consideration. She said she's dealt with the TIF problems that they have and that negatively affects the City. Fitzmaurice said they were also limited by the property tax rollback.
Slockett asked how Fitzmaurice weighs requests for spending which require tax dollars versus increasing taxes? Fitzmaurice said you balance and prioritize. She said they have so many things that people need money for. She said luckily in Hills they don't have to face this very often. She said they've got to look at the priority of that need, what you're after, how many people it's going to affect, who is it going to negatively effect and how much money is being talked abut. She said you have to explore every option before you get to the point of increasing taxes.
Slockett asked what, if anything, should be done about the nature of County tax options? Fitzmaurice said that tax options are somewhat limited. She said property taxes provide the majority of taxes. She said cities are really hurting because of the rollback. She said the only way they can have input into the rollback is to keep an open line of communication with the State. Fitzmaurice said local option sales tax is another option.
Slockett asked Fitzmaurice if she was in favor of implementing a local option sales tax and if so, for what use. She said because they have limits on ways to raise revenues the local option sales tax gives them an opportunity to raise the necessary revenues to do some additional things that they might not otherwise be able to take care of. She said local option sales tax would be good to use for long term goals. Fitzmaurice said the best way to get the plan passed was to make it as easy as possible. She said it has to be used for things that are in demand and more people are going to benefit from.
Slockett asked if Fitzmaurice had any experience putting budgets together and how do she feels about performance based budgeting. She said that at the time she was on the Hills City Council and being Mayor she has worked with the budget. She says as a Council Member they rely on the Mayor and she now is in the role. Fitzmaurice said that budgeting shouldn't be totally based on performance. She said things change and you need to be flexible enough to take in those changes.
Slockett asked if Fitzmaurice is appointed and an election is called, will she seek her party's nomination? Will she run for reelection if appointed? If she is not appointed, would she petition or would she run as the nominee in an election that was petitioned for? Fitzmaurice said if she was appointed and an election was called she would run. She said she has a lot of faith in the Committee that they will make the right decision is against a special election. She said anybody that is appointed should respect the decision of the Committee and run. Fitzmaurice said she would most likely run for reelection also. Fitzmaurice said if she wasn't appointed she wouldn't call for a special election. She said that wasn't in the best interests of the County.
Slockett asked if Fitzmaurice is appointed, when could she begin serving? Fitzmaurice said she could begin serving immediately.
Slockett asked if Fitzmaurice had any questions of the Board Appointment Committee? Fitzmaurice said one goal of the Committee would probably be to appoint someone they can avoid having a special election over. Fitzmaurice asked what kind of person would do that for them. Painter said she believes and hopes that they've got a group of individuals who all bring to the table broad experience that they will be able to meet the needs of the residents of the County. Painter said the amount of information that's been available on the web-site gives people a more comprehensive look than they might have had in recent situations where special elections have been called. Slockett said it isn't his feeling that he doesn't want an election. He said it's his feeling the public doesn't want to pay the cost of an election and by appointing they can give them an option to avoid those costs. Slockett said if the community doesn't like the decision they make, he hopes they will petition for an election because it's important who is on the Board of Supervisors, it is an elected official, and the people should feel good about. He said they should consider that every time an election has been petitioned for, the person appointed has won that election. He stated the public has expressed the confidence in the way the Iowa law is written in filling that person in for the remainder of the term. He said a person who is doing that should seriously think about what their chances of success are. He said if they feel strongly enough about it, this is a democracy and this is the way the system works. He stated it is good for people to go through an election process. He said serving in a such a capacity as she is, it will give the public some confidence in her. He said someone with professional qualifications and who has served in a public capacity will only help. Slockett said they are also looking for someone with good communication skills. Slockett said he was surprised that the press had not covered any of the interviews. He said they can read it on the web-site and write about it. Slockett said she is the kind of person with great qualifications whom they are finding has applied. He said they sometimes forget how lucky they are to live in this community. He said he felt every single person who applied could do the job and there are many different styles, levels of competence and approaches. He stated it was a remarkable set of candidates and it's going to be very difficult to make a decision. Kriz said the quest is to find the very best person to fill the position. He said he had great confidence in working with Painter and Slockett. He stated if they do the job right, it's up to the people to make the decision if they made the right decision. He said very few communities have the expertise that Johnson County has and have people so willing to serve. He said they all learned from the process. Slockett said the breadth of responsibilities and the scope of the job of Supervisor is mind boggling. He said no one except those who have been Supervisors can appreciate that. He said it's a real challenge and an incredibly interesting position. He said there have been a lot of questions regarding the time requirement but legally there isn't one. Fitzmaurice said it was stated as a part time job. Slockett said the current Supervisors describe it as a 3/4 time job, but that's not really a legal definition. He said the job is so compelling that they think all the current Supervisors work 60 hours or more a week. He said people are universally compelled to put in that time and effort. He explained there is flexibility and he doesn't like to people to think they can't do it. He stated any person who does it should know that they are going to feel really involved in the community and want to contribute a significant amount of time.
Slockett thanked Fitzmaurice for applying and her willingness to sacrifice just to take this position. He said it was very admirable and he learned a lot from her interview. He said they will give her full consideration in their decision and she was eminently qualified for the position. Kriz reminded Slockett she had yet to make her closing remarks.
Fitzmaurice said she did not have many closing comments because they had talked about most of the issues she would have mentioned. She thanked them for the job that they were doing because she thought they had done a commendable job and it was a very difficult task. She said she appreciated the opportunity to visit with them and show them where she is coming from. She stated it wasn't a problem being available for the position and it's something she could do right away. She said her schedule has been cut down and she has a staff that will deal with some of the issues. She said she doesn't practice the kind of law that would require her to be in court a lot. She stated if she had a lot of trials coming up, it would be difficult for her to do this, but she doesn't.
Slockett asked when she could begin the job. Fitzmaurice said she could start right away. Fitzmaurice asked when they would make the decision. Kriz said they would meet again tomorrow morning and see where that takes them. Slockett said they would see how quickly they could come to an agreement. Fitzmaurice asked them if they would be contacting all the applicants. Slockett said they mail responses overnight. He said the news media would know before that. He said the 6 o'clock news would probably have it and it would be faster than trying to contact all 12 applicants. Kriz said it just wouldn't be feasible.
Adjourned at 7:43 p.m.