SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
August 10, 2022
Sullivan’s Salvos 8/16/22
In this edition:
*Happy Birthday, Melissa!
*Happy Birthday, BJ!
*St. Peter Cosgrove Pork Day
*Direct Assistance Program
*Political Threats
*Did You Know?
*Happy Birthday, Melissa!
My wonderful wife Melissa Fath celebrates her birthday on August 17th. I have got to tell you – Melissa Fath is AMAZING! Her ability to balance cancer research with her roles as a wife, mother, grandmother, friend, volunteer, and community member – I have no words to do it justice! I guess I’ll just stick to: Happy Birthday, Honey! I love you!
*Happy Birthday BJ!
My son BJ turns 26 on August 22. He has already had several adventures, and there are no doubt more to come. BJ lives in Orlando, pursuing his dreams.
BJ is funny compassionate, kind, and all around wonderful! I am very proud of him! Happy Birthday, BJ! I love you!
*St. Peter Cosgrove Pork Day
Sunday, August 21 marks the annual St. Peter Catholic Church Pork Day in Cosgrove. There is a Polka Mass at 11; pork dinners served 11-2; events for kids, bingo, a beer tent, raffles, and much more!
*Direct Assistance Program
I was disappointed in the recent discussions regarding the Direct Assistance Program (DAP) Johnson County instituted with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money. Here is a bit of background for those who may not recall the history:
Johnson County received just a bit over $29 million in federal ARPA money. The Board decided to spend that money on approximately 35 projects of varying sizes and scopes. One of the programs that we funded was $2 million in direct assistance. In other words, sending people checks. It just so happened that this was a pet project of mine, so I was very pleased that the Board voted to make it happen.
The devil is in the details, of course. I was disappointed when the Board later chose to open this funding up to everyone who met the income criteria. I had hoped that we could first target people who met the income criteria but had been ineligible for other federal programs. While we could have done so, it would have been a challenge for staff. (I want to acknowledge that fact.) But we still could have done it. When push came to shove, the Board voted 3-2 to just fund people who were income eligible, with me on the losing end of the vote. The newly created program would choose eligible recipients in a lottery-style format, since staff expected more applicants than we had funding.
Moving forward, the City of Iowa City decided to join Johnson County in providing direct assistance, and joined our program, committing $1.5 million. I thought this was great on both counts – I still do. So Iowa City and Johnson County needed to negotiate a contract. Johnson County urged Iowa City to just cover all their own residents. Instead, Iowa City wanted to go ahead with the lottery, then cover whatever Iowa Citians had not been chosen. Despite preferring the other option, Johnson County signed off on this agreement.
So the lottery took place, and a somewhat disproportionate number of Iowa City residents were chosen. The County used our $2 million, and wrote them all checks. The County then used Iowa City’s money to write checks to all the Iowa Citians who missed out on the lottery. This left Iowa City with about $700,000 unspent, and left 319 individuals (none of whom live in Iowa City) without checks.
Needless to say, the 319 people who were eligible but did not get checks were angry. They complained to both Iowa City and Johnson County, requesting that payments be made. Some Iowa City officials took a bit of umbrage, saying, “We did what we said we would do, and covered all our residents.” Similarly, some Johnson County officials took umbrage, saying, “We spent everything we budgeted. If you just spend what you budgeted, everyone who is eligible gets a check.” Both sides are correct.
And that is the thing I want to emphasize most of all: there are no bad actors here. Only 3 municipal governments in the whole State of Iowa decided to fund a DAP. Those three are Johnson County, Iowa City, and Coralville. (Coralville participated in our program as well, but to a much lesser degree.) My feeling is the 3 local governments who actually stepped up should not be fighting. Nor should the public be attacking them. We did the right thing.
I will admit, this is a sore spot for me, and has been for some time. There has been SO much lying, name calling, misrepresentation, misinformation, and other problems with this process. People who don’t even realize what elected body they are addressing send hateful emails. Elected officials get harangued on social media. Staff people – who do NOT make the decisions – have been attacked mercilessly. The whole process has been awful, frankly. And all because we decided to give some poor people money. Go figure.
Given all that, I am not inclined to fight with Iowa City (or Coralville, for that matter.) We all did the right thing as we see it. So you will neither hear me badmouth Iowa City nor my fellow County employees. We can and should all hold our heads high.
But we still have the matter of addressing the 319 people who were eligible but unfunded. Iowa City sent a letter to the County offering to split the cost of the 319 checks 50/50. That would amount to about $200,000 for each government.
Johnson County discussed the topic at a work session on Wednesday, August 10. The options were 1) Agree to a 50/50 split. 2) Fund it all ourselves. 3) Have Iowa City fund it. 4) Do nothing, and the 319 people simply do not get checks. It may seem obvious, but all the members of the Board of Supervisors preferred option 3. Iowa City Mayor Bruce Teague was at the meeting, and reaffirmed that the Council was quite set on either splitting the cost or nothing, but he could not officially speak for the whole Council. The Board then voted to send a reply to Iowa City saying that the only acceptable option was for Iowa City to pay.
I voted against this measure, but was again on the losing end of a 3-2 decision. I completely understand where my colleagues are coming from. I, too, would prefer not to spend an extra $200,000. But if the alternative is that 319 people go without? If that is the case, then I feel we should find the money.
I realize that the 35 or so ARPA funded projects used up all our ARPA allocation. But we also know that some projects are now extremely unlikely to happen. I am quite confident that we can find the $200,000 without affecting other priorities. And I think we should!
So, as it stands now, it appears these 319 people will not receive checks. Stay tuned.
*Political Threats
As I mentioned earlier, in this job it is not unusual to get very unkind messages. I have been called every name in the book, and yes, I have been threatened. But I got a letter at my house recently that was interesting. This was a political threat rather than a personal one. The word usage here is unique, so rather that correct anything, I am reprinting it exactly as it came to me. It read:
“I write to you lend a warning. We’re coming for your seat on the Johnson County Board of Supervisors. You’ve been playing for years as a progressive, but, all in all you’ve proven that to be a worthless and self-serving political fabrication to prevent the ire of lefties in Johnson County like myself. I just want you to know how transparently that can be seen. In my view, why re-elect someone who’s trying to act like a progressive, and why not elect a real one? So I’m done with your fake, self-serving, and money-grubbing ass. You’ll see a primary challenge in 2024. That’s a promise. Be ready.
Friends of Johnson County”
Where to start? First and foremost, it is just SO chickenshit to send something like this without a signature. Real profile in courage. Second, it is interesting that this was strictly political as opposed to just hate mail. It is refreshing, actually. Third, there is always a Democratic Primary. I don’t even know if I’ll be running in it, but this person definitely should. The public deserves a good debate of the issues and deserves some choices.
So, we’ll see if someone gets a bit braver and starts a dialogue. I’m actually excited to talk about all the good work that happens at Johnson County. I welcome the opportunity.
*DID YOU KNOW? I have run in 5 Democratic Party primaries, which consisted of 25 total candidates. (That includes me 5 times.) So there have been an average of 5 candidates on the ballot in every primary in which I have run.
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 @ 8:43 PM
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