October 25, 2004

Members Present: Peter Krystowiak (chairman and minute taker), Reed Johnson, Jerry Prellwitz, Rosanne Reckin, Paul Koller (Program), Paul Klauck (Program),

Members Absent: Mary Watson, Joyce Frey (Program)

Location: Sun Prairie City Hall

Time/Length of Meeting: 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM

REVIEW COMMITTEE MAKEUP: The chairman informed the committee that Barry Feig had stepped down from the Education Committee to focus his efforts on improving the WAAO web page. Having only five members on the Education Committee and only 3 members on the Program subcommittee the chairman stated he would like to find one or two more individuals to serve on the committee. The chairman has contacted the WAAO president and president-elect to see if they had any people to recommend. The chairman asked committee members to inform him of anyone that they think would be interested in serving on the committee. One name that came up in discussion was Jim Young. Jim secures the room in Sun Prairie for us each meeting and was just appointed to the WAAO Executive Board. The chairman will contact Jim to see if he is interested in serving on the Education Committee.

REVIEW COMMITTEE DUTIES/GOALS: The chairman read the specific duties of the Education Committee. A discussion followed concerning what this year’s goals should be and what if anything should be our long-range plan. After the discussion, our goals for this year will be to work with the Program Subcommittee to put on quality education sessions at three of the quarterly meetings. We also plan on conducting two one day or longer educational sessions. The first will be a one-day session in the Dells in March. The second will be a one-day to one-week class/course in October possible sponsored by the IAAO. Because of workloads, staff cutbacks, and the many items that we always address as a committee it was decided that a good long-range plan might be to keep performing each short-range plan.

DATES FOR 2005 MEETINGS: The dates set for next years Education meetings are tentatively February 7, May 23, and October 24. Everyone will check to make sure there are no conflicts with these dates. The chairman will make sure the room in Sun Prairie is available for these dates.

EDUCATION IDEAS: The chairman led a brainstorming session of education ideas that have either been presented to committee members or ideas that have been thought of by committee members. The ideas that were discussed were: a class by the Appraisal Institute with the title “Analyzing Operating Expenses”, a class by a group called Gathering Waters Conservancy about environmental issues and environmental easements, a class by David Sayers a lawyer for the Wisconsin Realtors talking about the real estate transfer return, someone from the state discussing how the process of electronically filing the transfer return will work/is working, a class on older downtown development and how different assessors/appraisers deal with valuing real estate in these areas, a session put on by the Wisconsin Property Listers discussing their role and how they interact with assessors, a class by the Appraisal Institute entitled “Appraising Convenience Stores”, a class that was put on at NCRAAO about personal property by an appraiser out of Michigan, and a class about environmental contamination.

DECEMBER QUARTERLY TOPIC: The Program Subcommittee is working on a two-site field trip for the December quarterly. After a brief presentation at the Crown Plaza, two buses will take members to a construction site. There will be speakers on both of the buses. At the construction site the group will be split into several smaller groups. Contractors and/or expeditors will point out various aspects of homes to look for in trying to identify quality of construction/grade. After the construction site the buses will take the group to Brunzel Lumber, a manufactured house facility. At the facility the group will again be split into groups and there will be stations set up to learn about different components of homes. The committee still had a few logistical concerns about the class. If weather is bad and we could not visit the construction site, we wanted to make sure the time could be filled. A second concern is that at the construction site we will be required to wear hard hats and eye protection and they will not be provided. The committee felt that between each committee member trying to find 10-15 hats, asking everyone in attendance to bring a hat, and asking anyone that has access to extra hats to bring them we should have enough. The chairman will check on the ability to purchase eye protection for everyone from a surplus store. Another concern is that with the amount of things that there is to be done, if there will be enough time. The concern is that after the short talk at the Crown Plaza and the construction site field trip there may not be much (enough) time for the tour of the plant. The final concern is that since we will not be at the hotel there will not be an afternoon cookie break. The chairman suggested that someone could simply order/buy several dozen cookies from a supermarket and they could be distributed on the bus. The chairman will talk with Joyce Frey in the next week or two to discuss these various concerns.

MARCH QUARTERLY/WINTER THAW: Based on information from our brainstorming session earlier, the members of the Program Subcommittee felt a program involving the listers association and real estate transfer returns could be set up. The program would involve a presentation by the Wisconsin Property Listers Association, a representative from the state explaining the e filing for the transfer return, and possible David Sayers discussing various aspects of the real estate transfer return. For various reasons it was felt that getting a “pre-packaged” program for the Winter Thaw rather than create a program should be our first course of action. The chairman will check on the two Appraisal Institute classes in terms of costs. He will report back to the committee with any findings.

OCTOBER EDUCATION SEESION: As mentioned earlier, one of this years goals is to again hold the October class. Several options are available to use: where to have the class, will it be a one day or a week long class, should it be an IAAO sponsored class, and finally what should the class be. The City of Milwaukee, which has “driven” this class in the past, has suggested two ideas. The first was the environmental contamination class. The class would look at the various phases of contamination, how to value contaminated property, and how to set up an office manual to deal with contamination. The second idea was IAAO class 600 or 601, which deal with mapping. The committee also felt there may be a need for the basic/first class that the IAAO offers. The chairman will contact the City of Milwaukee and/or Mary Watson to get their thoughts on our discussion.

SCHOLARSHIP FUND INQUIRY: The chair reported that after checking, the money in the scholarship fund could be used for anything related to educating. It is very broad but any withdrawals from the fund would have to be met with Executive Board approval. It was discussed that if we have some basic appraisal classes John Shippley from WCTC should be contacted to see if there is a student/student(s) interested and qualified to get a scholarship to attend the class.

HAND OFF/CHECKLIST OF DUTIES: It was decided to let this sit until our next meeting in February.

MENTORING PROGRAM: Our committee has been asked to come up with an outline about how to start a mentoring program and of what it will consist. The discussion on the topic demonstrated that the program could be very small to very large in scale. The committee felt the mentoring program should start by someone in WAAO identifying two members in each district that could be listed as mentors. Next WAAO has to come up with a means of identifying when new assessors enter the field. Thus each time there is a new assessor WAAO should send out a packet introducing WAAO and its benefits, a membership sheet, and the list of two people who agreed to act as mentors. This plan will be run by Joyce to see if that is the idea she had or if she wants to add or subtract from the plan.

OBTAINING MLS INFO: The chairman reported that after doing research there is no one organization statewide that could provide assessors with all sold information. There are many MLS services and some areas of the state are not even covered. Thus because of the number of organizations involved it does not make sense for WAAO to try and obtain sales information for its members for a reduced cost at this time.

WEBSITE: The chairman reported the website is being worked on/improved and the changes should be apparent by the first of the year.

The meeting was adjourned.