SEPTEMBER - 2009

County departments, employees receive 22 NACo, NACIO awards

Johnson County won seven Achievement Awards from the National Association of Counties (NACo) and 15 Awards of Excellence from the National Association of County Information Officers (NACIO), a division of NACo.

On Thursday, September 3, the recipients of the awards were recognized during the weekly business session of the Johnson County Board of Commissioners. The awards were presented to the county during the 2009 Annual Conference and Exposition of NACo and NACIO in Nashville, Tennessee.

“I’m proud to say that Johnson County has regularly been one of the most recognized counties in the nation through the NACo Achievement Award and NACIO programs,” Chairman Annabeth Surbaugh said. “The Achievement Awards recognize new innovative county services and programs that are smart, effective, and cost effective. They are also model programs and services, meaning they can be replicated in another community to achieve the same positive impact. The competition for these awards is huge. It shows that Johnson County truly is a national leader and innovator.”

The Department of Human Services won two Achievement Awards. One was in recognition of the CHAMPSS (Choosing Healthy Appetizing Meal Plan Solutions for Seniors) program. The other was for the “Seeds that Feed the Need Garden Project” at the Roeland Park Community Center.

Recipients of other NACo awards included:

• “Leadership Development Program: A Proactive Effort” by Johnson County Library;
  
• “Emergency Communications Center (ECC) – Incident Information System” by the Information Technology Services Department and the ECC;
  
• “JoCoPoLo Voting Location Awareness Campaign” by the Election Office;
  
• “Trading Places” by the Environmental Department; and,
  
• “Touchless Purchase Orders Save Time and Money” by Office of Financial Management and the Oracle Support Center.

In regards to NACIO, Johnson County public information officers and communications staff from five departments received three superior, six excellence, and six meritorious awards. The 2009 national competition attracted hundreds of entries for communications, writing, marketing, video, and graphics projects.

“Our communications and public information staff is eclectic, creative and extremely talented in keeping our citizens well-informed about the workings and activities of their local government,” Chairman Surbaugh said. “It is always great to see their work being recognized on the national level. These awards represent the standard of excellence that our employees have set and the well-deserved pride they take in doing their jobs.”

Johnson County Library employees earned six awards, including:

• Experience Johnson County Library video - Computer Media – Erica Reynolds, David Carson (Superior);
  
• Johnson County Library Strategic Plan Brochure – Cindy Frazer (Excellence);
  
• Participate in ’08 Election Video Contest – Computer Media, Other Projects – Kate Pickett and Kasey Riley (Excellence);
  
• Poetry Blitz – Computer Media, Other Projects – David Carson & Helen Hokanson (Excellence);
  
• Big Read 2008 – Special Projects – Kasey Riley (Meritorious); and,
  
• Moo Cards – Graphic Design, Special Graphics – Cindy Frazer (Meritorious).

Employees from Johnson County Park and Recreation received three awards. Lory Rodak won a superior award for the district’s 2007 Annual Report; J. Anthony Oropeza was presented an excellence award for the district’s website JCPRD.com; and David Markham earned a meritorious award for the Grassroots Employee Newsletter.

Lori Sand of Johnson County Wastewater received a superior award for the employee newsletter “The Pipeline.”

Gerald Hay from the County Manager’s Office and Casey Joe Carl from the Board of County Commissioners Office shared an excellence award for the 2008 State of the County speech. Hay also received an excellence award in special projects – community events for the county’s 2008 Veterans Day ceremony.

Three NACIO meritorious awards were won by staff from the Johnson County Health Department. Sarah McMeans received two of them. One was for the department’s new website design; another for an emergency preparedness movie ad in partnership with Nick Crossley of the Johnson County Department of Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security. The Health Department’s other meritorious award was presented to Barbara Mitchell for the 2008 Infant Mortality Report.

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County to break ground to construct Youth and Family Services Center in Olathe

Johnson County’s new Youth and Family Services Center in west Olathe is moving from the drawing board to the start of construction after more than two years in planning.

A ground-breaking ceremony is scheduled at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17, at the project site near the intersection of North Marion and West Spruce streets, and north of the Johnson County Juvenile Detention Center. Featured speakers will include:

• Annabeth Surbaugh, Chairman of the Johnson County Board of Commissioners;
  
• J. Russell Jennings, Commissioner for the Kansas Juvenile Justice Authority;
  
• Betsy Gillespie, Director of the Department of Corrections;
  
• Joe Waters, Director of the Facilities Department;
  
• Terry Dunn of JE Dunn Construction Company, Kansas City, Mo., construction manager of the project; and,
  
• Dan Rowe of Treanor Architects P.A., Topeka, designer of the new facility.

Construction of the Youth and Family Services Center is scheduled to start by the end of this month with completion in the first quarter of 2011.

The cost for constructing, furnishing, and equipping the facility will be $19 million. The project also involves minor renovations to the Juvenile Detention Center.

Funding for the project will come from revenue from a quarter-cent sales tax for public safety uses approved by Johnson County voters in August 2008. The sales tax became effective on January 1, 2009. The project also has received a FEMA grant of $652,500 to provide tornado safe rooms in the facility.

The Youth and Family Services Center will include approximately 44,000 square feet. The building will convey an inviting and non-threatening image, furthering the goal of encouraging troubled youth and families to use the services offered by the Family Resource Center that will be located in the new facility.

Other functions include: Juvenile Intake and Assessment (JIAC), Child In Need of Care (CINC), House Arrest, administrative and central support services, a staff training center, and central programs areas for Crossroads counseling, visitation, recreation, and education. It also will have 33 minimum security detention beds for low-risk juvenile offenders.

The building will utilize a combination of exterior materials, including limestone, burnished concrete block, sustainable hard woods, and glass.

LEED Gold certification by the United States Green Building Council is anticipated for the new facility. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance sustainable buildings.

The Youth and Family Services Center project will be the first Johnson County Government building to incorporate the county’s Public Art Program that was established in 2007. The art projects are funded by setting aside 1 percent for arts on newly constructed major capital projects.

The Public Art Program places few restrictions on what types of art might be considered by the county, rather encouraging the artist to utilize their creativity to enhance the project and the environment for the public. The art may be an integral part of a county government building or grounds, or it may actually become an integrated part of the building construction itself.

The Johnson County Public Art Commission, also established two years ago and appointed by the Board of County Commissioners, oversees the Public Art Program, from the open and competitive artist selection process to the ultimate installation of the artwork. The Public Art Commission recommends art selection on this and future projects to the Public Building Commission which must approve the final selection of the public art.

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Judges, attorneys to team up for Habitat for Humanity project in Olathe

Johnson County judges, both active and retired, from the Tenth Judicial District of Kansas in Johnson County are preparing to trade their gavels for hammers from September 17-19 to start construction of a Heartland Habitat for Humanity home in Olathe.

They will be joined by scores of attorneys from the Johnson County Bar Association. The volunteer laborers will be installing the subfloor, setting up and framing walls, adding roof trusses, and nailing down everything in sight.

“We have a few judges who have actually picked up a hammer and lifted a saw,” Chief Judge Stephen Tatum said with a laugh. “If something needs to be nailed, we can nail the heck out of it, but the truth is we have great supervision.”

The homebuilding volunteers from the legal community will work in shifts beginning at 8 a.m. Thursday, September 17, and ending Saturday, September 19. Since 1999, Johnson County judges and local attorneys have volunteered to assist in a Habitat for Humanity project in the Kansas City Metropolitan Region.

The 2009 project involves building a Habitat for Humanity house at 130 South Emma Street. The activity marks the second Habitat project in Olathe in a decade. The project is being built on the site of a dilapidated house that was razed, including its foundation that was replaced by a new basement. The new house is designed to be energy efficient and will have approximately 1,300 square feet of living space. It will include three bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, living room/dining area, a full basement, one-car attached garage, and a back deck. It also features a front porch that’s the full length of the house.

“Every house we build has this front porch. We believe that strengthens neighborhoods,” Kate Fields, Director of Resource Development for Heartland Habitat, said.

The Johnson County judges, attorneys, and other volunteers are supervised by Habitat for Humanity volunteers with professional expertise in building homes. The project is inspected during the entire work process and built to meet all construction and safety codes.

Describing himself as the official “go-fer,” Judge Tatum plans to assist in the home-building project by carrying lumber, grabbing nails, and going for tools and other materials as needed. “I do my job admirably,” he said with a laugh and adding, “Nobody has offered to let me use a nail gun.”

When completed in about 60 to 90 days, the house will become the home of Meghan Speak, a single mother, and her two daughters, Miranda, 14, and Gracee, 12. Both daughters attend Olathe schools. The mother is a receptionist and assistant at BRR Architecture in Merriam. It will be the family’s first house.

“She will provide 300 sweat equality hours in helping to build her new home,” Fields said, adding that Speak also must complete 50 hours of classroom training in homeownership. Once she has fulfilled the training and volunteer work, Speak can purchase the house with a zero interest rate and no down payment.

Depending on the scheduling of volunteer labor and weather, completion of the house is targeted by late fall with the family being able to move into their new home before the start of the holiday season. The Olathe project was made possible by a $125,000 investment by IDEX of Overland Park to purchase the Emma Street property and construction materials. The firm provides research and data for the legal community. The first group of volunteer laborers to begin construction of the house will be the wannabe homebuilders of District Court judges, attorneys, and other volunteers. They normally try to begin their Habitat project during the annual Old Settlers Celebration in downtown Olathe, but the timing was delayed a week this year because recent rains prevent completion of the basement in time to start building of house during last week’s community celebration.

In the past decade, the Johnson County legal community has built one Habitat for Humanity home in Olathe (1999) and De Soto (2000) and seven dwellings in Kansas City, Kansas. Other volunteer groups to work on the Emma Street project in the weeks ahead include the Olathe Jaycees, Olathe East Kay Club, United Health Care, SAFC Bio Sciences, Church of the Resurrection, and scores of individuals. Speak’s employer, BRR Architects, and Life Church in Olathe, where the family attends, also will help build the family’s new home.

The Olathe project is one of approximately a dozen new houses being built in 2009 by Heartland Habitat for Humanity. The organization serves Johnson, Wyandotte, and Leavenworth counties in Kansas, and Clay and Platte counties in Missouri. Heartland’s office is in Kansas City, Kansas.

Since its founding 21 years ago, Heartland Habitat has used mostly volunteer labor to build more than 210 homes in the western Kansas City region, including Kansas City, Kan., Bonner Springs, Leavenworth, De Soto, and Olathe.

After helping to build nine Habitat homes in a decade, Judge Tatum has developed a respect for workers and craftsmen who make their living as home builders throughout the year. He admits the labor may be hard, but it’s a good group of volunteers for a good cause. It also shows a different side of the legal community.

“It proves that judges and attorneys can do other things beside go to court,” Judge Tatum said
with a smile.

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County establishes advisory committee to envision county through 2030

During its regular session on Thursday, September 17, the Johnson County Board of Commissioners formally established the Johnson County Citizens Visioning Committee, breathing life into a citizens advisory committee charged with developing a future vision for the community through the year 2030.

The Board’s action not only established the committee, but also approved, by acclimation, a roster of 37 members representing stakeholder groups from throughout Johnson County. The creation of the new Visioning Committee was first proposed by Commission Chairman Annabeth Surbaugh during her 2009 State of the County Address on March 31.

“I believe that now is the time for a new Citizens Visioning Committee because of the many challenges facing our community,” Surbaugh said. “These include opportunities associated with new economic opportunity; the need to develop the workforce of the future; the requirement to plan for growth while responding to the needs of an increasingly diverse and aging population; the critical need for mobility and public transit; and a heightened awareness of environmental impacts and sustainable solutions.”

Commissioners gave the green light to Surbaugh’s proposal in June, which opened a two-month recruitment period. Surbaugh also worked with the County Manager’s Office on developing a budget proposal and request for proposals for professional services, all of which are aimed at supporting the committee’s operation over an 18-24 month timeframe.

The roster of nominations approved by the Board of Commissioners includes representatives of large and small cities, the unincorporated areas, chambers of commerce, education, residential and commercial development, utilities, social services, health care, and the judiciary. In addition to the 29 seats for specific stakeholder groups, the committee includes eight district seats nominated by the six District County Commissioners, the District Attorney, and the Sheriff.

“Johnson County’s number one advantage is that we have so many citizens who are willing to put their proverbial blood, sweat, and tears into making this a better community,” Surbaugh said. “We’re very fortunate to have such a diverse group of recognized leaders—all representing different aspects of Johnson County—who are willing to devote their time and talents to this endeavor.”

Under the terms of the enabling resolution, the Visioning Committee is charged with ensuring a broad-based, inclusive process that incorporates and respects the voices of the full community.

“We want to make sure that citizens have ample opportunity to provide their input into what they would like to see for the future of this community, through multiple channels,” County Manager Hannes Zacharias said. “To me, the more people who are engaged in this process, the more validity it has in the end with respect to any future plans we make as a community.”

The Visioning Committee is required to submit a final report to the Board of County Commissioners that identifies specific goals to be achieved by the year 2030, along with associated strategies and action plans.

The Board’s resolution now requires its clerk to notify all 37 individuals of their appointment to the Visioning Committee, and to convene a first meeting within 45 days. The County anticipates that first meeting being scheduled sometime in mid to late October.

It will be the second look toward the future of Johnson County in a dozen years. The county’s landmark Citizens Visioning Committee was appointed by the Board in January 1996. Over two years, the 23-member panel developed a 20-year shared vision for Johnson County.

In 1997, the committee presented its recommendations about what Johnson County could look like by the year 2020. Almost all of recommendations advanced by that visioning committee have been achieved since the report was released.

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County announces 2010 Green Business Recognition Program

The Johnson County Solid Waste Management Committee is recognizing businesses that are leading the way to reduce waste and conserve resources.

Businesses with innovative recycling programs, green purchasing policies, waste reduction measures, and employee education programs are encouraged to apply for the Johnson County’s Solid Waste Management Committee’s Green Business Recognition Award.

Interested business should submit applications by January 30, 2010. The Solid Waste Management Committee will score the applications based on overall program effectiveness and the use of innovative approaches and activities. The awards will be announced around Earth Day, April 22, 2010.

Winning applicants will receive a framed certificate presented by the Johnson County Solid Waste Management Committee, a window decal that displays your environmental achievements to the public, recognition on the county’s Environmental website, local media attention including an announcement in our Eco-Newsletter, and permission to use our “Green Business Award” logo on your website and on promotional documents.

For more information or to download a copy of the application, visit the county website at http://jced.jocogov.org or contact Craig Wood at the Johnson County Environmental Department at 913-715-6900.

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