Thoughts on Westdale Mall and other county buildings

Posted on October 11, 2008 by millerforauditor

I posted the comment below on 24-Hour Dorman and Views of the Linn County Auditor. In case you did not see it in one of those blogs you can read it here.

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Yesterday (10/8), I talked to Supervisor Langston and we discussed Westdale Mall. I shared some of these thoughts with her:

1> Lease space in Westdale Mall for the next 4-5 years. By the end of the lease, whatever is going to happen with the residential and commercial landscape Downtown and near the river should be settled. Then and only then should the County consider acquiring land in the Downtown area. If the County acquires land before that period of time, we may take land off the market that could be utilized for better purposes by a tax paying entity.
2> Follow the example set by the Federal government’s use of Shepherd Mall (I wrongly told her Penn Square Mall) in Oklahoma City after the Federal Courthouse bombing. After the new Courthouse was built, most of the Feds moved out of the Mall, but the Mall survived because it had been revitalized by the Feds moving into it and paying rent for a period of time.
3> If you want to test out the co-location concept with the City and/or Cedar Rapids Schools, why not try it in Westdale before you think about constructing a building? What if you build a big building and find out the County, City, and/or Schools cannot get along? And while putting everybody in the same building does make it easier for the citizens to access services, e.g., county assessor and city assessor, the real savings to the taxpayer will only be realized if the various bodies come to an agreement to consolidate the overhead functions of government, e.g., IT, human resources, finance, budget, accounts payable, payroll, facilities, and other functions. Four Oaks of Iowa has already proven that one administrative group can fulfill the overhead functions for multiple organizations with separate missions. The difference is: one CEO is in charge of the overhead functions. Are the electeds / administrators in the City, County, and School willing to give up control for the common good? The recent frustration over the joint communications fiber network going back into service was not a good sign of teamwork.

These are the ideas I did not share with Supervisor Langston:

4> Relocate other administrative and services offices to the Mall. Prior to the flood, we had 13 major buildings for 800+ employees scattered around Cedar Rapids. Why not consolidate as many offices as possible into Westdale Mall, e.g., Public Health and Fillmore? And bring DHS over from the Iowa Building since we’re paying the rent for them to be in that space.
5> Sell the Witwer Building. The Downtown District wants more downtown housing and at least one downtown business has expressed interest in buying it.
6> Sell the Administrative Office Building. It’s time has come and gone and the last thing we should do is put the County Recorder and her priceless books back into a space that has been flooded three times in her memory. Penford has almost encircled the building, which unfortunately means they can probably name their own price if they want it. Who else would want the building except for a supplier/vendor of Penford’s?

I agree with Supervisor Langston on government ownership of the Mall, but we should look at the numbers before making a decision. To my knowledge, no one has looked at the numbers. And if they have, they have not discussed them in public.

As for plowing big parking lots and fixing roof leaks, see above comment regarding 13 buildings. And guess what, those 13 buildings all have parking lots and sidewalks which must be plowed by contractors/employees in the winter. And in the summer, the HVAC units must be maintained. The Witwer Building alone has a dozen HVAC units on the roof.

I agree that the County has no obligation to rescue the Mall. I don’t call paying market rate rent a rescue. Our obligation to Westdale Mall should be no greater or lesser than the obligation we have to the flood impacted homes and businesses. The Mall is not asking for a handout. In fact, the Mall gave us a handout by contributing space to the County from June through October 31st.

Obviously, Supervisor Langston feels the County has some obligation to flood impacted residents and businesses because the Board of Supervisors redirected funds from the Witwer Trust Fund to aid in flood relief. In addition, each member of the Board is a member of one of the Rebuild Iowa sub-committees and Supervisor Langston is a newly appointed member of the ERPC (economic recovery committee). Also of note, the County is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and provides financial support to Priority One, the economic development arm of the Chamber. The Board appears to be deeply interested and involved in the economic future of our community. Is Westdale a part of the problem or the solution? A part of the past or a part of the future?

I don’t have all of the answers, but I do have some ideas. And to date, the subject of the County’s long term future versus Westdale’s future has not been discussed in a public Board of Supervisor’s meeting. When I read quotes like the one above, I feel like decisions have already been made outside the public’s view. And that’s not how we’re supposed to be conducting the public’s business. That’s not how I conduct business.

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Are websites for local candidates effective?

Posted on September 21, 2008 by millerforauditor

I’ve been debating that question for weeks.  And as each day has passed, I’ve likely added to the demise of my own candidate website, i.e., the longer it exists without being updated/changed - the more likely it’s viewed as ineffective.

While I’m fairly disciplined at updating Views of the Linn County Auditor, Facebook, and Twitter (my newest communications tool), I’ve neglected this web site.  A couple of questions have entered my mind:  What should I post on my Re-Elect Joel Miller for Auditor web site?  And does it really matter?

I do have one advantage that most candidates on the ballot in November do not have.  I do not have an opponent - which means I can be direct / forthright in my commentary - not that I wasn’t or wouldn’t be direct and forthright.

What am I going to do?  I’m going to use this website when I’m advocating for a candidate or position or cause.  I’ll continue to use Views of the Linn County Auditor to report facts /  substance, provide information, and raise questions.  I’ll use Twitter to provide short bursts of interesting data and updates on my daily activities.  And I’ll use Facebook to provide updates on my not-so-private life and to connect / re-connect with people. 

As always, you’re welcome to provide me with feedback using your preferred method of communication.

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Re-Election Kickoff Speech

Posted on April 17, 2008 by millerforauditor

Excerpt of Joel D. Miller’s Re-Election Kickoff Speech at the Linn County Democratic Central Committee’s monthly meeting on Wednesday, 26 March 2008, at the Best Western Long Branch Hotel & Convention Center

 

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Good evening! My name is Joel Miller and I am the Linn County Auditor and Commissioner of Elections! Thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak!

Tonight, I want comment on several things … my health, loyal opposition, paying my dues, my opponent, my accomplishments, my short-term goals and long term plans.

Before I begin, I would like to introduce my wife, Sylvia.

First, my health. Many of you know I had open heart surgery on December 13th. In January, I had a checkup with my heart surgeon. He told me my heart valve is not leaking and to come back and see him in one year. Now I know some of you are thinking the job stressed me out – and I certainly cannot rule out anything as a cause at this point – but if stress was a cause, then it was likely my daughter’s wedding on September 1st that was the cause. But the fact is, the doctors don’t know what caused my valve to fail – it just failed. The good news – it’s probably working better now than it ever did and I thought it worked pretty well before.

Thank you for your cards and phone calls; prayers and thoughts! I appreciate it!

Second, I want to talk about the concept of loyal opposition. Simply put, loyal opposition means you are expected to push back on your boss or your peers when you think they are wrong and at the end of the day, you still have a relationship with each other. I have subscribed to this concept for at least the last 20 years. I believe it leads to lasting friendships and productive teams. I practiced loyal opposition when I was chair of this Central Committee. I practice and encourage loyal opposition now as Auditor. But it can’t be practiced alone.

I was elected to do a job and I have literally put my “heart” in to it … and my fellow electeds would say the same. I am an autonomous elected official, the same as the county attorney, sheriff, treasurer, and recorder. We are not subservient to the Supervisors – that’s why we are independently elected to office and not appointed.

Loyal opposition. Think about it the next time you read about a disagreement between elected officials.

Third, I want to discuss paying my dues. I think it was in 1999 that I was elected – probably by default – to become Financial Secretary for the Central Committee. And in early 2000, I was elected to become Chair – a position I served in until mid-November 2004. I worked 20-40 hours a week – every week – as chair. I received no compensation. My reward was an “atta boy” once or twice a month. My perks –I got into most political events without paying and once in a while – I got to meet or greet – and maybe introduce some VIP – very important politician. On June 16, 2001 – less than 18 months after becoming Chair - I received the Iowa Democratic Party’s Bob Creech Award for Outstanding County Chair. It’s awarded to one and only one county chair each year. For the next 3+ years, I worked hard to build this team – the Central Committee – into the best in the State. If you believe in the concept of paying dues, I think I paid my dues to the Democratic Party and to the Central Committee well before I ever thought about running for Auditor or any other partisan office. And I’m still paying my dues.

Fourth, I want to give you some facts on my opponent. I could not recall my opponent attending a Democratic event or contributing to the Democratic Party in the time I was Chair … so I decided to initiate a public records request for his voter records as maintained by I-Voters, our statewide voting system – it cost me 75 cents.

According to I-Voters, my opponent voted in the 1984 and 1988 Republican Party primaries – which means he was registered as a member of the Republican Party. His only affiliation with the Democratic Party in the last 20 years appears to have occurred on January 3, 2008 – Iowa Caucus Night - when he decided to join the Democratic Party. If my opponent decided to run for County Chair tonight, would you elect him? Has he paid his dues?

Fifth, my accomplishments in the past 13 months.

· 4 county-wide elections

· Voter registration changes now entered directly into I-Voters while the customer is still at the counter to ensure accuracy of informa

 · Staffed 8 voter outreach efforts in 2007 – took the office to the people

·  Entire elections staff SEAT (Iowa State Election Administrators Training) certified

·  Improved GIS (Geographic Information Systems) web site performance with better network connectivity and new server

·  Blog – Views of the Linn County Auditor on www.gazettelonline.com

·  Redesigned/reorganized Auditor’s portion of www.linncounty.org

·  Archived and removed plat books from counter and integrated their content into PV Web database

·  Supported temporary county (supervisor) redistricting commission with GIS/mapping services

·  Redesigned daycare database for the Sheriff’s Office

·  Mapped chemical site maps for Emergency Management Agency

·  Produced maps to support Linn County Attorney’s court cases

·  Combined the Accounts Payable and Payroll functions into one area, called Accounting.

·  Reduced number of customers required to come to the counter by providing more data on web site 7×24

·  Changed the preferred method of record storage from paper to electronic. New information is stored directly to an electronic format, old info is either being shredded or scanned into electronic format. This reduces our physical storage requirements, allows quicker retrieval of information, and quicker turn around time for getting information to employees and the public.

·  Implemented Positive Pay for all County checks. Positive Pay is when our bank no longer returns our cleared checks to us. We send a file to the bank with the vendor name, date, amount, etc. We now view them online and the bank shreds the actual check. The check is verified at the bank. Previously they weren’t good until verified on the County financial system. We receive a file each night of cleared checks.

·   Rearranged the Payroll area to optimize space and efficiency  and improve privacy

Sixth, my short term goals. My short term goals are to make the Auditor’s walkup counter more customer friendly and efficient, to change out the voting machines after the June primary election, and to train the precinct election officials on the new equipment and changes to election laws for the November general election. We will have an audit trail for the November election and beyond!

And finally, my long term goals. Long term, I plan to lobby the 2009 Board of Supervisors to broadcast their meetings via the internet. I further plan to lobby the Board to take action to address the future space needs of the County.

Thank you for allowing me to speak. I talked about my health, loyal opposition, paying my dues, my opponent, my accomplishments, my short-term goals, and my long term goals.

I think I am the best qualified candidate to become the party’s nominee for County Auditor & Commissioner of Elections. I would appreciate your vote and your support in the upcoming primary. I will remain available after the meeting if you have any questions.

 

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