Harris County Appraisal District Board of Directors met Aug. 17

Harris County Appraisal District Board of Directors met Aug. 17.

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 9:32 a.m. and 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, Jim Robinson, Kathy Blueford-Daniels and Martina Lemond Dixon were present. Jonathan Cowen, Ann Harris Bennett, and Al Odom were absent.

Board Member Al Odom joined the meeting at 10:00a.m.

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

Chief Appraiser Altinger recognized Board Member, Martina Lemond Dixon for her recent appointment to serve as a commissioner on the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.

Recognition of Supervisor Training Graduates. Chief Appraiser Altinger recognized fifteen supervisors and managers who recently graduated from the Effective Supervisory Practices Course. This is the 4th graduating class of the district bringing the total number of graduates to 103.

Presentation of the Certificate of Achievement of Excellence in Financial Reporting. Chief Appraiser Altinger congratulated the Budget & Finance Division for the 34th consecutive Government Finance Officers Association certificate of achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting.

Recognition of Service Awards and Employees of the Month. Chief Appraiser Altinger and Board Member Martina Lemond Dixon presented a 10-year service award to Jack Barnett of the Communication Services Division and Shari Ramal of the Budget & Finance Division.

15-year service awards were presented to Patricia Bailey of the Information & Assistance Division, Perla Cardoza- Sanchez of the Information & Assistance Division, Kim-Sa Nguyen of the Review Appraisal Division, Sylvia Tanksley of the Jurisdiction Support Division, and Deborah Weselka of the Communication Services Division.

A 20-year service award was presented to Robyn Waddy of the Information Technology Division. A 25-year service award was presented to Sheila Brown of the Review Appraisal Division.

A 30-year service award was presented to Susanne Alaman of the Business and Industrial Property Division.

A 35-year service award was presented to Valencia Fuller of the Information & Assistance Division.

Employees of the Month. Chief Appraiser Altinger and Board member Martina Lemond Dixon presented employee of the month plaques to Jariel Cornelious of the Review Appraisal Division, Paige Lawrence of the Business & Industrial Property Division, Helen Polasek of the Information & Assistance Division, and Spiro Zoula of the Business & Industrial Property Division.

Board Travel. Ms. Lemond Dixon, seconded by Ms. Kathy Blueford-Daniels, moved to approve travel for the board members who plan to attend the 2022 International Association of Assessing Officers Annual Conference August 28 through August 31, 2022. Mr. Robinson who opposed this agenda last month withdrew his objection. The motion carried unanimously.

Appraisal District Name Change. Ms. Kathy Blueford-Daniels, seconded by Ms. Martina Lemond Dixon, moved to adopt Resolution 2022-03 changing the official name of Harris County Appraisal District to Harris Central Appraisal District. After discussions were made by board members, a motion to call to question was made by Ms. Blueford-Daniels, with a roll call vote the item passed with Mr. Robinson opposing. A vote was then called on the original motion to adopt Resolution 2022-03 changing the official name of the district. After a roll call vote the motion passed with Mr. Robinson opposing. A slide presentation was provided to the board.

Recognition of Public Relations Excalibur Award for Community Relations. Jack Barnett, Communications Officer, presented the 2022 Silver Excalibur Award for Community Relations from the Houston Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America to the board. Chairman Sullivan accepted the award on behalf of the board. The Excalibur Awards honors outstanding public relations professionals and programs in various categories.

Comments from Members of the Public. Property owners, Mr. Robert Burchfield, Mr. Art Smith, and Ms. Koffey El-Bey addressed the board. Mr. Art Smith provided handouts to the board.

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.”

Consent agenda item 9c was pulled and considered separately.

Mr. Robinson, seconded by Mr. Odom, moved to approve the consent agenda as amended. The motion carried unanimously.

a. Approval of Minutes. Reviewing and approving the minutes of the regular meeting of June 15, 2022.

b. Equipment Surplus. Declaring certain furniture and equipment as surplus and approve for sale and/or disposal.

d. Global Laser Renewal. Authorizing the chief appraiser to exercise a one-year renewal option on a contract outsourcing all printer and MFU management to Global Laser.

e. Tax Transparency Website Renewal. Authorizing the chief appraiser to allocate funds for the continued use of the services for tax transparency website and taxing unit portal, as necessitated by the Texas Property Tax Reform and Transparency Act of 2019 (Senate Bill 2), from True Prodigy Tech Solutions. The amount for the services will be approximately $75,000, same as last year.

f. VisiFLOW Services Renewal. Authorizing the chief appraiser to exercise a one year renewal option on a contract with Eccentex Corp. for VisiFLOW software and services support. The maintenance cost is $150,000, same as 2021.

g. General Liability, Property Coverage, Workers’ Compensation. Approving the payment to Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool in the amount of $309,059.

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

i. Bills and Payroll. Authorizing payment of bills and payroll in the amount of $7,750,260.82 and a transfer of funds for $15,044,259 as submitted.

9c. Flu Shots. Mr. Odom, seconded by Ms. Lemond Dixon, made a motion to authorize the chief appraiser to contract with Costco Pharmacy for the seasonal flu shot clinic held for the benefits of the district staff and appraisal review board. The motion carried unanimously.

Audit Report. Mr. Odom, seconded by Mr. Robinson, made a motion to receive the annual audit report from the district’s external auditors. The motion carried unanimously.

LiDAR Program. Beata Kasper, Chief Information Officer reported on the cooperative cost sharing initiative and possible next steps to extending the partnership to other jurisdictions.

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, 490,000 protests have been received with the vast majority of them being filed electronically. The ARB will approve the records Friday, August 19th with certification of the roll within a couple of weeks. The focus now is on completing the remaining accounts and working prior year, correction, and exemption accounts.

Appraisal Matters. Board member Jim Robinson inquired as to the approval of the appraisal records, the appraisal rolls and certification.

Executive Session. Chairman Sullivan called the board into executive session at 11:37 a.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 11:53 a.m.

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

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

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

25.25(b) Corrections. The quarterly report of corrections was made available upon request by any board members who wanted to inspect it.

Adjournment. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the meeting adjourned at 11:54 a.m.

https://hcad.org/assets/uploads/pdf/resources/2022/Board-book-September-21-2022-Meeting.pdf