May 23, 2005

Members Present: Peter Krystowiak (chairman and minute taker), Reed Johnson, Rosanne Reckin, Jim Young, Mary Watson, Bill Briggs, Joyce Frey (Program)

Members Absent: Jerry Prellwitz, Paul Koller (Program), Paul Klauck (Program)

Location: Sun Prairie City Hall

Time/Length of Meeting: 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM

REVIEW MARCH QUARTERLY AND WINTER THAW: The chairman presented financial and feedback information from the March Quarterly and the Winter Thaw. The March Quarterly received average to slightly above average reviews. The Winter Thaw received excellent reviews by all who attended. The committee briefly discussed the classes in general both their good and bad points. The committee also briefly discussed a problem that occurred on the financial end of the Winter Thaw. The Kalahari was given a count for Tuesday that was overestimated by 20 to 30 people. The issue will be discussed later in the meeting under the topic review of committee duties. The committee also discussed the pros and cons of having the Winter Thaw at the Kalahari.

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: two classes presented to the Education Committee by Mike Couillard, the potential of scheduling the 7 hour USPAP class for those WAAO members that hold dual certification in both assessment and appraisal, a class on older downtown development and how different assessors/appraisers deal with valuing real estate in these areas, a class on how to develop cap rates for different types of properties, a class on business value as it relates to commercial real estate and triple net purchases, and a class about environmental contamination. The committee discussed that the classes presented by Mike Couillard are probably not longer available. They may have been presented as a potential help to WAAO if we did not have a class for the Winter Thaw. The chair will look into potential instructors for the USPAP class that could focus the 7-hour class on assessment issues. The chair will also take a quick poll at the June meeting to find level of support for a USPAP class. The Program Subcommittee will look into these and other ideas in trying to put together classes.

DECEMBER QUARTERLY TOPIC: Joyce Frey reported that she is working on a class about waterfront valuation. She has one or two people lined up and the committee gave her a few other names of people she could contact to add/teach at the class.

OCTOBER EDUCATION SEESION: After discussion it was decided that we should move forward with an October IAAO Education class. It appears between the state and the City of Milwaukee we should be able to attract enough people to have the cost break even. The chair will start to look for an instructor. Reed will check on the availability of Greg Landretti. Mary Watson will start the paperwork and try to obtain a facility in the Milwaukee area at little if not no charge. The committee discussed various means of advertising the class. The included: the Towns Association newsletter, inclusion on the state email to assessors, publication in the AVOW, and an email to WAAO membership.

WINTER THAW 2006 AND 2008: The chair announced that the Executive Board had decided to cancel the 2006 and 2008 Winter Thaws due to the IAAO and NCRAAO conventions. This announcement brought a lot of discussion about the reasons behind the cancellation and how this cancellation may be perceived in a negative manner to assessors in the central and northern part of the state. After the discussion it was decided that the chair should send an email to Mel and Mark detailing our concerns with a possible suggestion of a quasi-Winter Thaw in collaboration with the Indianhead Association.

SCHOLARSHIP FUND INQUIRY: The chair led a discussion concerning the education/scholarship fund. This issue was brought up and discussed at the last Executive Board meeting. As explained at the Executive Board meeting, the scholarship fund monies are available by request to all WAAO members. A request to the Awards Committee must be submitted and the Awards Committee decides whether the “scholarship” is granted. Several questions came up regarding non-WAAO members such as students applying for the funds. Various ideas were discussed in terms of how the fund may be able to be used. The committee even discussed an idea of using the fund to create classes, curriculum, or papers. Although the Executive Board did not seem to want to tackle this issue at this time, the chair will put the topic on the agenda for future meetings.

POSSIBILITY OF SHIRTS FOR MEMBERS/SPEAKERS: The idea of WAAO polos as gifts was brought up at the Executive Board meeting and although there was interest it will not more forward at this time. After discussion the committee felt that ordering shirts as a committee might be a good idea. The chair will get the web address of the shirt manufacturer to the committee members.

REVIEW OF COMMITTEE DUTIES: At the last Executive Board meeting there was discussion about reviewing the committee duties and overlapping duties with Membership Services. The committee discussed past issues that have arisen and also discussed the problem this year at the Winter Thaw with the over count for Tuesday. It appears committee duties will be discussed at a Planning and Management meeting later in the week. It was decided that the chair should contact Mark, the chair of Planning and Management, to explain what the issues are and ask that no immediate decisions be made. A potential joint meeting between committees or committee members might be a good option.

MENTORING PROGRAM: As our committee was instructed by the Executive Board to follow through with our game plan for mentoring. That game plan was a simple two-step plan. The first step would be to have some committee of WAAO create a list of mentors. The mentors should be willing to take phone calls from new WAAO members and should also be someone who has been in the field for some time so as to be knowledgeable about various aspects in the assessment profession. There should be two or three mentors for each state assessment district. The second step would be to send a letter (if we don’t already) to new WAAO members and introduce them to the mentors in their area. The committee felt that Paul Koller should be contacted as he started doing something like this a few years back and may still have a list of potential mentors.

POTENTIAL CHANGES TO CERTIFICATION ETC.: A WAAO ad-hoc committee has been formed to look at potential changes to certification. The chairman stated that he has let the Executive Board know that as a committee we would be glad to provide any guidance to the ad-hoc committee. The ad-hoc committee has not yet met thus any game plan for this topic has yet to be established

NEW BUSINESS: The chair informed the committee that due to changes in the Kenosha Assessors Office and due to an upcoming 2006 revaluation, there is a strong probability that he will be stepping down as chair of the committee. He asked anyone that is interested to let him know and he would gladly send that recommendation to the president/Executive Board.

The meeting was adjourned.