Yahoo Autos Debate over Johnson County Supervisors' salary leads to criticism of Jon Green's work ethic
The five Johnson County Supervisors and their staff have been working to juggle the creation of a new budget, the allocation of $29.3 million in federal pandemic relief money, and the regular business of governing a county of 152,000 people.
At a Wednesday work session, that tension boiled over, with a pointed suggestion that one Supervisor wasn't working as hard as the others. It was a rare instance of one elected official publicly criticizing another and brought up the question of what a Supervisor's work week should look like.
The Supervisors were discussing how much to raise their own salaries. Under a recommendation from the county compensation board, all Johnson County elected officials would receive an 18% raise at most. The Supervisors lowered that last week to a 2.25% raise for themselves and 4.42% for all other elected officials.
The newest Supervisor, Jon Green, suggested the county could calculate the Supervisors' raises based on their annual salary, not bi-weekly paychecks, like it is done now. That's when the Supervisors' stress briefly erupted into a heated exchange. Green and Supervisor Rod Sullivan have attended meetings virtually since the two fell ill from a COVID-19 infection a month ago.
More: Iowa's 'Back the Blue' law results in large raises for many county sheriffs
Supervisors Chair Royceann Porter and Vice Chair Lisa Green-Douglass took issue with Green's suggestion, believing that he was proposing a pay cut for the Supervisors because it would technically lower the bi-weekly paycheck amount. Green pointed out that their total salary in the next fiscal year would still amount to about $2,000 more than the previous year, or $89,129.
The momentary confusion was because Supervisors will get an extra paycheck next year. This is because Johnson County is in a unique situation that happens only once every decade or so: there will be 27 pay periods instead of a typical 26.
"Why would we take a pay cut? Is this part of the image that you want to put out there, that you're sacrificial and that you're doing this for the goodness of your heart?" Green-Douglass asked. "Because we're working, and workers should be compensated for work, elected or not."
Green-Douglass told the Press-Citizen on Thursday that she believes Green's proposal to change how the board is paid was actually a ploy to make himself look good and claim to his constituents that he got the board to take a pay cut.
She said she did not agree with the proposal and thinks it would not be good to place Supervisors on a different salary system than the rest of the county's more than 500 employees.
'Come to work, Jon': Chair Royceann Porter calls out newest Supervisor
At the meeting, Green-Douglass focused her frustration on Green's proposal, but the debate took a turn when Porter suggested Green was not fulfilling his duties as an elected official and told him: "Come to work, Jon."
"Four of us come to work every day. We work," Porter said. "Sometimes we don't even see you in this office."
Porter declined to respond to the Press-Citizen's attempts to clarify what she meant when she criticized Green. Green, Green-Douglass and Sullivan each responded.
In an interview with the Press-Citizen, Green said he didn't want to speculate what Porter meant, but said he is fulfilling his duties as a Supervisor. He said the topic of his work ethic hasn't come up in private conversations or emails with the other Supervisors.
"It has been a difficult period working through the budget and working through ARPA," he said. "I was not shocked that the tenor of the conversation turned as it did. But I was surprised at the specific accusation."
Green said he can't speak for the others, but he is tired and frustrated as the county essentially handles two budgets. He argued that the American Rescue Plan Act, by nature, is even more complex due to it being a new program with constantly evolving rules.
Green won his seat in a special election last year. He is running for reelection this year, one of two seats appearing on the November ballot.
'Everyone is tired': Green says tension is understandable during pandemic
While debate gets intense between Supervisors on certain topics like the Mine-Resistant Ambush Protection vehicle or the ARPA-funded direct assistance program, it doesn't often regress into personal slights.
Green said he thinks the five Supervisors have their own priorities and pet peeves. Sometimes they work well together, but sometimes there is tension, he said.
"I don't think the Johnson County Board of Supervisors is in a special place compared to everyone else, especially when you look at the stress and isolation of the (COVID-19) pandemic," he said. "It's ground everyone down, and I always try and keep in mind that everyone is tired and everyone is hurting."
Sullivan said he thinks since Green joined the board last year, he has fulfilled his duties. He said the availability and physical presence of a Supervisor in the county building is an issue that goes back to when he started on the board.
"There have always been groups of Supervisors that treat it more 9-5, or what have you, and check in every morning and sit at the desk. But there are some Supervisors that don't operate that way," he said.
Sullivan said when the pandemic started it complicated this even more. He was chair then and was in the office all day, but others weren't. Now he comes into the office but uses Zoom for meetings.
In his almost 18 years as a Supervisor, serving as chair on multiple occasions, Sullivan said he's served with many Supervisors who take a different approach to the job.
"Beyond (meetings and committees) I think people have different ideas of what the job entails," he said. "Forever there has been some dispute on the appropriate amount of time to spend in the office."
Sullivan said the tension on the board isn't new, but he believes it is important that Supervisors conduct public business in a way where interpersonal conflict doesn't detract from the job.
Why Johnson County Supervisors are considered 3/4 time workers
Johnson County Supervisors are full-time employees, which is not consistent across Iowa. Some Supervisors, like in Warren County south of Des Moines, work as part-time elected officials and make less than half of what Johnson County's do.
Green said Johnson County Supervisors are, in theory, rated at ¾ time because they are paid roughly 75% of what the other county elected officials are. He said his understanding is this traces to an arcane law from the 1970s, when the Board of Supervisors determined that employees who work ¾ time or more qualify for health insurance and subsequently rated themselves at ¾ time.
Outside of attending public meetings and casting votes, Supervisors are responsible for the day-to-day management of all the county departments that don't fall under the purview of other elected officials, like public health, conservation and the medical examiner. Supervisors are also assigned to committees listed on the county website.
Supervisors also spend time preparing for meetings by reading packets that sometimes include hundreds of pages, and do outreach to constituents and media.
Green said that he has different values and experiences than other Supervisors and he thinks that is valuable. Green is a former mayor of Lone Tree and lives farther from the major city centers compared to his peers. He is one of three Supervisors with a rural address, in addition to Pat Heiden and Green-Douglass.
Green said he doesn't think every vote needs to be unanimous and doesn't take it personally when he is on the losing side of something.
"I believe that all of the Supervisors are here for the betterment of Johnson County and we're going to disagree on what that looks like," he said. "We need all these different perspectives."
George Shillcock is the Press-Citizen's local government and development reporter covering Iowa City and Johnson County. He can be reached at GShillcock@press-citizen.com and on Twitter @ShillcockGeorge
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: County Supervisor Royceann Porter criticizes Jon Green's work ethic
