Linn County voters to determine size of board of supervisors

CEDAR RAPIDS - In November, Linn County voters are to decide if they want to be represented by five county supervisors or three.

The Linn County Board of Supervisors on Monday voted 4-0 to place a referendum on the Nov. 8 general election ballot asking voters if the current system of five supervisors should be maintained or if the board should be reduced in size to three supervisors.

Supervisor Jim Houser was absent from the meeting.

The move comes as a group of residents say they've collected the more than 8,000 signatures needed to force a vote on the matter.

Members of the board said they want to start talking now about the pros and cons of a five-member board compared to a three-member board, rather than wait for the petition to be submitted.

'We want to put this on the ballot so the community has a discussion, so they have ample time,” Supervisor Ben Rogers said.

Supervisor Brent Oleson said the hope is to hold public meetings and forums to share information leading up to the Nov. 8 general election.

Oleson said if a conversation is started now, the issue won't be overshadowed by others on that ballot.

'We have a general election, a presidential election that is consuming the airwaves and debate of people on the national scene all the way down to the coffee shops,” he said. 'I think that debate should start now and voters should have all the information before they vote on this issue.”

Much of the discussion surrounding the board's size has involved supervisor pay and county representation.

Board critics - like Kevin Kula, who collected signatures for almost a year to call for a public vote - have said the supervisors - who make about $103,000 annually - are overpaid.

The board has had five supervisors for about 10 years. Nearly 60 percent of Linn County residents who voted in the 2006 general election approved an increase in supervisors from three to five.

Supervisors in 2009 agreed to drop their pay to 80-percent time, but in 2013 reverted back to full-time pay.

Kula argued Monday that voters in favor of a 5-member board in 2006 thought supervisors would remain at part-time pay.

'That's what the people voted for, but that's not what the people got,” Kula said.

Meanwhile, Linn County resident Dave Machacek, who helped circulate the petition 10 years ago that ultimately increased the board to five members, said that's not the case.

'I appreciate the fact that they're looking at the money situation, but that wasn't what this was all about when we did this, it was about representation,” Machacek said.

When the board increased to five members, districts were redrawn, creating a fourth district - which includes Marion, Central City and Bertram - and a largely rural fifth district. Proponents of a five-member district say this provides better countywide representation, rather having all supervisors from Cedar Rapids.

'We will lose our representation,” Machacek said of reverting back to a three-member board.