SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
December 29, 2025
Sullivan’s Salvos 1/1/26
In this edition:
*RIP Gary “Smiley” Bloore
*Welcome to 2026!
*Grace
*January 6
*Workday
*Congrats to JCSO!
*Contributors to the Housing Crisis
*Did You Know?
*RIP Gary “Smiley” Bloore
I was sad to see that local legend Gary “Smiley” Bloore passed away. I always had a bit of extra insight into Smiley. One of my favorite high school teachers was in his class at the small school they attended. The school was called Delwood, which was a combination of the names of the two towns – Delmar and Elwood. Delwood was in our conference for some sports when I was in high school, but a couple decades later, the school got absorbed by Maquoketa. Anyway, my teacher shared Smiley’s life story, so when I first met Smiley, I told him about our mutual friend, my teacher.
Smiley began cleaning dishes at Oakdale Hospital in Coralville in 1970. The next year he took a similar job for UI residence halls, doing dishes at the dining rooms of Currier and Hillcrest Halls before ending up at Burge, where he stayed until his retirement in 2016. He moved back to Maquoketa in 2019.
Gary Bloore was just one of those people who brightened up the days of others. He was a huge sports fan, and will be long remembered for his buttons and his “Woo woo!” RIP, Smiley.
*Welcome to 2026!
Happy New Year! Here’s to a better and brighter year ahead! I have never been big on New Year’s resolutions – you can see that by my weight! But I certainly welcome the “fresh start” feel of the New Year. I hope 2026 is good to you and yours!
*Grace
I have mentioned that I am not big on New Year’s Resolutions. There is one thing I have been attempting to do more of, however, and I invite you to join me.
I am attempting to show others more grace. Forgiving mistakes. Assuming the best rather than the worst. Trying to be kind.
In Christianity, grace is not earned. It is given. You get it even though you do not deserve it. That can be a tough concept to put to work in today’s world. We tend to blame, complain, and point out faults. I do it. We all do it. Frankly, that is part of why we do not deserve the grace we get from God.
I know my readers include many non-Christians. I honor all belief systems. I also think the idea of giving people grace can help all of us, regardless of our individual beliefs. It need not be viewed through the prism of religion. So please join me in offering a bit more grace to those you encounter every day.
*January 6
January 6 marks the 5th anniversary of one of the lowest points in US history. The defeated former President riled up a bunch of insurrectionists who then broke into the US Capitol, killing cops along the way. It remains the only coup attempt in American history (unless you include succession.) January 6 is the most shameful day in American history.
Has there been any accountability? Some. Hundreds of people have been charged, and 378 individuals have been convicted thus far. But all were pardoned by Trump. None of the US Congresspeople nor US Senators who conspired have been charged. And most importantly, Trump himself has thus far avoided all accountability.
Please – do not treat January 6 as yesterday’s news! We still can and must demand accountability! Traitors attempted to overthrow the US government on that day. They killed cops. We must not let this go! Acknowledge what happened this January 6 and every January 6 until the end of time!
*Workday
This ran about three months ago in Salvos. I am reprinting it here because this really is a big deal, and has profoundly impacted a lot of Johnson County employees. So you ought to know about it.)
Johnson County recently went live with Workday, a platform for managing HR, Capital, and Finances. Workday is used by thousands of entities around the world, and comes highly recommended.
Implementing Workday is the type of thing that has been a *very* big deal to County employees, but if our implementation goes well the public will never know anything happened.
Workday essentially takes a lot of the daily tasks of HR and Finance and moves them from paper to online. It is going to ultimately save Johnson County a lot of time and money, and many employees will see processes that used to take them a couple hours each week reduced to minutes. In addition, it makes all sorts of data readily available; something we have been sorely lacking.
Getting started, however, has been a huge investment of time and money. Some employees are *really* stressed. And not everything has gone as well as hoped. I am cautiously optimistic that we will get everything figured out.
My sincere thanks to the folks who have led this charge, and my thanks to the County employees who have had to adapt to new ways of doing things. I believe is going to be a good thing for taxpayers once we get it fully implemented, but I also know getting there is difficult.
*Congrats to JCSO!
The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office is proud to announce they are the first Sheriff’s Office in the State of Iowa to achieve the Iowa Law Enforcement Accreditation Program’s (ILEAP) Law Enforcement Accreditation. The accreditation went into effect as of December 17, 2025, and will be effective for a period of four years. The ILEAP Accreditation Program was developed by the Iowa Police Chiefs Association and the Iowa Sheriffs and Deputies Association, and was made available for application near the end of 2024 with the goal of helping law enforcement agencies to:
- Establish and maintain standards that represent current professional law enforcement best practices.
- Increase the effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of law enforcement services.
- Establish standards that address and reduce liability for the agency and its members.
Major Randy Lamm, JCSO Chief Deputy, led the agency’s efforts in applying for the ILEAP Accreditation and ensuring the agency’s strict adherence to the accreditation’s numerous standards and requirements. Major Lamm and Johnson County Sheriff’s Office personnel spent nine months pursuing the successful completion of 21 different areas of assessment, including (but not limited to) use of force; professional standards; recruitment and selection; training and career development; and property and evidence control.
Johnson County Sheriff Brad Kunkel said, “Professionalism is a priority at the Johnson County Sheriff's Office. To meet this standard every day, we ensure that we have the policies in place to fulfill this expectation. The Iowa Law Enforcement Accreditation Program has taken our policy to a new level and reinforces our commitment to providing quality public safety. When this opportunity became available, Major Lamm took this project on without hesitation and never took his foot off the gas. He worked with key staff to move this project across the finish line in just a few months. I'm very proud of all the hard work by everyone involved.”
*Contributors to the Housing Crisis
We all know affordable housing is a crisis in Johnson County. I am often asked about the “cause” of the crisis. The vast majority of the US has an affordable housing crisis, so obviously most of the “causes” are not unique to our community. But there is one thing that contributes a bit that is somewhat unique to Johnson County that I would like to see addressed.
The University has about 23,000 undergraduate students, and another 10,000 or so graduate students. Of those 23,000 undergrads, only about 25% live in the dorms. This is not really unusual, and is quite similar to the UI’s peer institutions. But what if the UI required two years in the dorms, and built enough housing units to cover it? What if another 4,000 students lived on campus?
The impact would be pretty huge. Opening 4,000 bedrooms would make a meaningful dent in the availability of housing in Johnson County, and probably help to reduce some increases in the ever-rising rents. There would be additional benefits accruing to the students themselves – undergraduate students who live on campus graduate at higher rates, get better grades, have less law enforcement contacts, have better mental health outcomes, and generally fare better by almost every metric of well-being.
Remember – although college costs have risen precipitously, the cost of college has not risen as much as the cost of rent. Students are taking out loans in part to enrich private landlords. Is that the model we want?
The decision by the UI (that started in the early 60s) to outsource student housing has had tremendous impacts on Johnson County. It made a few people extremely wealthy, and saddled hundreds of thousands more people (over decades) with huge student debts and lower qualities of life. Was that a good trade off? I’d say no.
We are not likely to reverse this now. But the UI could decide to house a few more of its own students, rather than externalizing this responsibility. It would be better for students, and better for Johnson County.
Would this solve our affordable housing crisis? Nope. But it would be a very positive step.
*DID YOU KNOW? Within 36 hours of January 6, 2021 five people died: one was shot by Capitol Police; another died of a drug overdose; and three died of natural causes including a police officer who died of natural causes a day after being assaulted by rioters. Many people were injured, including 174 police officers. Four officers who responded to the attack died of suicide within seven months. Damage caused by attackers exceeded $2.7 million. (Source: Wikipedia.)
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.
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 rodsullivan29@gmail.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.
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 @ 8:04 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home