SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
January 8, 2008
A quick take on the recent Caucuses:
*Turnout was AMAZING! Johnson County, you are the best!
*Congratulations to all the candidates on a fine race. Special congrats to Obama and Huckabee, the winners on the night.
*It was not all that long ago that Iowa would never have voted for a black man, let alone overwhelmingly. We have come a long way!
*Thanks to all the local staff people. This was an outstanding crop of dedicated young people, and we were lucky to have them.
*Thanks to school principals for their cooperation, and particular thanks to school custodians! Caucuses could not occur without the patience and help of these folks.
*Thanks to Party Chairs Brian Flaherty and Bill Kettel. These gentlemen took on the thousands of incredibly difficult and usually thankless tasks that make the caucuses go.
*If you just went by yard signs, “Support Our Troops – End the War” was an easy winner. Those signs outnumbered all others by 2-1 in Johnson County. I hope all candidates keep this fact in mind!
*Three big winners: 1.) The Iowa Caucuses themselves. Iowans answered the bell. 2.) Young people. The rest of us need to take them seriously. 3.) Change. People in both parties are crying out for something different.
*Three big losers: 1.) Tom Vilsack. His endorsements have not done well. The former Governor needs to get back to listening to Iowans. 2.) AFSCME. Attack ads on fellow Democrats are a bad idea. Plus your candidate lost. Now what? 3.) New York. Guiliani and Clinton both falter, and “I Love New York” is disgusting reality TV.
I am pleased to announce that I will have the opportunity to serve as Chair of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors this year.
The Chair position is an interesting one. Many cities (Coralville & North Liberty, to name two) directly elect their Mayors. The Chair of the BOS is not directly elected by the people; the Chair is elected by her/his peers (Iowa City operates similarly). But unlike Iowa City, where individual Councilors vie to be Mayor, Johnson County has a history of simply rotating the position of Chair. So getting elected Chair is just ceremonial. Other Counties tend to do the same thing, unless local politics lead to 3 Republicans shutting out 2 Democrats, or vice versa.
The role of the Chair is not that different from the role of the other Supervisors. There are three key differences: 1.) running the meeting; 2.) setting the agenda; and 3.) signing all the things that require signatures. It is a fair bit more work, but no more pay.
Setting the agenda also has an interesting history. Since the first election of Supervisor Stutsman 13 years ago, the Supervisors have gradually begun to treat each other with greater respect. (Sally deserves a lot of credit for this!) For the past several years, any Supervisor who really wanted an item on the agenda has gotten her/his wish. So the “internal politics” of the position are not too tough.
So will anything change with me serving as Chair? Well, I would like to implement a few minor changes that I think will improve citizen access to County government.
First, I hope to move the citizen input portion of the agenda from the end of the agenda to the beginning. That way, a citizen who wants to address the Board need not sit through the whole meeting before getting to speak. Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty, Solon, Hills, Swisher, Oxford, and University Heights do this already, as do Linn, Scott, and Blackhawk Counties. So it is not exactly a novel idea. I think this will serve the people of Johnson County much better than our current format – I hope my fellow Supervisors agree.
Secondly, I hope to have the Board formally accept more reports than we do now; I am thinking of things such as minutes from the Conservation Board and Board of Health. While formally accepting these types of reports doesn’t really change anything, it alerts more people to what is happening in County government. Again, I hope my fellow Supervisors agree that this would better serve the public.
Finally, I hope to add some hyperlinks to the agenda. I envision the Board agenda having an item such as “Accept minutes from July meeting of Board of Health,” then having a hyperlink so any interested person could just click and know what those minutes contained. Again, I hope my fellow Supervisors agree that this change would better serve the public. There are some minor technological (and perhaps personnel) issues in the way of this, but I remain hopeful.
Special thanks to Auditor Slockett and County Attorney Lyness for their support of these ideas. County government is indeed a cooperative venture! I will let you know if any or all of these changes get made.
Please let me know if you have ideas that might improve County government. My contact info appears at the end of every edition of Salvos.
Johnson County is excited to announce that Douglas E. Beardsley has accepted the position of Public Health Director for Johnson County beginning January 2, 2008. Mr. Beardsley succeeds former Director Ralph Wilmoth, who resigned in October 2007 to move to Colorado.
Mr. Beardsley holds a Master's Degree in Public Health from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a Bachelor's Degree in Health Education from the University of Utah. He comes to Johnson County from Boone County Health Department in Belvidere, Illinois, where he has served as Administrator since 1994. Prior to that Mr. Beardsley was Assistant Administrator for the Henry County Health Department in Kewanee, Illinois from 1989 to 1994.
Welcome aboard, Doug!
DID YOU KNOW? The Treasurer’s Office has reduced the non-personnel part of their budget for nine consecutive years.
Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website - http://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.
As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!
---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 7:55 PM
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