SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
July 12, 2026
Sullivan’s Salvos 7/16/26
In this edition:
*Thank You, Doris!
*County Land Purchase
*Land Purchase – My Thoughts
*Parades
*Consequential - Buildings
*Salvos Salutes – 2010
*Did You Know?
*Thank You, Doris!
I noted the passing of Dick Myers in the 3/26/26 edition of Salvos. Well, Dick’s services were on Monday, July 6, and I attended the event.
I walked in, and as soon as I arrived, Doris Myers came from across the room. She took my hand in both of hers, and honestly gave me some of the best political advice I have ever received.
This woman was at the celebration of life for her husband of 64 years, and she took the time to seek me out. This is a woman who has know several US Presidents, and she bothered to give me some of her time, on that of all days.
Thank you, Doris. I will never forget your kindness nor your advice!
*County Land Purchase
During its formal meeting on Thursday, July 9, 2026, the Board of Supervisors signed a purchase agreement for three parcels located on the NE corner of Capitol Street and Benton Street in Iowa City, for a total purchase price of $5.5 million.
The property was selected for its location and is intended to serve as a long-term county asset for future development needs. Johnson County also owns property on the same block at 821 S. Clinton St.
“This purchase agreement marks the culmination of three decades of negotiation and represents a generational investment for the residents of Johnson County,” Board of Supervisors Chairperson Jon Green said. “While we do not have immediate plans for the property, I recognize needs evolve and grow over the decades. When such a need arises in the future, the County will be well positioned to respond.”
Future discussions regarding the site will take place during public meetings of the Board of Supervisors. A copy of the purchase agreement can be viewed in the agenda packet of the July 9, 2026, Board of Supervisors formal meeting at https://johnsoncountyiowa.gov/meetings.
*Land Purchase – My Thoughts
Above is the press release on the recent County purchase of land on Capital Street. It is factual, but I wanted to add my thoughts.
Johnson County has literally been looking to buy this property since the mid-90s. If you are familiar with the county campus, the area to the south and east is flood plain. The UI is to the north, and the UI does not sell land. That leaves one direction – west. Johnson County just did a renovation of the Admin Building, which moved the Supervisors over to the HHS Building. It also effectively used up most of the existing space owned by the County. There is nowhere left to go.
I am a big believer in planning buildings for 100 years. You will continue to hear me make that very argument when we discuss building a jail. I do not believe we should only look at current needs. We need to look 100 years out. That does not necessarily mean you build a building sized for 100 years from now. I believe you build the building sized for 25 years from now, while leaving expansion options for future Boards to take it from there. That is good planning.
Obviously, we cannot predict the future. I was on the Board when we bought land and built the HHS Building. We had a vision as to what would take place in the building. It opened in January of 2011. 15 years later, about 65% of our vision was realized. And about 35% was completely wrong. But the point is, we *still* needed the space.
Needless to say, the haters are out in force. They even bullied Supervisor Remington into abstaining from the vote. Unfortunately, Mandi chose the advice of people online over the advice of our attorneys. There is a definite irony here – the law that allows this type of thing to be discussed in closed session is primarily about protecting public tax dollars. But in some states it also exists in response to those who would bully sellers into never selling land to a government entity.
I do not know what will take place on this property. I will not be a part of the Board that votes on it. But I am proud to do my part to secure it for future residents of Johnson County.
*Parades
I had people ask me, “You lost your primary election. Why did you still attend all those parades on July 4th?” The answer is easy.
I love the people of Johnson County. I want them to have the best governance they can get. In my mind, that means electing Democrats. So I am going to continue to try to make that happen.
I did it before I was elected. I did it while I was elected. And I am going to do it after I am out of office.
*Consequential – Buildings
Johnson County did a lot of building during my 21.5 years as a Supervisor! I am proud of that fact. The 2000 Census showed 111,006 people in the county; fast forward to today, and that number is about 165,000. That is an increase of 49% in just 25 years. In order to meet the needs of all those folks, Johnson County needed to update several buildings.
If memory serves me correct, the first new buildings we did were the Conservation Main Office and Shop at Kent Park. These buildings still serve us well today. About 16-17 years later Conservation added a second shop near Sutliff.
The next building was the Joint Emergency Communications Center (JECC) which also houses our Emergency Management Agency. I wrote about this last week. Prior to building JECC, dispatch and EMA was in the jail! You can imagine how crowded that was!
Next up was our Health and Human Services Building (HHS). This was supposed to open in late 2009, but did not open until January 2011 because of the great flood of 2008. The County purchased land just north of the Admin Building which included a lumberyard, a hair salon, a used car dealer, and a bar. HHS brought together County Social Services and the Iowa Department of Human Services, which were both in a building on Governor Street, and merged them with Public Health and Juvenile Court. Most people do not realize this, but the County never owned the building at 911 N. Governor. We paid way too much rent over the years for that dump. The County was also renting space for Juvenile Court on Kirkwood Avenue. The County did own a Public Health Building on Gilbert Court, but it was extremely undersized. We sold the old Public Health Building to CommUnity (then the Crisis Center) for one dollar, and it is now the 1105 Project.
That was followed by a new building for SEATS and Secondary Roads. The County was renting space for SEATS in Coralville, and there were many problems. We could only house about half our busses inside, and almost all our maintenance was being farmed out. By building a new SEATS facility, we got every bus inside, gained office and dispatch space, and were able to begin doing our own maintenance. It saved a tremendous amount of money. Secondary Roads was in a similar situation. Another neat thing there was we got to do a large solar project as part of that “west campus.”
Then there was the Ambulance and Medical Examiner (AME) Building. Same story; both departments were woefully short on space. The AME is the building the staff and public deserve for these fine services!
There were other renovations and the like, but those are our building projects over my tenure. Pretty consequential!
*Salvos Salutes – 2010
What I wrote about some of the honorees from Salvos’s Salutes in 2010.
Tom Kriz: The Johnson County Treasurer’s Office is a model for the rest of the state. They accomplish more work today with fewer staff and a smaller budget than when Treasurer Kriz started in 2002. The office is efficient, accurate, and employees take pride in their work. When people claim that government is ineffective, I point to the Treasurer’s Office and prove them wrong.
June Judge: People with mental illnesses face many challenges. No one has done more to tackle these problems than June. Her tireless advocacy efforts have made a big difference, though June will be the first to tell you that there is much work left to do!
Sue Freeman: While many folks were busy badmouthing the SE side of Iowa City, Sue was rolling up her sleeves and getting to work. Sue’s job with Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County has always been part administrative, part direct service, and part advocacy. She has always been a rock for people in need. It just never made the news before.
John Stimmel: If you have ever visited the Hy-Vee on First Avenue in Iowa City, you probably know John as one of the most smiling of the “helpful smiles in every aisle”. John is celebrating 30 years of living on his own after 30 years spent in Woodward State Hospital School. Unfortunately, Woodward was not a nice place when John was there. By living and working on his own, he did what everyone said he could not do. John’s story is truly inspirational.
As you can see, 2010 was a year full of people worthy of our admiration!
*DID YOU KNOW? Iowa has about 85,000 farms, down from 240,000 in 1930.
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 @ 11:27 AM
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