Sullivan's Salvos

3-9-10

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:58:00 +0000

Sullivan’s Salvos 3/9/10

There is a change coming to rural parts of the US, including the rural portions of Johnson County. This is a quiet, slow-moving, and devastating change. No, it is not disease, insects, or some other plague. It is wealth transfer.

Most folks do not realize it, but the US is undergoing the most massive transfer of wealth in the history of the planet. There are lots of people in their 80s and older, and many of them are nearing the end of life. As they age, their assets are being passed down to the next generation. On the farm, this becomes a huge problem.

For the most part, the folks inheriting the wealth are not farmers, and they do not live in the small communities where the farm sits. Why does that matter?

Let’s use a hypothetical Lone Tree couple as an example. While this is all made up, the example should ring true. You have an 85-year-old couple who farmed 300 acres outside of Lone Tree their whole lives. They have two adult children – a son in Des Moines and a daughter in Chicago. Five adult grandkids are spread around the US.

The Dad coached little league, spent ten years on the Board of the local F&M bank, served twenty years as a Fremont Township Trustee, and is a member of the Lone Tree American Legion. The Mom was a Cub Scout Den Mother, a 4H leader, a Deacon in the Presbyterian Church, and a regular volunteer with Lone Tree Schools and Pioneer Village.

The couple was active in church activities, and even in older age could be counted on to support every school fundraiser. They had a blast selling tomatoes and sweet corn at the Lone Tree Farmer’s Market. Every time the Lone Tree Volunteer Fire Department held a pancake breakfast or chili supper, they slipped an extra $20 into the donation box.

After long, full, wonderful lives, they pass away. The children in Des Moines and Chicago are in the final ten years of their own careers; they cannot drop everything to return to Fremont Township to farm. The 5 grandkids do not know anything about farming, and the idea of living in rural Iowa scares them.

So, the son in Des Moines decides to sell his half. The daughter in Chicago just cannot bear to sell the family farm, so she decides to hire a farm manager and rent out her half.

But who gets what? Mom & Dad never really spelled it out. About half of the ground is prime farmland, a quarter was hay and pasture, and a quarter included the house, barns, and some woods. The daughter wants to keep the house, but also wants the good land, because the rest is much tougher to rent. The son wants to sell the good farmland, because it will bring a better price. They end up chunking the family farm into three sections, two of which are sold and one that is rented.

The son gets $600,000 cash after the sale. He pays off his house in Des Moines, buys a new car in Urbandale, and gives $20,000 to each of his three kids. Even after all that, he has plenty to put in his Des Moines-based bank.

The daughter gets $100,000 cash, and begins renting the land. A local farmer pays cash rent to her. All the money is deposited in her Chicago-based bank.

Can you see what happened? The land is still in Fremont Township, but the money is all gone. Money now flows from Fremont Township to Chicago. The monetary capital has been transferred.

Perhaps even more importantly, the Legion lost a member; the bank and restaurant lost customers; the fire department lost donors; and the school, nursing home, and church lost volunteers. The human capital is gone.

I used a fictional couple and Lone Tree as examples, but this scenario is playing out all over the Midwest. Unfortunately, the story is often sad, and there are no good solutions.

What can we take away from this? I hope that younger locals will recognize how much this couple has contributed to the community, and do their best to pick up the slack. Meanwhile, if you have ideas, please share them. I think we need good suggestions in order to avert a real crisis.

The Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County is currently accepting donations of new or used baseball and softball equipment for boys and girls age 5 to 13. Items can be dropped off at 2105 Broadway St. in Iowa City, or contact James (354-7989; james-mims@ncjc.org ) to arrange for a pick-up.

Needed equipment includes: Mitts (gloves), right and left-handed. Batting gloves. Stirrups or stirrup socks. Regulation Bats. Baseball shoes (rubber cleats). Equipment/bat bags. Regulation sliding shorts and kneepads (required for girls in softball). Baseball pants.

Please donate and help a child make the most of his/her little league experience.

DID YOU KNOW? The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office took 23,000 911 calls in 2009.

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
www.johnson-county.com.

"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod

3-2-10

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:57:00 +0000

Sullivan’s Salvos 3/2/10

I continue to be amazed by how little attention anyone pays to local government. My bet is that less than 2-3% of the voting age population in Johnson County could name all 5 Supervisors. My guess is that City Council members would be slightly better known in their home communities, but not much; School Board members would be known by virtually no one.

It is also frustrating the way the bodies are lumped together – you hear people say, “The School Board feels,” or “The Council thinks,” when in reality, there are widely divergent views among the members. I have only seen 5-6 articles in my 6 years on the Board that really attempted to flush out the differences between individual Supervisors, and those were all in the Solon Economist/North Liberty Leader.

The problems with this lack of information should be evident. One of the biggest issues is a distinct lack of accountability. There are some pretty poor votes being cast out there, and no one seems to know. Similarly, there are some real acts of courage that go completely unnoticed.

Virtually no one knows what we do or why we do it, and even fewer voice any type of well-reasoned opinion. The few people I hear from regularly fall into two distinct categories: 1) people who hate me with such a passion that they will not believe me even when I explain that I voted the way they wanted; 2) friends who tell me “good job” no matter what I have done. Both groups are very small. It is all really, really sad.

I have serious concerns about the state of our local governmental units. We are desperate for the media to take note, and for the public to get involved.

I am interested in your thoughts. Do you feel I’m being too pessimistic? Do you have any ideas for improving the situation?

A public hearing on the FY11 County budget will be held at 6 PM on Wednesday, March 3 at the County Administration Building.

Following the hearing the budget can be lowered, but not increased. A formal vote on the budget will be held at 5:30 PM on March 11; the budget is due to the State by March 15.

Some budget highlights…

*The budget is actually significantly lower this year ($75 million) than last ($84 million); most of that change is a result of the Joint Emergency Communication Center budget. They spent a lot of money on their building and equipment in FY10; their budget is lower (but not as low as I’d like) this year.

*The proposed budget contains a small tax increase in the General Fund, mostly to cover the 2.75 and 2.8% raises negotiated by the six county bargaining units. There are 4 FTEs being added to the payroll – two in the Ambulance Department and two Sheriff’s Deputies.

*A larger increase is proposed in the Rural Fund. The Board is concerned about falling behind in terms of rural road maintenance – hence the increase. At the same time, I think the Board will reduce rural taxes if enough residents speak up for lower taxes versus better roads. We’ll see what happens.

A sure sign that spring is upon us… the 27th annual Prairie Preview will be Tuesday, March 9 at Parkview Church.

If you enjoy the outdoors, care about the environment, or just have cabin fever, this event is a must-do!

The event begins at 6:30, with a 7:30 presentation by writer and photographer Bill Witt. For further info, see www.jcht.org.

The Compeer Program, with the mission of matching community volunteers with people being treated for a mental illness, is holding the 7th annual “Sound of Friendship” concert at 7 PM on March 6th at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church. Enjoy desserts plus the music of Dan Moore, Kol Shira, and the Pan American Steel Drum Band.

Tickets are $20 and available at the door. Compeer is funded entirely by the fundraising efforts of the Compeer Board of Directors. If you are unable to attend, but would like to support the event by purchasing tickets to be donated to people with mental illness, please feel free to purchase a ticket anyway and Compeer will make sure a Community Mental Health Center client receives it.

For more info, call 338-7884 extension #245 or E-mail compeer@meimhc.org.

DID YOU KNOW? Johnson County SEATS made over 103,500 trips in 2009.

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
www.johnson-county.com.

"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod

3-2-10

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:55:00 +0000

2-23-10

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:48:00 +0000

Sullivan’s Salvos 2/23/10

I have observed the recent Tea Party movement with great interest. The protesters obviously lean more right than left, but I see a great deal of populist rage among the protesters.

Populism can come from left, center, or right on the political spectrum. I have always viewed myself as a populist, and I have always felt that the Democratic Party is most successful when it stays close to its populist underpinnings. I wish Democrats in all elected offices spent more time thinking about the little gal/guy.

Still, it has always seemed to me that Democratic Party represents a more populist platform than the Republicans. With a few notable exceptions, it seems that the Democratic Party platform should have greater appeal to the average gal/guy. The fact that Dems are not faring well on the national stage is due in large part the fact that they have veered away from the populist issues that matter to Americans.

Some very interesting analysis from Nate Silver at 538.com backs this up.

I urge you to follow the link and read the whole article at: http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2010/02/republicans-not-obama-more-often-on.html.

In summary: of 25 issues, Obama's position appears to be on the side of public opinion on 14: the bank tax, repealing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, campaign finance, the credit card bill, D.C. voting rights, fair pay, financial regulation, gays in the military, hate crimes, the jobs bill, mortgage relief, PAYGO, SCHIP, and Sotomayor.

Obama would appear to be on the wrong side of public opinion on five issues: the GM/Chrysler bailout, Guantanamo Bay, health care, the extension of the TARP program, and terrorist trials. On the other six issues, the polling is probably too ambiguous to render a clear verdict.

While I find this interesting, polls are only worth so much. There is an inherent flaw in attempting to govern by polls. For one thing, polls are merely a picture in time, whereas public opinion is in constant flux. Another issue is that it is tough to ask the right questions. Follow ups are often not permitted.

Even when the polling data is good, using it can be problematic. For example, polls will pretty much always say that people want more government services, yet want to pay less in taxes. How does one use that data? Similarly, polls always show that while folks dislike Congress, they tend to like and respect their own Representative.

Obviously, there is more to governing than simply following public opinion. For example, in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s it took courage from Presidents of both parties to end the most egregious racist policies in the US. The end of Jim Crow may not have been popular with most Americans of that era, but it was the right thing to do.

On the other hand, routinely failing to listen to public opinion is a surefire recipe for disaster. Time will tell if our leaders grasp this notion.

A quick follow-up on a couple issues highlighted in recent editions of Salvos:

While much of the damage is done, you still have an opportunity to ask the Joint Emergency Communication Center (JECC) Board to back off on hiring for several unnecessary positions. See http://www.rodsullivan.org/2010/01/1-27-10.html and http://www.rodsullivan.org/2010/02/2-2-10_19.html for more info.

On another topic, Iowa City acted on annexing 132 acres of land just north of I-80. Now is the time to begin charging an impact fee to developers in this area! I do not want to say “I told you so” in 20 years; I want us to do this correctly now! For more info, see http://www.rodsullivan.org/2010/01/1-19-10.html

Save the date! Night of 1,000 Dinners—Haiti Benefit is going to be held Thursday, March 4 from 5-7pm at the Old Brick. Tickets are $10 and proceeds will go to the United Nations Development Fund for Women’s (UNIFEM) efforts in Haiti.

This year’s event (like in previous years) will feature international foods, speakers, and music. This year’s speakers are Drs. Ginny and Chris Buresh two Iowa City locals who recently organized a medical aid trip to Haiti.

The Iowa UNA is currently looking for cosponsors ($50 or more and/or food) and for food donors. If you’re interested, please let me know and I’ll pass it on.

The Iowa City Chamber of Commerce Agribusiness/Bioscience Committee is providing two scholarship opportunities for youth involved in agriculture. The first scholarship is the “2010 Outstanding Farm Youth Scholarship.” The applicant for this scholarship must demonstrate exceptional achievement in farming, academics and community involvement. 2010 high school graduates who live in Johnson County are eligible for the $750 scholarship.

The second scholarship is the “Community Foundation of Johnson County and Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce Flood 2008 Agriculture Scholarship” This scholarship is intended for individuals involved in agriculture who were directly affected by the flood of 2008. Finalists will go through an interview. Scholarships would range from $500-$2500, at the discretion of the selection committee.

To learn more about either scholarship contact Heather Johnson at 337-9637 or heather@iowacityarea.com. Applications are due April 1 to the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce.

DID YOU KNOW? Iowa City had 270 homes damaged to the tune of $52 million in the floods of 2008. (Source: Iowa City.)

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
www.johnson-county.com.

"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod

2-16-10

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:01:00 +0000

Sullivan’s Salvos 2/16/10

Happy Mardis Gras! The Saints get their first Super Bowl victory, and now Mardis Gras! Congrats to the fine folks of New Orleans! Laissez les bon temps rouler!

The City and County Conference Boards met recently to discuss the performances and budgets of the Iowa City and Johnson County Assessors.

Assessors are the folks who determine the value of all our taxable real estate. Every county has an Assessor; so do several of the larger cities. In some areas, notably Des Moines/Polk County and Waterloo/Black Hawk County, the City Assessor’s Office has been absorbed by the County Assessor’s Office.

The Iowa City Assessor handles all the property inside Iowa City proper; the Johnson County Assessor does everything else. The IC Assessor is responsible for about $4.3 billion in appraised value; the JC Assessor is responsible for about $5.5 billion. Both serve a little over 65,000 residents.

Houses, businesses, farms and the like all go up and down in value. Because Johnson County has historically been viewed as a very good place to live, property values here have gone up steadily. While property values across the country crashed as the housing bubble broke, property values in Johnson County have remained fairly flat.

Property tax-levying governmental units (county, cities, schools) are represented on the Conference Boards. So the IC Assessor’s Office is overseen by Johnson County, Iowa City, and the ICCSD. The JC Assessor’s Office is overseen by Johnson County, ten cities (all but IC), and ten school districts (including the ICCSD).

Now for some very good news: Assessors are measured for accuracy and ranked every year. The IC Assessor’s Office ranked #8 in the state out of about 115 offices. The JC Assessor’s Office ranked #1. That is correct – Johnson County was number one!

In addition to being number one as a simple matter of pride, we should be extremely pleased by these results. This means that property tax payers are likely paying their fair share. You are not likely paying too much, nor are you paying too little, relative to all property tax payers. That is a very good thing.

We are being well served by our Assessors. Congratulations to Iowa City Assessor Denny Baldridge, Johnson County Assessor Bill Greazel, and all their employees on these tremendous accomplishments!

I have not yet weighed in publicly on the ICCSD redistricting discussions, but I certainly do have some thoughts:

First, parents (and other adults) need to chill. If you make statements such as, “this will do irreparable damage to the psycho-social well-being of my child”, you may be correct. But it will not be the ICCSD doing the damage… it will be overreactive parents.

Secondly, the ICCSD is a great district. I am confident that it will remain outstanding regardless of how this turns out. There are hundreds of millions of children in this world less privileged than those in the ICCSD. Let’s count our blessings.

Thirdly, parents need to try to look at the overall good of the community. There is a substantial body of scholarly evidence showing that elementary schools achieve much better academically when the percentage of students getting free and reduced lunch is under 50%. So let’s try to reduce these concentrations of poverty. We know right now that Shimek will never have the same percentage as Twain. It makes no sense to try to make them exactly the same. But Shimek’s percentage can easily go up without adverse affects, while Twain would benefit from less poor kids. So why not see if this can be achieved through reasonable means? It is better for EVERYONE if we improve in this regard.

Fourthly, Board and Administration… you KNEW people were going to have a fit about this. So do whatever you can to eliminate extraneous issues. (Have plenty of parking at meetings, allow plenty of time for comments, have mikes that work, etc.) Then, make some decisions. Decide quickly, but take some time with implementation.

Fifthly, and most importantly… this process has uncovered some real ugliness. We cannot back down from these challenges; we must address them. My children are African American. It pains me to know that people hold so many preconceived negative notions about them. Johnson County is home to lots of good people of all different backgrounds; unfortunately, we have a few residents who cause a lot of problems. Hold those folks accountable, but do not blame a whole ethic group for the transgressions of a few people.

Finally, once the dust settles and a decision is made, let’s support our schools. Get involved. Volunteer. Read to kids. Lead a scout troop. Coach a youth team. Become a foster parent. You can make a significant difference in the lives of our children.

The Sullivan for Supervisor team will be Bowling For Kids Sake once again this year. We have room on our team for two bowlers… would you like to join the cause? If so, let me know! Otherwise, we would love to have you sponsor us. Just go to the BBBS website at http://www.extension.iastate.edu/johnson/bbbs/

And follow the links.

DID YOU KNOW? In 1930, Iowa had 230,000 farms. In 2008, Iowa had 90,000. (Source: ISU Extension.)

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-www.johnson-county.com.

"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod

2-9-10

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:59:00 +0000

Sullivan’s Salvos 2/9/10

I continue to have significant difficulty with my E-mail. Mediacom changed things, and they do not support Entourage, which is my E-mail system. So I had to try to migrate Salvos to Mediacom’s webmail; now several servers see my weekly E-mail as spam.

In short, if you know someone who used to get Salvos but seems to get it no longer, contact me. I’ll try to fix it. Another option - Salvos get posted each week on my website: http://rodsullivan.org. You can find them all there.

I apologize for all these technological difficulties. They hurt me more than they hurt you - I assure you!

Happy 90th birthday to the League of Women Voters! Not only is the national organization celebrating 90 years, but so is the Johnson County chapter!

Good government does not just happen. It occurs because people pay attention and get involved. The League has done this better than any other group over the past 90 years.

If you have ever seen a Legislative or candidate forum in Johnson County, odds are it was sponsored by the League. These are but a few of the valuable services this group provides.

This might also be an appropriate time to give a shout out to League member Jean Lakin, who is assigned to observe the Board of Supervisors. Jean is diligent about attending Board meetings, and clearly understands the issues we are facing. It is great to know that Jean is “keeping us honest”, so to speak.

The League is celebrating 90 years with a luncheon from 11:30 -1:30 on February 24 at the Linn Street Café. See http://www.lwvjc.org for more details.

There has been a bit of public discussion lately as to the proper roles of elected officials in relation to that of their professional staffs.

On one hand, you have members of the public demanding that elected officials “listen”, “represent the people”, and “do their jobs”. On the other hand, you have elected officials voicing concerns over “micromanaging” staff. Which side is correct? Like most situations, there are shades of gray here.

Elected bodies adopt rules and regulations to control the behavior of their members. Every so often, a “rogue” elected official makes things uncomfortable for her/his peers. Then the body rushes to pass rules to rein her/him in. I understand this motivation.

I see electeds err on this side too frequently, however, and I think it stifles them. Many groups tie themselves into knots with procedural rules. A School Board member cannot speak directly to a parent because of protocols. A City Council member cannot speak directly to a city staff person due to chain of command. These internal structures and rules exist for a reason, but they often paralyze elected officials. They become more concerned with process than with doing what is right.

I like the model used by the Board of Supervisors. All 5 Supes are directly elected by the people. The ultimate responsibility for what happens in Johnson County lies with us. We often have differences of opinion regarding the “micromanaging” of staff. When that happens, it is up to a majority of the Board to rein in our “rogue”.

So what is the answer? It is actually quite easy! Most importantly, ELECT GOOD PEOPLE! Once good people are elected, they need to HIRE GOOD EMPLOYEES! Most of the debate over the proper role of elected officials occurs because SOMEBODY is not doing her/his job.

One of the neatest things I have had the privilege to do in my 5 years as a County Supervisor is to serve on the Iowa State Association of Counties (ISAC) Scholarship Committee.

Each year, ISAC gives one scholarship of a couple thousand dollars in each of 6 geographical districts; one of these 6 gets a top overall award of roughly $7,500. So this scholarship money can make a real difference! To be eligible, students must have a parent who works for county government.

During the three years I have served, I have met some truly amazing young people – including some Johnson County kids. Iowans, our future looks bright! I travelled to Des Moines recently for yet another scholarship competition. It left me impressed once again!

I attended the Grand Opening of the new Swisher Library on Saturday. Congratulations to this wonderful town on this wonderful accomplishment!

The Sullivan for Supervisor team will be Bowling For Kids Sake once again this year. We have room on our team for two bowlers… would you like to join the cause? If so, let me know! Otherwise, we would love to have you sponsor us. Just go to the BBBS website at http://www.extension.iastate.edu/johnson/bbbs/

And follow the links.

DID YOU KNOW? 7% of Iowa’s farmers are under 35; 29% are over 65. (Source: ISU Extension.)

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
www.johnson-county.com.

"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod

2-2-10

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:57:00 +0000

Sullivan’s Salvos 2/2/10

I am still steamed about the Joint Emergency Communications Center. To be completely clear… this is no Johnny-come-lately thing for me. I have been fighting what I see as problems with the JECC since the very beginning. If you need proof, check our minutes and check their minutes. (There isn’t much to their minutes, but they do show me in attendance twice.)

Some JECC members think they should have had the same levy forever. I always thought the first year amount of .77 was a max. Once you have paid for the building, towers, and radios… why would you need that same amount of money over and over again?

An analogy… I buy a $4000 car. I pay for the car, tax, title, license, insurance, etc. Then I have some gas and maintenance costs. So my first year of car ownership actually costs $6000.

So when I sit down to do my family budget, do I plug in $6000 for the next year? Of course not – I already own the car! I still have some expenses, and I should probably set aside a little extra just in case. But I will not need $6000 again.

The JECC has gotten somewhere in the neighborhood of $17 million in two budget years. (Maybe more, maybe less… they couldn’t answer the question until 5 days ago.) They cannot possibly require $8.5 million per year forever.

Sure, they need to put away some money for contingencies. But more than the total reserve of Johnson County? The public really needs to weigh in as to what is the appropriate amount of savings. The JECC Board needs to listen to some people who understand financial policy and not their consultants.

While I am pleased that the JECC Board reduced their levy, they did the exact opposite of what I requested. They STILL have a bloated budget; they simply dipped into reserves to pay for it. They needed to cut spending instead!

This is even worse, in some ways, because they are still going to hire several unnecessary staff people. When we have this same fight in a year, those people will be entrenched. These unneeded positions will NEVER go away – NEVER. So next year, we will see the same bloated budget, just more difficult to fix. The problem was simply kicked down the road.

It was also disappointing to find that they overspent an $11 million equipment budget by $1 million dollars! (They made up the difference through unspent operational funds.) I am told this is because the consultant could only give them an estimate in terms of the number of radios needed. I would argue that this simply points out that the consultant is likely not worth the money he was paid, and should not be trusted to offer advice on things - such as staffing.

At least now they seem to know how much they have in each account. If I have accomplished nothing else, at least we have that. The Board of Supervisors has requested a quarterly financial report; I hope the cities and other groups do so as well.

Meanwhile, thanks to all of you who have inquired into this venture. We need the public to get involved in these issues; government produces a better product that way. Please continue to pay attention!

The Domestic Violence Intervention Program (DVIP) Souper Bowl event is Thursday, February 4 from 5:30-7:30 at the Quality Inn, Highlander. Tickets are $20.00 at the door.

This annual event is DVIP’s biggest fundraiser, and goes a long ways toward providing shelter to victims of domestic violence in Johnson County.

The Sullivan for Supervisor team will be Bowling For Kids Sake once again this year. We have room on our team for two bowlers… would you like to join the cause? If so, let me know! Otherwise, we would love to have you sponsor us. Just go to the BBBS website at http://www.extension.iastate.edu/johnson/bbbs/

And follow the links.

The Compensation Board met recently to recommend the salaries of our County elected officials. For the record, here is where we stand now:

Johnson County is either the 4th or 5th most populous county. (Blackhawk and Johnson counties have extremely similar populations, both at just over 130,000.) Given that, it seems to make sense that the salaries of elected officials would rank in the #3 to #6 range. If we maintain that type of comparability, we would be doing well.

Office Salary Rank Comparisons

Supervisors 51,107 4 $10,000 behind #3; $5,000 ahead of #5

Attorney 121,246 4 $7,000 behind #3; $12,000 ahead of #5

Sheriff 94,393 6 $2,000 behind #5; $3,000 ahead of #7

Auditor 73,287 5 $1,000 behind #4; $5,000 ahead of #6

Recorder 73,040 4 $1,000 behind #3; $7,500 ahead of #5

Treasurer 73,040 5 $1,000 behind #4; $7,000 ahead of #6

As the chart demonstrates, every elected official in Johnson County ranks between #4 and #6 in salary. In addition, each job pays about 10% more than the next highest paid in the state, the exceptions being the Auditor, who is 7% ahead of #6, and the Sheriff, who is 3.2% ahead of #7.

Then you have the issue of benefits. Elected Officials do not have to punch a clock. They do not have to request sick time, vacation time, or personal days. They come and go as they please. Most county employees – those who break a sweat, punch a clock, and work on the front lines – will be getting a 2.75% raise.

Given all this, I find it hard to argue that elected officials deserve a raise. The Comp Board had 4 members vote for a 2% raise, and 2 people vote for zero. So the official recommendation was 2%.

When it came time for the Board of Supervisors to vote, the motion was made for 1.4%. I asked for less, but three members approved a 1.4% raise for each elected official. So 1.4% it is. More than I would like, but the Board works by democracy.

But let’s also address the fact that some folks see the answer to every budget as no raises for elected officials.

The ten elected officials combined earn about $689,000. A 1.4% raise = $9,646 total for ten people. (Sups will earn an additional $700 each next year.) A $75 million dollar budget cannot be fixed (nor broken) by $9,000.

So go ahead and make the argument that elected officials do not deserve raises. I agree. We both wish the issue had gone differently. Just don’t pretend that $9,000 is a magic bullet.

DID YOU KNOW? Half of Iowa’s 3 million people live in the ten most populous counties. (Polk, Linn, Scott, Johnson, Black Hawk, Woodbury, Dubuque, Story, Pottawattamie, and Dallas.)

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
www.johnson-county.com.

"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod

2-2-10

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:26:00 +0000

2-2-10

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 04:01:00 +0000

2-2-10

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 03:29:00 +0000

2-2-10

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 03:28:00 +0000

2-2-10

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 03:26:00 +0000

Sullivan’s Salvos 2/2/10

2-2-10

I am still steamed about the Joint Emergency Communications Center. To be completely clear… this is no Johnny-come-lately thing for me. I have been fighting what I see as problems with the JECC since the very beginning. If you need proof, check our minutes and check their minutes. (There isn’t much to their minutes, but they do show me in attendance twice.)

Some JECC members think they should have had the same levy forever. I always thought the first year amount of .77 was a max. Once you have paid for the building, towers, and radios… why would you need that same amount of money over and over again?

An analogy… I buy a $4000 car. I pay for the car, tax, title, license, insurance, etc. Then I have some gas and maintenance costs. So my first year of car ownership actually costs $6000.

So when I sit down to do my family budget, do I plug in $6000 for the next year? Of course not – I already own the car! I still have some expenses, and I should probably set aside a little extra just in case. But I will not need $6000 again.

The JECC has gotten somewhere in the neighborhood of $17 million in two budget years. (Maybe more, maybe less… they couldn’t answer the question until 5 days ago.) They cannot possibly require $8.5 million per year forever.

Sure, they need to put away some money for contingencies. But more than the total reserve of Johnson County? The public really needs to weigh in as to what is the appropriate amount of savings. The JECC Board needs to listen to some people who understand financial policy and not their consultants.

While I am pleased that the JECC Board reduced their levy, they did the exact opposite of what I requested. They STILL have a bloated budget; they simply dipped into reserves to pay for it. They needed to cut spending instead!

This is even worse, in some ways, because they are still going to hire several unnecessary staff people. When we have this same fight in a year, those people will be entrenched. These unneeded positions will NEVER go away – NEVER. So next year, we will see the same bloated budget, just more difficult to fix. The problem was simply kicked down the road.

It was also disappointing to find that they overspent an $11 million equipment budget by $1 million dollars! (They made up the difference through unspent operational funds.) I am told this is because the consultant could only give them an estimate in terms of the number of radios needed. I would argue that this simply points out that the consultant is likely not worth the money he was paid, and should not be trusted to offer advice on things - such as staffing.

At least now they seem to know how much they have in each account. If I have accomplished nothing else, at least we have that. The Board of Supervisors has requested a quarterly financial report; I hope the cities and other groups do so as well.

Meanwhile, thanks to all of you who have inquired into this venture. We need the public to get involved in these issues; government produces a better product that way. Please continue to pay attention!

The Domestic Violence Intervention Program (DVIP) Souper Bowl event is Thursday, February 4 from 5:30-7:30 at the Quality Inn, Highlander. Tickets are $20.00 at the door.

This annual event is DVIP’s biggest fundraiser, and goes a long ways toward providing shelter to victims of domestic violence in Johnson County.

The Sullivan for Supervisor team will be Bowling For Kids Sake once again this year. We have room on our team for two bowlers… would you like to join the cause? If so, let me know! Otherwise, we would love to have you sponsor us. Just go to the BBBS website at http://www.extension.iastate.edu/johnson/bbbs/

And follow the links.

The Compensation Board met recently to recommend the salaries of our County elected officials. For the record, here is where we stand now:

Johnson County is either the 4th or 5th most populous county. (Blackhawk and Johnson counties have extremely similar populations, both at just over 130,000.) Given that, it seems to make sense that the salaries of elected officials would rank in the #3 to #6 range. If we maintain that type of comparability, we would be doing well.

Office Salary Rank Comparisons

Supervisors 51,107 4 $10,000 behind #3; $5,000 ahead of #5

Attorney 121,246 4 $7,000 behind #3; $12,000 ahead of #5

Sheriff 94,393 6 $2,000 behind #5; $3,000 ahead of #7

Auditor 73,287 5 $1,000 behind #4; $5,000 ahead of #6

Recorder 73,040 4 $1,000 behind #3; $7,500 ahead of #5

Treasurer 73,040 5 $1,000 behind #4; $7,000 ahead of #6

As the chart demonstrates, every elected official in Johnson County ranks between #4 and #6 in salary. In addition, each job pays about 10% more than the next highest paid in the state, the exceptions being the Auditor, who is 7% ahead of #6, and the Sheriff, who is 3.2% ahead of #7.

Then you have the issue of benefits. Elected Officials do not have to punch a clock. They do not have to request sick time, vacation time, or personal days. They come and go as they please. Most county employees – those who break a sweat, punch a clock, and work on the front lines – will be getting a 2.75% raise.

Given all this, I find it hard to argue that elected officials deserve a raise. The Comp Board had 4 members vote for a 2% raise, and 2 people vote for zero. So the official recommendation was 2%.

When it came time for the Board of Supervisors to vote, the motion was made for 1.4%. I asked for less, but three members approved a 1.4% raise for each elected official. So 1.4% it is. More than I would like, but the Board works by democracy.

But let’s also address the fact that some folks see the answer to every budget as no raises for elected officials.

The ten elected officials combined earn about $689,000. A 1.4% raise = $9,646 total for ten people. (Sups will earn an additional $700 each next year.) A $75 million dollar budget cannot be fixed (nor broken) by $9,000.

So go ahead and make the argument that elected officials do not deserve raises. I agree. We both wish the issue had gone differently. Just don’t pretend that $9,000 is a magic bullet.

DID YOU KNOW? Half of Iowa’s 3 million people live in the ten most populous counties. (Polk, Linn, Scott, Johnson, Black Hawk, Woodbury, Dubuque, Story, Pottawattamie, and Dallas.)

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
www.johnson-county.com.

"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod

1-27-10

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:42:00 +0000

Sullivan’s Salvos 1/27/10

I have never before done a special edition of Sullivan’s Salvos. Unfortunately, extreme issues call for extreme measures.

In 25+ years of observing the local government scene, I have witnessed many things that disappointed me. Unfortunately, NOTHING I have seen has been as egregious as the management of the Joint Emergency Communications Center (JECC).

Some background… there are two E911 dispatch centers in Johnson County; one is run by and serves Iowa City, the other is run by Johnson County and serves everyone else. These are being replaced by a joint venture known as JECC.

Several years ago, a confluence of four events led to discussions that ended up in the creation of the JECC. First, the League of Women Voters pushed for consolidation. Second, the terrorist attacks on 9/11/01 demonstrated the importance of public safety agencies being able to communicate with each other. Thirdly, we had own local disaster (the tornado of ‘06) that demonstrated this need on a local level. Finally and most importantly, Iowa City needed to replace its radio system.

It was decided that the two dispatch centers would be combined into one, and every public safety agency in Johnson County would get new and compatible radios. Everything would be funded through a county property tax levy. An intergovernmental (28E) organization was formed, and a 7 member Board was created to oversee the JECC. Then things began to go down hill.

For starters, JECC should have been run by the Sheriff. Since every citizen in the County was paying for this thing, it made sense that an elected official accountable to every citizen have that responsibility. I made this case in E-mails to the JECC Board; I even attended a JECC meeting to make the case in person. I was promptly shut down, primarily by Councilor Bailey, who wanted to “maintain some control” for Iowa City. That “control” has cost you at least $5,000,000 in unnecessary money so far, with more to come!

I tried to explain that the Sheriff represents all the people of Iowa City. In fact, the Sheriff received 28,000 votes in just Iowa City in 2008; the most any City Council candidate has EVER received is 10,000. So people of Iowa City understand what the Sheriff does– their leaders do not.

I then went to a fallback position… if having the Sheriff run the JECC was unacceptable to Iowa City, then let the ICPD run the thing. This, too, was shut down.

Because the JECC Board chose this route, they needed to begin creating bureaucracy. They hired a Director at a hefty salary, which would have been unnecessary under either of my scenarios. And they did not stop there! The unnecessary Director needed an unnecessary Assistant Director. One justification for this is that the Assistant would also provide tech support. Another justification – and I am NOT making this up – is that he will be needed to provide backup when the first unnecessary person is on vacation!

What happens next? They hire an additional full-time tech support person. Never mind that: A) the software vendors are already charging outrageous fees for tech support; B) they said unnecessary guy #2 was a tech person; C) neither IC nor Johnson County currently have a tech person dedicated to dispatch – estimates are that 2-3 hours per week is required right now; D) both IC & Johnson County could provide the tech support on an hourly basis; E) local businesses could provide the support on an hourly basis.

It gets even worse. There is an “Operations Director”. What in God’s name does he do? There is ZERO justification.

Here is another. The JECC is a secure facility. You cannot just drive up, and you cannot get in. But in their wisdom, the JECC Board approved the funding for a receptionist. Who will this person receive? Your tax dollars at work!

The JECC has $20,000 budgeted to replace computer equipment. All the computer equipment is brand new! Can they really be serious? How about $60,000 for negotiations? Johnson County negotiates 6 different contracts with two different unions representing 350 people and it runs about $20,000.

It goes further. Each of three 8-hour shifts will have a “Lead Dispatcher”. This makes sense, but not given the bureaucracy already in place. The number of dispatchers is not being reduced through this consolidation; the number is actually increasing.

The Director even advertised one position before it was approved! And now that these positions have been approved? They will NEVER go away. We will pay unnecessary salaries until the end of time.

The building is too expensive. Stop out and see the three (yes, three) stainless steel refrigerators you bought.

The budget was already outrageous. Now they want to increase it by 28%. That is right… an already bloated budget is going up 28%! Johnson County required all our departments to maintain flat budgets (not including negotiated raises) for the second straight year. These folks answer to no one, so they increase budgets 28%!

Now for the real kicker. The JECC already has $5,000,000 of our tax dollars in reserve. Not only is that amount outrageous, they want $10,000,000! Ten million dollars! For what?

To give this some perspective, Johnson County runs an $80,000,000 annual operation with about $2 million in reserve. Granted, that is a little lower than we’d like. But I cannot imagine why these folks need to sit on 4+ years’ worth of operating revenue. You are being taxed a tremendous amount so they can save 5 times the total County reserves.

When asked about the amount already in reserve, the Board and staff claimed they did not know how much was there, nor how it could be spent. Is this oversight? Shouldn’t those questions be answered prior to a budget being submitted?

The finances of the JECC are completely out of control. And there is nothing the Board of Supervisors can do to stop it. We are contractually obligated to accept the number they put forth. Salvos readers – you know I am not some anti-tax zealot. I believe in government. Unfortunately, this initiative will give local government a bad name.

Who has been responsible for these decisions? Tom Salm, Mayor of North Liberty; Mike Wright and Regenia Bailey, Iowa City Council; Pat Harney, Johnson County Board of Supervisors; Dave Wilson, Emergency Management. All of the above are elected officials except Wilson, who is appointed by a 28E Board similar to the JECC Board. In addition, John Lundell, Coralville City Council, is a new member. Unfortunately, all his votes in his one meeting were for greater spending and greater bureaucracy.

Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek also serves on the Board, but we should definitely not lump the Sheriff with the others. Sheriff Pulkrabek has been on the correct (but losing) side of every important vote the JECC Board has taken, including two recent 6-1 votes. It is ironic, because he is the only member of the JECC Board who has ever run a dispatch center, yet his colleagues refuse to listen to his advice. Keep fighting the good fight, Sheriff!

I’m sure the rest of the JECC Board will tell you they are only doing what their high-priced consultants told them to do. Here is a news flash – the consultants are not elected to manage our money. They are.

There is more blame to go around. I am extremely disappointed in the League of Women Voters on this issue. (As a matter of full disclosure, I am a dues-paying member of the League.) The League got this thing started, then walked away. There is no governmental entity more deserving of scrutiny than JECC, yet the League has taken no interest in the way it is being run. As the premiere watchdog of government in Johnson County, the League has fallen asleep on this one. I urge the League to begin monitoring JECC meetings. I also urge the JECC Board to make audio recordings of their meetings. The minutes as they are done currently say NOTHING.

I am outraged. You should be outraged. So, what can we do? They already ignore everything I say and everything the Sheriff says. I see three options: A) contact these people, and let them know you expect them to run JECC differently. If they refuse, then B) we can look into dissolving the 28E agreement. This would be difficult and costly, but not as costly as allowing the JECC Board members to continue their spending habits. I really hope it does not come to this.

This whole situation is a shame. A very good initiative has spun out of control. I am still a believer in the theory of joint communications, but I cannot support it in practice the way we are doing it here. Please call these folks TODAY and let them know how you feel!

DID YOU KNOW? Audio recordings of Board meetings are available on the Auditor’s web page.

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
www.johnson-county.com.

"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod

1-26-10

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 21:53:00 +0000

Sullivan’s Salvos 1/26/10

Congratulations to Supervisor Janelle Rettig who won a special election last week to maintain the seat to which she was appointed a few months ago.

Rettig won with 58% of the vote. I was impressed by Janelle’s ability to focus on the campaign given the unfortunate incidents of hate directed her way. Vote against her because of her record. Vote against her because of her opinions. But do not vote against her because she is a lesbian.

Unfortunately, some of the responses to her campaign demonstrated that Johnson County still has a lot of work to do. Meanwhile, the people have spoken (for now). We’ll be right back at the primaries in June!

We have recently witnessed one of the most devastating disasters in world history - the earthquake in Haiti. I hesitate to call it a natural disaster… when an earthquake of similar strength hit more densely populated San Francisco in 1989, only about 60 people perished.

Over 100,000 Haitians have died as a result of this event. Haiti was devastated by this event because of the crushing poverty that envelopes that country. Please do what you can to donate to disaster relief in Haiti.

I want to mark the recent passings of two extraordinary local women.

Dr. Margaret Emmons was a retired MD who lived at Oaknoll. Dr. Emmons was a very accomplished woman who had traveled the globe. Dr. Emmons was a Salvos subscriber, and frequently wrote me to share her thoughts. She often mailed me books or articles that she felt I should read. She was particularly interested in the best way to improve medical care in Africa; she had travelled there more than once.

Dr. Emmons was a proud Republican, and let me know that. But she was also open to having a friendship with a person of a different sex, different political party, 40 years younger, and I am a better person for it.

Also passing away recently was Peggy Stokes. Peggy was a longtime social worker at the UI Center for Disability and Development. In that role, Peggy made difficult lives a bit easier for thousands of families. When Peggy read research that indicated that siblings of children with disabilities often struggle, she founded the SibShip program. That program has reached out to siblings of children with disabilities for over 20 years now.

Peggy was also a staunch peace activist. You could see Peggy standing on the corner every Friday, holding a sign with some version of “peace not war”. I asked Peggy once if she felt her efforts were making a difference. She sighed, and said that she needed to do SOMETHING because the Iraq War was wrong. Peggy said if she converted just one person to seeing peace as the way, then she had been successful. I think Peggy was a huge success.

On a more positive note, congratulations on your retirements Dan Daly and Speedy Townsend! I wish you both much good health and happiness. Thank you for your years of service!

The “You Earned It. Now Claim It!” campaign will launch on January 31 for its fourth year of operation. This effort supports the financial security of working families by offering FREE tax preparation services.

This program is possible through a partnership involving Johnson County Social Services, the Tippie College of Business, Johnson County AARP, Iowa City Community School District, Iowa City Public Library, Iowa City Housing Authority, Neighborhood Centers, Johnson County Council of Governments, Iowa Legal Aid, and United Way of Johnson County. Funding is provided by the University of Iowa Community Credit Union, Veridian Credit Union, the United Way of Johnson County, & Hawkeye Community Action Program.

Last year over 950 households secured total refunds over $1 million. This service is available for free to people who earned less than $49,000 in 2009. Volunteers are trained to assist working families to get money back through the Earned Income Credit (EIC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and, at the same time, give a boost to the local economy.

For more information on these FREE Tax Preparation sites, call the United Way toll-free at 2-1-1 or visit the Johnson County website at www.johnson-county.com/taxhelp.html.

Some interesting stats courtesy of Mother Jones magazine: to equal the amount of the $14 trillion US bank bailout?

We could provide 10 years of vaccines to all kids in the 117 poorest countries; we could give 10 years worth of $10,000 bonuses to every US public school teacher; we could send all 2009 US high school grads to private college; we could double the research spending on cancer and HIV; we could purchase 10 years worth of carbon offsets for every American; we could meet UN anti-poverty goals; we could pay for 20 years of universal preschool; we could buy a house for every homeless American; we could afford 10 years of helping developing countries address climate change; we could pay for 10 years worth of health insurance for every uninsured American; we could pay of 1/3 of all US mortgages; AND we could buy every person in the world an iPhone!

Please understand – it is not that we could do ONE of the things on that list; we could do ALL of the things on that list! Do the banks owe the American people? Yes, they do!

DID YOU KNOW? Half of the U.S. population is in the eight largest states (California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan).

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
www.johnson-county.com.

"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod

1-12-10

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 16:24:00 +0000

Sullivan’s Salvos 1/12/10

Monday marks the celebration of the birthday of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior. Like so many holidays, folks often forget to take a moment to recall the reason behind the day off.

I urge everyone to do some reading on the life of MLK. I felt as though I knew a lot about him, then read a new book. I continue to learn fascinating things about this amazing man! He deserves this honor, and we should take some time to consider his contributions.

In keeping with the MLK theme, the University of Iowa is once again hosting a Celebration of Human Rights, with a whole week full of events.

The Opening Celebration will be Monday, January 18 at 6 PM in the 2nd Floor Ballroom of the IMU. The evening includes performances by Voices of Soul, Charism, The Quire, and Idiris Goodwin, and a keynote address from State Representative Wayne Ford.

For a complete schedule of events, see mlk.uiowa.edu

Johnson County residents have an important election coming up on January 19. In my opinion, this election is a referendum on the role of government in our lives. That should not be taken lightly.

I strongly encourage you to learn everything you can about the two candidates, and come to your own decision. Me? I enthusiastically support Supervisor Janelle Rettig. The reasons are many, but it boils down to this: are we in this together or not?

Please do not skip this election. Your voice is important. It is an unusual date for an election, but please get out and vote.

Do not forget, there are plenty of early voting opportunities! For a complete list, see the Johnson County Auditor’s website at:
http://www.johnson-county.com/auditor/voter/1001elec.htm.

I find it amusing when I hear that Johnson County has “one party rule” or that there is a “Democratic Party Machine” that secretly runs things. I laugh when I hear us referred to by David Yepsen as the “People’s Republic of Johnson County”.

Like any persistent myth, there is a kernel of truth there. Other than a Republican Sheriff during the 80s, local partisan offices have been filled exclusively by Democrats since 1960. But what does that mean? What are the actual results? Is this a Socialist heaven?

The Democratic Party in Johnson County is a pretty big tent. It has always had a large conservative wing, and it still does. Many folks from this wing have served as County Supervisors. And THEY have not agreed on all the issues, either!

Furthermore, what does it mean to be a “conservative” Democrat? How about someone who is against abortion rights but pro-labor and pro-gay rights? (I know many people who fit that bill.) What about someone who is an anti-labor, anti-gay, pro-health care environmentalist? (I know several folks like that, too.) Every one of us would like to be in charge of the Official Litmus Test of our respective parties. But the fact remains… there is no litmus test.

Let’s look at any number of so-called Democratic Party issues, and see where the Johnson County Board of Supervisors falls:

Environmental Issues: Boards of the 50s through the mid-90s did not pay much attention to environmental issues. A few specific individuals notwithstanding, these Boards were extremely pro-development. And they were ALL Democrats. Is this some Socialist machine at work?

Labor Issues: Ask any local Labor activist how they feel about the relationship with the Board. Labor is traditionally dissatisfied with the contracts they get with Johnson County. Union Building Trades feel they do not get a fair hearing when it comes to building projects. The relationship is far from cozy. It used to be worse! And the Sups during this 50-year period were ALL Democrats. Is this some Socialist machine at work?

Civil Rights Issues: There have probably only been two or three two-year windows in 50 years where a majority of the Board supported gay marriage. I would stand by the argument that there have NEVER been all 5 Supervisors in favor. And they were ALL Democrats. Is this a Socialist machine at work?

Economic Justice: The Board has consistently preferred sales taxes to property taxes, despite a Party Platform that states the contrary. In 50 years, there have been less than four Supervisors who have spoken out against sales taxes. Scores preferred them. And they were ALL Democrats. Is this a Socialist machine at work?

Those are only a few issues. Given the choice between lower taxes and more human services, lower taxes have usually carried the day. Issues like choice and war rarely come up at the local level, but it is safe to say that most past Boards have agreed more closely with the Republican party line. And they were ALL Democrats. Is this a Socialist machine at work?

50 years of Democrats at the County level have not delivered a Socialist Disneyland. Similarly, the so-called “liberal” Iowa City Council has only had 4-5 two-year periods in 50 years where there was a truly progressive majority. Same thing in Coralville.

I am not arguing that the governments of the past 50 years have been particularly good or bad. There has been a lot of both in 50 years. There have been really good folks of all political stripes; there have been others we could have done without. The point is simply to bust the myth – the Johnson County Board of Supervisors has traditionally not been a far-left leaning body. A simple check of the facts backs that up.

DID YOU KNOW? Johnson County was created on December 21, 1837 by the legislature of the Wisconsin Territory. The county was carved out of territory formerly in Dubuque County, and was not initially provided with a civil government, instead being governed by Cedar County officials.

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
www.johnson-county.com.

"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod

1-19-10

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 16:23:00 +0000

Sullivan’s Salvos 1/19/10

Johnson County residents have an important election coming up on January 19. In my opinion, this election is a referendum on the role of government in our lives. That should not be taken lightly.

I strongly encourage you to learn everything you can about the two candidates, and come to your own decision. Me? I enthusiastically support Supervisor Janelle Rettig. The reasons are many, but it boils down to this: are we in this together or not?

Please do not skip this election. Your voice is important. It is an unusual date for an election, but please get out and vote.

Do not forget, there are plenty of early voting opportunities! For a complete list, see the Johnson County Auditor’s website at:
http://www.johnson-county.com/auditor/voter/1001elec.htm.

Team registration is now open for Bowl For Kids' Sake 2010. Bowl For Kids' Sake is Big Brothers Big Sisters of Johnson County's annual fundraiser. Participants receive a free round of bowling, t-shirt, and the chance to win door prizes. This year's event, which will be held the last weekend in February, will have a Western theme. Team registration forms are available from the agency's website, www.bbbsjc.org.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Johnson County serves over 700 kids annually through its school- and community-based, one-to-one mentoring programs. Revenue from Bowl For Kids' Sake accounts for one-third of the agency's yearly budget. The fundraiser has been hosted by Colonial Lanes in Iowa City since 1984.

The Sullivan for Supervisor team will be bowling once again this year. We have room on our team for two bowlers… would you like to join the cause? If so, let me know! Otherwise, we would love to have you sponsor us. Just go to the BBBS website at http://www.extension.iastate.edu/johnson/bbbs/

And follow the links.

BBBS Bowl For Kids’ Sake – a great cause! Feel free to join us and/or sponsor us!

I have long argued for a greater use of development impact fees. I think there is a great opportunity out there right now that would allow Iowa City, Johnson County, and perhaps Coralville and Tiffin to develop in a smarter and less expensive manner.

Iowa City recently came to Johnson County with a proposal to annex 132 acres north of I-80, just west of Pearson. I believe this annexation makes sense, but only if Iowa City and Johnson County begin charging a development impact fee in the area.

Some background: Planners in local governments have long envisioned Oakdale Boulevard as the primary east-west arterial street north of I-80. Oakdale already serves this purpose through much of Coralville; what most folks do not realize is that Oakdale is penciled out from west of Tiffin all the way to Scott Boulevard in eastern Iowa City.

The fact that the road is planned is great; the implementation has left much to be desired. For example – when Oakdale was taken east of 12th Avenue in Coralville, local leaders should have required that it be connected to Dubuque Street. People who did much of the development in the area claim they would have paid for the road had they been asked. (Of course, that is easy to say now! But local electeds should have forced the issue.)

Some folks saw what was coming. Then-Supervisor Jonathon Jordahl argued that this situation would create traffic problems, and create a disincentive for future development. Jonathon nailed it. Fast forward 10-15 years, and now Johnson County and Coralville are collaborating on a completion of Oakdale from the dead end to Dubuque Street. Taxpayers in Coralville and rural Johnson County are now footing the bill.

Again, this SHOULD have been paid for; developers could have added $2,000 to each of 500 lots and extended the road. Instead, the road was allowed to dead end. Now, instead of $1,000,000 paid by developers, we have $4,000,000 paid by folks who never asked for the development in the first place.

Oakdale will soon reach Dubuque Street on the west. If Iowa City develops according to the plan in the proposed annexation, Oakdale will start moving west from Highway 1. That leaves a big gap in the middle. Who will pay to fill in this gap? If both Iowa City and Johnson County begin to charge a development impact fee now, we can save up enough money to connect the road all the way through. It would then be paid for by the development as opposed to being paid for by taxpayers.

This is particularly relevant to rural folks. County roads are paid for through the Rural Fund. It will be difficult to argue that the area in question is “rural”, yet rural landowners will foot the bill. That just isn’t fair. In addition, a full connection between Dubuque Street and Highway 1 requires crossing the Iowa River. That bridge will NOT be cheap!

I strongly urge elected officials in Iowa City and Johnson County to enter into a 28E agreement, and to begin collecting a development impact fee in this area. Johnson County, Coralville and Tiffin probably ought to be talking about the same thing heading west.

We have an opportunity to do this right. I do not have any desire to look back in twenty years and say I told you so. Let’s do this correctly now.

DID YOU KNOW? The population of Johnson County is about 17% rural.

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
www.johnson-county.com.

"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod

1-5-10

noreply@blogger.com (Rod) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 17:28:00 +0000

Sullivan’s Salvos 1/5/10

I have been experiencing some very trying difficulties with my Mediacom E-mail. For all I know, no one is getting this! Please forgive my inability to communicate with you. And feel free to stick another pin in your Mediacom voodoo doll!

Unfortunately, this edition of Salvos is going to address the losses of several notable folks.

Eliot Keller was a local broadcaster and businessman who ran several successful radio stations. I got to know Eliot through the Chamber of Commerce, for whom he was an outstanding volunteer. Eliot was a real civic booster, a very good guy, and he will be missed.

Johnson County lost a legend with the passing of Mary Jo Small. As a UI administrator, Mary Jo was central in the creation of a more humane workplace, with equal rights for women and minorities, decent benefits, fair hiring practices, and available childcare.

I had the distinct pleasure of serving with Mary Jo on the Executive Committee of the Democratic Party. I recall a time when a colleague used the word “gravitas”, and was jokingly asked to define it. Without missing a beat, he said, “Mary Jo has it; the rest of us do not.” We all knew what he meant.

Mary Jo forgot more than I’ll ever know; I’m just honored to have had the opportunity to learn from someone so smart and dedicated. Rest in peace, Mary Jo.

Of all the recent losses, the most important to me is the passing of Marian Sullivan, my paternal Grandmother. When I think of my Grandma, a single word keeps coming up: selfless. Everything she ever did, she did for others.

Marian (Pint) Sullivan had a big family. They were extremely poor; her father moved around Northeast Iowa working odd jobs and renting small farms. Young Marian always got something for Christmas, but to say the gifts were modest is an understatement. One year she received a doll handmade from cornhusks; another year it was a small hand carved wooden cross; yet another year it was a couple pieces of citrus fruit. She never complained. Selfless.

Even though she was a good student, Marian was forced to quit high school and go to work to help support the family. Her labors even helped allow a younger brother to attend college. Selfless.

Marian made a ridiculously low wage; I seem to recall her mentioning making less than a dollar a day. She was working in a general store when she met Tom Sullivan, who had a second job cutting and delivering ice.

Tom and Marian were married, and tried to begin a life on the farm. Farming during the Depression was simply not working out; Tom and Marian could not afford to buy any land, so rents ate up all their income. When their first child (my father) was born, they had neither electricity nor running water. Life was hard for the Sullivans, but not any more difficult than it was for tens of millions of Americans of the day. But Marian gave her kids the things they needed. Selfless.

Finally, they had had enough. A couple hours to the south, Cedar Rapids offered a new beginning. World War II had just begun, and industry was taking off in Cedar Rapids. Anybody who was willing to work, regardless of race or gender, could join a labor union. Tom joined Carpenter’s Local 308; Marian united with many other women in the workforce and joined the United Food and Commercial Worker’s Local at Wilson’s Meatpacking.

I recently spoke to my Grandma about her 30 years in the meatpacking plant. She said she liked a lot of the people, but she looked me right in the eye and said, “I never enjoyed a single day there. I just did what I had to do.” Selfless.

Soon the War ended, and prosperity arrived. Hard work was paying off. The Sullivans were able to buy a house, a car, and put their kids through Catholic school. They didn’t get a television right away, but because Tom was willing to put an antenna on the roof next door, he got to go to the neighbors to watch pro wrestling. Marian’s wants always took a backseat. Selfless.

Despite decades of newfound wealth, not everything was perfect. Years of hard work caused Tom’s body to break down. His last years were spent using a wheelchair. Marian retired and served as his caregiver. Selfless.

Because of her years of factory work, Marian suffered from repetitive motion injuries the rest of her life. The UFCW union was busted at Wilson’s, and Marian’s pension and health insurance never quite lived up to their promises. But Marian knew the union protected her. Being a union member fit her profile: Selfless.

So, what is her legacy? Marian pulled her family from poverty to the middle class. They lived the American Dream. Every one of her grandkids had healthcare coverage. Every one of her grandkids had the opportunity to get a college education. Every one of her grandkids had the kinds of opportunities many Americans have come to expect, but much of the world can only dream about.

Marian Sullivan was selfless. She was also a great Grandma. I love you, Grandma, and I miss you.

Go Hawks! Best of luck in the Orange Bowl! You have given us a very memorable season – one of the best I can recall. The success of the football team has helped me deal with a tough year. Thanks, and good luck!

DID YOU KNOW? Johnson County is bordered by seven other counties – more than any other county in Iowa.

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-

www.johnson-county.com.

"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod

12-29-09

noreply@blogger.com (Rod) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 22:09:00 +0000

Sullivan’s Salvos 12/29/09

Happy New Year! 2009 was a tough year for many of us. For me personally, it was one of the most difficult years I have ever endured. It feels good to be able to turn the page. I hope 2010 is a great year for you and yours!

2009 is coming to a close, and it is time for honoring a few select Johnson County residents with that most treasured of honors, the Salvos Salute. A few observations:

* This is the fifth annual set of awards, and there are always more people who deserve awards than there are awards to give. We live in a great County!

* There are some people out there that could win every year. I am trying to honor different folks, but repeat winners are not out of the question. As a matter of fact, 2009 sees our second-ever repeat winners!

* Salvos Salutes do not have specific criteria, but you can bet that in general, most of the winners are courageous, advocate for peace and justice, have good ideas, speak truth to power, avoid hypocrisy, and look out for the less fortunate.

Without further adieu, your 2009 Salvos Salutes go to:

*Jen and Dawn Barborouske: This Iowa City couple challenged Iowa’s marriage laws, and the Iowa Supreme Court agreed. Let us be clear – Civil Rights should NEVER be subject to the whims of the majority! These two plaintiffs and their children will forever be heroes to me!

*Jim Dane, Johnson County Farm Bureau: An all-around great guy who is often asked to serve whenever the Ag community gets a seat at the table. Unfailingly fair and decent, Jim represents local farmers extremely well.

*Helen Lemley, Lone Tree Farmer’s Market: Councilor Lemley has done a bang up job of infusing some energy and enthusiasm into Lone Tree’s Farmer’s Market. A little creativity has generated outstanding results. Our small towns need this type of thing.

*Laura Hoover, Friends of Jefferson-Monroe Public Library: The people of Swisher and Shueyville deserve a public library. After 10 years of hard work by local volunteers, the library is a reality! There are plenty of kudos to go around, but no volunteer deserves more credit than Laura Hoover.

*Paul Deaton, Johnson County Board of Health: Fine particulate matter, secondhand smoke, binge drinking, sexually transmitted diseases, groundwater contamination… there are several controversial issues in Public Health. Johnson County never backs down from these and other challenges, primarily because of the leadership of the Chair of the Board of Health.

*Doug & Lori Lindner, Solon Economist & North Liberty Leader: According to the Gazette and Press Citizen, it is impossible to fully cover local news. Newspapers are dying, and there is nothing anyone can do to fix it. Pick up a copy of the Solon Economist or North Liberty Leader, and you will immediately see that the other papers are wrong. Doug & Lori and their small staff do it all. Nobody covers local news better… nobody!

*Consultation of Religious Communities: This ecumenical group has done many good things in our community, most notably organizing and staffing the homeless shelter overflow for the past 5 years. These folks live their faiths!

*Larry Meyers, late of the Board of Supervisors: What a brave man! I wish I were half the person my late colleague was. Larry was a great guy, and I miss him. Rest in Peace, Larry.

*Joan Vandenberg, Iowa City Community School District: The ICCSD serves many kids who face tremendous challenges. It is Joan’s job to marshal whatever resources are available, and help these kids to succeed. It is NOT easy, and Joan is a true champion for kids who often have no one else in their corner.

*Le Ann Tyson: Le Ann is a local realtor who has dedicated her life to helping honor our military veterans. LeAnn has spearheaded several local proceedings, including Wreaths Across America and several other events. Our vets have a true champion in Le Ann!

*SuEllen Novotny, Visiting Nurses Association: the VNA has a challenging mission, serving the ill and disabled in our county. For-profit home health companies skim off all the well-insured patients, leaving the poor and underinsured to the VNA. SuEllen has embraced this challenge, and VNA continues providing necessary care to our most vulnerable citizens.

*Steve Semken, Ice Cube Press in North Liberty: There isn’t much left that is truly “local”. But we are blessed with a fantastic local book publisher in Steve Semken. Ice Cube Press in North Liberty publishes many books about Iowa and/or by Iowa authors; everything they do is first class.

If you think I missed someone, please let me know. I want to know about all the great things residents of Johnson County are doing. Perhaps you will alert me to a future winner!

We live in a great county! Thanks to all the award winners for doing so much to make that so!

Government is GOOD! How do I know? Because of volunteer Boards and Commissions. Volunteer citizens assist local governments in providing direction for Veteran’s Affairs, Conservation, Public Health, Planning and Zoning, Social Services, MH/DS, and SEATS are just a few of the County Departments who rely on volunteers for direction.

Citizen involvement - brought to you by your GOVERNMENT!

DID YOU KNOW? Ancient Greeks started the tradition of using a baby to signify the New Year around 600 B.C. They would carry a baby around in a basket to honor Dionysus (the God of Fertility) and symbolize his annual rebirth.

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-

www.johnson-county.com.

"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod

12-22-09

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 22:38:00 +0000

Sullivan’s Salvos 12/22/09

Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate it. Happy Holidays to the rest. I sincerely hope your holiday season is happy and healthy for you and yours.

I am driving for the homeless shelter overflow project this week. It is important to remember that during this season where we spend hundreds of dollars, there are scores of our fellow citizens who have nowhere to sleep on a bitterly cold night.

It is particularly poignant given the story of the birth of Christ, and the fact that there was no room at the inn. How little things have changed in 2,000 years!

A million thanks to the Consultation of Religious Communities for organizing and running the overflow all these years.

I just got an E-mail from a friend who directed me toward a really neat site called “Corridor Barter”. The idea is that people in the corridor trade goods and services rather than spending money.

I think this looks pretty cool! Please see the attached link to the barter site. I am told it will improve as time goes on (they just wanted to get it going). Please forward it to anyone you think might be interested in posting services.

Johnson County is in the midst of an ongoing debate over what to do in cases of emergency. The recent weather has brought the conversation to the fore once again.

First, a bit of background: because a big part of what Johnson County does is public safety, several Johnson County departments never close. The Sheriff’s Office, Ambulance, Emergency Management, Secondary Roads, and Medical Examiner will never be closed – period. These are the folks the rest of us depend upon in emergencies, and I salute them.

The question is, what about the just under 400 county employees whose jobs are not related to public safety? Several years ago, an elected official made a declarative statement – “Johnson County never closes.” This has essentially been the law of the land ever since.

Meanwhile, Johnson County has experienced several different disasters, and the responses have been all over the board. The Treasurer, Recorder, and Auditor are independently elected Public Officials. The Board of Supervisors cannot technically make them do anything. Similarly, the County Attorney is independently elected; her situation is even more confusing, because she shares a Courthouse with State employees.

The Assessors are overseen by Conference Boards that only meet twice per year; typically, those Boards provide financial direction only, and offer little direction as to how the office should operate. These offices have closed on some occasions and not on others.

Many of the office workers are part of the same unions; it is obviously problematic to have one office treated differently than the others. In addition, it would be nice to be able to say, “Yes we are open,” or “No, we are not” without equivocating.

I have some strong feelings on this subject. I am put off by the whole macho we-never-close attitude. It is just plain stupid, frankly. We have tornado sirens going off, and some offices take cover while other workers just sit there. It is dangerous and dumb.

My proposal for addressing this situation is simple: I believe all 10 Elected Officials and all Department Heads should agree to defer to the judgment of the Sheriff. If he says take cover, we take cover. If he says we need to close, we close.

The reasons are many:

First, the Sheriff has the proper levels of knowledge and expertise. He has access to all the necessary info. No one is better suited to making such a call.

Secondly, the Sheriff has the required gravitas. If the Sheriff decides we are closed, we are closed. Disobey his order, and you are breaking the law.

Thirdly, we clearly need a single decision maker. Our inconsistency is a serious problem. As a person who is elected by the whole county, the Sheriff is in a position to be held accountable for his decisions by the voters. He would also be reachable by phone. (If for some reason the Sheriff was out of town, the decision-making authority should devolve to the highest-ranking officer available.) Anyone else would work for the Board, and be subject to the biases of uninformed Supervisors. This person would always be faced with 3-2 split opinions.

I have not spoken to the Sheriff about this proposal. But I think it is a natural outgrowth of his role as the Chief Public Safety Officer in the County. This one decision will not need to be made very often, and should not take away from his other duties.

There should be few costs to this policy. We already allow employees to go home; they simply need to use comp time, vacation, or take time without pay. I think we could maintain this system and expand it to include all nonemergency personnel. One catch - under the current system a person who cannot get to work (or leaves work) due to weather can take vacation; the problem is that any leave must be approved by their supervisor. I envision a system where vacation would be automatically approved if the buildings were shut down. Perhaps the unions representing our employees have ideas. Other counties have emergency plans – it can be done.

Emergency cancellations should be and are extremely rare, but pretending that nothing will ever happen is simply burying our heads in the sand. Basically anything we can imagine COULD happen. The potential emergencies are not even all weather-related; gas leaks, for example. We might as well have a plan.

People will second-guess every decision that is made. But there have only been an average of 1-3 days per year where conditions might call for closing county offices. The cost of sending folks home if they use time off is almost nothing. The cost is certainly much less than the cost of a life. Our employees deserve to be safe.

I am hopeful that Johnson County will listen to its employees, and adopt a common sense policy on disasters.

Government is GOOD! How do I know? Because the US Postal Service delivers our mail cheaply, quickly, and accurately. It is something most of us take for granted, but life without postal service would be a challenge.

Mail - brought to you by your GOVERNMENT!

DID YOU KNOW? Approximate amount generated by photographs with Santa in shopping malls in the USA: $2,255,750,000.

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
www.johnson-county.com.

"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod

12-15-09

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:04:00 +0000

Sullivan’s Salvos 12/15/09

Happy Hanukkah to all! I read a commentary recently that noted the spirit of Hanukkah was about bringing light to the darkness. Certainly that is needed now more than ever!

I’ll be volunteering at Project Holiday this morning (Tuesday, 12/15). As you remember your family and friends this holiday season, please also remember the many people among us who have significant needs. That is what the holidays are all about.

The Iowa Legislature will be going back in session soon, and like almost everyone else, Johnson County has a wish list. Some of Johnson County’s Legislative objectives for 2010:

We understand that there is no money available. So we are not requesting anything that will cost the State money. At the same time, we would respectfully request that the State avoid passing any unfunded mandates to counties. It is sometimes easier to kick problems down the road to another level of government; we want to protect against this.

Johnson County applies for a variety of State trails grants every year. Unfortunately, a couple of Legislators have started the unseemly process of earmarking trails projects for their Districts. We are requesting that our Legislators put an end to this earmarking, and allow all trails projects to stand on their own merit. If this cannot be accomplished, and there is no other recourse, we want a trails earmark for Johnson and Linn Counties.

We want the State to listen when it comes to suggestions that might save us all money. For example, Iowa recently decided on an asinine interpretation of Medicaid rules that requires case managers to document everything they do down to the minute. This overzealous interpretation IS NOT Federal law; few other states do anything this stupid. Yet the decision makers in Iowa’s Department of Human Services felt saddling case managers with this burden was a good move. If the Legislature will simply tell DHS to undo this requirement, MILLIONS of dollars will be freed up for services. This should be a nonpartisan slam-dunk, as every professional in the field in Iowa recognizes that this is a stupid interpretation, and a costly, self-inflicted budget wound.

A couple issues that are specific to Johnson County:

Legislation passed last year that required Johnson County to have our Veteran’s Affairs Office open a minimum of 40 hours per week. While this legislation was well intended, it did not account for the fact that Johnson County is home to a large VA hospital. Most veterans who need services go there first. So even though we had no complaints about the hours we maintained, we were forced to spend the money to staff the office 40 hours. We have an extremely dedicated veteran (Leo Baier) serving as our VA Director, and Leo feels strongly the change has harmed Johnson County. The money we spend just being open could be better spent on direct services to veterans. To fix this, we would like to see counties with VA hospitals exempted from the 40-hour requirement.

Johnson County is in a unique situation when it comes to the Medical Examiner Office. Due primarily to three large hospitals, Johnson County is home to an inordinate number of deaths. When a resident of another Iowa county dies here, State law allows Johnson County to bill the county of residence of the deceased. The problem is that lots of people from SW Wisconsin, NE Missouri, and western Illinois die in Johnson County. In those cases, there is no mechanism for billing the home counties of the deceased. We need the help of the State in addressing this problem.

While there are always frustrations with the legislative process, we need to give credit where credit is due. It should be noted that counties in general (and Johnson County in particular) have fared exceptionally well with the Iowa Legislature over the past two years. Legislators, in many cases led by the Johnson County delegation, have responded to county concerns like never before. Personally, I appreciate this cooperation and concern, and look forward to even more of the same this year.

Please join the Iowa Renewable Energy Association (I-Renew) for the First Annual I-Renew Friend Raiser at our home in the Wesley Center, 120 North Dubuque Street on Thursday, December 17th from 4:00 - 7:00 PM.

They’ll be serving wine and appetizers from some great local restaurants, along with some great music from Timcenzo and The Moonbeams. This will be a great opportunity to have some fun, support I-Renew, learn about I-Renew's expanded program offerings in 2010, meet the staff and Board AND meet other like-minded individuals who share your passion for clean renewable energy. There is no charge for the event but donations are welcome.

For more info contact: Mike Carberry, Executive Director
Iowa Renewable Energy Association (I-Renew)
mobile: 319-594-6453; mike@irenew.org ; www.irenew.org

Government is GOOD! How do I know? Because our food is inspected for safety. Worldwide, hundreds of thousands of people die each year because they ate tainted food. But that does not happen in the US.

Food safety- brought to you by your GOVERNMENT!

DID YOU KNOW? The population density of Johnson County is 181 people per square mile. Iowa City is 2,575 people per square mile. New York County, NY has a density of over 67,000 people per square mile.

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
www.johnson-county.com .

"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod

12-8-09

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:24:00 +0000

Sullivan’s Salvos 12/8/09

The fall sports season is winding down, with the Hawks headed to a big Bowl game in January. This has been one of the most fun football seasons in memory.

Best of luck to the football Hawks! Meanwhile, be sure to take some time this winter to enjoy the exploits of some of the other athletic teams at the UI, local junior highs, and high schools. There are lots of exciting teams out there that deserve our support!

People who observe politics love labels, particularly “liberal” and “conservative”. I am not sure those labels actually serve much purpose.

I need look no further than my own life for examples. My Republican grandfather was, in many ways, more liberal than my Democratic grandfather. Both men were honest and fair, and they got along very well.

Personally, my beliefs are all over the board. For example:

When it comes to finances, I could easily be described as conservative. I have shirts that are 20 years old. My wife and I bought much less house than the bank said we could afford. We only heat the place to about 62 degrees. I drive people crazy shutting off lights. We bought the most fuel-efficient vehicle available.

In addition to finances, I could be viewed as conservative in other areas. I believe strongly in many traditions. I believe people should stand at attention during the National Anthem, and I get angry when they do otherwise. I believe in individual responsibility. Though I have no interest in it personally, I have no problem with private gun ownership. We are fairly strict parents. We attend church almost every Sunday. I think young people ought to dress more modestly. I love eating meat. I hate eminent domain.

On the other hand, I certainly fit many definitions of liberal. I believe government is good, and I think taxes are the price of a civilized society. I adamantly support gay rights. I believe in unions. I think those with much are morally obligated to help those with less. I believe in the separation of church and state. I believe healthcare is an unalienable right. We have African American children. We give thousands of dollars to social services agencies. We are foster parents. I think the death penalty should be abolished in all cases.

Libertarian? That confuses things even more. I believe marijuana should be legal, and the government should stay out of the bedroom. But I also strongly believe in government regulation of industry. I do not believe huge amounts of wealth should be transferred without being taxed.

Some people who really dislike me refer to me as a liberal. Some people who like me a lot refer to me as a liberal. I do not mind the label; I’m not afraid of the word. At the same time, I’m not sure it serves much purpose.

Similarly, I have no burning desire to be grouped with every person that shares most of my views. Some are wonderful people, others are not. Along the same lines, some folks who disagree with me on most everything are really good people. Some who disagree with me on most issues are most certainly not good people. The world is full of both.

I am happy to spell out where I stand on any given issue. I would prefer that we focus on issues rather than labels. What is your take?

Congratulations to Janelle Rettig, who was selected as the Democratic nominee for Johnson County Supervisor for the January 19, 2010 special election.

Please remember to vote in this vital election! If you are going to be away, request an absentee ballot.

Government is GOOD! How do I know? Because our system of parks and natural areas provides a connection to nature and a respite from our busy lives.

Imagine a world with no parks! Scary, isn’t it? Parks - brought to you by your GOVERNMENT!

DID YOU KNOW? Cook County, Illinois (population 6 million) has more residents who speak Polish (150,000) than Johnson County, Iowa has residents!

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
www.johnson-county.com .

"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod

12-1-09

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 22:00:00 +0000

Sullivan’s Salvos 12/1/09

I know that Johnson County is full of people who want to make the world a better place. If this sounds like you, I have a suggestion: consider becoming a foster parent. Melissa and I have served as foster parents for many years now, and it has been a truly rewarding experience.

In all seriousness, Johnson County is desperate for more foster parents. The Department of Human Services is very willing to work with families (or individuals) to match your needs with those of children needing a place to live.

Interested? Respond to this E-mail or give me a call. I’d be happy to discuss it in greater detail.

Local Republican and Democratic Parties will be meeting to select their respective candidates for the January 19 County Supervisor election.

The Democratic Party will hold its convention at 6:30 PM on December 3rd in Room 10 of the Pappajohn Business Building. Local Republicans will meet December 5 in the afternoon at the Coralville Public Library.

The January 19 special election will serve to fill the seat vacated upon the passing of Larry Meyers. That seat is currently being filled by Democrat Janelle Rettig, who was appointed to fill the vacancy. The winner of the January 19 election will serve until early November of 2010, when the winner of the general election will be seated.

As you know, Iowa City received a tremendous honor when the United Nations named it a UNESCO City of Literature, only the third in the world and the first in the Western Hemisphere.

So what has been happening since? Many outstanding ideas have been forwarded, and lots of bright people are trying to decide what do. For an update on the progress, see Pulitzertown.com or iowacityofliterature.com.

Congratulations to my dear friend (and Salvos reader!) Kirsten Running Marquardt of Cedar Rapids on her recent election to the Iowa House of Representatives.

Kirsten won a special election to fill the seat in House District 33 vacated by Dick Taylor. Many of you will know Kirsten as the Johnson County staff person with the Iowa Democratic Party back in 2000, or as a stalwart worker for SEIU Local 199 in Coralville.

Kirsten grew up in CR, and moved back there a few years ago. But I have no doubt that she will be happy to hear from her Johnson County friends in her new role. Congrats again, Kirsten!

Finding Our Balance Policy Summit -Securing Iowa’s Budget Now and For the Future. Friday, December 4 from 9am to 3pm at the Botanical Center in Des Moines.

The summit will examine and respond to the balance problem built into Iowa’s fiscal structure and budget practices. We are bringing in national and state experts to offer their perspectives. In addition, other speakers will offer a look at various possibilities for reforms in order to create a more sustainable budget for Iowans. This event will provide information about the challenges we all face as Iowans.

Please respond to aberg@cfpciowa.org if you are planning to attend. Please make the subject line "Will Attend," and include your contact information (name, organization, phone, email, etc.) in the body of the email.

Government is GOOD! How do I know? Because Meals on Wheels exists to provide nutrition to people who cannot leave home.

Over one million seniors take Meals on Wheels, with the number rising every day. Brought to you by your GOVERNMENT!

DID YOU KNOW? Wayne County, Indiana (population 71,000) has the highest percentage of its total population divorced - 19%. (Source: National Association of Counties.)

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
www.johnson-county.com .

"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod

11-24-09

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:21:00 +0000

Sullivan’s Salvos 11/24/09

Happy Thanksgiving! Looking back, 2009 was a very difficult year for me. Yet I know that I am truly blessed. I have many things for which I am thankful – including the wonderful folks who read Salvos each week!

Thank you for your interest, friendship, and understanding. Have a great holiday - all my best to you and yours.

A little over a year ago, voters were kind enough to give me a second term as a County Supervisor. I thought it might be a good idea to check in on my campaign promises (established about 20 months ago) to see how I am doing.

1). Increase County commitment to the environment: The big thing that happened on this front was the Conservation Bond initiative. While I can hardly take credit for that issue passing, I am certainly proud of the role I played.

Besides the bond initiative, the Conservation Department is moving into a new headquarters. Their current (soon to be former) facility is outdated, undersized, and frankly, unsafe. The new facility should facilitate an improvement in the efficiency of the Conservation Department.

In addition to good things in the Conservation Department, Johnson County has adopted a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan – the first County in Iowa to do so. This plan implements some common sense energy savings along with LEED certified buildings, organized vanpools, and other ambitious goals.

2). Improve dust control: Johnson County adopted a new Chip Seal policy that allows individuals to pay for chip seals in front of their own properties. In addition, Johnson County has identified priority roads for upgrading from dirt to gravel and gravel to chip seal.

3). Support Human Services: While we have not increased funding for Human Services, the pot of money has not been cut. I am committed to maintaining a strong safety net for our least fortunate citizens. That includes a look at “unfreezing” the amount of money Johnson County puts toward Health & Human Services.

4). Update the County Land Use Plan: This was completed not long after the election. There were several improvements to the LUP, including a much smaller and more dense rural growth area, and an end to the “phasing” concept. Unincorporated villages have finally been given some attention – Frytown and Sutliff have development plans, and Cosgrove is in the works. Johnson County has done a much better job of protecting sensitive areas, and the Plan instructs the Board & staff to protect farmland. We are limiting the number of wells and wastewater systems that go into the ground by encouraging shared systems.

So how have I done? I would have to say I feel pretty good so far. Perhaps you disagree with my measures in these areas. Perhaps you feel I have missed the boat somewhere else. Maybe I campaigned on the wrong issues altogether! If so, please let me know!

Johnson County has several openings on Boards and Commissions:

*The Compensation Commission needs 5 members. (1 member) – Owner of Farm Property; (2 members) – Licensed Real Estate Brokers or Sales Persons; (2 members) – Other Occupations.

*The Livable Community for Successful Aging Policy Board needs one member representing the University of Iowa.

*The Juvenile Justice Youth Development Program needs one representative from a social services agency, and 2 members representing local businesses.

*The Historic Preservation Commission needs 2 members.

Please feel free to contact me if you have questions regarding any or all of these Boards and Commissions. We would love to have you apply!

The Homeless Children’s Trust 21st annual Holiday Party will be December 5th at the Moose Lodge in Iowa City. Please help support the concept to "make a child happy today" by supporting Stuff Etc. during the month of December. A portion of the daily proceeds will go toward the Homeless Children’s Trust fund, which not only pays for the annual party, but also the Back-to School effort every August.

Volunteers are needed to help at the party doing various tasks such as shopping with parents at K Mart, wrapping packages at K Mart, working in the kitchen at the Moose Lodge, monitoring children at the Moose Lodge, helping to sort and package the donations on Friday December 5th at HACAP. If you would like to assist at this really fun event call Mary at 338-1212 (days) or 337-2264 (evening). Donations are always welcome and can be sent to HACAP at 367 Southgate Ave., Iowa City.

Government is GOOD! How do I know? Because the Family and Medical Leave Act exists to protect your job if you need time off to care for a sick loved one.

Yes, the US still lags behind almost every other First World country in this area. But imagine not having the FMLA! Brought to you by your GOVERNMENT!

DID YOU KNOW? Johnson County loses 3-5 tons of soil per acre of farmland per year. (Source: NRCS.)

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
www.johnson-county.com.

"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod

11-17-09

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:54:00 +0000

Sullivan’s Salvos 11/17/09

I have noted before that I believe Johnson County is blessed with the finest Public Health Department in the State of Iowa. The organization and administration of the recent H1N1 clinics have only reinforced my belief.

Thanks to everyone at the Johnson County Department of Public Health for all your efforts! Great job!

Johnson County has at long last adopted a Buy Local policy. I am surprised at how difficult this has been. The policy itself has no teeth and zero mandates; it simply says we MAY buy local. Yet folks seem to be gravely concerned over the ramifications.

Frankly, my guess is that the Board will do very little to enforce this policy. Perhaps the public will hold us to account. In any case, having a policy is a step in the right direction. I am proud that this day has finally arrived.

Johnson County continues to work on a Cosgrove village plan. As you may recall, one of the items that came out of our 2008 Land Use Plan update was a need to create land use plans specific to each of our 11 unincorporated villages. Plans have previously been completed for Frytown and Sutliff, and both were very successful. I expect the Cosgrove plan to be completed early in 2010.

Johnson County is putting the finishing touches on several road projects. Notably, Highway 965 is now open, and Oak Crest Hill Road is almost complete.

Both of these roads are known as “Transfer of Jurisdiction” or “TJ” roads. This is because the State of Iowa determined that they served a more local purpose, and would be a better fit as a part of the county secondary roads systems.

I agree that it made sense to transfer these roads from the State to the county. But here is the rub: the State agreed to pay $200,000 a year for ten years for all maintenance for all TJ roads - total. The current Oak Crest Hill and 965 projects combined to cost almost $4 million, and we have only done half of each road. Plus, there are several additional TJ roads that also need work.

Given the condition of these roads and the total mileage involved, the State should have transferred $1,000,000 per year for ten years to cover the cost of these roads. What occurred instead was yet another unfunded mandate.

Johnson County is catching up on the much-needed maintenance of these roads. But it is unfortunate that it is taking so much local time and local money.

November 15-21 is national Hunger & Homeless Awareness Week. The following local & state groups are sponsoring a Community Connections Day on November 18th to provide information and services for persons who are homeless and in need: Johnson County Local Homeless Coordinating Board, University of Iowa Center for Human Rights, Iowa Finance Authority, & Iowa City Human Rights Commission.

Community donations of new socks and underwear are requested for distribution during Community Connections Day, and donations can be made until 4:30pm on Tuesday November 17th at the following locations: Iowa City/Johnson County Senior Center, Coralville City Hall, Iowa City City Hall, and Johnson County Health & Human Services Building.

Government is GOOD! How do I know? Because FEMA exists to act when disasters strike. Face it – there is no way a local government could ever possibly save enough money to cover the losses from a natural disaster. The only way we can address these types of issues is through federal intervention.

Yes, FEMA has problems. But where would we be without the help of that agency following our recent floods? FEMA helped tremendously. Brought to you by your GOVERNMENT!

DID YOU KNOW? Johnson County has suffered 34 suicides in 2009, up from 19 in 2008. (Source: Medical Examiner’s Office.)

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
www.johnson-county.com.

"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod

11-10-09

noreply@blogger.com (Rod Sullivan) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:33:00 +0000

Sullivan’s Salvos 11/10/09

A belated Happy Birthday to my daughter Rachel, who turned 18 on November 6. It is pretty hard to believe that Rachel is now a legal adult! It is a little scary, too!

Happy Birthday, Honey. I know it has not been easy, but you have come very far. I love you with all my heart!

Happy Veteran’s Day on November 11. I salute the women and men who have worn the uniform of our country. I hope we soon get to a point where we are not putting so many of our young people in harm’s way. Until that day, thank you to all who have sacrificed.

Congratulations to all the winners of the recent City Council elections, and thanks to everyone who ran for office. The next four years will undoubtedly present us with several challenges – best of luck!

All the wet weather this fall is making it very tough on my friends and family in agriculture. You may have noticed that the combining is running behind. Please join me in hoping for continued dry weather!

In keeping with the wet theme, “Water In – Water Out in Johnson County” will be presented by the Johnson County League of Women Voters Regional Governance Committee Thursday, November 12th at 7:00 PM at the Coralville Public Library.

Four regional experts in water management issues will give brief presentations and answer questions. For more information call Carol Spaziani, 338-6140.

I have been on Twitter for some time now. While I was dubious at first, I really like tweeting!

I do not have texting on my phone, so I only get tweets from the people I follow when I log onto the Twitter site. Because of this, it goes without saying that I am much more into sending than receiving. I follow about 25 other tweeters.

My tweets have tended to be at night, and tend to describe the upcoming day. But there is a bit of everything. If you are interested, feel free to follow me! And if you are following someone really interesting, please recommend her!

As you know, I frequently write about issues of poverty, class, taxes, and the like. People take from it what they will. I just came across some interesting statistics that may add some perspective to the discussion.

The median income for a household in the US is $48,000. That may include one or two incomes; it may include one family member or seven. The median household income is $48,000.

If you take the middle 60 percent of all household incomes, they range between $25,000 and $97,000. That is one definition of middle class. 20 percent of households earn over $97,000. More strikingly, 20 percent of households earn less than $25,000. Yet fully five out of six Americans describe themselves as being middle class.

A household that earns over $250,000 (again, regardless of one or two wage earners) is in the top 2% of all American households. Imagine where that places them among all the people of the world! Yet few people earning $250,000 consider themselves wealthy.

I know Melissa and I have always viewed ourselves as middle class… for the first time ever this year we now earn $100,000 between us. So I guess we are statistically actually wealthy! And realistically, compared to everyone else, we are. We need to remember that, particularly when we are asked to donate our time, talents, and finances to various charities.

As we approach Thanksgiving, keep in mind how well we do compared to our fellow human beings. Life is good, and we are truly blessed.

Government is GOOD! How do I know? Because FEMA exists to act when disasters strike. Face it – there is no way a local government could ever possibly save enough money to cover the losses from a natural disaster. The only way we can address these types of issues is through federal intervention.

Yes, FEMA has problems. But where would we be without the help of that agency following our recent floods? FEMA helped tremendously. Brought to you by your GOVERNMENT!

DID YOU KNOW? More Iowa females own farmland now than ever before. (Many were joint owners who are now widows.)

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
www.johnson-county.com .

"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod