John Miller retires as county supervisor

Jan. 03--WATERLOO -- John Miller has some advice for future members of the Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors.

"You can get a lot done if you don't care who gets the credit," he said. "It's a 'we' thing, not a 'me' thing, and we did some pretty good stuff."

Miller, who did not seek a fourth term, stepped down Saturday after serving 12 years on the board that oversees the operation of county government. Fellow Democrat Chris Schwartz takes his seat this week.

A Hudson area farmer who previously worked as district administrator for former U.S. Rep. Dave Nagle and a regional director for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Miller was being pressed to run for Congress when he chose instead to make his mark closer to home.

"I saw some disfunction with the (county) board at that time, and it was on both sides of the aisle," Miller said. "There was a lot of tension."

Miller and Tom Little outpolled incumbent Democrats Brian Quirk and Maggie Stewart in the 2004 primary election and joined the board, which also included Republicans Robert Smith, Leon Mosley and Scott Jordan.

Confrontational outbursts that once marred weekly board meetings gradually gave way to a more cooperative tone.

As a supervisor, Miller pushed to invest in infrastructure to avoid pushing costs into the future and delivered more than a few impassioned boardroom speeches about state government decisions shifting burdens onto county property taxpayers.

Supervisor Linda Laylin noted Miller also was very concerned about the county's environment and natural resources.

"Protection of land and water was very obvious in John's voting and the committees he served on," Laylin said. "He served on the Upper and Middle Cedar River watershed management groups and also was active as liaison to the Conservation Board.

"His love of farming also carried over to working with programs like 'Buy Fresh, Buy Local', the area farmers markets and some of the community gardens," she added.

Miller was a driving force behind some $37 million in roads and bridge projects, which he called vital to the county's agricultural industry.

"I drove those roads," Miller said. "I knew what they were like. I knew they were going to hell."

With 80 percent of county voters living in cities, Miller knew a property-tax bond issue to pave rural roads would fail. So he worked with the local Farm Bureau to win support from rural voters for a local option sales tax for roads. That rural buy-in was key to leveraging additional bond money for road work.

Miller was often the lone vote against zoning land in the unincorporated area for the construction of new homes, once built for farmers and their families but now in demand by others.

"I saw an increased pressure on utilities -- keeping the roads up, keeping the snow plowed, punching another hole in the aquifer with another well, another septic tank," Miller said.

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Obituaries

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During Miller's tenure, the county also started construction of an $8 million emergency radio system; formed what is now a 22-county coalition for community services; recovered from the 2008 floods and adopted zoning rules to help prevent future flood losses; upgraded county buildings and the vehicle fleets; boosted general fund and health insurance reserves; and began a Stepping Up initiative to keep mentally ill residents out of costly placement in the county jail.

Miller also was a driving force behind the county taking a leadership role in regional and national organizations, which included chairing a homeland security subcommittee for the National Association of Counties. He was named 2016 "Regional Citizen of the Year" award from the Iowa Northland Regional County of Governments.

He said the toughest votes came when jobs were at stake, such as closing the county youth shelter or settling lawsuits brought against deputies based on financial risk factors when he felt the deputies acted appropriately.

Laylin said Miller's long history in the county and while working for the federal government provided connections which will be missed.

"John developed strong personal and professional relationships over the years," she said. "As supervisor he would often reach out to those individuals for advice or assistance with a county project."

Miller said that was a lesson learned when FEMA was trying to convince a landfill operator to stay open over the weekend when responding to floods in West Virginia. Rather then sending a FEMA representative, the locals sent the person who licenses landfills.

"Sometimes it's not just how you ask, it's who's doing the asking," Miller said.

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