Harris County Appraisal District Board of Directors met March 16

Harris County Appraisal District Board of Directors met March 16.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

A meeting of the Harris County Board of Directors was held at 9:30 a.m. at the HCAD offices.

Chairman Sullivan, called the meeting to order at 9:31 a.m.

Board Member Al Odom led those in attendance in the Pledge of Allegiance and the Salute to the Texas Flag.

Roll Call. The presence of a quorum was established. Chairman Sullivan, Martina Lemond Dixon, Jim Robinson, Jonathan Cowen, Kathy Blueford-Daniels and Al Odom were present. Ann Harris Bennett was absent.

Chief Appraiser Roland Altinger and Todd Stewart of Olson and Olson, legal counsel, also were in attendance.

Recognition of Service Awards and Employees of the Month. Chief Appraiser Altinger and Board Member Jim Robinson presented 10-year service awards to Veronica Garcia of the Information & Assistance Division and Frank Sanders of the Legal Services Division.

A 15-year service award was presented to Renee Coney of the Information & Assistance Division.

A 20-year service award was presented to Edgar Robles of the Residential Property Division.

The following employees were recognized at the board meeting via power point for their years of service.

Lan An of the Business & Industrial Property Division was recognized for 10-years of service.

Brian Glenn of the Information Technology Division, GIS Division was recognized for 15-years of service.

Kim McKellip of the Budget and Finance Division was recognized for 20-years of service.

Employees of the Month. Chief Appraiser Altinger and Board member Jim Robinson presented employee of the month plaques to Modinat Bello of the Residential Property Division, Mark Case of the Residential Property Division, Elizabeth Cortez of the Information & Assistance Division, and Ryan Walker of the Review Appraisal Division.

Texas Association of Counties Iris Stagner Award. Chief Appraiser Altinger recognized Robert Ripley, Human Resources Benefits Administrator as this year’s recipient of the Iris Stagner Award which was presented to him at the Texas Association of Counties boot camp event.

Top Workplace USA. Sally Vardy, Chief Human Resources Officer reported on HCAD’s recognition on achieving the Top Workplace USA award.

Comments from Members of the Public. There were none.

Consent Agenda

“All matters listed under consent agenda are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion, there will not be separate discussion of these items. If discussion is desired, that item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered separately.”

Mr. Cowen seconded by Mr. Odom moved to approve the consent agenda. The motion carried unanimously.

a. Approval of Minutes. Reviewing and approving the minutes of the regular meeting of February 16, 2022.

b. Furniture & Equipment Surplus. Disposition of surplus property.

c. EBC Funds. Spending $12,000 for employee recognition event.

d. Hillyer Professional Services. Renewing a contract with group benefits consultant, Dick Hillyer.

e. Verizon Wireless. Extending Verizon Wireless contract.

f. Financial Reports. Receiving the district’s monthly financial reports.

g. Bills and Payroll. Authorizing payment of bills and payroll in the amount of $4,868,796.06.

Accudata Systems, Inc. Mr. Cowen seconded by Ms. Lemond Dixon, moved to approve the purchase from Accudata Systems, Inc. of $265,000.00 additional Pure storage for the District’s on-site main data center as recommended by staff. The motion carried unanimously.

Hardware & Software Licensing. Mr. Cowen seconded by Mr. Robinson, moved to approve purchasing from Centre Technologies, SoftwareOne and Accudata Systems, Inc. the components described in the lists presented (and to be included with the minutes of this meeting) the final replication and failover systems for the District’s co-location facility. The motion carried unanimously.

Over-65 letters. Scott Christenson, Senior Director of Information and Assistance reported on the automatic mailing of the over-65 homestead exemption letter to property owners, a total of over 1,800 letters were mailed for 2022. A sample of the letter was provided to the board.

Electronic Exemption Application. Richard Ablack and Jason Mohan, from the Information Technology Applications Division and Beata Kasper presented to the board the district’s process for applying for exemptions on-line. A slide presentation was provided to the board. With many questions and comments posed by the board members, Chairman Sullivan suggested following up on the topic in a future board meeting.

2022 Reappraisal & Status of Noticing. RPD Associate Chief Appraiser Stephen Atchison, and CPD Associate Chief Appraiser Erika Nettles reported on the market trends and the 2022 status of noticing of residential and commercial properties. A PowerPoint presentation was provided to the board.

Chairman Sullivan called the meeting into a brief recess at 11:22 a.m.

The meeting was called back to order by Chairman Sullivan at 11:38 a.m.

Chairman Sullivan announced that the agenda had been adjusted to remove discussion items 14, 15 and 16 and that they would be presented at a future board meeting.

Taxpayer Liaison Officer Report. Teresa Terry, Taxpayer Liaison Officer, provided a verbal report to the board. A written report was also provided in the board packet.

Appraisal Review Board Report. ARB Chairman Douglas Sapp, reported on the progress of hearings, attendance by members of the appraisal review board at hearings, and activities of the executive staff and the board’s attorney.

Protest and Hearings. Jeff Morrison, Chief of Hearings reported on protests and hearings, including iFile and iSettle. As of this morning, for the 2022 tax year, 219 protests have been received. Scheduling is down to one day a week focusing on corrections and exemption accounts. The annual agent meeting is scheduled for next Tuesday. This hearing season is going to be another very challenging one, fully expecting another record number of protests.

Appraisal Matters. Board members and the Chief Appraiser discussed and commented on property taxes as a revenue source for the state.

Executive Session. Chairman Sullivan called the board into executive session at 12:00 p.m. for the purpose of: (a) private consultation with the board’s attorney regarding (i) pending and potential litigation, (ii) settlement of pending appeals to the State Office of Administrative Hearings, (iii) settlement of pending arbitrations under Texas Tax Code Chapter 41A, and (iv)settlement of pending litigation under Texas Tax Code Chapter 42; (b) considering the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal of a public officer, or employee, including the duties and appointment of the chief appraiser; (c) considering the deployment, or specific occasions for implementation of security personnel or devices; (d) deliberating the purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property if deliberation in an open meeting would have a detrimental effect on the position of the governmental body in negotiations with a third person, as permitted by the Open Meetings Act, Chap. 551, Government Code.

Chairman Sullivan opened the meeting at 12:08 p.m.

Roll Call. Martina Lemond Dixon, Jim Robinson, Jonathan Cowen, and Kathy Blueford-Daniels were present. Al Odom and Ann Harris Bennett were absent.

Pending Litigation. Ms. Lemond Dixon, seconded by Mr. Cowen moved to approve settlement of pending litigation, arbitrations, and SOAH appeals as submitted by staff. The motion carried unanimously with Mike Sullivan abstaining. A list is attached.

Appeals Under Sec. 42.02 Tax Code. There were none.

Adjournment. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the meeting adjourned at 12:10 p.m.

https://hcad.org/assets/uploads/pdf/resources/2022/Boardbook-April-20-2022-meeting.pdf