WAAO Executive Board Minutes

Meeting Date: January 10, 2005	Meeting Place: Raintree Resort, Wisconsin Dells
Voting Members Present (Officers & Directors): Mark Schlafer, Mel Raatz, Jim Siebers, Pam Hennessey, Joan Spencer, Mike Higgins, John Meyer, Reed Johnson, Kathee Isleb, Rocco Vita, Mike Muelver, Jim Young, Wes Little, Bill Adams					Absent: Eric Miller
Chairs & Representatives Present: Bob Lorier, Steve Miner, Pete Krystowiak, Pete Weissenfluh, Hugh Harper, Kathy Romanak, Sue Plutschack, Mike Kurth					Absent: Dave Krolicki, Mary Reavey, Nan Giese, Tina Bizub, Michele Cullen, Mike Patnode
Others Attending: Jolene Plautz
Secretary	Pam Hennessey
Minutes Approved	Approved
Treasurer	Joan Spencer
Membership Count	580
Operating Balance	$23,687.82
Education Balance	$ 9,041.48
IAAO Host Balance	$ 1,648.80
General Meeting Count
General Meeting	Revenue: $2,840		Expense: $2,704.08				Net: $ 135.92
Education Fund	Revenue:		Expense:				Net:
Course Name				# Attending:
Course	Revenue:		Expense:				Net:
Course Name				# Attending:
Course	Revenue:		Expense:				Net:
President	Mark Schlafer
Correspondence	Mark received an e-mail from Tina Bizub. See discussion under AVOW.
DOR Communications	None
Association Activity	None
Committee Reports	Reported By
Auditing	Dave Krolicki—no report
Awards / Resolutions	Mike Higgins—no report
Nominating	Mike Higgins—no report
Planning & Management	Mark Schlafer—no report, but he still plans to review the number of committee members. He will call a meeting for late January or early February.
Ad Hoc SLF Liaison	Bob Lorier—SLF Division Administrator is now Michael Lehman, a former legislator; Bureau of Property Tax director is now Dan Davis, who came from income tax; Bureau of Standards director is now Frank Humphrey. Bill Wardwell is still head of Manufacturing, Ken Schuck is head of Local Government Services, and the Equalization head is still vacant (formerly Gene Miller). Reed will distribute an updated organizational chart. The IPAS (Integrated Property Assessment System) project is headed by Paul Reineman; the Real Estate Transfer Return automation project is headed by Jim Murphy. Bob asked about the Manufacturing cost proposal but didn’t get much additional information at this point. DOR would like us to work with them on putting together a legislative package; they are also working with a group of clerks. Next meeting is January 20, 2005.
IAAO Representative	Pete Weissenfluh reported he and Mary Reavey will be speaking at an IAAO function in St. Louis in March.
IAAO Endorsement	Mary Reavey—no report
IAAO 2006 Host Committee	John Meyer said in December they met the meeting planner and fund raising coordinator. An initial budget for the conference was presented. The golf outing is scheduled for Sunday (10/8/06) at Washington County golf course. The opening reception the same is tentatively at Pier of Wisconsin along the lakefront. The Art Museum will be the fall back if the Pier is not completed on schedule. On Monday (10/9/06) the opening ceremony will include a procession of flags of participating nations; also a membership appreciation event at the Milwaukee Public Museum. Tuesday (10/10/06) is an open night so far. The initial draft of the budget was approved and a slogan selected and will be finalized at the next meeting. We will have a presence at the Anchorage conference, with photos of participants being taken on a Harley Davidson motorcycle. The committee is meeting with the Milwaukee Convention and Visitors Bureau to see what they can help with.
NCRAAO Representative	Steve Miner—no report
Ad Hoc NCRAAO 2008 Host	Steve Miner reported the committee had looked at the Fox Hills Resort in Mishicot and liked it, but they have also recently been contacted by the Olympia in Oconomowoc. The Fox Hills Resort is currently offered for sale. The committee will continue to work on the location question.
Ad Hoc Communication/Tech	Steve Miner asked for comments from the Board about the new website design. Steve is waiting for approval before putting it into production. (see board action below). Phil Sanders has resigned from the committee, but Steve and Barry Feig are continuing to work on the effort. Steve wants to add sample job descriptions, as soon as he receives any. The member passwords and history will remain intact. Steve, Barry, and Phil have done a great job.
Ad Hoc Prop. Tax Awareness	Kathee Isleb said Mark needs to appoint a new chair for this committee.
Education & Training	Pete Krystowiak raised several issues. A review of the December quarterly class shows we made a small profit. The overall feedback was positive, with concerns about the length of the session. Joyce should be thanked for all her effort in putting that together, and we’ll put together a resolution for the March quarterly meeting to acknowledge her hard work. The March quarterly meeting’s program will be from the Property Listers Association. Jim Murphy will also present information on the Real Estate Transfer Return automation project. For the winter thaw the next day, the committee hopes to put on an appraisal institute class on the valuation of convenience stores. This class will be presented in the Milwaukee area about 3 weeks prior to our March meeting. The appraisal institute has no problem with the duplication, as long as we only advertise our class to our own organization. To keep the cost down for the winter thaw, Joan said we can use some money from the education fund for the speaker’s fees. The program subcommittee and education committee is considering brainstorming topics for future meetings and then involving other WAAO committees in developing the presentations.
Membership Services	Nan Giese—no report
Public Relations	Sue Plutschack informed Mark that she needs to withdraw as the chair this year, although she will continue to work with the committee. This committee has had a lot of change in the last year. Mark will find a new chair.
AVOW Editor	Mark Schlafer announced Tina has resigned as editor, effective immediately. We have e-mail addresses for about 2/3 of the membership. We should consider mailing information for the class registration in March and direct the members to the website for more information. (see board action below)					Deadline: January 21, 2005 to Steve Miner for publication on the website.
Legislative Committee	Pete Weissenfluh introduced Jolene Plautz, our lobbyist. Pete said she has been very effective and wonderful to work with. Pete handed out a draft bill for the repeal of s. 74.37, Wis. Stats. It also defines as a palpable error the failure of the assessor to send the s.70.365 assessment notice. The board consensus is to go ahead with the draft, now we need to find a suitable sponsor. Jolene, Pete and others will be in Madison Wednesday to meet with legislators. The Alliance of Cities said they would join in our lobbying effort; the realtors may remain neutral; Jolene will also talk with the League of Wisconsin Municipalities. We need to stress that we are not taking rights away, that the property owners still have other appeal options available. The avenue we are removing is very costly and time-consuming. If you have a Republican legislator, discuss this with them and put them in touch with Pete Weissenfluh. Joan will e-mail the bill draft to all members. On the trespass bill, Jolene has set up a meeting next week with legislators. Regarding the proposal for municipalities to assume the total cost of assessing manufacturing property (approximately 137%), but we would like to have an opt-out provision. Any municipalities which, under this proposal, would opt to do the manufacturing assessments themselves, should inform Secretary Morgan in the next few weeks. Should we push to include an opt-out provision, or should we push to simply defeat the proposal (which is the riskier position). Assessors and municipalities need to call the Governor’s office (potentially mayors and finance directors call Secretary Morgan) to alert them that the manufacturing cost shift in the DOR budget proposal is not acceptable. We need to start considering a WAAO position on county-wide assessments, which likely will be a future proposal. There is a bill draft by Rep. Albers to no longer require an interior inspection for an appeal, that the property owner could provide information. There is also a bill draft on managed forest lands, and another draft about Board of Review allowing sufficient time for owners who have multiple parcels. Another draft is a wetlands bill which is supported by DATCP to reduce property taxes for wetlands. Jolene is watching the bills which are being circulated. Speaker Gard is looking to eliminate the Jt. Survey Committee on Tax Exemptions.
Property Tax Exemptions	Kathee Isleb said they met recently to discuss proposals. The committee believes it would be timely to present WAAO’s BOTE (Board of Tax Exemptions) proposal to a legislative committee. Statewide there is a discrepancy in the uniform application of exemptions. The Legislative Council study committee (Columbus Park Housing) has a proposal to split s. 70.11(4) into 4 categories, none of which includes the high end senior housing. We also do not want to tie exemptions to IRS rules. www.legis.state.wi.us/lc/2004studies is the website for the study committee, which includes links to the proposals and the meeting specifics. Mary requests that once the letter she drafted to the study committee is signed by Mark it be e-mailed to the WAAO membership. Jolene suggested it also be provided to the key legislators. One of the study committee members was concerned that the municipalities are not being heard about this and need to be more vocal.
Rural Concerns	Mel Raatz has e-mailed the conservation tax proposal to members. The proposal is being promoted by others, including the Dept. of Natural Resources. The Soil and Water Conservation Society is holding their conference in late January, and Mel and Scott Shields of DOR are presenting on ag use.
Real Estate Standards	Kathy Romanak said the committee is awaiting approval for the cover letter and sample commercial/apartment operating statement to be forwarded to DOR for inclusion in the Wisconsin Property Assessment Manual. (see board action below)
Personal Property Standards	Mike Patnode—no report
Ad Hoc Billboards	Mike Kurth said the committee has not met but they have just received a decision upholding the City of Madison’s use of the income approach.
Computer Assisted	Hugh Harper—no report
Ad Hoc Commercial Sales	Pete Krystowiak said they met in December with the American Farm Appraisers which has a database, and whether we could piggy-back or benefit from their experience. The committee will be meeting to discuss the issue, we might be able to use their database at a low cost, but we would have to supplement data. Bob said the state is still debating how they want to handle a commercial sales database.
Old Business
Brought Up By	None
Concern
Brought Up By
Concern
New Business
Brought Up By	Mark Schlafer
Concern	Assessor Certification Review Committee. Bob Lorier stated that this has been discussed at the SLF meetings and now is the time for WAAO to get involved. We should be prepared to forward our position by the beginning of 2006 at the latest. Kathee Isleb, Mike Muelver, and Wes Little volunteered to be on the committee.
Brought Up By	Jim Siebers
Concern	Jim received an e-mail about a City of Milwaukee court case on cost vs. sales. The case was on the hierarchy of evidence. The Court of Appeals said you have to consider the hierarchy every time, and that you can’t use the cost approach. Pete Weissenfluh said the facts did not come out as they should have in the testimony, mass appraisal is never really addressed at the board of review and all the judge sees is the hierarchy of evidence.
Items Of Discussion
Board Action
Motion By: John Meyer		Second By: Joan Spencer
Motion: Move that we go forward with endorsing the revised website and having it available for the membership.
Approved: Yes		Failed:
Motion By: John Meyer		Second By: Kathee Isleb
Motion: For Joan to mail to the membership an announcement of the upcoming March meetings, and to direct members to the website for additional information. (Joan will include this in her annual membership mailing).
Approved: Yes		Failed:

Motion By: Mike Muelver	Second By: Bill Adams
Motion: To forward the cover letter and commercial/apartment operating statement developed by the Real Estate Standards committee to DOR for inclusion in the Wisconsin Property Assessment Manual.
Approved: Yes	Failed:

Minutes Taken By:	Pam Hennessey
Date Approved By Executive Board: