Rod Sullivan, Supervisor, Johnson County, Iowa

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SULLIVAN'S SALVOS

December 27, 2009

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

posted by Rod @ 4:09 PM  0 Comments

December 20, 2009

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

posted by Rod Sullivan @ 4:38 PM  0 Comments

December 12, 2009

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

posted by Rod Sullivan @ 4:04 PM  0 Comments

December 5, 2009

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

posted by Rod Sullivan @ 5:24 PM  0 Comments



Copyright © 2008 Rod Sullivan, Johnson County Board of Supervisors. All rights reserved.
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