By Emily Wangen
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Johnson County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Janelle Rettig and Supervisor Rod Sullivan engaged in a heated debate during the Nov. 1 work session in the County Administration Building.

The debate, in which Rettig repeatedly referred to Sullivan as a misogynist and sexist, revolved around one issue: retroactive coverage for 3D mammograms.

“3D mammography has proved to detect more invasive cancers than standard mammography while decreasing the false positive rate in screening mammography,” Director of Media Relations for the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Tom Moore said in an email to *The *Daily Iowan*.

While the supervisors do not formally vote on such matters, they still take positions on matters brought to them from Human Resources on whether they would like changes.

Because 3D mammograms are partially covered, county Human Resources Administrator Lora Shramek said, the difference between 2D and3D mammograms is approximately $30.

Sullivan said he does not have an issue with the additional coverage, but he believes there should be a formal vote if there is a change to the plan.

If formal voting procedures were in place, Shramek said, the supervisors would vote on such issues on a regular basis. She noted that there is a third-party administrator that makes the everyday decisions.

While the supervisors unanimously agreed they wanted the 3D method to be covered, Sullivan said he believed Rettig should abstain from the informal vote on the matter because of her upcoming scan would be covered if there was retroactive coverage to July 1, the beginning of fiscal 2018.

“I can give advice to other supervisors, they don’t have to follow it, but I know if this was something that directly affected me, I’d probably abstain,” he said.

Rettig has received a 3D mammogram in the past, she said, and is scheduled to receive one in the future. She said she believed this would not be a serious issue but described what happened during the meeting as civil war.

“To call me out as a conflict of interest is appalling,” she said.

Rettig said she was extremely upset her ethics were questioned by Sullivan when he suggested she abstain from a vote because of a possible conflict of interest.

“What he did to me, I believe is misogyny in its total sense of the word,” Rettig said “Because I said I’ve had a mammogram, a 3D, and I had one scheduled, that I had to abstain from giving that extra protection to all of our employees and their family members.”

She also said this was not her first time experiencing sexism in the workplace, noting that many women her age have experienced this numerous times.

“For the record, I didn’t abstain from this vote because I think that is sexist,” Rettig said. “I did not abstain. I believe that we should cover these.”