Harris Central Appraisal District Board of Directors met Oct. 16

Harris Central Appraisal District Board of Directors met Oct. 16.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

A meeting of the Harris Central Board of Directors was held Wednesday, October 16th, 2024, at 9:30 a.m. at the HCAD offices.

Chairman Martina Lemond Dixon called the meeting to order at 9:32 a.m.

Board member Kyle Scott 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 Martina Lemond Dixon, Jim Robinson, Mike Sullivan, Cassandra Auzenne Bandy, Kyle Scott, Grace Rodriguez and Kathy Blueford-Daniels were present. Jonathan Cowen, Ericka McCrutcheon, and Ann Harris Bennett were absent.

Chief Appraiser Roland Altinger and Tammy White-Chaffer of Olson and Olson, legal counsel, were also in attendance.

Recognition of Service Awards and Employees of the Month. Chief Appraiser Altinger and Board member Cassandra Auzenne Bandy presented the awards.

10-year service awards were presented to Jerry Fields of the ARB Operations Division, and Anish Thankachan and Karen Berry-Polk both of the Business & Industrial Property Division.

A 15-year service award was presented to Blake Samoheyl of the Review Appraisal Division. A 20-year service award was presented to Lorie Lewis of the Information & Assistance Division.

A 25-year service award was presented to Pete Rodriguez of the Budget & Finance Division – Mailroom.

Employees of the Month. Employee of the Month plaques were presented to Natasha Emery of the Residential Property Division, Angelica Hernandez of the Budget & Finance Division, Elma Loreto of the Human Resources Division, and Tanoa Parker of the Information & Assistance Division.

Recognition of Employee Designations. Associate Chief Appraiser, Erika Nettles, recognized the following HCAD employees for their achievement in receiving the CTA designation from the Institute of Certified Tax Administrators:

Shatavia Brooks, Beena Chacko, Roman Cherwonogrodzky, Timothy Clark, Tatiana Coleman, Jason Cunningham, Jason Fagan, Beatrice Gilford, Shanquetta Gooden, Sedniqa Griffin, Edward Hogan, Quynh Tu Lai, Nicole Lavigne, Paige Lawrence, Jason Lind, Roriser Meeks, Thu Nguyen, Mandy Nolan, Mayra Palacios, Yara Romero, Carla Smith, Hwee Tay, Kim-Hoa To, Jose Vaquera, Cynthia Vasquez, Ryan Walker, and Chiquitha (Monique) Watson.

Comments from Members of the Public. Property owners Marian Wright and Melissa Rowell addressed 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.”

Mr. Robinson, seconded by Ms. Blueford-Daniels, made a motion to approve the consent agenda. After a roll call vote, the motion carried unanimously.

a. Approval of Minutes. Reviewing and approving the minutes of the regular meeting of September 18, 2024.

b. Eagle View Renewal. Approving the second-year renewal of a six-year contract for digital aerial Ortho and Oblique imagery plus hosting from sole source vendor, EagleView, formerly Pictometry International. The annual amount of the contract is $724,000.

c. ESRI Renewal. Approving a third-year renewal of the Enterprise Agreement for Geographic Information Systems software from ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc.) in the amount of $700,000.

d. Just Appraised Renewal. Authorizing the chief appraiser to exercise the first one-year renewal option with Just Appraised Inc. for property transaction information at a cost of $207,000 per year.

e. Holiday Schedule. Approving the 2025 holiday schedule.

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

g. Bills and Payroll. Authorizing payment of bills and payroll in the amount of $6,579,303.81 as submitted.

Cloudflare Services. Ms. Blueford-Daniels, seconded by Ms. Auzenne Bandy, made a motion to discuss and possible action to review and approve the Chief Appraiser to enter a new three-year contract for Cloudflare services from DIR vendor FreeIT. The annual amount is $48,150, and the total amount over the term of the contract is $144,450. After a roll call vote, the motion carried unanimously.

Replacement Devices. Ms. Auzenne Bandy, seconded by Mr. Scott, made a motion to discuss and possible action to approve the purchase of replacement devices used by the district’s staff for in-field and in-office work from DIR vendor CDW-G for a total cost of $250,000. After a roll call vote the motion carried unanimously.

Accudata Systems. Mr. Robinson, seconded by Ms. Rodriguez, made a motion to discuss and possible action to review and approve the Chief Appraiser to enter a new five-year contract for storage expansion and support from a DIR vendor Accudata Systems, a Converge Company, and to authorize the payment for the first year in the amount of $157,000. After a roll call vote, the motion carried unanimously.

Centre Technologies. Mr. Scott, seconded by Ms. Rodriguez, made a motion to discuss and possible action to review and authorize the Chief Appraiser to approve a one-year maintenance renewal for Veeam Enterprise Backup Suite software through Texas DIR vendor Centre Technologies. The cost of the renewal is $51,306, approximately 30% increase from last year to account for additional data and systems. After a roll call vote, the motion carried unanimously.

Skillsoft Contract. Ms. Rodriguez, seconded by Ms. Blueford-Daniels, made a motion to discuss and possible action to review and approve the Chief Appraiser to enter (3) one-year contracts for learning content from Skillsoft. The annual amount of the contract is $16,683.52 plus a one-time charge of $5,000 for Workday integration. After a roll call vote, the motion carried unanimously.

TCDRS. Ms. Auzenne Bandy, seconded by Ms. Blueford-Daniels, made a motion to discuss and possible action to approve a supplemental lump sum contribution to the district’s TCDRS (Texas County & District Retirement) account, authorize a cost-of-living (COLA) for existing retirees, and maintain other TCDRS plan provisions for Plan Year 2025. After a roll call vote the motion carried with Mr. Robinson abstaining.

Protests and Hearings. Jeff Morrison, Chief of Hearings, reported on protests and hearings, including iFile and iSettle. For the 2024 tax year, 515,859 protests have been received with the vast majority of them being filed electronically. Settlement options have been extremely productive with over 498k protests settled. ARB panels will be scheduled one day per week to work the remaining hearings along with prior year, correction and exemption accounts.

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, Danielle Kirkland, 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.

BOD Election Update. Chief Legal Officer Kevin McCormack gave an update on the process in which the governing bodies of eligible taxing units cast their votes to appoint five (5) directors to the HCAD Board.

Appraisal Matters. Board member Kyle Scott addressed the board about considering a future policy with regards to legal representation of the board, stating that the law firm that represents the Board’s interests should not also represent HCAD’s interests. Representation should be from separate law firms. Chairman Lemond Dixon suggested that this be added as an item on a future agenda so that board members would be able to voice concerns and vote on this matter.

Executive Session. Chairman Lemond Dixon called the board into executive session at 10:59 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 Lemond Dixon opened the meeting at 11:24 a.m.

Roll Call. Board members Jim Robinson, Cassandra Auzenne Bandy, Kathy Blueford-Daniels, Mike Sullivan, Grace Rodriguez, and Kyle Scott were present. Ann Harris Bennett, Jonathan Cowen and Ericka McCrutcheon were absent.

ARB Appointments.

As required by Section 6.41(d-2-1)

A board of directors acting as an appointing authority must make appointments to the appraisal review board by majority vote, with at least two members of the majority being elected members of the board of directors.

Elected member Ms. Blueford-Daniels, seconded by elected member Mr. Scott, moved to approve Resolution 2024-09, appointing individuals to the Appraisal Review Board for service beginning January 1, 2025. After a roll call vote, the motion carried unanimously.

Pending Litigation. Mr. Robinson, seconded by Ms. Blueford-Daniels, 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.

Corrections under 25.25(b). 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 11:27 a.m.

https://hcad.org/assets/uploads/pdf/resources/2024/Boardbook-November-20-2024-meeting.pdf