Open Records Request Tracker

Public records requests submitted to Johnson County and related agencies regarding the proposed jail bond. Iowa Code Chapter 22 governs public records access. Each request is listed with its custodian, subject, current status, and — when produced — what the documents revealed.

Three separate financial instruments are in play; only one requires voter approval.

Open-meetings transparency

Iowa Code Chapter 21 requires governmental bodies to keep minutes of their meetings (§21.3) and to give advance public notice (§21.4). The CJCC Survey Subcommittee — which held four meetings in 2025 to develop the taxpayer-funded survey used in the bond campaign — kept no minutes. In a June 5, 2026 open-records response, Erin Shane, Executive Director of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors Office, wrote: "I did create agendas for the 4 meetings with this working subcommittee but did not keep minutes."

Keeping no minutes for four meetings of a body developing a taxpayer-funded survey used in a bond campaign is, on its face, evidence of a Chapter 21 violation — if the subcommittee qualifies as a "governmental body" under §21.2. That coverage question is the County's available defense and has not been adjudicated. The Iowa Public Information Board (IPIB) is the body that would decide it.

Two additional subcommittees appear to operate on the same model — no minutes are publicly available — but this has not yet been confirmed by a records request: (1) the Sheriff's Office / Jail Planning Committee (Supervisor Green, July 2, 2026, clip 3693 ~59:45: "has met this week, as we have been doing"); and (2) a Community Outreach Subcommittee (Supervisor Remington, clip 3693 ~57:01, discussing branding, survey distribution, and community partners — exact name to be verified against video). RR-007 below is the pending request for those records.

Public awareness campaign

On March 3, 2026, the County registered the domain johnsoncountyjailbond.com and a Squarespace subscription (build URL: rust-grapefruit-rwsz.squarespace.com). The County described the site as being "to educate residents about the existing and proposed new jail facility," to be "released when we are confident the project is moving forward to the November 2026 ballot." The Shive-Hattery "Referendum Services" contract (Amendment 3, $549,000) includes a $30,000 "Public Awareness Campaign" line; the County confirmed "a small amount" has already gone to the website (RR-005).

Iowa Code §68A.405A permits factual and educational public communications but prohibits using public funds to expressly advocate for a ballot measure. The site's content is not yet public.

ID Submitted Custodian Subject Status Response What it revealed
RR-001 2026-05-13 Johnson County Board of Supervisors CSSI Project Proposal and Work Agreement; CSSI focus-group fact sheet; Shive-Hattery Amendment 3 Scope of Work Produced 2026-05-13 Produced: (1) "Jail Quick Facts" fact sheet — 2-page focus-group stimulus containing '2024 ADP was 86' and '$80 Million' cost figure, with placeholder '[Further information to be provided by Erin Shane]'; (2) full CSSI SoW — client signature line blank on executed copy; (3) Shive-Hattery Amendment 3 — deliverables due October 14, 2026 (first day of early voting); client signature line blank.
RR-002 2026-05-13 University of Iowa CSSI IRB determination — HSRD Form for CJCC Evaluation project Produced 2026-05-29 Produced: UIowa HSRD (Human Subjects Research Determination) Form, IRB ID 202503233, PI Cassidy Branch. The form records the university's determination that the CSSI survey/focus-group project is not human subjects research but quality improvement (QI) / program evaluation, citing 45 CFR 46.102(d). The form states the project is not seeking to contribute to 'generalizable knowledge' (HSRD I.5–I.6) and frames the work as data collection for 'internal management' of the CJCC client. Funding is listed as 'Departmental' — the $53,406 county contract is not reflected. Despite the QI classification, the 74% headline finding was publicly released, cited in Board presentations, and used in bond advocacy. Download (PDF)
RR-003 2026-05-14 Johnson County Auditor FY22–27 SC349 (Inmate Housing – Out of County) budget justification and line-item history Partial 2026-05-14 No specific documents produced. County redirected to publicly available budget presentations (IQM2 calendar), the Auditor's Claims Register, and the Sheriff's jail-statistics page. In the response email, the Auditor's representative informally stated: 'that budgeted number has historically been set at around $1 Million dollars simply to allow room in the budget for unforeseen circumstances. Any unspent money reverts to the County.' No written methodology, projection, or justification document was produced for any fiscal year. Requestor's follow-up confirmed the public record is consistent with this characterization and considered the request fulfilled on that basis.
RR-004 2026-05-26 Johnson County Board of Supervisors CJCC Survey Subcommittee meeting records (agendas, minutes, notices) — meetings with CSSI to develop survey instrument and plan focus groups Partial 2026-06-05 Four agendas produced by Erin Shane (BoS Executive Director). No minutes kept. (1) April 9, 2025: overview of project scope and timeline with CSSI; development of survey questions. (2) April 16, 2025: introduction; discuss development of survey questions. (3) April 23, 2025: review updates to survey; discuss development of survey questions; confirmation of next steps. (4) August 18, 2025: CSSI-authored focus group planning meeting — notably different in character from the three April sessions. Reveals focus group sample drawn from survey respondents (n=89: 67 mail, 16 web, 6 phone), stratified by vote stability: stable yes 55, stable no 21, changed vote 4 (3 yes-changers, 1 no-changer), unknown 9. $50 per-participant incentive. Agenda item on 'Development of Questioning Route.' The vote-change stratification — explicitly recruiting participants based on attitude shift — is in direct tension with the UIowa IRB QI classification, which asserted no 'environmental influence' on participants and no generalizable-knowledge intent.
RR-005 2026-06-03 Johnson County Auditor Invoices, purchase orders, and expenditure records for johnsoncountyjailbond.com and related domains; any broader communications/PR engagement covering that work Produced 2026-06-15 Produced: (1–2) Two SquareSpace receipts for the johnsoncountyjailbond.com domain and annual site subscription. (3–5) Three Shive-Hattery invoices (April 2, April 30, May 27, 2026) under the county's 'Referendum Services' contract. The county's response confirmed the site is hosted on SquareSpace and that $30,000 — 5% of the Shive-Hattery contract — is allocated to 'Public Awareness Campaign support services,' which includes the jail bond website. The county stated the site 'will be released when we are confident the project is moving forward to the November 2026 ballot.'
RR-007 — Johnson County Board of Supervisors Minutes, agendas, and public notices for the Sheriff's Office / Jail Planning Committee and the Community Outreach Subcommittee referenced at July 2, 2026 formal BOS meeting (clip 3693, ~57:01 and ~59:45) Draft — Two subcommittees referenced by Supervisors at clip 3693: (1) Sheriff's Office / Jail Planning Committee (Green, ~59:45: 'has met this week, as we have been doing'); (2) Community Outreach Subcommittee (Remington, ~57:01, discussing branding, survey distribution, community partners — exact name to be verified against video; auto-transcript garbled it). No minutes are publicly available for either body. Whether they kept minutes consistent with Iowa Code §21.3 is unconfirmed pending this request. See also RR-004: the CJCC Survey Subcommittee's Executive Director confirmed in writing that no minutes were kept for that body's four meetings.

Status key: Produced — records received; Partial — some records received, others pending or withheld; Pending — request submitted, awaiting response; Denied — request denied; Draft — request being prepared, not yet submitted.