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PAGE 6A — THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. APRIL 9. 2009
Madison Co. BOC submits termination letter to assessors
The Madison County Board of
Commissioners has submitted a
letter of termination to the four
members of the county board of
assessors. Here is that letter:
This is to notify you that the
Board of Commissioners of
Madison County (BOC) has
determined that you should be
removed from your positions
as members of the Madison
County Board of Tax Assessors
(BOA).
Grounds for removal
The reasons for this determi
nation are as follows:
1. Failure to submit tax digest
by deadline.
O.C.G.A. 48-5-302 provides
as follows: "Each county board
of tax assessors shall complete
its revision and assessment of
the returns of taxpayers in its
respective county by July 1
of each year, except that, in
all counties providing for the
collection and payment of ad
valorem taxes in installments
such date shall be June of each
year. The tax receiver or tax
commissioner shall then imme
diately forward one copy of the
completed digest to the com
missioner for examination and
approval.
BOA member Garland was
appointed to office April 30,
2004, and served as chair from
May 12, 2005, until December
2008. BOA members Stewart
and Escoe were appointed to
office Aug. 22, 2005. BOA
member Ragland was appointed
to office in September 10, 2008,
and has served as chair since
January 2009.
The BOA has not completed
its duties by the July 1 deadline
since any of you were appoint
ed to office. Thus, five dead
lines have been missed since
Ms. Garland’s appointment,
and three deadlines have been
missed since Mr. Stewart's and
Mr. Escoe’s appointments. Mr.
Ragland was appointed after the
last missed deadline in 2008,
but there is no reason to believe
that the 2009 deadline will be
met. Contrary to public asser
tions made by Mr. Ragland,
staff employees in the Office of
the Tax Assessor report that the
process is indeed behind sched
ule. This would almost have to
be the case, since the county has
been without a chief appraiser
since Dec. 31,2008, because the
BOA decided to non-renew the
contract of the former chief and
failed to take reasonable steps
toward the hiring of a replace
ment. The highest-ranking staff
appraiser also resigned recently,
and rescinded her resignation
only after the chair of the BOC
(not the BOA) reached out to
convince her to remain with the
county.
Submitting the digest in a
timely manner is of paramount
importance, and failing to do so,
regardless of whatever excuses
or reasons may be offered is
legally sufficient grounds for
removal (See Pope vs. Bd. of
Comm’rs. 276 Ga. App. 121
2005). The BOC cannot, in
good conscience, allow this
situation to continue.
2. Failure to secure
a chief appraiser
Every county is required to
have a chief appraiser. Typically
the BOA designates that person;
however in Madison County,
that function has been given
over to the BOC. (See orders
dated Dec. 23,2004, and Jan. 11,
2005, in case No. 04-MV-837-J,
Superior Court of Madison
County). After entry of those
orders, the BOC, at the request
of the BOA, amended the coun
ty personnel policy so as to give
the BOA a role in the personnel
issues. For purposes hereof, that
amendment gave the BOA the
right and duty to recommend a
candidate for chief appraiser to
the BOC, only after which the
BOC could take action to hire
such person.
You had conflicts with the
former chief appraiser, James
Flynt, whose contract expired
Dec. 31, 2008. Therefore, you
declined to recommend him
for renewal. However, despite
the fact that these conflicts had
been evident for many months,
you had no replacement to rec
ommend by the end of 2008,
leaving the office without a
chief. You have since recom
mended only one person for
the position and that only after
repeated requests and reminders
to do so. That recommendation
was made on Feb. 19, 2009,
and was rejected by the BOC.
You have since insisted that no
suitable candidate has yet been
found.
This stalemate led to the
BOC amending its personnel
policy on March 18, 2009, to
take away the role of the BOA
in hiring decisions. The BOC
chair immediately thereafter
reviewed the applications you
had received and identified at
least two well-qualified candi
dates, one of whom you never
granted an interview, and the
other of whom you failed to
re-interview after your single
recommendation was rejected.
As noted, you had much
conflict with the former chief
appraiser, who was selected by
the BOC prior to the enact
ment of the now-rescinded
amendment that gave the BOA
a role in the hiring process. An
audit performed by the Georgia
Department of Revenue, dated
Nov. 3, 2008, highlights this
conflict with the chief appraiser,
as well as your tendency to
"micro-manage” the appraisal
staff. There is no reason to
believe that this situation would
improve with a new chief
appraiser selected by the BOC.
Again, the BOC could not in
good conscience allow the chief
appraiser vacancy to continue
dragging on, and it cannot in
good conscience throw another
chief appraiser into a situation
of untenable conflict with the
BOA.
3. Turmoil among
BOA members
As BOA members, you have
displayed not only a lack of abil
ity to cooperate with one anoth
er, but also an alarming procliv
ity for attacking one another in
public forums, including letters
to the local newspaper.
Members of a public body
like the BOA are not required
to always agree, but they are
expected to conduct themselves
with dignity. These very public
and personal disputes under
mine confidence in the BOA
and in county government as
a whole. More concretely, this
behavior is directly related to
the stalemate and gridlock that
left a critical position like chief
appraiser open for months on
end. There being no apparent
end in sight to such open con
flict, and not wishing to "take
sides” in your internal matters,
we see no option but to remove
all current BOA members.
4. Other matters identified
in audit of 11/3/2008
The (DOR) audit identifies a
number of other grave concerns,
including the BOA’s passage of
a policy regarding conservation
use that directly contravened
state law. Specifically, those
concerns are:
•A tendency to micro-manage
the county appraisal staff.
•Adopting a policy on con
servation use breach that is in
direct conflict with state law.
•Changing residential proper
ty records to reappraise recently
sold property at or near the new
sales price, damaging the uni
formity of assessments while
distorting the sales ratio and
study results.
•Allowing inconsistencies in
the appraisal of commercial
properties.
•Improperly using soil pro
ductivity ratings, soil classes,
land desirability ratings, and
land influences, and mis-report-
ing of acreage, all in connection
with rural land.
•Improperly applying neigh
borhood and location factors
in “incorporated" areas of the
county.
These concerns identified by
the DOR, like the others dis
cussed in this notice, constitute
"failure to perform the duties
or requirements” of a BOA
member and justify the removal
under OCGA 48-5-295 (b).
Right to contest grounds
You are entitled to an oppor
tunity to appear before the BOC
and respond to the charges out
lined in this notice, if you would
like to do so. Unless you soon
er resign, your removal is not
complete until such time, and
you remain BOA members until
then. If you wish to respond,
you will be allowed to do so at
a called meeting of the BOC on
April 21 at 6 p.m. in the public
meeting room of the Madison
County Government Complex.
You will each be given 20 min
utes to present whatever infor
mation and documentation you
wish.
In closing
We do not relish taking
this action, but rather do so
reluctantly. This decision was
reached only after much delib
eration and anguish that led us
to conclude that there is sim
ply no alternative and that this
action must be taken for the
good of the country.
We urge you also to remem
ber the good of the county
and consider resigning. You
will recall that just last week,
the CEO of General Motors
was placed in a similar posi
tion and chose to resign with
good humor and good wishes
for the future success of his
company. He undoubtedly felt
“in the right” and that he was
being unjustly blamed for the
myriad problems in his orga
nization, just as you all prob
ably do. He certainly had the
resources and ability to stage
a long and ugly fight to vindi
cate his good name. However,
he obviously determined that
doing so would make things
worse on his employees and the
American people, and he took
the high road. We bear no per
sonal animosity towards any of
you, and regard each of you also
as the caliber of person who
would choose the high road. We
would welcome the opportunity
to recognize and praise you for
having done so.
If you nonetheless choose to
contest, then that is your right,
and the BOC will listen care
fully to your presentation and
diligently consider everything
you have to say.
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Level 1A Re-certification Class for
Cardholders Involved with Land
Disturbing Activities
April 28, 2009
8:30 am -12:30 pm
Sponsored by the Madison County Board of Commissioners
and the Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission
LOCATION
Madison County Library
1315 Highway 98 West
Danielsville, GA 30633
Please complete the registration form and fax
to 706-795-3240 on or before April 15, 2009
Seating is Limited
Reserve your space early!
This class is being offered free of charge to the general public for any
Level 1A Cardholder who needs to complete the 4 hours of continuing
education to fulfill the requirements of GSWCC.
Robert Amos, GSWCC Region II Representative will conduct the class.
All materials for the class will be provided at no charge.
Light refreshments will be served.
Registration Form
Attendee Name:
Company Name:
Address:
City: State: Zip:
Phone: Fax:
Email:
(You will receive conformation of your registration via phone, fax, or email prior to class)