SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
September 20, 2023
Sullivan’s Salvos 9/26/23
In this edition:
*RIP Glenn Potter
*United Way and Iowa Shares
*Center for Worker Justice Gala
*Johnson County a Heart Safe Community!
*Questions for the Candidates
*Rural Iowa “Ignored”?
*Differing Impressions
*Did You Know?
*RIP Glenn Potter
Glen Potter just passed at age 92. Glenn dedicated much of his life to serving the City of Tiffin. He spent 20 years as a city council member and volunteer fireman with the Tiffin Fire Department, then served as the mayor of Tiffin for the following 28 years. During his tenure the population grew from 300 to 2,000 residents. Some of his many accomplishments included new city water and sewer systems, the first city recycling program in Johnson County, the establishment of the Springmier Community Library, a new 65-acre city park, two larger water towers, a fire station addition, and a new 30 acre industrial park. Tiffin has now grown to over 6,700 residents. In recognition of his service, Glenn was presented with a key to the City of Tiffin on two occasions. He has both a city street and a city park named in his honor.
I remember Glenn telling me once that his graduating class from Tiffin High School was less than ten kids. The guy saw a lot of changes! RIP, Glenn.
*United Way and Iowa Shares
The United Way and Iowa Shares campaigns are underway. I hope you will choose to be a supporter. Melissa and I are big supporters of the United Way and the United Way affiliated agencies. We give generously, I think. We also volunteer when and where we can.
So United Way is in our blood. Unfortunately, it does not seem to be in the blood of enough Johnson County residents.
I just heard a statistic that only 4% of all adults in Johnson County contribute to the United Way. Only 4%! And I’m sure it isn’t any better for Iowa Shares! That is simply too low, folks.
One in three families in Johnson County uses a United Way service. Let’s get at least one in three contributing to the United Way and/or Iowa Shares!
*Center for Worker Justice Gala
The Center for Worker Justice of Eastern Iowa Annual Gala Fundraiser is scheduled to take place on October 14th at 6:00 pm and will be hosted at the Unitarian Universalist Church, located at 2355 Oakdale Rd, Coralville. Tickets for the gala are now available for purchase on our website. Please visit us on https://cwjiowa.org/
*Johnson County a HeartSafe Community!
Johnson County got some pretty cool news awhile ago that bears repeating – we were named a HeartSafe Community! We were just the 4th community in the US to earn this designation!
What does that mean? The HeartSafe Community designation is a set of criteria and guidelines designed to improve outcomes to sudden cardiac arrest emergencies through a specific set of training, preparation and response protocols and includes:
Creating a community plan for the collection and analysis of cardiac arrest data;
Providing widespread CPR instruction;
Public access to AEDs (Automated External Defibrillators);
Aggressive resuscitation protocols for first responders and area hospitals;
PulsePoint – AED registry, public awareness and encouragement of bystander intervention;
Effective emergency response plans in schools;
911 dispatch-assisted CPR instruction.
This is a very cool award! More importantly, it means you are safer here than almost anywhere else should you experience some type of cardiac distress.
The credit for this goes two places: the Kerber Rotary HeartSafe initiative, and Johnson County Ambulance Service Director Fiona Johnson. Big kudos to both for achieving this prestigious status.
*Questions For The Candidates
Elections are coming up… please consider the following.
Throughout every campaign, various groups of well-intentioned individuals hold candidate forums. At the same time, a few of the various media outlets do a variety of things to inform the public. Yet I find very little of this to be helpful to voters.
I think every forum - whether it is for President of the US or Township Trustee – and every “voter guide” - would be better if they just stuck to the following questions:
*What experiences qualify you for this office?
*What do you see as the three biggest issues facing the office?
*How would you address those three issues?
*Why should the voters select you instead of the other candidate(s)?
*Is there anything you would like to ask another candidate?
*Would you like to say more about anything discussed here?
In all honesty, I think that set of questions would shed more light than any I have ever heard asked. The opportunity to ask candidates questions is critical – we must not squander the opportunity!
*Rural Iowa “Ignored”?
I serve on a number of Boards and Commissions that include people from other counties. I am always amazed when they mention that they are afraid Linn and Johnson Counties will “dominate” said group. For the life of me, I do not see where this comes from.
Where does the idea come from that rural Iowa is ignored? I just reviewed the most recent Census data. Iowa has about 3,150,000 residents. 54% of Iowans (1,700,000) live in just ten counties. So one might expect Iowa to be a place where rural and urban interests both matter. Nothing could be further from the truth.
On pretty much all these Boards and Commissions, we operate under a system of one county, one vote. So let’s just say, hypothetically, you have a region that represents Linn, Johnson, Cedar, Louisa, Washington, Keokuk, Iowa, Benton, Buchanan, Delaware, and Jones Counties. You have Linn and Johnson and all the counties surrounding them. If all those counties vote together, they outvote Linn and Johnson 9-2. Yet Linn and Johnson Counties combined have around 390,000 total residents. The other 9 counties have about 150,000 residents – far less than half of the two most populous.
Versions of this exist in every regional initiative of which we are a part. And honestly, it works OK. But not because the system is good. It works because for the most part, County Supervisors regardless of county have been fair-minded, decent people who want to make things work for everyone. If that ever changes, it could get ugly.
The ten counties that house over half the population have pretty much zero political power. Farm Bureau sets the agenda in Des Moines. The Governor and her staff will take calls from rural counties; no such luck for the rest of us.
The Iowa Legislature is constantly spinning out new rules for local governments that ONLY apply to the ten most populous counties. Why? Because Iowa has government of, by, and for rural people. Urban dwellers can expect to be targeted, burdened, and punished.
So this idea that somehow the more populous county is going to “dominate” the group you are in? I think we may need to question this assertion.
*Differing Impressions
I always find it interesting when I have formed an opinion of someone, then hear something different from a trusted source.
For example, it is not unusual for me to decide that I really like someone, only to have a friend later inform me that they believe said person is dishonest, rude, etc. This always gives me pause.
On the other hand, I’ll sometimes form a negative opinion of someone only to find out later that we have dozens of mutual friends. Again, this always gives me pause.
This just goes to show that we are all complex, multi-faceted people. I am trying really hard to recognize that we all have both good and bad characteristics.
*DID YOU KNOW? 68 of Iowa’s 99 counties lost population per the 2020 census. None of the ten most populous counties lost population.
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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As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan29@gmail.com. I look forward to serving you!
---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 1:26 PM
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