MINUTES OF THE COMMITTEE OF COUNTY OFFICERS DESIGNATED TO FILL A VACANCY ON THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
OCTOBER 30, 2009
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Discussion/Action: October 29, 2009 Committee Meeting Minutes...................................... 1
Discussion/Action: Special Election if Required................................................................... 1
Discussion: Review of Interviews for Vacant Supervisor Position........................................ 1
Discussion/Action: Appointment to Fill Vacancy on Board of Supervisors........................ 16
Discussion/Action: Special Election if Required................................................................. 16
Discussion/Action: Agenda(s) for the Next Meeting(s), if Needed...................................... 17
Discussion from the Public................................................................................................. 17
The Committee to fill a vacancy on the Board of Supervisors was called to order in the Health and Human Services Building, Room 203B and 203C at 10:00 a.m. Members present were: County Treasurer Tom Kriz, County Recorder Kim Painter, and County Auditor Tom Slockett.
Slockett: Okay, I’d like to call the meeting to order. Thanks to everyone for in the audience attending today. The first item on the agenda is to discuss our October 29th minutes.
Painter: Okay.
Slockett: They are not available yet, so we need to skip over that. We hope to have them available by the end of the day today and they will be posted on the web after they are circulated to the two of you for corrections.
Slockett: The next item is discussion/action on the special election that would have been in case a petition was filed and we would have that on the agenda so we could go ahead and act but no petition has been filed.
Slockett: Next, discussion and review of the interviews for the vacant Supervisor position. I would like to ask for the indulgence of my fellow statutory committee members to offer some thanks to the people who have participated in this process. I would like to thank those we did not interview. All of the applicants were excellent, they had good qualifications and I think any one of them could have done a good job if they had been appointed. I’d just like to mention them and thank them individually and the people who submitted letters of recommendation for them. I’ll go through them in alphabetical order, the first one is Ron Bandy from Iowa City who has extensive business experience in the area. Next is Norm Bickford from West Branch and he had a number of letters of support from Francis Abel, Jim Cannon, George Klein, Patricia Knebel, Don Sanders, and William Stoddard. Thanks, Norm and thanks to all of those who wrote letters of recommendation. Next, is Terry Dahms. He’s the Iowa City Vice-Chair of Planning and Zoning and Chair of the Trails Advisory Committee. Thank you, Terry for your application. Karin Dils is a civil engineer from Oxford. Thank you, Karin. John Green from Iowa City is the former Executive Sales Manager of Technigraphics. Thank you, John for your application. James Knapp of Iowa City has a BBA in Accounting and extensive project and business experience. Thank you James. Charles Panzer is the former State Director of Jaycees. He’s from Solon and has held a number of posts in the American Legion including Post Commander. Cindy Phillips was two years on Republican State Central Committee and served on various U of I Committees. I have to confess a moment of indiscretion when she brought her application to the counter, I rushed up and begged her if she were appointed to keep being a precinct election official because she is one of our best precinct election officials. She doesn’t have a PhD but she is as smart as anyone. She is someone who if you give her a job it’ll get done and it will be done superbly, so a special thank you to Cindy Phillips for her application. Those are the people not who did not interview. Then, I’d like to go over the names of the other applicants and the people who had letters of support and mention their names. We’ll talk about the actual applications later so I won’t mention any highlights from their applications. Kenya Badgett, we did interview. Maison Bleam we interviewed. He had one letter of recommendation from Patti Fields. Mike Lehman had a number of letters of recommendation. Very impressive, June Braverman, Eve Casserly, Jim Dane, Lolly Eggers, Ed Flaherty, Jean Lakin, Linda Schreiber, Dolores Slade, Dan Steines, Carol Thompson, and Bob Welsh. Thank you, Mike and thanks to those who wrote letters of recommendation. Mike O’Donnell applied and we will talk about his application shortly. And the same for Greg Pickett and Cami Jo Rasmussen. Janelle Rettig won the Oscar on the number of letters of recommendation. Jen and Dawn BarbouRoske, do you know the pronunciation?
Painter: BarbouRoske.
Slockett: BarbouRoske, Barbara Beaumont, Sharon Beck, Joe Bolkcom, Ann Bovbjerg, Tom Carsner, Jeanette Carter, Dan Daly, Paul Deaton, Carol DeProsse, Caroline Dieterle, Carri Fox-Rummelhart, Lynn Gallagher, Tom Gill, Peter Hansen, Randall Hartwig, Marylou Henley, Howard and Josephine Hensch, Margaret and Robert Hibbs, Jessica Hook, Suzanne Koury, Carol Kramer, Jean Lakin, Jean Lloyd-Jones, Mark Madsen, Jean Martin, Mary Mascher, Alisa Meggitt, Pat Muller, Carrie Norton, Marge Penney, Kathy Penningroth, Chris Rohret, Helen Schartz, Carol Spaziani, Jae-Jae Spoon, Carol Thompson, Faye Thompson, Deb Tiemens, Dave Tingwald, Christopher Voci, Richard Walton, and Ross Wilburn. Thank you Janelle and to those who submitted letters of application. And, Edgar Thornton is the last to be interviewed. He had letters of recommendation from Lee and Bob Anderson, Lori Cardella, Carol Christiansen, Cathy Grawe, Chad Murphy, Cassandra Shields, and Mike Thayer. Thank you Edgar and to those who wrote letters of recommendation. Now we can get to the discussion of the applicants. What is your wish? We have, for the people in the audience, we have a great disadvantage in that since we are a three person committee, we can not talk to each other without violating the open meetings law so we don’t know what each other thinks, so we can’t plan and decide how we’re going to move ahead. We have to do it now.
Painter: So pardon us while we plan in front of you all. Well, I don’t know. I’m trying to remember and I can’t directly, and it probably doesn’t matter if we’ve agreed in the past to each name, you know, three or four or whatever number of top picks and go from there and see where we coincide or if there are other thoughts for what people want to do. I throw that out there as an option that I’d be comfortable with.
Slockett: Do you have… I have some thoughts.
Kriz: Go ahead, Tom.
Slockett: Okay. I think these people invested a considerable amount of time and effort to interview. I’d suggest that we go through each applicant.
Painter: That’s fine with me.
Slockett: And discuss them if you are willing. I could just go through them, just mention a few highlights of each one and then we could go back to discussing them one at a time afterwards. Kenya Badgett was very impressive. She is a young woman who has a BS in electrical engineering with a GPA of 3.84 and graduated summa cum laude. She was also in the United States Air Force and is a Project Manager at Proctor and Gamble. Maison Bleam, and I’m taking these in alphabetical order as well, was a very impressive young man. He is scheduled for graduation in December this year with a degree in Political Science, Public Policy, and Ethics, with a Minor in Business Administration. He has a certificate from the London School of Economics and Political Science, Hansard Scholar, from the summer of 2009. Did I mention that he’s a past president of the University of Iowa Student Government? Mike Lehman, who we all know, is a partner in a family farm operation since 1971. He has worked at City Carton. He was on the Johnson County Board of Supervisors from January 1999 through December, 2006 where he served as both Chairperson and Vice-chair and many other things during that time. Mike O’Donnell is Mayor Pro-tem of Iowa City, and served 11 years on the Iowa City Council. Greg Pickett, a very interesting person, well qualified. He has more than 30 years experience with NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration grants at the University of Iowa, with expertise in program management, financial management and instrument engineering. His program management experience is amazing, from 1992 to the present, comprehensive plasma instrumentation on GEOTAIL Spacecraft. End of mission, Visible Instrument Subsystem (VIS) or POLAR Spacecraft 2004 to 2008, and in ’92 to ’03, Plasma Subsystem on Galileo Spacecraft. Very impressive. Cami Jo Rasmussen, a Solon City Council member and financial consultant. She has been a council member since ’98 to the present. She was a financial consultant to Solon from 2001 to 2005, and has been City Clerk and Treasurer of Solon, and has other business experience. Janelle Rettig, BA in Political Science and Secondary Education. She has additional coursework at Kirkwood and the University of Iowa. She is a Commissioner of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, past Chair and member of the Johnson County Trails Advisory Committee, Chair/Commissioner of the Iowa City Municipal Airport, Development Director of Iowa Bicycle Coalition, past owner of Alternatives, founding member and president of the Northside Marketplace Business Association, Staff Assistant and Field Representative of Congressman Jim Leach, she served as assistant and campaign manager for Illinois State Representative David Hultgren, National Advance Staff and Regional Field Representative of Dole for President. Her community service has a long list of items for community service as well. Edgar Thornton, a senior public policy professional and contract administrator with nearly 20 years experience in government affairs. Extensive understanding of Federal and State Government operations in procurement policies and previously held a high level Federal security clearance. Educational background, Doctor of Education, Masters of Public Administration, Masters of Law and Legal Studies, and a Bachelor of Science from Cornell in Mount Vernon. Professional experience: American Council on Education in Washington D.C., Center for International Initiatives, International Program Director US for South Africa partnership for skills development, February 2009 to present. His past experience with State Department of New Mexico Environmental Department, Santa Fe, Deputy Cabinet Secretary. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico Quality in Planning Division, Policy Coordinator, Environment Health and Safety Division, Chief of Staff to Division Leader. US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington D.C. Office of Assistant Secretary for Policy Planning and Evaluation, Special Assistant to the Assistant Administrator, and US Department of Interior, Washington D.C. Office of Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary. These are really well qualified people. Again, all of them could serve and serve well.
Painter: Its true, we had an amazing round of applicants. I think we’ll probably all want to say a little something before we dig in and start to try to sort through and approach a decision. I was astounded, although in the back of my mind I knew it would be a terrific group of applicants, but really when you sit down and have an opportunity to talk to these individuals to get a sense of their energy and what they feel they can bring into County Government, it was quite a privilege to have the opportunity to visit with each one of them. I think any of them could serve in an absolutely admirable fashion for us within the County and bring much to us in the future. So it was for me too, just a real privilege to sit down and talk to them.
Kriz: I think it was a marvelous pool of people. I think it gives us the opportunity to see what we all like and love about this community. It’s a vast group of talented people that are involved and want to be involved in the process and in the community. Of 16 people and there were eight that didn’t even interview, all of those people had great qualities, some only wanting to serve out a term and a civic duty. A John Green or a Chuck Panzer who merely wanted to fill out a term and they felt they owed that to the community. I think that’s the spirit that makes this community just outstanding. Each time you look at this, you look and say, you know, what are we going to have, what comes up? Absolutely amazing, the talented people and the talent and the resources we have here, so, I would echo what both of you have said. It doesn’t make anything an easy decision but its very refreshing to know those people are out there willing to step forward and take charge and try to make this community a better place for all of us. I think if, as I look back, and I would never want to speak for all of us maybe except on this issue, that we probably all wish we weren’t here because Larry Meyers did an outstanding job as Supervisor in the time he was here. But circumstances change over time and things happen and we were called to make a decision today. I appreciate what has happened and how the process has worked so far but we are now in that position to make that decision. It is heartwarming to have so many people willing to step up, carry on what Larry believed in, and looked at, and make the Board as strong as it can be.
Painter: And Tom, I thank you for reading from the resumes and applications of these individuals for the benefit of people who haven’t had the time, don’t have the time to go and look at interview minutes on the website or the applications themselves even, to be able to get a flavor for the range of accomplishments these people have I think is very important too, because this is again, really a great group.
Slockett: I would just like to say something about the way I looked at these applications. I don’t know whether you will want to or not but I did have a couple of ways of narrowing down who is interviewed. One is I decided that I don’t feel comfortable as a member of the committee in overturning what happened in a previous election. And so we, generally did not interview people who had lost an election the last time they ran. I want to say that wasn’t a slam dunk decision for me because I really respect people who run for office. It’s a difficult thing to do and its wonderful tremendous public service. Its very admirable and does not take away from my respect and admiration for people who have run. But in the final analysis I just feel that they should do what I learned on my mother’s knee, if you get bucked off that horse, get back up there and ride it again. I think that’s the way people who have been defeated should get back in office. That’s my personal view and that’s the way I looked at it. The other way I looked at it is I did not want to fill it for a temporary period. I feel that the Board of Supervisors is dealing with a lot of challenges, especially in this tough economic situation. We have space needs, a big decision on the justice center that has tie votes on the Board of Supervisors, and I just think its not desirable to have put someone on who is going to walk out the door after gaining a years experience. I think it takes a Supervisor a good year to get their feet on the ground. For those people who already have their feet on the ground, its still a shame to see them walk out the door if there are a well qualified people we could appoint who are likely to stay once they are appointed. Then finally, I believe there are a wealth of people, experienced people in the community and very public spirited who would serve, if asked, who may not have applied. Some of the friends that I have talked to recently and I did not talk to them about this, but I just have a feel that if we needed to and we asked them, they would step up to the plate and serve, people who are very experienced. I’ll just name three of them, Mary Ann Madden, Dick Myers, and Carol Thompson are people who are really connected with the community and experienced and could do something like this. So that’s a fallback we could use if we didn’t think we had a qualified person who might stay and continue to serve. So I just wanted to explain the way I approached this. I don’t know if you had specific ways or if you were just looking at people on an individual basis. How are you looking at that?
Painter: Well, I think its good to talk about this a little bit. I look at what we receive on paper initially, that’s both from the applicant, from any supporting letters and documentation we receive, and then aside from the paper application and what that person has done on paper, then it becomes the interview, which is incredibly important personal contact. You get to see that person, engage with that person and for me in that interview process, I look for how they are able to articulate to us their knowledge, their base of knowledge, direct knowledge about County Government, knowledge about government in general, knowledge about budgeting, and all the important and critical aspects of County Government that we need to see that people have had some experience in dealing with. So how do they convey that to us, their knowledge? Then next, I really want a sense of their energy and their ideals. I think it is incumbent upon anyone who wants to become a public servant to be able to talk to the public and to us as representatives of the public in this process about why they are applying, what they hope to do, what they see as critical goals for them, what they see as problems, as weaknesses, as strengths, how they would deal with each of those things, and to get a real sense of their energy. For me, personally, if people can’t put that across strongly in an interview, they start to lose me a little bit and that’s always true. I think its fair. I think the public in this county needs and wants people who step up to run for or try to become appointed to a political position, to be able to have that, to have that energy, to show us their ideals. I’m very broad in what ideals they might have. There are plenty of people with whom I might disagree on a particular issue but if they can convey their energy and the integrity of their thought to me, they are going to go a long way toward impressing me. And finally, I do have a bias toward people who are articulate, people who can really communicate. We talk often in County meetings about what are our weaknesses, what are our strengths? We bemoan the fact that the public doesn’t understand enough what County Government does and how much the services of County Government mean to them. That’s our job, to be able to stand up and talk about those things. So I looked very closely at all these individuals to see how they could speak and how they could communicate and that was important to me too. I guess those were probably the most critical things. When I review those things, I with all the respect I have, for all eight of these individuals, there was a smaller group that rose to the surface. I assume that’ll be probably the next part of our discussion.
Kriz: I would agree wholeheartedly with that Kim. The great thing about having three of us here is that we can agree to disagree on what content, what we looked for in people, and I think that’s marvelous. Unlike Tom, while I agree that having lost a previous election does weigh into it, I think the true test of people sometimes is how you get up off the floor and come back in again and look at it. As Tom said, get right back on the horse and start riding it again. Look to be part of something. And I appreciate that for the people who applied and have been in an election and lost. That’s never an easy thing. So that was an important factor. The factor that Kim talked about, energy level. It takes a great amount of energy to be one of the five Supervisors in this community. It is not a part-time job. It’s a taxing job. There are often 12 to 14 hour days so it takes a super amount of energy and time to do the job and do it right. Many of these candidates can do that. The interview process, as talked about before, is extremely important. One thing that I think all of the candidates we talked to brought to light as a concern is budgeting and where this community goes and how that happens. I don’t think there was one person that didn’t look at that as one of the major factors in front of us. Coming from the financial side, that’s refreshing to me because that is a challenge. It’s always a challenge at a County level. It becomes a bigger challenge for County Officials when State Government begins to de-fund and cut money back that you had planned on having. There were some great answers from a lot of people on questions about the budget and what they saw. So that was a great concern with everybody we talked to, is keeping Johnson County ahead of the pack and a leader of the pack. We had a number of questions to ask. I think 18 or 19 questions, which is kind of overwhelming sometimes, but the majority of people did a great job, answered them direct, answered them from the heart. And as Kim said, being able to see a person eye to eye, look at them, you can feel that energy, you can feel what comes from within in these people. So, in that respect, it makes it hard to whittle it down, but I do think there were two or three people that rose to the top of this group, and I think we can come up with a great replacement Supervisor.
Slockett: I would like to, at some point, say something about all of the applicants that we interviewed. One possible way to proceed would be if we can agree on the finalists that we want to focus on, then we could discuss our impressions of the people that aren’t in that group first or we could just go through all of them and make any comments we have about the interview and then select out the ones that we want to focus on. That might take a little more time and it would involve a little duplication in talking about the finalists twice. What do you wish to do?
Kriz: I truly don’t have any strong feelings. I could sum up going through most of the candidates in a couple of sentences. What I saw that made me know that we had eight really qualified people, but that’s entirely up to you.
Slockett: Should we do one at a time and do you want to start? Do you have the list of all of them in front of you?
Kriz: Yes, we could certainly just go through as we interviewed them, starting with Maison was the first one or something. I think if we keep the comments brief.
Slockett: I have them in alphabetical order.
Kriz: Alphabetical is fine too.
Painter: Sure. I’m just going to make my list of everybody.
Slockett: So do you want to start with Kenya? I think she is the first in alphabetical order.
Painter: Okay.
Slockett: Do you want to start?
Kriz: I can certainly start there. Kenya interviewed extremely well, very articulate, very energetic. Has a great energy. She came here from the South. Iowa is her home now. I don’t think in listening to her that she would ever go back. She looks at this as her home. She loves Iowa City and had a great passion to make this community the very best it can be.
Slockett: Maybe we should just say she’s the electrical engineer, and graduated summa cum laude, and works as a Project Manager at Procter and Gamble. She is very impressive.
Painter: She was one of the most impressive people that we interviewed, in my opinion. She was near the top of my list when I came to the end of this process. I think she has tremendous skill, technically, obviously her professional life as an engineer. She has great capacity for expressing her energy about being part of the community and being part of the political process. I was very excited to hear her say, it’s a rough quote, but no matter what happens in this process, I look to try to become part of the political, elected life in this area. I think that’s always tremendously exciting when you see somebody who’s really good and can really convey some of their ideals and her sense of community, of building and appreciating diverse cultures, and the diversity of this community, and wanting to add to that and contribute to that. It all added up to a tremendous picture of a terrific individual. She had done a lot of homework. She had some very good, specific knowledge as well.
Slockett: I agree. She was just an incredibly impressive young lady and extremely articulate, very personable. She would be a wonderful part of any group of people. She was really energetic. She read the Comprehensive Plan for Johnson County and spoke knowledgeably about it. I agree was one of our best interviews.
Painter: And she was able to talk about her corporate experience and how team building is done there and how different kinds of planning and budget work are done within her environment. I thought that would bring an interesting and new perspective too.
Slockett: She did a great job. She had a great idea about committees, about how they do essentially a skills map. She could say this a lot better than I can, but of the current members of the board, and they match that with what the purpose of the committee was and what the function of the committee was, and when they added people to the committee, they tried to flesh out the skills of the committee to equal what the function of the committee was. I thought that was a really good idea. The next one is Maison Bleam.
Kriz: Rotate it.
Painter: Maison Bleam, I think brought a lot to the table with him. He has great experience in student government, a really broad resume including internships in the United Kingdom working in their Parliamentary process, and getting to see a lot of things that I think would bring some intriguing notes into our process here. Very articulate individual. He too had read up and studied hard. I’ll leave it at that.
Slockett: I was enormously impressed with Maison. He is a senior at the U of I who is going to graduate in December. He took the application very seriously. He had also read the Comprehensive Plan for Johnson County and had spoke in detail about it. He has had tremendous experience on working with Deans at the University of Iowa, and also as Student Body President, and the large budget that the student’s fees are the revenue for, which provides a lot of services, movies, and the Cambus and so forth, for the University of Iowa. He was experienced way beyond his years. He’s going to go a long ways. He has a bright future in front of him, and was very impressive.
Kriz: I agree wholeheartedly with you on that Tom. He is extremely impressive. He is what young people are all about today that want to be involved in public service and willing to step outside the box. He has a bright future if he continues to want to be in the political arena and into public service. A tremendous young man.
Slockett: Next is Mike Lehman, the former Supervisor and family farm owner. He is a partner in a family farm. I supported Mike the last time he ran and voted for him. He gave one of the best interviews. Frankly, I always had the impression of Mike, he’s kind of a man of few words. I was surprised at how articulate his interview was, how thorough, comprehensive, intelligent, and just very impressive. He is someone who could obviously hit the ground running. He’s done the job. He’s been the Chair and the Vice-Chair of the Board of Supervisors in the past, and I have no doubt that if we appointed him, he would do an excellent job.
Kriz: I would, once again, wholeheartedly agree with that. Mike has done a good job as a Supervisor in the past. From people who have been in that position, I probably set the scale higher for him, because I would expect more from somebody who has been involved in the process. But I agree he interviewed extremely well, was very articulate, was very much to the point, and has a good handle on where this community needs to be and needs to go down the road.
Painter: Mike always, we all have, obviously, extensive experience with Mike. We worked with him for a long time. That needs to be said. We’re familiar with his very high level of work ethic and his ability to engage with people and to be responsive. He conducted a terrific interview and is a very strong candidate. He has tremendous experience and has many supporters within the community.
Slockett: A very impressive list of letters of support. Next is Mike O’Donnell. He is Iowa City Mayor Pro-Tem, 11 years on the Council.
Kriz: I thought Mike also had a fantastic interview. He has a real pulse for this community, bringing an important perspective to it, having been involved with the City Council as long as he has been involved. But has an extremely broad view of what this community is and what it could do. He has served the public extremely well as a City Council person. It’s a job much like the Supervisors’. You can’t make everybody happy and sometimes have to make tough decisions. Mike has done a great job of that in that period of time. I thought his answers were concise, to the point. Mike’s was maybe one of our shorter interviews of the time we had, but he was prepared and spoke from the heart, so I thought he did a great job in the interview process. He’s been a great public servant in his time as City Council person in Iowa City.
Painter: Yes, I would agree Tom. Mike is incredibly experienced and competent, and we knew that from the minute he walked in and started to answer questions. He was very much to the point, very well informed, and able to speak from tremendous experience. He’s served this community very well.
Slockett: Well, I agree with Kim and Tom. He was one of our shorter interviews, in the same way that Cami Jo Rasmussen was, the City Councilor from Solon. And while they didn’t flesh things out in great detail, it was clear that Mike and Cami had a lot of experience and good judgment and that they would serve well. One of the things that I remember about Mike, is we had a real crisis. I don’t think that’s too strong a word, in our SEATS transportation when the City of Iowa City was considering starting up a competing SEATS service, transportation for people with disabilities. There were meetings that were heart-wrenching, where people with disabilities were showing up in large numbers and giving stories that could do nothing but bring tears to your eyes. It was a serious problem. Mike became the Chair of the Paratransit Board, and he just did a superb job of communicating, smoothing out the wrinkles, and making things work. And the difficulties and the controversy, the disagreement between Iowa City and Johnson County just disappeared. He really did a tremendous job with that. The next person is Gregory Pickett.
Painter: Is it my turn? I’ve lost track. Greg had a very strong interview as well. He has a great range of experience. He has strong feelings about the budget and taxes and the responsibilities of the County to be extremely reasonable and prudent with people’s money, which is what we have, other people’s money to try to run our services and provide service. And I thought altogether his interview was really very good.
Slockett: I agree. These interviews were really interesting. He is very bright, talented, and capable individual. He’s the NASA person. For example, one of the questions was on the justice center, and one of the tidbits I remember and was impressed with him, is that he had calculated a delta for building a new jail where if you did it strictly on a rational basis where it costs less to build a new jail than to transport prisoners, it’s where the cost of transporting was more than 4% of the cost of a new jail. I imagine with his NASA experience, he could explain that in more detail. He was articulate. He also knew Larry quite well and really spoke glowingly of him. I think they were good friends.
Kriz: I think that point came out very strongly, that he was an extremely good friend of Larry’s. They were very close. He had a strong passion to continue with most of the beliefs and the course that Larry had set as Supervisor during the time he was here. He interviewed extremely well. Once again, very articulate and had a true passion to carry on what Larry had started.
Painter: One more thing I would add, I apologize for doing so, but he also expressed more strongly and more consistently than anyone else, the importance of those on the Board of Supervisors who have the public take time out of their days and their lives and schedules to come before them to talk about their concerns. He spoke very, very passionately about the need to respect those people every single time they come forward, even if they’re upset, even if you’re not happy with what they’re saying. I was very moved when he spoke about that.
Slockett: I agree. I’m glad you brought that point up. Next is Cami Jo Rasmussen, the Solon City Councilor, and I’m next in order. I spoke a little bit about her before, in that she was also one of our shorter interviews. She didn’t speak at length on any topic, but she handled every one intelligently. She showed that she had a grasp and understanding of all the questions and issues, and I think showed good judgment and I think would serve well, if appointed.
Kriz: Cami was extremely impressive. As I listed to her talk, I truly believed as we got into it, that the reason her answers were very concise and short is she’s a mother of four with one grandbaby, and there isn’t time to take any length of time if you’ve got four at home. She did a marvelous job. She serves Solon well and really wants to be involved in the community and in government. They’ve made this their home for a number of years. Her husband works locally and she is a busy, busy mother. So she did extremely well.
Painter: She is another person with a great length of service in various capacities. It’s terrific to see so many people come in who have done so many things within local government for such a period of time. She has terrific experience and another person with clear concern, very appropriate concern, about the economic and fiscal situation, which is something, of course, that everybody spoke to pretty strongly in these interviews. But I thought she was a wonderful candidate. I would just add here that I’m, in the words of my dearly departed mother, like most of our mothers, I think, who would often say if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. I’m not sharing any particular tips that I would give anybody to improve on anything, but I do want people to know, if they are not a selected person, I would be happy to talk to anyone who applied about my feelings about the interview and, if they wanted to go over any of that stuff and hear anything about what I felt their weak points might have been. I am willing to do that, just to put that out there.
Slockett: Just as a followup with Cami, she was a Treasurer, City Clerk, and Councilor, and she generally had a passion for budgeting and spared us from going on for hours about it. But she was very passionate about it.
Painter: And that last comment I made had nothing to do specifically with Cami Jo Rasmussen. I want to be very clear. It’s just we’re all saying all nice things about people, and we’re only going to pick one. And some people, I think, will be curious about how we arrived at that.
Slockett: All right. The next applicant is Janelle Rettig, the Commissioner for the Iowa Department of Resources, Johnson County Trails Advisory Committee past Chair, and the current Commissioner and Chair of the Iowa City Municipal Airport and others, but just as a way of introduction. Tom, I think it’s you.
Kriz: Is it me?
Painter: I think so.
Kriz: Janelle is an incredible bundle of energy in a small package. She does her homework, she has worked hard. I know she announced she was going to be running for this position, but she has energy beyond belief. She’s a person, as I said, that does her homework, wants to learn, is willing to learn, and is always I found was willing to ask the question prior to this occurrence, as she started her campaign, why do we do things this way and can we do it better? And that’s always refreshing in government to see. I thought she interviewed well, came across extremely well, but has as much energy as anybody I’ve seen in quite some while.
Painter: I was very impressed with Janelle’s interview also. I would add, since I’m revealing this as I go along, this is now the second person that I would say made it to the top of my smaller list of people. One of the people I think needs serious consideration, and I say so for a number of reasons, and I talked about why I would make a decision like that on anybody earlier in the meeting. She came across with a terrific knowledge of the nuts and bolts of County Government, from the budget to a host of particular issues. She expressed a great desire to continue to be involved in understanding and working with the budget and that process, and helping to make priorities, and helping to make decisions and being very careful with the County’s money. I think it should be said that anybody could ask anybody to write them a letter, but you can’t really make anybody write you a letter, and I certainly did notice that Janelle had an enormous number of letters of support from a great breadth of people throughout the community, whether it were business people, some people who I have a hunch, and I don’t know this for sure, if I sat down and had a chat with them, they might have some different views on issues than maybe I do, but terrific people in every sense of the word. I did notice that. She had concrete thoughts and concrete plans, and, I guess, as I went through the interview, her answers hit a level that was what I was looking for.
Slockett: I would agree with both of you that Janelle was an exceptional applicant. She showed intelligence, curiosity, and sensitivity. I think she would be an extraordinary appointment if that was our choice. She has a highly developed sense of process, how to achieve input and to reach out to people. She clearly values receiving input and doing all of her homework and covering all the bases. She wants to be remembered as someone who was an avid reader, and one of the things she likes to read is budgets, so she’s a very unique person with tremendous energy, and capabilities, and competence. Edgar Thornton. Edgar is the person who has worked with USAID and a Ph.D. in Education, various other degrees, extensive Federal and State operations and procurement experience.
Painter: Okay. Edgar Thornton is the third person who made my short list on these interviews. He is, I think, an amazingly well experienced professional at various levels of government. He is articulate. He has an energy to communicate about government and a desire to be a participant. He has lived outside this area for much of his life and has moved back within the last six years to be near his parents, he said. He is a person who, I think, will contribute much to this area in years to come. I was just excited to be able to speak with him in the way that I was with the others that made it to the top of my selection list, for what I feel he can bring. I don’t look for just one thing. I don’t look for one political philosophy, because I know people can vary on so many issues, and those discussions can be rich and meaningful despite the perspective another person might be coming from. And I just feel that he can contribute greatly, and I hope, you know, I just, I was impressed.
Slockett: I agree. I’ve known Edgar for a number of years, and I think he would add a real breadth and depth to the people on the Board of Supervisors. Often times when I dealt with him, it was under stressful and contentious circumstances, when a large number of challenges of voters were made, he was with a group of people who were doing that and during recounts and so forth. But I always enjoyed speaking and communicating with Edgar because, even if you disagreed, you could speak to the point without emotion, without hurling negatives, or making communication unnecessarily difficult, but getting to the point and talking about what was needed and doing it in a pleasant and congenial way. He is truly someone who represents what I think is so important in County Government and all government, is the ability to agree to disagree and to work in a collegial way. And clearly there are many things I would not disagree with Edgar on, but I am just saying that happened to be how I knew him earlier, and I looked forward to interviewing him because I knew what a pleasant person he was to deal with.
Kriz: Unlike my counterparts, I didn’t know Edgar until he walked in the room yesterday, and maybe Kim, I guess, didn’t either. To me, he truly hit it out of the park. He has a marvelous background with tremendous governmental experience in all phases from State Government to Federal Government on down. He brings refreshing, very refreshing points to the table. He is very open to process. He believes extremely strongly in taking the time to listen to everyone that wants to voice a concern on any issue. I think sometimes that can get lost. He believes in people. He referred to himself as the preacher’s kid a number of times during the interview, and his parents did a tremendous job because he is just an extremely talented man. I think he’ll probably forget more about government, in general, than I’ll ever know, having been involved in all the things he’s been involved in. But he is that perfect example to me of the people we have in this community that all of a sudden step forward and say I want to be involved in a process. Just an outstanding person and an outstanding interview.
Slockett: He said he was a PK – preacher’s kid, and his dad was not only a preacher but also a college president. So he’s had quite an upbringing as well. Well, that takes us through the list, and Kim has revealed three people that I would agree would be in my final group of people I would like to interview. Tom?
Kriz: Do you want to go over those three you had again Kim?
Painter: Sure. Kenya Badgett, Janelle Rettig, Edgar Thornton.
Kriz: Okay. You want to take it down to three at this point?
Painter: No, I threw those names out there because I wanted to be open about the fact that some people rose to the top for me, after the interview process, as much as I respect all eight.
Kriz: And that’s fine. I could certainly come up with one, two, three, or four, even. In no particular order, I think one of my final candidates would be Edgar Thornton, as I said, I thought he did an incredible job. Also, in that same category, I looked at Mike Lehman and Mike O’Donnell.
Painter: Did you have anybody else kind of, that you had…
Slockett: I’m just thinking about this. I agree with Kim, your three selections. And Tom agrees with one of them. I also have the greatest respect for Mike Lehman and Mike O’Donnell. That’s five, and I was also very impressed with each one that hasn’t been listed. The people not mentioned are Cami Jo Rasmussen, Greg Pickett, and Maison Bleam. Without repeating myself, I was very impressed by all three of them but would agree that because we have to narrow it down, to not add them to the list.
Painter: Now do we want to… How do we want to parse through?
Kriz: I could certainly start by giving you who would be my first choice and maybe there’s consensus as we go down the line. If there is two, that’s fine. That’s up to the two of you how you want to proceed.
Painter: We might as well say who are top picks were.
Kriz: Sure. In looking over it, as I said, I had narrowed it down to three. I looked at the policy and what we were charged to do and that is to bring the best person in to be able to hit the ground running, to pick up with a very short learning curve, and be involved in the process right away. The process right away, to me, would mean next Thursday at the next Board meeting. This person will need to be sworn in, I think prior to the first Tom, is that right?
Slockett: Actually, they can be sworn in as soon as we make the decision. Yes, the first is the latest, but they can be sworn in immediately as soon as we make the decision.
Kriz: As people are probably more than aware, I am an avid sports fan. I truly believe in the philosophy that Hawkeye football is brought to us about the next person in. I looked at this situation that way, who can be the next person in to hit the ground running, whether he or she can really step in and fill the shoes. As I went through all the candidates, I narrowed it down to three, I narrowed it down to two. As I got closer, I 10 years ago liked and voted for Susan Horowitz because I thought she brought a great presence from her life for the Iowa City City Council into County Government. That was also a reason I saw Mike O’Donnell as a very attractive person in this. But as I went through the three, my top three picks, Mike Lehman was my pick. I think he has great experience, has served the community well, and can hit the ground running to fill this term. The elections will be for primaries in June and next November, and I just looked at Mike as the perfect next person in to pick up where Larry left off, and help the other four Supervisors in their every day endeavors. Mike Lehman would be my first pick.
Painter: Well I too had a top pick among my individuals that really struck me as the best candidate, in my view, and that person was Janelle Rettig. Janelle has been elbow to elbow on the DNR Commission discussing some very tough issues at the State level. Some budget and expense issues that were critical decisions, and she has not been anybody’s rubber stamp. Those of you who know her, know that would not be the case. But for those of you who don’t, Janelle is an individual who has broad, bipartisan political experience that is very substantial. She is very concerned about the public purse and very concerned with how we deal with issues of expenditure and revenue within the County. She has a big heart and has campaigned extensively throughout the community and has impressed, as I said by virtue of her letters of recommendation, people from across a very broad spectrum of this county. For those reasons, and for the ideals she has put forward in her work within the community, her grasp of budgets, her experience at state and local levels on a host of issues, she was my top pick.
Slockett: Alright. Well, again, I’d like to talk about the people not in the top picks first. Mike O’Donnell was an extremely impressive interview. He’s got broad experience, he knows people, he’s really a good communicator, and so it was difficult to not have him as a top pick. Edgar Thornton was articulate, well educated, and also an excellent communicator, a very comfortable person to exchange information with, and so it is difficult to not pick him. Kenya was just so impressive. I think in terms on the face of the interview alone and her qualifications, and nothing else, I think she was the top really for me. But she wasn’t my top pick and I’ll tell you why. It is because she is very young by standards for the Board of Supervisors, and does not have signs of any kind of political organization. While she is very interested and volunteers in the community, has done admirable things in addition to being an electrical engineer, she also cut kid’s hair and has been active on the Southeast side. But I think she is someone like Maison Bleam, who has a bright future but hasn’t laid the ground work yet for something like this. I think particularly with a petition circulating, we will want someone who will stay in the position once we appoint them and has the capabilities and the resources to do that. That takes me down to the other person not my top pick, it's someone who I greatly admire and have supported in the past and that is Mike Lehman. That has to do with an email exchange for me. I know it doesn’t for the two of you. Mike sent us an email and I’d like to read it. He sent it on Wednesday after the interview. “I was curious about comments that were made indicating that Supervisors Stutsman and Harney were still in favor of pursuing the improvements to Newport Road and Prairie du Chien and had voted against the Five Year Road Plan since the 2006 Election. I researched the minutes posted by the Auditor’s Department. On 1/16/07 at a work session for the Five Year Road Plan, those projects were removed after a lengthy discussion by an informal vote of three to two. On 3/1/07, the Five Year Road Plan was approved unanimously without those projects included with the motion being made by Stutsman, seconded by Neuzil. On 3/6/08 the Five Year Road Plan was again approved unanimously without the Newport and Prairie du Chien projects with a motion by Harney, and a second by Neuzil. I could not find information on a work session that may have been held prior. On 1/27/09 a work session was held with no mention of those projects being discussed. On 3/26/09 the Five Year Road Plan without Newport Road and Prairie du Chien was approved unanimously with a motion made by Harney and seconded by Sullivan. I believe there has been no evidence that present Supervisors are interested in adding those projects back to the Five Year Road Plan. Sincerely, Mike Lehman.” I sent him a response after researching the records and here is my response: “Hi Mike, thanks for your email. I have attached the minutes of the January 16, 2007 Informal meeting, more than two months after the November 7, 2006 General Election. The discussion about the Newport Road and Prairie du Chien Road project is highlighted in yellow. I refer you to the following selected quotes from that meeting: Meyers: 'Meyers said that before they address Oak Crest Hill Road, he would like to discuss the 800 pound gorilla that hasn’t been addressed yet. He said that they have talked about every project but skipped over Newport Road and Prairie du Chien Road.' These are selected quoted from the email that was attached. Another selected quote: Harney: 'Harney said that he still doesn’t approve of taking these projects off the Five Year Road Plan. He said that the Board has a financial responsibility to do this.' Another quote by Harney, 'He said that it is in everybody’s best interest, including the residents, to complete these projects.' Stutsman: 'Stutsman said that she is not supportive of taking these roads off the Five Year Road Program.' Stutsman: 'Politically it is a good idea to take this off, she noted. She figured that they all know that, but they have to look beyond the political repercussions and look to the interest of the entire county. Stutsman said that it looks as if there is not the support there to do that, so they should move on.' Meyers: 'Meyers said he is in favor of removing it completely from the Five Year Road Program.' Neuzil and Rod Sullivan: 'Neuzil and Sullivan agree.' County Engineer Parker: 'Parker said that any project that they take off now can be added anytime later when the Board wishes.' Parker: 'Parker said that since they do have a design completed, they would naturally put it on a future projects list.' The final paragraph of my email says: “During that discussion several of the Board members indicated an interest in placing the project on the future projects list. While it is clear that the Board is not interested in pursuing the matter when there are not three or more votes, I think your certitude of your statement that 'I believe there has been no evidence that present Supervisors are interested in adding those projects back to the Five Year Road Plan' is questionable." That’s my response and that is the point where it explains my position of why Mike isn’t my number one choice. When I went through my criteria and eliminated people who had lost the last election, Mike wasn’t on the list, and it was my suggestion to put him on the list because I thought his past service and the quality of his service and experience, he deserved an interview. I wanted the chance to be convinced, I wanted to give him the chance to convince me that he should serve because he would be very capable in doing that. But, as I weighed everything for me, my feeling that a committee of officials should not reverse the outcome of an election and concerns about what would happen if there were a majority of people who wanted to do this still, and how the people who had such an impact, and worked so hard in that election would view this, I just don’t think it would be appropriate to do that, so Mike is not my top choice. I agree with Kim, my top choice is Janelle Rettig. I think that she, probably more than anyone I know in my three decades as County Auditor, is prepared to be Supervisor and to run an effective campaign. She has broad experience in the community. Her list of supporters, people who wrote letters of support, was extensive and impressive. It reached throughout the community. Her expertise and knowledge of the County and the political process was very impressive. I think she would serve and she would be able to continue to serve, which to me is important. That leaves us with two first choices for Janelle and one first choice for Mike Lehman. They are both very good choices. How do you want to proceed?
Painter: I would just like to quickly add as well, I certainly thought about the concept of what it means for three elected officials to overturn a vote. On the other hand, the law clearly places this responsibility in the hands of three elected politicians who in Iowa have to run on partisan ballots, so that says something about what the law envisions for the process. So I was willing to be convinced and it just didn’t happen that day. Every single one of these eight candidates had one chance to come in and spend an hour with us and make their very best case. We had amazing people and it just did not work out that I was convinced that Mike Lehman would be at the top of my list. He is a tremendous public servant, and I did want to say that.
Slockett: I guess Kim and I are in agreement. Tom, how do you want to proceed?
Kriz: I think the two votes make the appointment for Janelle. I still feel strongly about Mike Lehman, his qualities, his talents, and I think I will stay with that, and the two of you?
Slockett: I guess we’ll need to decide who wants to make the motion. I’d be happy to do it, or I’d be happy to do have you do it.
Painter: I’d be happy to allow you to do it Auditor Slockett.
Slockett: I would be very proud and honored to move that Janelle Rettig be appointed to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors.
Painter: I would second that nomination.
Slockett: All in favor say aye.
Painter: Aye.
Slockett: Aye. All opposed, the same sign.
Kriz: Aye.
Slockett: We have a two to one vote and Janelle is appointed the next Supervisor for the Johnson County Board of Supervisors.
Kriz: Tom, could you explain the next two week period?
Slockett: From now, the next 14 days, the petition can be turned in. Ironically, it's Friday the 13th is the last day that the petition can be turned in. If it is, then the three of us, the same three people, the same statutory committee is required to set an election at the earliest practicable time. We have to give me, the Auditor, no less than 32 days notice of an election date. We would have to decide when one is turned in, if it is turned in, what the earliest practicable time would be. This will be before or after the Christmas holidays, depending on when the petition would be turned in. Then the political parties would each have the opportunity to nominate a candidate and the non-party political organizations, such as the Greens, the Socialists, the Socialist Workers, and so forth, would also be able to nominate candidates by convention. Individuals not associated with an organization would be able to run nominated by petition. It takes 250 signatures to be nominated by petition. That is basically how the process would work. I seem to have misplaced my agenda. Here it is.
Slockett: We have a line item for the agenda for the next meeting if needed. We decided at the last meeting to meet just for the purpose of reviewing the minutes and making any corrections and approving them. Is there any discussion from the public?
County Attorney Janet Lyness: If I could go back to that last agenda item, did you set a meeting date to go over the minutes?
Slockett: Yes, next Friday at 2:00 p.m.
Deputy Auditor Casie Parkins: In the Conference Room in the Auditor’s Office.
Slockett: Yes, in the Conference Room in the Auditor’s Office.
Slockett: Okay, I see Greg Pickett.
Painter: Hi Greg.
Greg Pickett: Hi.
Slockett: Hi, welcome Greg.
Pickett: Greg Pickett, 3061 Newport Road. I want to thank you for the job that you've done. I commend you on your job. Thank you for not overturning the vote of the people. I appreciate it.
Painter: Thanks Greg. Thank you Greg.
Slockett: Anyone else? Speak now or forever hold your peace. Okay thank you very much everyone. Unless someone else has anything else to add.
Kriz: I would just add thank you Casie and thank you Janet for taking all of the time that has taken away from what you do to help us.
Parkins: You are welcome. Are we adjourned?
Slockett: Yes we are adjourned.
Adjourned at 11:23 a.m.
______________________________________________________________________
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By:
On the _______ day of _____________________, 2009
By Casie Parkins, Recording Secretary
Sent to the Committee on November 2, 2009 at 9:00 a.m.