SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
February 9, 2022
Sullivan’s Salvos 2/15/22
In this edition:
*County Attorney Lyness to Retire
*Proposed Raises for Elected Officials
*Bowl For Kid’s Sake
*Johnson County Wins Award!
*Moving and Sense of Place
*Did You Know?
*County Attorney Lyness to Retire
Congratulations to County Attorney Janet Lyness, who recently announced that she will not seek reelection. Lyness will serve until December 31, 2022, at which time a new County Attorney will be sworn in.
Let’s begin with the obvious. County Attorney is a tough job. A quarter of the population wants you to “get tough on crime.” They want longer, harsher sentences, and fewer plea bargains. About 40% of the population wants you to reduce the number of charges filled and the severity of those charges. 35% of the people would answer, “It depends.” And one’s outlook can depend upon whether their loved one was a victim or a perpetrator.
In addition, the professional ethics of the office prevent the County Attorney from talking in detail about most cases. So the strongly held opinions of uninformed people on social media often carry the day.
I have had the pleasure of serving with Janet her whole time as an elected official (2006-2022), though she has served in the County Attorney’s Office since 1990. And that experience is something that has really benefitted Janet in her job – there is very little she hasn’t already seen.
Janet has instituted some important changes over the years – she created a drug treatment court, a marijuana diversion program, and assisted in the development of the GuideLink Center. Under her leadership, the county attorney’s office also developed diversion programs to address racial and economic disparity in the criminal justice system. In addition, she was the first woman to hold the office of Johnson County Attorney.
But that is all professional stuff. I will miss Janet because she is such a good person. She is kind, caring, compassionate, smart, dedicated, and funny. She really is a great human being. We have been lucky to have her, and I will really miss her. Congratulations, Janet!
*Proposed Raises for Elected Officials
You might have heard recently that the Compensation Board recommended 18% increases for the elected officials in Johnson County. Unfortunately, few of the news outlets that reported this never followed up to see how the Supervisors actually voted.
First, a bit of background: The Compensation Board is a creation of Iowa Law. It exists to recommend salary increases for elected officials. Supervisors appoint two members to this Board; the Sheriff, County Attorney, Auditor, Recorder, and Treasurer each appoint one member. The Board then meets once a year to recommend salaries for the elected officials.
The Auditor’s Office runs around gathering a whole bunch of information for these folks to use in their decisions; 99% of which is useless, though perhaps interesting. The two most important bits of information BY FAR are not included in this packet: that being the County’s budget outlook and the desires of the Board of Supervisors.
My stance has been consistent from the very beginning – elected officials ought to get equal to or less than what the unions have negotiated. There were years that I was outvoted, and that is fine.
Meanwhile, most years a rogue member or two of the Compensation Board decides to propose a 20% raise for the elected official they represent. Then they spend a bit of time explaining how the person they represent works harder than the other elected officials, leaving behind a roomful of hurt feelings. Then a recommendation for an increase of 6, 7, or 8% comes to the Supervisors. In that meeting, I make a motion to cut that recommendation to what the unions are getting. The motion carries. And we repeat the same, stupid cycle year after year after year.
The whole process is a ridiculous waste of time. All it does is generate misleading headlines and hurt feelings.
That is basically what happened this year. We approved 2.25% raises for the Supervisors. So why must we go through this ridiculous farce every year?
*Bowl For Kid’s Sake
The Sullivan for Supervisor team is once again raising money for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Johnson County by Bowling For Kids’ Sake.
BBBS is trying several different things to get bowlers to participate: You can bowl in person (like normal) but masked and distanced; you can get a rain check and bowl later in the year; you can bowl virtually using an app; or you can compete in an online trivia contest.
I am not going in person this year. That is sad, because it is the second year in a row after a streak of about 16 consecutive years. (Ironically, BFKS was one of the last things we did in 2020 before COVID hit.)
But we are still going to raise money! Because BBBS is REALLY important! Statistics show that having a trusted adult mentor makes an unbelievable difference in the life of a child. Kids with BBBS matches do better academically, are less likely to abuse drugs and alcohol, and are less likely to be involved in the criminal justice system. This simple idea WORKS.
Please contribute to the Sullivan for Supervisor team at:
https://ca-p2p.engagingnetworks.app/22705/bfks2022/129989/sullivan-for-supervisor
*Johnson County Wins Award!
The League of American Bicyclists has again recognized the Johnson County Downtown Campus with a Gold-level Bicycle Friendly Business award. The campus first earned the designation in 2017.
The Johnson County Downtown Campus is being honored for such efforts as sharing safe riding guidelines in multiple languages, and hosting educational events and fairs. Newer recognized activities include an ICAD-Merge partnership to share advice with local businesses on how to be bike friendly, and a series of “bike commuter” profiles in the employee newsletter.
Increased financial support from the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to the Iowa City Bike Library, which provides affordable bikes to people in the community and focuses on bicycle equity, education and accessibility, was also an important activity.
The Johnson County Downtown Campus renewed Gold designation will be active through 2025.There are 28 Bicycle Friendly Businesses in Iowa, including 13 in Johnson County. In addition, eight Iowa cities are Bicycle Friendly Communities, including Iowa City—Silver, Coralville—Bronze, and University Heights—Bronze. The University of Iowa has achieved Silver in the Universities category.
To learn more about the Bicycle Friendly Businesses program, visit the League online at www.bikeleague.org/business. To access state lists of businesses and communities that have earned awards, visit https://www.bikeleague.org/bfa/awards.
*Moving and Sense of Place
When you live in the same place for 21 years, you develop thousands of tiny habits. When you move, those habits get upended. So you suddenly struggle with things that did not used to require any effort. For example: Where do you put your keys? Where do you keep spare change? Why can’t I find a pen? You get the idea.
I took a very interesting class back in college at the UI (you know it was interesting, because I still remember it 38 years later) called Physical Geography. It simply asked us to record where we go, how we get there, and how long we spend there. Then we graphed it. Then we discussed it. It was fascinating! (In my case, many roads led to the Vine on East Prentiss!)
Interestingly, while I have spent a lot of time in Iowa City, I have barely spent any time in my new neighborhood. I have spent a great deal of time in the north side businesses, but not the residential area to the north. I always lived on the south side, until I bought a house on the east side. I worked on the north side briefly, with a part-time office at the old DHS for a few years. But I spent very little time in-office. Rarely recreated there. Rarely visited there. Although it is familiar, it is actually very new.
There has been a great deal of work done across disciplines about sense of place. I love the notion of a “third place.” I have always been attracted to this line of thinking. My friend Tom Dean writes about it frequently in Little Village. My friends Jim Throgmorton and Barbara Eckstein have done some wonderful work on places and stories; if you find any of this interesting, please check out their work. Moving has made me acutely aware of some of the things I have read over the years.
I have been feeling pretty discombobulated lately, and I’m afraid it will take a while to begin feeling a sense of normalcy in my new surroundings. So please bear with me as I develop a new sense of place!
*DID YOU KNOW? “Third places” is a term coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg and refers to places where people spend time between home ('first' place) and work ('second' place). They are locations where we exchange ideas, have a good time, and build relationships.
Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
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---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 9:36 PM
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