MINUTES OF THE BOARD MEMBER APPOINTMENT COMMITTEE:
JANUARY 14, 1999
INTERVIEWS OF APPLICANTS FOR SUPERVISOR
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Interviews
Discussion of Applicants
General discussion of Applicants
Committee members present: County Auditor Tom Slockett, County Recorder Kim Painter, and County Treasurer Tom Kriz. Painter called the meeting to order at 8:05 a.m.
Painter said the committee is taking turns asking questions and this would be her turn.
Susan Horowitz said she has lived in Johnson County since 1982 and through her church has come into contact with more people from the county rather than the city, which has made her more aware of the county issues. As an elected official, she said she had gone to other towns, such as Oxford, to participate in parades. Horowitz said she had been a member of the Chamber of Commerce Agricultural Sub-committee for 5 years and has been able to take tours around the county, citing her visits to hog and grain operations and the Frontier Herb Cooperative Company, as well as being lectured about agriculture in the fields. She said the issues of Johnson County were bigger than the ones of which she has enjoyed taking advantage. These issues, she continued, were land use issues, which included neighbor versus neighbor disputes and the decline of inter-generational farming. Horowitz also said another major issue was economic viability, that Johnson County needed planned growth and the Board of Supervisors needed to be more aware of the potential for the type of growth and businesses that will assist all residents of the County, meaning value-added industry. She mentioned the Millard Warehouse as the only corporation in the past decade who approached local officials that was a possible value-added industry. She noted the criteria for environmentally friendly construction in the BDI industrial park not having runoff into the nearby wetlands. Horowitz continued by saying Millard Warehouse did not settle in the BDI industrial area because of union concerns, which she cited as being a valid concern. She said they also need to consider economic viability for people who wish to belong to unions. This is a challenge which interested her. Horowitz talked of the need to look at NAFTA's impact in Iowa. She said she has watched, in the 90s, the University's recruitment of Asian students and their parents who were involved in business. Horowitz said they need to be aware of global markets here. She concluded by saying everyone needs to work together to deal with the day-to-day happenings of the county and the larger difficult issues of land use and economic viability.
Painter asked Horowitz what County government's strengths and weaknesses were and how she would go about enhancing the strengths and addressing the weaknesses. Horowitz replied by saying diversity was a strength which included healthy growth, educated citizens, and a sense of pride about the rural and urban character of the county, though the latter can be a weakness as well. She continued by mentioning volunteers, including in business, as another strength. Horowitz said the weaknesses were a mirror of the strengths, saying some people fail to regard Johnson County as urban. She talked of it being a challenge for County government to make the residents aware of the strengths and weaknesses of Johnson County as an urban county. Horowitz talked of the need for unified authority among local officials in achieving fiscal effectiveness, but primarily it is the responsibility of local officials to counteract misinformation about services available in rural areas as opposed to what is available in the incorporated area. As for enhancing the strengths, Horowitz said each Board member needed to be more aggressive as a facilitator to maintain the rural/agricultural aspect of the County and to promote value-added industry. She noted a program that matches younger farmers with older farmers who serve as mentors. She asserted that changes in the hog industry need to be addressed, that they need to deal aggressively with the affect of cycles on the meat packing industry. Horowitz said the Board needed to focus more closely on fringe area and regional planning. Horowitz talked of networking among local elected officials, human service agency directors, and throughout the human service area needing to be built upon, which can help address the weaknesses. She continued by saying these networks need to be used to reach our youth, citing her experience on the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council and her work with Domestic Violence Prevention. Horowitz said they need to rethink the scope of JCCOG. She said a charter commission was a very valuable tool to look at County government's weaknesses and strengths. County Auditor Tom Slockett asked if the charter commission would only cover Johnson County or if it would include the cities as well. Horowitz said she thinks regionally which would include neighboring counties and maintained that Johnson County was urban/rural rather than rural/urban.
Painter asked Horowitz if she was in favor of restructuring county government and/or hiring a county manager. She replied that based on her background in thinking on regional basis she would support a charter commission now, but she had not made a decision about the administration.
Painter asked Horowitz if she thought the County had additional space needs, and if so, asked how she would address them. Horowitz answered by saying she thought there were space needs, and said previously councils, boards, and taxpayers failed to plan buildings for upward growth. She noted the example of the library, saying it is a challenge for local elected officials to make the citizens realize they will have to pay for it, but it will pay off in the long run. She said she was pleased that different jurisdictions had talked of using the sales tax to address space needs. Horowitz said she is aware of the visioning some of the cities in the county have gone through with ECICOG and the long-range budgeting some cities have done. She assumed the County would do the same thing. Horowitz maintained that the County government should not just look at immediate space needs, but future ones as well, such as within the next 10 years. She said this calls for a lot of personal interface on the part of the Supervisors with residents in the urban and rural areas, which calls for greater joint cooperative measures.
Painter asked Horowitz how she would go about selecting from a pool of applicants to serve on various boards and commissions. She replied by saying she has dealt with this issue many times, and to get a pool takes a lot of personal requests to get individuals to come forth. She said gender balance was needed, noting the strength of a balanced board or commission discussing tough issues. Horowitz continued by saying age, length of time on the board or commission, and geographic representation must also be taken into account to maintain balance. She affirmed the need for personal recruitment on the part of the Board of Supervisors. Horowitz also added that enthusiasm and sense of humor were also factors needed to build esprit de corps among the board or commission members.
Painter asked what Horowitz's long range vision was for Johnson County. Horowitz answered that the County and cities must recognize their strengths and weaknesses and undertake long-range planning together. Horowitz continued by saying human services, social services, public safety, public health, and quality of life issues cannot be planned for in city by city isolation or by the county only. She said this comes from her background in thinking regionally.
Painter asked Horowitz what criteria she would use in making land use decisions and on what basis would she make decisions concerning road improvements, maintenance, construction, and roadside weed eradication. Horowitz replied that she had been sitting in on the land use planning document meetings. She said the criteria for land use decisions already existed in the policies and strategies but nothing was written in stone, that a land use plan is a working document. She added any amendments to the plan would need to made formally. Horowitz specifically mentioned existing zoning, topography, the corn suitability ratings, the potential for annexation, and the owner's situation as specific criteria. As for road construction and improvement, she said population projections, recent maintenance schedules, economic development which might cause changes in road travel, and the roads needs in the next 5-10 years were issues to work out with the mechanics of road construction. Horowitz also mentioned response time for public safety and health with the increasing number of rural residents. As for weed eradication, Horowitz talked of the need to control noxious weeds as listed by the State, but said it can be overdone. She stressed the need to keep crossroads clear of weeds so visibility can be maintained.
Painter asked Horowitz what she thought the County's role should be in protecting the environment. Horowitz answered by saying the Comprehensive Plan had strong environmental guidelines, and a GIS system provides tools to look at existing watersheds and topography. She said that looking at planned growth areas for the next 10-20 years and discerning if fringe area agreements reflect protecting the environment are important. Horowitz talked of working aggressively with the state and the federal government with environmental legislation. She cited as a problem the example of the land adjacent to Lake MacBride and Coralville Lake which is federally owned and locally rented, which meant the City of Iowa City was virtually powerless to call for greater erosion control other than letter writing. She said they can no longer be lax in regards to watersheds that affect the water supplies of cities and the aquifers.
Painter asked Horowitz to describe her approach to balancing economic and business interests with interests with the health of well-being of citizens and environmental concerns. She replied by saying the Board has a responsibility to inform the public of what businesses that exist and are encouraged to come into this area, since Johnson County is primarily a "clean" business area. She noted increasingly stricter criteria by local cities as a basis for new industry. Horowitz talked of serving on a recycling program sub-committee at ECICOG and learning what measures Proctor & Gamble took to reduce waste as part of their examination of their profit line. She said that the general public is usually unaware of environmental measures taken by many corporations in terms of the profit line. She said they have State laws regulating environmental concerns. She continued by saying that as smaller cities in the county grow larger they must be guided by the Board of Supervisors and land use planning to address environmental issues. Horowitz also reiterated her support for agricultural value-added businesses in Johnson County which would address the well-being of citizens including farmers and those working at the entry level. She reviewed some of the changes brought forth by the schools and businesses to allow teachers to show students real world examples in courses such as math. Horowitz said awareness of environmental concerns has increased over the past 2 decades. She concluded that the more concerns that are written into ordinances the better the basis for enforcement; however, increased enforcement leads to increases in budget.
Painter asked Horowitz what her opinion was of the Johnson County Comprehensive Land Use Plan. She answered by saying the mission statement was great, that it calls for proactive protection of the environment and preservation of agricultural land. Horowitz said the plan's call to minimize the incompatible uses of land would be extremely difficult to achieve, since that went back to neighbor to neighbor conflicts. She said the Land Use Plan is a good one, but it was regrettable that there was no written interface between Johnson County and the other adjacent counties and that their was no recognition of the visioning ECICOG provided for Johnson County and smaller cities. Horowitz said the planning and zoning commissions from Coralville, Iowa City, North Liberty, and Johnson County did not meet to discuss the Comprehensive Land Use Plan, which is a concern. She closed by saying the plan was good overall.
Painter asked Horowitz what she knew about and what her opinion was regarding the impact and incidence of Johnson County taxes. Horowitz said she had sat in on these meetings, which were very informative. She continued by saying she had responsibilities for budgets at a regional commission, National Institutes of Health, and within the Bureau Of Health- Manpower Development she was responsible for a $7 million education program for physician assistants and another $1.12 million program for the research and development of physicians assistants. Horowitz said these responsibilities entailed following the law written by Congress, determining the costs, and reporting back to Congress with the budget. She said the structure was such that she was the coordinator in Washington and worked with people at the regional level. She said the incidence of Johnson County taxes, in urban versus rural terms, currently limits in the cities to 5.37 and for the rural is 8.3 and that these differences must be explained. Horowitz continued by saying the agricultural and rural non-farm residences have needs for services which the cities do not provide and reiterated the need to explain the difference in services provided. She expressed concern that departments were not looking at multiple year budgeting, since it would help the Board and department heads to anticipate budgets over a 3-5 year plan. Horowitz said she would like the County's tax bill to be more specific, that the cities and Johnson County Board of Supervisors should meet and examine the County bill and better explain to residents where their taxes are allocated. She concluded by supporting multiple year budgeting and restructuring the tax form to ensure greater public relations and greater education.
Painter asked Horowitz how she would weigh requests for spending that require tax dollars versus increasing taxes. Horowitz answered by saying she would first look at the amount of intergovernmental monies available. Horowitz said she looked at issues by process and content. She used increased funding for human services as an example. If one doesn't want to increase taxes, then how human services are currently delivered and funded should be examined to see if other sources of funds would be available now or in the future; this is tied back to Horowitz's support of multi-year budgets. She continued by saying she would look at the impact of finances at the present versus the future, how similar issues are financed elsewhere, and inform citizens that issues they want implemented must be paid for. She concluded by saying some of these issues must be addressed to the public from the Johnson County Council of Governments or the East Central Iowa Council of Governments, if it is an issue that affects the bordering counties.
Painter asked Horowitz what, if anything, should be done about the nature of county tax options. Horowitz said that there weren't many options. She specifically mentioned property taxes, fees, licenses, intergovernmental money. Horowitz said they would need to work with the state legislature.
Painter asked Horowitz if she was in favor of implementing a local option sales tax and if so for what use. Horowitz replied that she was in favor, and said the cities and County had identified the capital expenditure needs, which she felt were most important. She cautioned that using sales tax that is tied to economic ups and downs on operating expenses is risky.
Painter asked Horowitz if she had any experience putting budgets together and how she felt about performance based budgeting. She answered by saying she had experience putting budgets together in terms of looking at the future. Horowitz said she was previously unaware that performance based budgeting had been implemented in Johnson County. She said she had worked through a process of zero based budgeting in which every dollar had to be justified. She did not like it, but she saw the value in it. She felt that performance based budgeting was useful for letting the Board know what was happening in County government and that it was also useful for informing department heads and employees, to see what they were doing, why there were doing it, and where it was going. Horowitz said she would tie performance based budgeting in with multiple year funding and called performance based budgeting a tool for achieving rational management of an organization.
Painter asked Horowitz if she was appointed and an election is called, if she would seek her party's nomination. Horowitz said she did not favor another election, but she would seeks her party's nomination; she would run for election if appointed and she would run for re-election as well. Painter asked Horowitz if she was not appointed would she petition or run as a nominee in an election that was petitioned for. Horowitz replied that she would not petition, but if an election is called she would seek her party's nomination. Painter asked Horowitz how long would she expect to remain in the job. Painter pointed out that Horowitz previously said she would be interested running for the office one or two times, which Horowitz agreed with. Horowitz then said, in getting her Masters in Health Planning she acquired the tools for planning, but she never planned out her own life. Though not having foreseen going into community service, she found it very fulfilling. As an elected official she enjoyed being able to see the varied resources of the community, such as all the volunteers and donors. Horowitz concluded by saying she enjoyed being an elected official.
Painter asked Horowitz is she had any questions for the committee. Horowitz said she did not, that the committee was doing the best job they possibly could. She said she would continue to be involved in the community no matter what the committee's decision was. She reiterated that she would give more than the needed amount of time as Supervisor if she was appointed.
Horowitz said the questions were good, and admitted to answering somewhat vaguely on some of them, which is OK. She continued by saying in her experience that input from a person on an issue is only one input, meaning whoever sits on a board must have a great ability to work with others and be able to listen and consider opinions different from theirs. Horowitz also said Supervisors had to provide empathy for people who are passionate about their respective issues, but Supervisors must keep in mind that they are responsible for the whole of Johnson County, now and for its future. She said past Board decisions must be respected, but they must also reassess them in light of changes in population and the laws. She said humor, enthusiasm, and perseverance were also needed qualities as a Supervisor, and stated that she felt she had these qualities.
Painter thanked Horowitz for offering to serve the public again. Kriz said this interview process has given them great input, citing her comments on sacrifices individuals make for the community. Slockett said he also has learned a lot and he liked Horowitz's idea to explain services on the tax bills.
Recessed at 8:53 a.m.; reconvened at 8:58 a.m.