SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
November 14, 2019
Sullivan’s Salvos 11/19/19
In this edition:
*United Way and Iowa Shares
*Elected Officials and Attendance
*Did You Know?
*United Way and Iowa Shares
The calendar has turned to November, when many of us begin to think about charitable giving. Personally, I hope you will consider gifts to the United Way and Iowa Shares.
The United Way of Johnson and Washington Counties is in its’ 100th year. It consists of 32 partner organizations that serves thousands of local residents. Last year, local volunteers contributed 86,500 volunteer hours to those organizations. To top it off, 4164 unique donors contributed $2,141,000.
Meanwhile, Iowa Shares is 25 years old, and consists of 21 social justice organizations. Last year donors gave almost $100,000 to these important causes.
Four of the five County Supervisors will be Chairing our workplace campaign. We hope to increase charitable giving among county employees. It is easy to give you time and money. Please consider making a contribution today!
*Elected Officials and Attendance
I remember walking into the Johnson County Courthouse that day. I had done so many times before, but this time felt different. It was late June, and I had recently been one of three candidates for Supervisor (out of seven) to make it through the Democratic Party Primary Election. Given the edge that Democrats typically enjoy in General Elections, it looked pretty certain that I would be elected to the Board.
Remember the classic scene at the end of the 1972 movie “The Candidate”? Robert Redford wins the election, turns to his campaign manager, and says, “What do we do now?” I think every elected official goes through a moment like that upon first being elected.
I had my moments of doubt as well, but I also had a plan: I would seek some advice from Johnson County Attorney J. Patrick White. That is why I found myself heading into the Courthouse on that June day.
If you do not know who Pat White is, you should. Pat grew up in Iowa City, while his father served as County Attorney. Pat went on to work in the County Attorney’s Office himself, serving about 40 years, including 24 years elected as County Attorney. Pat also served on the Iowa City Council in the 70s. There are all sorts of State laws that have Pat’s fingerprints all over them. He is one of the most respected County Attorneys in Iowa’s history.
I had the pleasure of serving with Pat for two years before he retired, and I learned a great deal. He was (and is) a brilliant guy. I now consider him a friend. I cannot say I always agreed with him. But I also knew which one of our arguments would win in court – and that was his!
So I went into my meeting with Pat that day asking for him to impart some wisdom. I also had a few questions. One thing I had never considered: what were the benefits of the job? I had 3 young children at home, and I had never bothered to look into it. Pat reassured me that County insurance was quite good.
Then I asked about vacation and sick leave. “You don’t have it,” he replied. “What do you mean?” I asked. “You do not have sick leave or vacation. Elected officials do not punch a clock. You work as much or as little as you see fit.”
“Well, how would I know if I took too much vacation or sick time?” I asked. Pat smiled and said, “The voters will let you know.”
As it turned out, this may have been one of the rare occasions where Pat was wrong! As a matter of fact, voters seem to pay ZERO attention to the attendance of elected officials. Granted, many county employees are aware. I can guarantee you they pay attention! But those 100-200 county employees who might be aware have never made attendance an election issue.
About the same time I squeezed through the primary here, a Scott County Supervisor named Otto Ewoldt suffered a stroke. He went into a nursing home, and never returned to work.
Supervisor Ewoldt also never resigned. So he remained an elected Supervisor, getting paid and receiving benefits, never attending a single county function, for over a year. Finally, some Scott County residents began to complain. Obviously, it was not Mr. Ewoldt’s fault that he could not do the job. But the fact remained – the people of Scott County deserved their full complement of Supervisors. Finally, he resigned, a full two years after his stroke.
In the meantime, the Iowa Legislature took a look at the laws governing elected officials. In response to the Scott County situation, they came up with the following fix: “An elected official may also be removed from office by the district court for several specific, statutorily defined reasons. These are: willful or habitual neglect or refusal to perform the duties of office; willful misconduct or maladministration in office; intoxication, or being convicted of intoxication; corruption; extortion; conviction of a felony; or conviction of violation of the provisions of Iowa Code chapter 56 (Campaign Finance Disclosure Law).”
Since this version of the law has been in place, Iowa has had a few instances of elected officials being removed from office, but not many. Sometimes the elected officials perpetrated criminal acts. But often the stories are just tragic. Like everyone else, sometimes elected officials get ill.
We have not had anyone removed from office here in Johnson County. However, former Supervisor Larry Meyers died of cancer while in office. Larry was unbelievably committed to the job, and came to work on days that truly amazed me. Still, at the very end, Larry probably went a month or more without attending any meetings or other county functions. I was with him the night he died, and he apologized for not having read the packet for the next day’s work session. “It’s OK, Larry,” I said. “I know you’ll get to it.” He died a few hours later.
Larry’s situation was not difficult to understand, nor difficult to accept. What is much tougher to address is an elected official who simply does not do much work.
I almost always work a little over 40 hours per week. Much of that is in the office; some is out of the office. Some is after hours. But all in all, you get a little over 40 hours from me every week. Johnson County Treasurer Tom Kriz is a darn hard worker; he puts in 55 hours every week without fail! But most people do not know that. I think there is just an assumption that elected officials work 40 hours and take maybe two weeks of vacation. But it is wrong to assume.
I can assure you – even on a 5-person Board, it matters when a single Supervisor cannot or will not attend to the job. It means more calls and emails for the others. It means the others deal with more questions from Department Heads. It means the others have more meetings. It really does add up.
Elected officials are pretty well compensated. It seems to me that a pretty minimal expectation is that they come to work. If an elected official cannot or will not, she/he owes it to the people to resign.
How about you? What do you think is the appropriate amount for an elected official to work? Should there be electoral consequences for missing 10% of the meetings? 20%? 50%? Is 20 days of vacation too much? 30? 60? How many sick days can an elected official take and still do the job? 20? 40? 80?
I know I am blessed with good enough health to do the job. I am fortunate. If my health was too bad to do the job, I would resign. In my opinion, the job is bigger than any one person. If you cannot or will not do the job, you need to step down and let someone else do it. The public deserves full representation.
I do not have answers to all the questions I posed. But I do think it is worthwhile for the public to think about what is acceptable.
*DID YOU KNOW? The state law laying out the duties of elected officials is Chapter 331 of the Iowa Code.
Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
"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.
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---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 9:14 AM
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