Williamson Central Appraisal District

Board of Directors Meeting

Minutes of February 13, 2020

Harry Gibbs, Vice Chairman, called the regular meeting of the Williamson Central Appraisal District Board of Directors to order Thursday, February 13, 2020 at 9:05 AM Board members present Harry Gibbs, Donald Hisle, Rufus Honeycutt, and Larry Gaddes. Charles Chadwell and Jon Lux were absent. Quorum declared.

Pledges of Allegiance

Oath of Office by Board Member

Colleen McElroy, the District’s Administrative Assistant, administered the oath of office to Harry Gibbs who had been newly elected to the Board of Directors for 2020-2021.

Receipt of Public Comments

There were no public comments.

Taxpayer Liaison Officer’s Report

Update on Appointment of Appraisal Review Board by Administrative Law Judge

Charley Rouse, the District’s Taxpayer Liaison Officer, reported on the appointment of the Appraisal Review Board process with the Administrative Law Judge. He informed the members that the list of members had been finalized.

Report on Property Owner Contacts

Rouse reported on the status of his contact with property owners. He indicated that he had not had much activity since the Board’s last meeting.

Consider approval of minutes of the Board of Directors for the regular meeting – January 9, 2020.

Honeycutt moved for approval of the minutes as presented. Hisle seconded. The motion carried.

Consideration of Monthly Financials and Quarterly Investment Report

The December 2019 financials and expenditures were reviewed and filed for audit. The quarterly investment report was also reviewed.

Lankford discussed the increase in the utility expenses with the City of Georgetown. He announced that the District would most likely overspend in this budget category. Lankford reviewed the budget and announced that there would be no need to request monies be moved from one category to another and that all excess monies would be discussed through the audit and be brought back to the Board.

The Investment Report was also reviewed.

Town Hall Meeting

Lankford informed the Board that Representative John Bucy’s office has been working with himself and Gaddes to plan the upcoming Town Hall Meeting. He announced that this meeting had been set to take place at 6:30 PM at the Vista Ridge High School in Cedar Park. Lankford indicated that he, Representative Bucy and Gaddes would be presenting.

District Cleaning Service

Lankford reminded the members that the District had obtained a new janitorial service provider approximately one year ago due to the current cleaning service not complying with their contract. The new vendor was extremely impressive at the beginning of their service, but then began waning. Lankford announced that the District would like to contract with a local company. A comparison of different vendors was displayed. Lankford indicated that after conducting a price comparison and checking references, the District was considering Express Commercial Cleaning, a local company out of Round Rock, as its new provider. He announced this vendor also offered a ticketing system.

Lankford announced that the District was currently under contract with its current vendor and had one more year before the contract would end. He suggested the possibility of a meeting with this current vendor to speak with the local supervisor and discuss a list of issues. Lankford indicated that he would like to give this vendor one month to address the issues; and felt ending the contract would not be an issue.

Gaddes suggested contracting with a vendor for only one year, unless this would be cost prohibitive. Lankford indicated that he would discuss the contract with Express Commercial Cleaning should the current vendor not perform to the District’s standards. The Board agreed.

No motion was made.

Annual Review of Contracts

Lankford announced that, as part of MAP (Methods and Assistance Program) Review, the District is required to have an annual review with the Board of its contracts. This listing was included in the Board’s packet of materials. Lankford indicated that most contracts are provided to the Board for signature.

The Board members inquired about the performance of the District’s vendors. Lankford indicated that a few that may fall short of the District’s expectations; however, these expectations are high. The Board discussed contract negotiating as well as joining with other state agencies in order to help save money on some contracts.

No motion was made.

Medicare Agreement (Resolution #2020-01)

Lankford informed the Board that in the early 1980’s the District had the option to pay into Medicare. In 1986, a decision was required and if a government agency had a qualified retirement plan, it could opt out of Medicare. Any office that did not opt in would not have Medicare available to it upon its employee’s retirement.

Lankford announced that some of the District’s employees would not have Medicare insurance upon leaving the District. He reviewed the process through ERS (Employees Retirement System of Texas); which, he indicated would take a great amount of time. He indicated that those employees could start having Medicare withdrawn from their paycheck as well as participate in a buyback program. The District would need to pay a portion and the employee would pay their portion going forward. These individuals would have to work additional time in order to obtain their qualified quarters.

Hisle made a motion to approve Resolution #2020-01 authorizing the Board of Directors to enter into all necessary agreements with the Employees Retirement System of Texas; to extend health insurance benefits (Medicare) to the employees of WCAD and authorize the Chief Appraiser to execute all necessary agreements on behalf of the Board. Honeycutt seconded. The motion carried.

Chief Appraiser’s Report

Just Appraised

Lankford reminded the Board that Just Appraised, a company that streamlines the change of ownership process for appraisal districts, was previously hired to start the process of scraping deed information from the County Clerk in order to mass enter property deed information. This vendor processed 23,000 deeds and the District is working with Tyler Technologies, the appraisal software vendor, to get these entered. Lankford announced a success rate for this project around 90-95%. He informed the Board that he would provide the final numbers at a future meeting.

Lankford indicated that the District’s Records department had fallen behind on getting the property deeds entered. Instead of hiring additional people to replace retirees, and then having to let them go, Lankford had made the decision to wait on this software to be working. Gaddes indicated that this had also had an impact on the tax office. It was announced that Tyler Technologies was working to get all services flowing together.

Management Survey

Lankford announced that a survey had been sent to staff for them to provide feedback about management. He indicated that this survey is conducted every other year.

Lankford indicated that he and Chris Connelly, the District’s Deputy Chief Appraiser, meet with members of management to discuss their individual results. He mentioned how proud he was of the management staff and extremely happy he was with the results of the surveys.

GIS Maps Presentation

Respectfully,

Charles Chadwell, Chairman                                   Donald L. Hisle, Secretary