SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
December 15, 2025
Sullivan’s Salvos 12/18/25
In this edition:
*RIP Susan Boyd
*Merry Christmas!
*Happy Hanukkah!
*Salvos Salutes Next Week!
*Yes, Virginia…
*Holidays Can Be Hard!
*Supervisor District Maps
*Jon Green as Chairperson
*Did You Know?
*RIP Susan Boyd
Amazing woman, amazing life. If you do not know who she is, please take a peek at her obituary and educate yourself on this pillar of our community. RIP, Susan.
*Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it. I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday!
*Happy Hanukkah!
Happy Hanukkah to those of you who celebrate it! Chag Urim Sameach!
*Salvos Salutes Next Week!
We live in a GREAT county! Why? Because of the great people that live here! Unfortunately, we rarely do enough to acknowledge these wonderful people and the wonderful things they do.
That is why I really look forward to Salvos Salutes. It provides an opportunity to mention just a few of these cool people and the good things they do. I hope you look forward to it as well!
*Yes, Virginia…
I was recently reading the story of Francis Church’s 1897 masterpiece editorial, “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus.”
I can be overly sentimental. But this is one of the finest pieces of writing in the history of the English language. And he wrote it for a daily paper! There was no opportunity for lots of rewrites and editing.
Please take a moment and read it again. Especially in these times, it will really warm your heart!
*Holidays Can Be Hard!
While the holidays are wonderful for many people, they can be very difficult for others. Please know that if you get sad around the holidays, you are not alone! (I actually have quite a bit of sadness every holiday season myself.)
Most importantly, if you need someone to speak with, please call 988. A warm, caring professional will answer the phone 24/7. You are definitely not alone!
*Supervisor District Maps
You may recall that Republicans in the Iowa Legislature passed a bill that forced the 3 counties with Regents Universities to go to Supervisor Districts, regardless of the choice of voters in those counties. We now have a much better idea what this looks like.
The Supervisor District Maps dropped about 5 PM on Thursday, December 4. The map was drawn by the Legislative Services Agency (LSA), a nonpartisan agency created to serve all legislators regardless of political party. This is the same group that creates our Congressional maps every ten years.
Parties will be holding primary elections in 2026 anyway. Under normal circumstances, two Supervisor seats would be up for election, those held by Supervisors Jon Green and V Fixmer Oraiz. Now, all five seats will be on the June ’26 primary ballot. Once parties choose their nominees, those individuals move forward to the General Election in November.
On January 2 of 2026, there will be a random selection by the County Auditor where the terms for two of those Districts are four years in length, while the terms for the other two Districts will be two years each. This keeps Johnson County with 5 County Officials being elected every two years – 3 Supervisors, Sheriff, and Auditor in Presidential years, and 2 Supervisors, Recorder, Treasurer, and County Attorney in the Gubernatorial years.
First, districts need to be very close in population. Second, we know they are using old (2020) census numbers. In the 2020 census, Johnson County had 153,740 people. (It is over 160,000 now.) So each district will have to be close to 30,748 in population. For what it is worth, that is really close to the population of a Statehouse seat.
To see the maps, you can visit the Johnson County Auditor’s page on the Johnson County website. Below is my verbal description.
District 1 is the northwest part of the county. It includes Swisher, Shueyville, Oxford, and North Liberty, plus plenty of rural areas. Supervisor Lisa Green Douglass lives in this District.
District 2 includes the whole eastern part of the county. It includes Big Grove Township, Sutliff, Solon on the north, and Lone Tree and Hills on the south. It takes in 6 eastside Iowa City precincts as well. Supervisors Jon Green and Mandi Remington both live in this District.
District 3 includes Coralville and Tiffin, then heads south and west to the county’s south and west borders to pick up 4 rural townships. No current Supervisor lives in this District.
District 4 is 99% north and east Iowa City. Supervisors V Fixmer-Oraiz and myself both live in this District.
District 5 is 99% south and west Iowa City plus University Heights. No current Supervisor lives in this District.
I had already announced I was running even before the map came out. (See Salvos dated 11-13-25.) That remains true. I cannot speak for any of my colleagues.
One more note: yes, there is a lawsuit challenging this law. Because Johnson County actually got sued as a part of that lawsuit, I cannot comment on that effort. I can tell you that the Auditor’s Offices in the three counties will require the courts to give them clear direction by about mid-February if they are going to be able to run a June primary.
*Jon Green as Chairperson
An interesting thing happened recently in Johnson County, as Jon Green was chosen to serve a second consecutive year as Chair of the Board of Supervisors. Supervisor Green Douglass will serve as Vice Chair. (This is not formal until a vote is held at the Annual Organizational Meeting on January 2.)
The topic of Board leadership for 2026 appeared on a recent agenda. Supervisor Fixmer-Oraiz, who is the current Vice Chair, spoke first, and noted that they were neither interested in serving as Chair nor Vice Chair for 2026. (Typically, the Vice Chair one year becomes the Chair the following year.) So the suggestion that Supervisor Green serve as Chair again met no opposition.
The Johnson County Board of Supervisors has had a tradition of rotating the position of Board Chair. Each year, a different member of the Board takes over after the first meeting of the year.
Though it is basically a formality, the Board still votes to select its leader. There have been a couple notable instances when the “rotation” did not happen. Dick Myers and Joe Bolkcom, who both went on to serve notable careers in higher office, were both passed over by their peers.
In some counties, the Chair rotates amongst the political party in charge. In Polk County, for example, the three Democrats rotate the role of Chair, effectively shutting out the GOP. In other counties, the GOP does the same thing to Democratic Supervisors. In still other counties, one individual has held the role of Chair for decades. So there is no set method other than holding an election for Chair at the first meeting of the year, which is mandated by Iowa Code.
People are often under the misconception that the Board Chair has some special powers. They really don’t. The role is very ceremonial. It is true that the Chair and Vice Chair help set the agendas, but if the process is working as it should, no Board member ever feels shut out.
While it can get cumbersome, we have always operated on the premise that three members (a majority) of the Board can put anything they wish on the agenda, even over the objection of the Chair.
Additionally, individual Board members can impact the agenda without being Chair. I am proud of the fact that at my suggestion, agendas were changed to allow public discussion at the beginning of each meeting. When I first started, public discussion was only at the end of each agenda. So if you showed up for a 5:30 PM meeting, you might not get to raise your issue until 8 PM. That was not friendly toward the public. But when I brought it up, others were happy to oblige.
To me, the two biggest jobs of the Chair are 1) managing what gets on the agendas and when, and 2) ensuring that meetings run smoothly. The public and County staff deserve efficiency and effectiveness. A well-run meeting can also save hours of staff time – and that means money!
A few little things you might not think about: the rough draft of the agenda may have the Sheriff involved in items 2, 5, and 8. If the agenda is managed properly, perhaps that can be items 2, 3, and 4, and the Sheriff’s time is spent efficiently, not sitting in a meeting all day.
Similarly, you don’t want to have one meeting that is 5 hours long, followed by one the next week that is 30 minutes. Is there a way to balance things out so that both meetings are about 3 hours long? Those are the types of things a good Chair will notice.
Jon Green does a good job in the Chair role. He instituted several changes to our agendas this year, and while a few have been innocuous, a few have been very nice improvements. Jon runs an excellent meeting.
This does lead to a historical question, one for which I have no answer: When was the last time a Supervisor served consecutive years as Chair? I am guessing that you have to go back to at least the 1980s – perhaps much further! If anyone is inclined to dig up an answer, I would love to know!
*DID YOU KNOW? The term "Xmas" dates back to the mid-1500s and comes from the Greek letter X, which is the first letter of the Greek word for Christ.
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 @ 1:55 PM
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