IOWA CITY

Another round of criticism aimed at longtime Johnson County Supervisor Rod Sullivan during the public comment portion of an August 12 work session led to more division on the five-person board and a halt to the hostilities by Board Chair Jon Green.

Four members of the public spoke out against Sullivan following his appearance at an open house at the Johnson County Historic Poor Farm, which may or may not have included a disagreement.

Supervisors V Fixmer-Oraiz and Lisa Green-Douglass entered the work session conversations as public citizens with opposing views during the public comment portion, and Fixmer-Oraiz called for consideration of a censure of Sullivan.

The verbal jousting also prompted District 3 supervisor candidate Sue Dvorsky to join in, but in a peace-making journey to the podium.

“I think that the level of our conversation is degrading,” she said. “It worries me. It scares me a little bit.”

Green halted the fighting even before the board had listened to one work session presentation. He stressed that comments should be directed at the board chair, not others in the board room, then called for a five-minute recess.

Since May, many public comments have been critical of both the initiative for a new county jail and especially Sullivan in the weeks leading up to the June primary election that he lost to Fixmer-Oraiz in an Iowa City district vote. Some of the moments have been heated with people in the audience yelling out.

During supervisor reports a day later, Green-Douglass reminded the board that public comments are not required by law during board meetings.

“I do believe that there’s certainly a time when it becomes unproductive,” Green-Douglass said. “It becomes very threatening.”

New Jail Initiative

Despite opposition from Supervisors V Fixmer-Oraiz and Mandi Remington, the Board approved, by a 3-2 vote, entering a selection process for a construction manager-at-risk as a part of the projected new Johnson County Jail and Sheriff’s Office.

Alyssa Roberts, Special Projects Manager, said the process would be dropped if a $94.5 million bond referendum fails in the Nov. 3 election.

“Devoting county-paid staff hours to something that we don’t know is going to happen is also not a responsible use of tax dollars and staff time,” Remington said.

“It just seems like if we don’t have to do that, there are other things staff could be working on,” Fixmer-Oraiz said.

A delay, Roberts said, would push construction back to spring 2028 and increase costs.

Board Action

The Board approved a $100,000 agreement with Shelter House for eviction diversion services.

The Board approved a job description for accounts payable specialist.