Longtime Iowa Department of Natural Resources staffer Jon Tack was somewhat taken aback when environmental-group lawyer Josh Mandelbaum asked if there would be a time limit on oral comments about a new water quality rule. “It’s been so long since I’ve done a public hearing where people actually cared, I’m not sure what the rule is,” Tack told an audience of 25, most of them representing cities, business groups or environmental organizations. “I’ll have to defer to the other staff members.” Everyone got five minutes after Mandelbaum negotiated the last slot so he could go longer. A whole string of speakers cared, it turns out.