BCAD BOD Meeting 2026.01.07
Wed, Jan 07, 2026 6:00PM • 1:57:24
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Board of Directors, Oath of Office, Appraisal District, Property Values, Budget Adoption, Taxing Units, Appraisal Review Board, Conflict of Interest, Public Comment, Financial Reports, Capital Improvement Projects, Open Meetings Act, Property Value Study, Chief Appraiser, Board Training., budget preparation, transparency stars, personnel manual, social media presence, appraisal district, board authority, safety deposit box, financial audit, labor attorney, agricultural standards, property tax, meeting schedule, public engagement, appraisal values, taxing units.
SPEAKERS
Steve Harr, Doug Kieta, Chris Moser, Robert Clark, Justin Blake, Tyler McCarty, Justin Neuman, Amanda Schwertner, Kyle Williams, Laurell Galindo-Huffman

\* This transcript was compiled from uncorrected Closed Captioning.

[1.	Call to Order and Determination of Quorum]

Chris Moser  17:02:58
all right, so

Chris Moser  17:03:01
I will call this meeting to order at 6:03, January the seventh 2026.

Robert Clark  17:03:13
Okay

[2.	Swearing In of 2026-2027 Elected Board of Director Candidates]

Chris Moser  17:03:13
Thank you for asking, though Mr. Clark. Appreciate everybody being here. The first item we do have a quorum as well. The first item on the agenda is swearing in of the new board. And so we'll begin that right now. I just need you to sign off some papers here and

Robert Clark  17:03:22
Do you want me to fill this out as we go?

Chris Moser  17:03:24
Not yet. 

Justin Neuman  17:03:33
The first read and the sign to yourself, and

Justin Neuman  17:03:43
then when everyone is good with that you're

Justin Neuman  17:03:54
it's In your packets. 


Justin Neuman  17:03:55
all going to go with the Oath of Office that has to be said out loud

Chris Moser  17:03:56
Yes, and I just don't have that document Justin, 

Chris Moser  17:03:56
I only do this once every two years.

Doug Kieta  17:03:56
What are we looking for?

Justin Neuman  17:03:56
The Oath of Office

Steve Harr  17:04:29
You have to sign the piece of paper. 

Kyle Williams  17:04:29
It's on page 15 too

Robert Clark  17:05:15
Here i got these things right here.

Robert Clark  17:05:22
It's on page 15 

Doug Kieta  17:05:23
It's in The book 

Chris Moser  17:05:23
Want to take over. Read it, so I'd do it together in unison. That's usually the easiest way to do it. One of them is just a signature the other is the Oath. 

Steve Harr  17:05:35
So the Oath of Office is

Chris Moser  17:05:37
Well, the

Kyle Williams  17:05:38
Are there two different ones, Chris, 

Chris Moser  17:05:41
Yes

Kyle Williams  17:05:42
I know but which one do we all have to read?

Chris Moser  17:05:45
I Kyle Williams do solemnly swear.  The longer one, okay, 

Robert Clark  17:05:51
okay, y'all want to do this together? 

Robert Clark  17:05:56
I, Robert Clark, do solemnly swear. 

Doug Kieta  17:05:58
I will faithfully execute the duties.

Steve Harr  17:06:00
No, wait second, we're all off. Well, it's the statement of the office. 

Doug Kieta  17:06:00
Oh, I thought he was on the oath.

Doug Kieta  17:06:01
What do you read?

Chris Moser  17:06:02
Statement of the officer

Steve Harr  17:06:09
Start again

Doug Kieta  17:06:09
I, do solemnly sear that I have not directly or indirectly paid, offered, promised to pay, contributed, or promised to contribute any money or thing of value, or promised any public office or employment for the giving or withholding of a vote at the election at which I was elected, or as a reward to secure my appointment or confirmation, whichever the case may be, so help me God. 

Chris Moser  17:06:21
and do you mind

Chris Moser  17:06:30
reading the other one too, just like that for everyone in the room? 

Doug Kieta  17:06:40
I,   ,do solemnly

Doug Kieta  17:06:47
swear That I will faithfully execute the duties of the office of Bosque Central Appraisal District Board of Directors of the State of Texas, and will to the best

Doug Kieta  17:06:56
my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and laws of the Unites States and of this State, so help me God.

[3.	Board of Directors Training Workshop]

Chris Moser  17:07:05
awesome, work, fellas. Okay, so the next and I just want to say before we move on, thank you serving. Thank you for choosing to be a board of director, and congratulations on that. What we're going to move to now is Board of Directors training workshop. Tyler McCarty within MVBA will be taking over. I'm going to scoot over so you guys can see the video screen, and I'll be viewing it too, so I will move over and let Tyler take over. Guys. 


Doug Kieta  17:07:34
Collect these?

Tyler McCarty   17:07:56
all right, as Chris mentioned, my name is Tyler McCarty. I'm one of the shareholders at MVBA. I've also got Amanda Schwertner here with me. She's an attorney with our firm as

Tyler McCarty   17:08:10
well. I

Tyler McCarty   17:08:44
else. Here you have already served on this board. You know, a lot of the times I will start these off and pander a little bit and be like, well, you know, congratulations. It's a thankless job, so, but somebody's got to do it. But it really, truly is something that's to the community without you guys serving on this board. May not we may not have funds in this county for for the schools, for fire, EMS, all that good stuff. So can be a thankless job, but I really do believe that it is rewarding. So I hope you guys can keep that in mind as the year goes by. So

Tyler McCarty   17:09:46
on this. So what we're going to talk about tonight are, I'm going to go over what those responsibilities are, you know, some things and do's and some don'ts, some best practices. And hopefully we can get this thing moving right along. So now that you guys are on this board, how'd you get here? We're going to go over a little bit about that. Are you familiar with the appointment process, how that works. So yeah, generally taxing units in this county, they are going to nominate individuals, and then it goes through an election process. There are specific deadlines that are noted in the tax code. Chief Appraiser is going to notify the taxing jurisdictions of their entitlement to vote, and then there's a ballot that's prepared, that's sent out, and they are able to vote based on their share or their Levy. So Clifton ISD probably the largest revenue levy in the county so they get more votes than than most other people. This differs a little bit, actually. So who can nominate and participate in this process? That is going to be cities, towns, school districts, Junior College Districts, the county and sometimes conservation reclamation districts. I don't know if you guys have those. You know, we go over this because in some places there are tons of different taxing jurisdictions. The long and the short of it is that not everybody is able to participate in this process. It's only a select few. I'd say the most common question that we get is are hospital districts able to participate in this so these procedures would have to be altered. So we kind of talked about generally the default rules in there. There is a mechanism in the tax code that does allow for these general rules to be altered. And I'm not going to go into detail too much about them. Purposes. You know, it's not very commonly utilized. But this is something that not all counties can do. There's different rules for more populous counties, 75,000 or more counties that are 75,000 population less. That is something that the less populous counties are still able to do.






Tyler McCarty   17:12:55
So the election schedule, you're stuck here two years if you didn't know, well now you know. Terms are always beginning on January one. Tax Accessor collector is a non voting member of this board. That's not the case in the more populous counties. Tax Accessor collector does have the I'm gonna, I'm gonna mention a couple of those things throughout this just so guys,

Tyler McCarty   17:13:30
sometimes the


Tyler McCarty   17:13:31
legislature, as I'll talk about, change these rules all the time. I watch the news say property tax is safe, to say property taxes are hot button issue. Constantly changing these rules. It's tough to keep up, even for lawyers that do this. I've done this for almost a decade now representing appraisal districts. So if you guys get a little confused that that's okay.

Tyler McCarty   17:14:08
So to kind of highlight some of that, just because it may be a forecast populous county, so they don't know, nine directors. Three of those are actually elected at an election, some people think that's bad, elections are expensive. That would be on the negative side, on the positive side, a lot of people feel like that gives them a say in the matter,

Tyler McCarty   17:14:39
but that's how they do. Some three of them that are elected, five that are appointed, just the way that you guys were. TAC serves as the ninth. So just something to know, in case, here in the next session, they decide to rewrite the rules again. So before we talk a little bit more about this board's responsibilities, I like to kind of take a step back and put it in content text a little bit bore you with this. So this is going to come as no surprise, but we live in a democracy with a limited government. That means is that this, you know, the appraisal district, is a political subdivision of the state of Texas and governmental agencies, they are limited in that they only have the ability to act if given power by the legislature. They control that. Fact, there's still some living provisions in the code that say, board ship, you know, an appraisal district is established. They didn't exist until the legislature wrote a dang rule that said, I'm gonna put one in every single county. So we're in a limited government who have a system of separation of powers. Legislature, they're writing laws. Executive, they're carrying out the laws and the judicial, they're interpreting. I I kind of say some of that, because, one sense, by way of example, you may think that the federal government spends too much money on on space exploration. They think they don't spend enough on that space exploration, regardless of your position as good as your thoughts and actions are intended to be. That's not what this district was created to do. They got nothing to say over space exploration, so



Tyler McCarty   17:16:56
good to kind of

Tyler McCarty   17:17:03
our own board. What are our responsibilities as board members? As a board you guys are responsible for a limited number of items. One of the most common things, I think, that is overlooked is that not up there is the appraisal of property. The board. While the board does have control over some aspects as to how that is carried out, you guys are not in charge of appraising the property that is left to the chief appraiser, who is the chief administrator of the district, and so that's always something I think that gets gets over. We're going to unpack, establishing the appraisal office, hiring eligible chief appraiser at this meeting, you guys are charged, by rule to select a board chair and a secretary. policies. So we're gonna, we're gonna unpack these, one of the things, and I guess let me take a step back. You all have this orange packet, board packet, I can't emphasize this enough. There's one thing to take away from this, if you guys ever get curious about something, that manual is a wealth of information. It's published and updated by the comptroller each year. I use it in my practice, daily, it's, it's a great resource, so I'm glad that it got put it so one of y'all, one of y'all's duties is to hire a chief appraiser. There are some requirements for Chief appraisers that includes, they have to have a license, whether that's an RPA through the state, an mai through the Appraisal Institute, or an organization that's the International Association of assessing officers, designation, IAAO for short. If there is a time that the you guys decide not to appoint a chief appraiser, the state will step in, and they will. One of the last requirements out there is that they have to go through chief appraiser training.


Doug Kieta  17:19:49
Is there continuing education requirements for that position

Tyler McCarty   17:19:56
to continue to hold the license. Yes, and, and, I think Chris

Tyler McCarty   17:20:01
would know a lot more about maintaining those but most, most chief appraiser have what's called an RPA that's through the state, and so I'd say they're going through education constantly throughout the year.


Tyler McCarty   17:20:17
Okay, so you guys are in charge of having official policies. Part of in adopting policies. There may be policies in place. They may be policies that you guys decide that you want to change among those that are required are a reappraisal plan, which we'll talk about a little bit later. You guys have to have policies about having reasonable access to the public, access for non English speakers, a complaint procedure, and in larger counties you'd have to replace the ARB but a lot of this stuff is typically found in y'all's, in y'all's official board, board policies. A lot of districts will have an official board policy back. So if I go too fast on something, if you're like, What the heck does that make? I mean, feel feel free to stop me.


Tyler McCarty   17:21:31
So among those, I'm sorry, going back just a sec to the complaint procedures. Those the complaints in that procedure that you're required to have that would be over things that this board has jurisdiction of. What the rule ends up saying is like, hey, if it's something that can be protested or handled through the appraisal Review Board, that ain't something you guys are going to handle. I think, yeah, maybe obvious, but wanted to go ahead and point that. So Fiscal Affairs, the board's primary function here is y'all, y'all control the purse. You oversee the money. And so to that end, each year, the appraisal district will adopt a budget that has to be adopted by September 15. You guys are also controlling the dollars by approving certain contracts and purchases. You know, some of that can be delegated to the chief appraiser. I know most boards that I talk with, that's something that gets addressed each time there are new new members, either each time there are new members, or on an annual basis, they'll renew and say, hey, you know, Chief Appraisr, you can execute contracts up to x dollar amount, Just by way of example. So in addition to that, you guys are required to select the bank where the where the district's money is going to take place. There's some rules around that, but that is something that takes place every two years, two or three years, I believe it's two and in conjunction with that, there will be an annual audit each year where auditors will come in make sure this place is healthy, and that's always good for the public to know and be able to see.




Tyler McCarty   17:23:39
Don't look so sleepy guys.

Tyler McCarty   17:23:43
So who are key players here in more populous counties, which does not apply to you guys, you are required to have a taxpayer liaison officer or a T, L, O, and what that person does is they handle complaints from taxpayers. They help them through the protest process, all sorts of stuff. You guys are not required to have a tlo, but you may have one, so if that's something that you think is an appropriate use of monies, that is a position that you guys are able to to have. The code does allow for deputy TLOS, especially in those larger counties. Another one of the key players is the Ag Advisory Board, which we'll talk about a little bit later, and then the Appraisal Review Board, which I think everybody here knows who that



Tyler McCarty   17:24:42
is, all right, limited appraisal authority, "pesky legislature getting in the way of having to. I was getting in this position so that I can make sure that I'm going to get, you know, help myself out."

Tyler McCarty   17:25:06
Unbelievable. They don't want that.

Tyler McCarty   17:25:10
But so just because there is limited authority on appraisal, that's not to say that there aren't certain strings that can be pulled. Like I mentioned. You know, you guys, the way that you have and can exert authority to a certain extent over appraisals is through the reappraisal plan, getting those details in just a second, budget, lawsuits, you know, and contracts with with private firms or taxing units, or or any of the other key players that that will appraise for the district. So, so what is this reappraisal plan? It's going to be a comprehensive plan. Has anybody heard about the reappraisal plan? Ring a bell. Okay, so it accomplishes a couple of things. It's going to one, put the districts, it put their goals in writing, and it is required by law. So that's good, but now it makes it easier for this board to be able to monitor and making it easy for you guys. What are you guys focused on doing next year? Let's go. I can open up the reappraisal plan. I know what you're focused on. And two, it's a roadmap that's going to allow you to see just how those funds are being implemented from the budget. So most of the metro appraisal districts, those larger districts, they are reappraising every year, and they will have a reappraisal plan every year. That is not what's required. But I unsure to what extent this area was insulated from covid. But I think in a lot of counties across Texas, what you saw was covid, everything went down. Then post covid, everything went way, way, way, way up. And so districts, you know, needed to keep up with the values and they needed to reappraise each year as the requirement my law is that reappraising has to be done at least every three years, and this is a plan that you guys will approve no later than September 15. But while the reappraisal plan is something you have control over, there are some limits. There was a county in the state this past year, or I guess this was a couple of years ago. This is drama in our world. There was a county out there that did decide that they wanted to put in their reappraisal plan that the value could not be increased by more than x percentage. They're trying to exert control over that? Well, the legislature didn't like that. In this past session, they went ahead and made sure to single out that particular county, and they passed this nice, nice rule that says you can't do that, so while you do have some control over it. There are some boundaries,



Tyler McCarty   17:28:28
certain items that are going to be required on there, and things that if the reappraisal plan will discuss, inspecting properties, identifying the characteristics, developing models, applying conclusions and determining value. So yeah, we'll get to learn lot more about that once it's getting a little closer to that September time.


Tyler McCarty   17:28:57
And I guess, to kind of take a step back so the standard by law in Texas, what the appraisal district is charged with doing, is appraising all property within its jurisdiction at its market value, what a willing buyer would pay a willing seller. And this is codified in our Constitution, codified by law, which then is codified in tax code, market value. And it's a little different. The way that the appraisal districts appraise property, as I'm sure you guys may or may not have heard, is through what's called mass appraisal. This isn't like, you know, if you bought your house and you got a you got a loan for it. You probably got an appraisal with that. And it's a nice, you know, 30 page document that turned out to have a value just right on top of the purchase price. Mass appraisal is different. You know, the districts, there's no way that they could individually appraise every single property in the county every single year, that would just be impossible. And so mass appraisal is taking data and kind of separating it out into categories, you know, whether that be by neighborhood, by class, type, residential, commercial. Also, you know, they're they're separating them out and classifying them so that they can build these schedules. So mass appraisal. Well, you might ask, why is it important to keep up with market value, other than the fact that the legislature has demanded it, but, well, that is a great question. There is what is called the property value study in the state of Texas. And what that is is it's the comptroller coming in and auditing the appraisal district. The study is done once every two years, and if the values are invalid, then a study will be conducted annually. So you might think, okay, but who cares if they're checking our homework. Why does that matter? That's not a reason to tax our citizens like crazy. I hope you don't think that, because we're all law abiding citizens here. But just in case you were thinking that the way our system is set up is so that if the market values are low. Well then that means that the state is spending more money on the school districts within Bosque County. As you guys may know, the state has an interest because they school districts get state dollars. And so if the state is allocating more money to the school districts here because of low values. Well, then shoot, that's not our stable that's not our fault. We shouldn't be having to dish out all those dollars so they have, they have an interest. And that is why the property value study is something that's talked about constantly at appraisal districts, and is, I mean, it's really the test that they're trying to pass out there. No chief appraiser wants to fail the property value study. And there are challenges with that. You know, state they come in, and they do their own appraisals of properties, well, they have all resources in the world, sometimes data's scarce. You know, there could be a number of reasons why the district is failing, but for y'all's purposes. It's it's safe to know that this is a big thing that's out there affects school district funding. I think we all want kids to have good schools and get a good education. So earlier, I mentioned that market value is the standard, but there are some artificial





Tyler McCarty   17:33:14
caps that the legislature has created. You know, general rule is that everybody pays based on market value.

Tyler McCarty   17:33:27
Well, there's, there's a couple of exceptions to that. First one makes sense, it's for a family's primary residence policy and state to ensure people can stay in the home they work hard to afford. So what the rule says is we will not tax a family's primary residence more than 10% of what it was last year. So to give you an example. Say you've got a $500,000 home. Next year, the appraisal district puts that a million. Well, your your tax is we're going to pay taxes on a value of 550,000

Tyler McCarty   17:34:08
not one million so that saves you,

Tyler McCarty   17:34:10
plus the value of any new improvements. So 10% plus value improvements. So to give you another example, say same thing last year, district for $500,000 but I built a $200,000 pool during that time. Well, next year, they appraised at a million Well, 10% the 550 and then plus the $200,000 pool. Tax on a value of 750,000. so I think that's probably something most people are aware of, the 10%. The other common cap on values that's out there is circuit breaker limitation. This was passed by the legislature the last legislative session. Some folks may think it was a little late, because there's a lot of griping happening after covid went up. Appraisal districts may or may not have followed the market, so they created another cap. It's only for property.

Tyler McCarty   17:35:37
It's real property, not business personal property, and it doesn't apply to open space land. it does have a cap on it applies property that's less than $5 million. so just another there are these artificial caps that have been created. There are a few others that I didn't mention on there where sometimes people are not taxed on market value, like caterpillar and their giant heavy equipment, motor vehicle inventory, vessels. There are some others, but those are

Steve Harr  17:36:19
but on that, there's a, just to clarify something running in my head, there's a big difference between market value and appraisal. Yes, market value may show up on your statement is a million dollars. Appraised value is what you're getting taxed on, and that's what the that's what's been subject  to the 10 or 20%


Tyler McCarty   17:36:45
that's correct, yes. And then if you really want it to get granular and take it a step further, you then have taxable value, and that's after the getting your exemption applied. So generally market appraised may be lower than market, but it might not be.

Tyler McCarty   17:37:07
So now that we know a little bit about what BOD is doing, how do we know if our chief is doing a good job? What is the Chiefs jobs? Well, this is the individual is responsible for carrying out the appraisal of the property. Chief administrator of the Office they create and maintain the rule they're in charge of making sure those board packets set up all that good stuff, full list out there, but this is the person that's running,

Tyler McCarty   17:37:52
running The Show,

Tyler McCarty   17:37:59
another spot where I tend to go on for you guys, that the appraisal review board is appointed, those members are appointed by your local administrative judge, and it's not that way in every place, like I said, property taxes industry that the legislature is changing the rules constantly. When I first got into this practice, the board appointed the ARB. Well, I guess then there was some, some, you know, appearance of, well, the ARB and the appraisal district, they're in bed together and so, well, we can't have that appearance. So, so we're going to kick it over to judge. Judges were thrilled about that, for sure, and so then the judges were appointed the ARB, but that was only for the big counties at first. Then the legislature said, well, let's extend it to all the counties. So then all the counties used the District Judge, well, then they decided, no, maybe we'll have elected board members in larger counties, and then we'll just give the appointments back to them, because they'll be elected members. So they gave it back to the to the Appraisal District Board of Directors in larger counties, they appoint the ARB has to have two out of the three elected members for that individual, less populous counties, you guys have the judge worth mentioning, because every session that's different. So the ARB, they're going to hear the taxpayer protests. It consists of three people by resolution. Y'all may increase that. ARB gets funded by this appraisal district. So that would be financial packets. That is something that you'll


Tyler McCarty   17:40:03
do a greater interview. Okay,

Tyler McCarty   17:40:10
all right, so judge appoints the ARB and being in case you get an overly zealous you as a board, the legislature has determined that y'all cannot communicate with ARB members. "ARB, I heard that property on Fifth of Trinity was way overvalued, so I'll see you next week from a hearing." They don't want you guys doing that out of appearance of impropriety. So I think it makes sense. It is a class a misdemeanor.


Tyler McCarty   17:40:56
There is nothing, however, that prohibits you guys from encouraging people to be on the ARB. In fact, you probably should. Otherwise, you guys are not going to have people apply to be on the ARB, because that has got to be one of the most difficult things I see with districts that we get to sit on this ARB. I mean, people are not racing to to sign up to be on the ARB in most places. I could be wrong here, but

Steve Harr  17:41:24
Can I ask your question about the says, cannot communicate with the local which is our county judge? 

Tyler McCarty   17:41:25
that's how it is in Most places 

Tyler McCarty   17:41:32
Yes.

Steve Harr  17:41:33
Can you do that in open public forum?

Tyler McCarty   17:41:38
There are some exceptions that I do not have memorized off the top of my head. By no, they're they're limited, and they're usually relating to, like, Does this person, you know, Does, does this person have something going on that would make them ineligible?

Steve Harr  17:41:57
Yeah, it's not. I'm not interested in people. Individually, I was interested in going to the to the

Steve Harr  17:42:06
Commissioners Court and in open, public, just saying, this is a really important position. I want you to take it seriously. I want you to get the best possible people you can, you know, just be encouraging, as opposed to, I'm a single person that wants to do it.

Kyle Williams  17:42:18
But it's not the county judge here. Is a district judge right?

Tyler McCarty   17:42:23
correct

Doug Kieta  17:42:23
The administrative district who does it? 

Tyler McCarty   17:42:23
The District Judge

Kyle Williams  17:42:23
District Judge

Kyle Williams  17:42:26
Shaun Carpenter

Tyler McCarty   17:42:29
Judge Carpenter, he will be the judge who was taken care of

Steve Harr  17:42:36
administrative district judge, language up and I thought it said it was the County, the county judge, yeah, it's it

Tyler McCarty   17:42:43
in places where they have multiple judges, there will be one that is which I didn't notice until you know this got past the second time around

Kyle Williams  17:42:54
the County, the county judge appoints one of us if something happens, correct? That's who appointed me, when.

Tyler McCarty   17:43:01
Well, right? You guys are 

Steve Harr  17:43:02
To fill a spot. 

Kyle Williams  17:43:03
Yes, 

Tyler McCarty   17:43:03
You guys are in through the entities. The judge is appointing the ARB members. If there is a vacancy in that, the judge is going to be the person that fills that vacancy 

Steve Harr  17:43:15
I'm glad you clarified that I'd hate to talk to the wrong person. 

Steve Harr  17:43:17
Okay, okay. 

Tyler McCarty   17:43:22
And also, if you do end up looking up that rule, it's awful. It's like, they give you some exceptions, and then they reroute you to like, six different other sections, and you got to go look those up. So it's, it's a pain. All right, here's some more rules that are designed to ensure that you're not taking this position for personal gain conflicts of interest. You guys must file an affidavit, and you must abstain from voting if there is going to the action to be taken where you have a substantial interest. This is going to apply to family members of you, and it's going to be if, I mean, if, if it's relating to anything that you have an interest in, it's probably going to fall under this rule. So you would abstain, and you fill out the affidavit, and that's what you need to do. So if you or your relatives just just keep that in mind, if there's action to be taken, conflicts of interest under Chapter 176 this is also a disclosure if you are receiving vendors money. So if the appraisal district is contracted with somebody and they are providing you with money, or if, if your relatives are receiving some sort of income from these folks, or if they gift you more than $100 other than going out to eat or something like that, then you are going to need to file a disclosure for that as well.



Doug Kieta  17:45:10
It's on a case by case basis. It's not a blanket, right?

Tyler McCarty   17:45:16
I mean, you know, if the appraisal district is looking to, you know, a good example be "we're looking to lease some space over here for some extra parking. It just so happens I own that land." Or in this case, you know, "the appraisal district does business with x, and they do these services, and they also pay me to do a bunch of work for them on the side as well." That would need to be something that's disclosed.

Steve Harr  17:45:46
It says from a vendor

Chris Moser  17:45:49
that could be the CAMA software. 

Steve Harr  17:45:51
Or I understand that. Part of what I'm thinking about is I'm literally,

Steve Harr  17:45:57
let's say I know 15 people in the whole county, and somebody taking we go out, somebody wants to buy my hamburger. Am I supposed to say no? And you know, because their appraisals, their property is being appraised by the district I'm sitting on. And so if I just need to say no, I'll say no.

Tyler McCarty   17:46:15
No.

Tyler McCarty   17:46:16
I don't think in that circumstance, 

Steve Harr  17:46:18
It would have to more that an $100 hamburger I guess?

Tyler McCarty   17:46:21
right

Tyler McCarty   17:46:21
 So you know, you're receiving, trying to think of what a an example out there. I think some this was an extreme example, and I think they did it a long time ago, to make an example actually conflating this with the TDLR it was the one a vendor gave, like flowers or something.

Steve Harr  17:46:42
I understand the whole vendor thing. Really, they're trying to get an advantage with the appraisal district. That's an easy spot. I was looking for the one I might miss, you know, like a gift like that, but

Tyler McCarty   17:46:53
right wouldn't apply if, for whatever reason, you guys get stuck with me and we decided to go out to eat somewhere. But if, if I am trying to hand you a, you know, hey, here's this Xbox or this, yeah, here's this car. Well, yeah, you can't take that car. 

Steve Harr  17:47:12
Okay,


Tyler McCarty   17:47:19
so there already were some conflicts of interest in the local government code. Legislature didn't think that was enough, and they decided you guys needed some more. So they codified some in the tax code as well. There's a few provisions in the code, and so what they are saying is you cannot have a contract with the appraisal district and any business entity that a director has a substantial interest in. So again, it's designed to have no self dealing in mind. We don't want the appearance of impropriety. Your goal should not be to get this job to benefit yourself. Everybody knows that's reserved for the federal government. So not only is the appraisal district board prohibited, but the taxing units are also prohibited. And in fact, if you do have a substantial interest in a contract with a taxing jurisdiction, then you are ineligible to be on this board. Good example, that would be the firms. I think that's why this was written. They don't want lawyers out there to have an interest in you know, say being on this board some appraisal district collect taxes. I can't go and be on that board and make sure that my firm gets gets a contract that makes sense. So, so what? What do you have to do to be eligible? What makes me eligible? You got to be a current resident. You have to have lived here for two years. You can't be an employee of a taxing unit, unless you are a member of the governing body. And you can't be a tax agent or related to the tax agent. Think all of those again, make sense. And yeah, kind of a obvious, obvious ineligibility is right there. You also may not have delinquent taxes for over 60 days unless you've got an installment or a payout agreement or you have a deferral.



Tyler McCarty   17:49:41
So hopefully we don't have delinquent taxes.

Tyler McCarty   17:49:49
All right. So there's some other things to be aware about, just as far as communications go and stuff that I would watch out for. You know, you guys as board members, y'all, by rule, are not allowed to communicate with the chief regarding matters relating to the appraisal of property unless it's in an open or closed meeting. It is an extremely broad rule that, again, I think, is, you know, the the legislature not sure who was the bad actor, where they needed to have this rule, but they're trying to make sure that you guys aren't getting here and then being like, "Hey, Chris, go ahead and go  it's looks a little high. Why don't you go ahead and drop that." So what I will say a best practice is because inevitably, you know, you guys are members of the board. People are going to see you as a leader and as a as a related to this appraisal district. So best practice that a lot of our clients do is they will have on their agenda reoccurring item for 6.15 communications. That way it's on the agenda, we can relay it say, "Hey, I talked to x, and this is what happened, or I'm curious about, you know, these aspects of the appraisal property." It's a good practice.


Steve Harr  17:51:15
So, so interrupt the meeting, we can talk to him about the whole process, how he does it, like, anything very, anything, anything at

Tyler McCarty   17:51:26
all, anything, really, I think the rule says relating to the appraisal of property in the county, 

Steve Harr  17:51:31
okay, good. 

Tyler McCarty   17:51:32
So it prohibits it unless it's in an open meeting

Doug Kieta  17:51:35
so what if I had a legitimate complaint about my appraisal? Can I? Can I carry to the ARB? 

Tyler McCarty   17:51:43
Yes, 

Doug Kieta  17:51:44
but I can't talk

Doug Kieta  17:51:44
to Chris about it.

Chris Moser  17:51:45
 That's correct. 

Tyler McCarty   17:51:46
Correct

Doug Kieta  17:51:47
Is that? Right

Chris Moser  17:51:48
I'll make sure that you go straight to ARB.

Tyler McCarty   17:51:51
generally. That's how that 

Doug Kieta  17:51:53
because that could happen. 

Steve Harr  17:51:54
You talking about your own appraisal?

Doug Kieta  17:51:55
Yeah, my own property, 

Chris Moser  17:51:55
yeah, it's happened to me every year.

Doug Kieta  17:52:00
Got it.

Tyler McCarty   17:52:00
 So I would encourage, like I said, take up space on your paper, but just in case something does

Tyler McCarty   17:52:08
come up, I think it's good, nice line item to have again,

Tyler McCarty   17:52:13
they're making sure that you guys know, y'all aren't in charge of appraising the property. That's for Chief. we don't want you to mess up the

Tyler McCarty   17:52:28
public's perception. But you guys are members of the board, and so you might receive some complaints from time to time. The rule does not prohibit you from transmitting without comment a complaint that you receive, but that complaint must be applied. So I think a lot of the places, I mean, yeah, if you get one, I think it's, it's mostly a forward along forward along to the chief which that's acceptable if you're passing along.


Tyler McCarty   17:53:11
And so, yes, this is a class C misdemeanor. Have provided some flexibility in there. Don't worry. You guys are not the only special ones that are prohibited from talking to the appraisal district. So a counterpart that applies to the taxing units out there, little bit narrower than y'all says no talking about anything relating to the appraisal of property taxing jurisdictions are prevented from engaging in communications that would influence the value of property. Yeah, I think that's not a bad idea either. Don't want county commissioners saying, "Hey, we really need this. That scoreboard for that new football stadium or the powere plant sure does look a little low out there. I heard it was North 300 million not a 100 million."


Tyler McCarty   17:54:09
Or, "my large donors do, do think that the taxes are a little high? Are you sure you have the right amount on that? That corner store over there on Fifth and trinity...." Legislature wants to make sure chief is the one that is carrying out the appraisals.

Tyler McCarty   17:54:33
we have, we have heard good things, I will say, there's a client that is in an area with a lot of large industrial names. When the rule came out.

Tyler McCarty   17:54:49
Those conversations were taking place all the time. So not all the time, right, the Legislature doing whacky stuff, um, all right, almost done. So as BOD you guys are meetings are governed by the Open Meetings Act required to take Open Meeting training. I think we talked a little bit about that when I was first shown up.


Tyler McCarty   17:55:17
I've never participated in it.



Tyler McCarty   17:55:20
sounds awful, but probably, probably good to know, so you'll got to take that course. That is a requirement. Legislature did also change the requirements for agendas, old rules that they had to be posted within 72 hours prior to the meeting. Now they say at least three business days before scheduled day to day. So excellent.

Doug Kieta  17:55:47
Second bullet on that slide, one of the things that I run into on the school board and the Water Board was that sometimes meetings evolve into open discussion. Can you have an agenda item for just, just general discussion?

Tyler McCarty   17:56:05
So that's the next slide, maybe one. But what the rule is, is that the agenda has to inform the public of what you guys are going to be talking about. I feel like I'll see some videos online of somebody come in and they make they sign up for public comment. They have a whole bunch of stuff to say. And then city council members, you know, they're like, thank you. They get criticized for not commenting. Well, the rule is that you are not supposed to be talking about things that are not on the agenda. The agenda is going to inform the public of what action is to be taken, what's going to be discussed. That way, "I know if I need to show up with my pitchfork and torch because we're talking about this that I really care about, or if I don't care about all those things, then I can follow it up." See

Tyler McCarty   17:57:08
closed sessions, also known as executive sessions. There are it is permitted to have closed closed sessions. There are some limited circumstances where that is allowed, consultation with you, with Attorney settlement discussions, I believe is one that's on there, real estate negotiations, be able to Come to the see that we're going to offer x, let's make sure they can get one thing I think that is overlooked is that there has to be a certified agenda, and what takes Place in closed sessions,


Tyler McCarty   17:57:58
short, small, just

Tyler McCarty   17:57:59
like the minutes, have what's discussed. or a recording. Like

Steve Harr  17:58:00
What's a certified agenda,

Tyler McCarty   17:58:13
what it's going to that's the term that they use in the rules. It's going to have signature. It's going to be a brief summary of what's going on. It's going to get sealed up in an envelope. It's not subject to open records requests for a few years something along those lines, so it's just to make sure people are I was

Tyler McCarty   17:58:51
almost done so common, common Open Meetings, Act violations that one that you were just talking about. Yeah, keep it to a nice policy statement. Thank you. We'll take that under consideration. That's always going to be best practice, because if it turns into a large discussion that may be violating the act by discussing something that wasn't on the agenda. So straw votes in Executive Session. Don't be voting in there. Cannot take action in closed sessions. You may discuss items in closed session, but any action that's going to be taken has to be taken once you come out of closed session. Don't communicate with your directors outside of a public meeting, including email. You know, if not all the time, are you going to get a walking quorum, but my job advising you guys is to keep you from getting in trouble and staying away from the fence, not, you know, balancing a little bit on this side and a little bit on that side. The best way to stay safe is stay away from that fence. So you don't want to, don't want to include everybody and then accidentally hit a reply all. And then now we gotta, now we gotta walk in court. And one is kind of a related to that last one, not discussing items that aren't on the agenda. So those are some common, common Open Meetings violations out there. Public Information. The most fun thing that the appraisal district has to deal with. They are governmental agencies. So the records are going to be subject to open records, you guys as board members, you know, y’all’s, y’all’s, communications could be subject to, to the Public Information Act. So be, be leery of that. And I think best, best practice on that, it's just going to be to whoever is in charge of doing that communication to let that person be the one that's communicating on that. Comptroller oversight. We already talked a little bit about the property value study, and I think one thing I didn't mention once, when they come in and they test, they're testing the properties, you know, checking the district's homework. In most states, the rule is that you have to be within plus or minus 10, 10% of market value. Here in Texas, the standard is a little bit tighter at plus or minus 5% so it is a it is a tight a tight standard to meet. in litigation. We got some appraisers out there that serve as experts, and they anywhere near 95% but yeah, so 95% affects school district funding. The other big one that you'll hear about is the methods and procedures program that is implemented by the comptroller. What they're doing is they come into all the, the appraisal districts, every year, two every two years. And they're, they're going to have a list of questions, of things that they're going to be looking at. And it's designed to make sure that, you know, we got 253 appraisal districts, 254 counties. Long story, about 253 but they want to make sure that there's uniformity across the board. So that is what this test is designed to do. I know recently, one that has sparked a lot of phone calls that I've gotten are ag applications. "This property has AG, but I don't see that there's an application in your file. Why don't you have application in your file?" "I'm gonna failure on the maps", a fail on the maps could affect your property value study grace period. So it's something that the districts do take seriously.




Steve Harr  18:03:10
What is PTAD value?

Tyler McCarty   18:03:12
P tad is the property tax assistance division. It's a division of the comptroller.

Doug Kieta  18:03:19
So how can they come in from the state and tell Chris he's off in his values? I mean, if they have that, all that, all that knowledge, why can't he use that knowledge?

Tyler McCarty   18:03:32
That would be a common complaint that's out there is the state has a lot more resources. I have heard. I do not know for sure, but what I've heard from my clients is that they've got all the subscriptions out there. Well, that's part of one of the things you guys have to decide is what we live in a non disclosure state sales data is not readily available, so the districts get it through letters that are sent out to property owners or by paying for it. And it ain't cheap. State's got all those resources. Not all the districts have all the resources they have.

Tyler McCarty   18:04:07
So I know that's

Steve Harr  18:04:08
 can you find? Can you find out what the PTA d value is in advance of his appraisal year?

Tyler McCarty   18:04:14
No, 

Chris Moser  18:04:14
sorry, 

Steve Harr  18:04:15
how does he know? I mean, 

Chris Moser  18:04:16
they're testing me. They're testing the appraisal district for if we are within 5% 

Doug Kieta  18:04:23
of the of their of their benchmarks 

Chris Moser  18:04:25
of what properties are selling for in the county based on their benchmarks.

Doug Kieta  18:04:29
 That seems crazy.

Chris Moser  18:04:31
Yeah, 

Amanda Schwertner  18:04:33
That's the government.

Robert Clark  18:04:34
Why do we need you? Then, 

Doug Kieta  18:04:36
yeah, exactly.

Robert Clark  18:04:38
Why Do away with you if the state of Texas could handle it? 

Chris Moser  18:04:41
That's fair enough, yeah.

Tyler McCarty   18:04:42
Yeah, the read. The reason for it is the Constitution prohibits a state tax, a state a state income tax, so you have to, if you had the state assessing, you know, the way, the way our rules are set up, is for local assessment, and the state was doing it, they'd be violating, 

Robert Clark  18:04:59
seems like waste resources,

Steve Harr  18:05:01
but they essentially are they set a value. You don't make 95%

Doug Kieta  18:05:05
Yeah, I don't understand that concept at all.

Chris Moser  18:05:08
One thing, 

Doug Kieta  18:05:08
who do we talk to?

Chris Moser  18:05:09
one thing that I 

Steve Harr  18:05:10
 Let's withdraw, 

Doug Kieta  18:05:10
Let's secede, let's secede

Chris Moser  18:05:10
 one thing that I would add to this is the

Chris Moser  18:05:10
appraisal district has to be a basically 100% market value. Those property owners that are within that criteria, they can file protests and go before the ARB, and that works itself out. But the appraisal district can also protest to PTAD, which I have done to try to limit the increase of value. I've fought it against the property taxes

Doug Kieta  18:05:38
saying what they're dinging you too high, they've pushing you too high.

Chris Moser  18:05:41
Yes, they've demanded me to raise values in this county in the past and I, along with multiple MVBA attorneys, have walked through the state comptroller's doors and fought them to prevent increases in value. I have done that

Tyler McCarty   18:05:55
so similar to how taxpayers protest their protest procedure for or either the district or the school district to

Steve Harr  18:06:05
 I'm just trying to figure out a way to be at 96% PTAD value, I've been trying to figure that our for three weeks

Doug Kieta  18:06:10
Well, couldn’t you get in a Freedom of Information act a FOIA request?

Steve Harr  18:06:14
You can't find that. They don't, probably don't determine it until that afterwards, till afterwards. So you take your shot, and then we can tell you whether you hit the target.

Chris Moser  18:06:22
That's right

Tyler McCarty   18:06:24
Okay, that is the way the system is currently set up. And again, it goes back to the whole they have an interest to make sure that state funds are not getting allocated to, you know, inequitably to this county, because all because their values are lower,

Steve Harr  18:06:41
right I get that

Doug Kieta  18:06:43
The idea is Okay, but seems to me it's just dual work.

Chris Moser  18:06:45
One more comment on this is that when I became the chief appraiser this county, five of the eight, I think six of the eight school districts, were failing the property value study, the prior administration did not increase values to the levels over a 10 to 15 year period, 

Chris Moser  18:07:01
and so it really put me in a horrible position to increase values to market value over the last five years.

Robert Clark  18:07:01
wow

Tyler McCarty   18:07:10
That certainly was a common theme after covid, especially in some of those places that were nearby. Metros, all the counties near Travis, all the counties surrounding Harris and Dallas. I mean, those, those values start booming. Some people started failing property value study. What do you think's going to happen if failed property value study? I think the chief probably wants to keep the job, so the chief's probably going to make sure the values get higher. 

Chris Moser  18:07:38
And Tyler also, thinking the code, a new law may be that if you fail that study, the state controller will recommend removing the chief appraiser. If it gets tips to 

Steve Harr  18:07:48
you do it three years in a row or something.

Chris Moser  18:07:50
that's part that's going

Tyler McCarty   18:07:51
to be, yeah, I believe failing property value study or maps goes in the chief appraiser. They keep a registry now, of that Chief appraisers 

Chris Moser  18:08:02
It's getting punched from the top and the bottom

Tyler McCarty   18:08:08
so that, yeah, there are pros and cons certainly out there.


Tyler McCarty   18:08:20
Like I said at the beginning, resources, this is a great resource. You guys are ever stuck on an open meetings. You guys can always call us. We do advise the appraisal district as well as the board of directors, but the Secretary of State also puts out a great Open Meetings handbook, a public information handbook. It's invaluable. I use these every week in my practice. So just wanted to reiterate that, and that is all I've got. Questions?


Steve Harr  18:08:56
You're the attorney for the board or for the appraisal district?

Tyler McCarty   18:08:59
So our contract is with the appraisal district, which the board governs. We the Board may elect to have a different Council. That is something that this board is permitted by law to do, but currently, our firm does advise both this board as well as the appraisal district.

Doug Kieta  18:09:21
So how did you get that contract? By bidding or relationship.

Chris Moser  18:09:25
It was under my recommendation when I became a chief appraiser, that is something that I would put as a goal or an accomplishment over my term as the chief appraiser, the prior chief appraiser and administration had a municipal attorney who was not versed in appraisal district law, and they were calling me for legal advice, actually, and so we immediately removed them, and I found attorneys that are capable of answering questions For the board serving this district. 

Steve Harr  18:10:00
These Guys represent all over the state? 


Tyler McCarty   18:10:02
yeah, we represent 50 or so appraisal districts across the state.  There's a few that do what we do.

Tyler McCarty   18:10:08
gentlemen, hopefully that..... I appreciate y'all listening to me.

Amanda Schwertner  18:10:15
Sorry we didn't get these packets passed out to you earlier, i saw some of y'all taking pictures, But here's this you. I meant to, it slipped my mind, meant to earlier. take one, passed out earlier

Chris Moser  18:10:32
Do y'all want to take a break real quick or are we already to move on. 

Doug Kieta  18:10:42
Let's move on

Steve Harr  18:10:44
Move on

Chris Moser  18:10:47
Okay.

Chris Moser  18:10:53
Next on the items on the agenda

[4.	Election of Officers for the Board of Directors: Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, and Secretary]

Chris Moser  18:10:56
is number four, election of officers and the board of director. We need to have a motion for the chairperson and a second wait?

Doug Kieta  18:11:05
We'll make a motion that we elect. Steve.

Robert Clark  18:11:08
I'll second that

Chris Moser  18:11:11
 Congratulations and sorry. 

Doug Kieta  18:11:15
Get even with your friends.

Steve Harr  18:11:18
Thank you. 

Chris Moser  18:11:19
Sorry. Do we have a motion and a second for a Vice Chairperson?

Doug Kieta  18:11:26
I would recommend Kyle, because he's the only legacy guy on this board, and he's probably got a lot of background that will help us, and I think he'd be..

Steve Harr  18:11:43
Is that okay with you. 

Chris Moser  18:11:45
and a secretary, hopefully, someone who can read and write straight.

Kyle Williams  18:11:45
That's fine.

Chris Moser  18:11:45
Congratulations

Amanda Schwertner  18:11:51
You gotta vote

Justin Blake  18:11:51
I recommend Robbie

Chris Moser  18:11:51
Hold on. I didn't hear the vote all in favor of the Vice Chair?

Chris Moser  18:11:59
Good motion on Secretary,

Justin Blake  18:12:01
Can you do it Robbie? 

Robert Clark  18:12:01
sure is it just filling this out every time. 

Chris Moser  18:12:07
Yes and we assist and help you with that.  That's not too difficult.

Chris Moser  18:12:12
Second?

Doug Kieta  18:12:15
yeah, I'll second that.

Chris Moser  18:12:17
okay, all in favor. All right, at this point, I'm turning the meeting over to Mr. Harr as Chairman. Start off at number five sir.

[5.	Audience with Individuals or Committees making a report, request or comment and consider complaints]

Steve Harr  18:12:28
Number 5 is audience with individuals or committees making report requests or comment and considered complaints. So this is the public portion of the meeting. I'm kind of I spent a lot of time over at the county commissioners office. I mean the county commissioners meetings, and I like the way they do it. Think we're able to set reasonable limits on how this goes. So we'd like to keep any public comment to five minutes per person if you have something to say and simply ask you to keep your comments civil. But we're very willing to listen and hear what you have to say. So is anyone in the, that's here from the public have anything that they'd like to offer? 

Laurell Galindo-Huffman  18:13:12
I do, yes.

Steve Harr  18:13:12
All right

Chris Moser  18:13:13
Mrs. Huffman, go ahead.

Laurell Galindo-Huffman  18:13:15
Good evening, My name is Laurell Galindo Huffman. uhh and I'm speaking on behalf of Fair Appraisals for Bosque County. First, I'd like to congratulate the newest board members, and thank you for your willingness and I do hope that this new board will take a different approach and will meaningfully address the concerns raised by Bosque County taxpayers and for clarity and for the record, the prior board did not agendize or take action on formal requests related to taxpayer concerns, despite those requests being lawfully submitted through deputy chief appraiser Justin Neuman. And I see that tonight's agenda includes discussion of future agenda items, I respectfully request that the board consider placing the following matters on upcoming meeting agendas so that we or so that you can address them with transparency and in compliance with the board's oversight responsibilities. umm First, a no confidence measure and review of communications and Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation enforcement matters, discussion and possible action regarding a vote of no confidence related to chief appraiser Chris Moser and deputy chief appraiser Justin Neuman, in light of concerns raised through uhh publicly filed change.org petition with over 1300 signatures, as well as a related letter addressed to Governor Abbott, for which we are still collecting wet signatures. Umm. As many of you are aware, TDLR has confirmed an enforcement case concerning BCAD leadership, and it remains open and under prosecutorial review. Uhhmm. Given this, we believe consideration of whether uhh reassignment or removal is warranted. Umm. Second, uhh we request review and possible rescission of the adopted budget for the 2026 ummm and the 2026 operational budget process, with discussion and possible action regarding the adopted budget, including review of the 26 operational budget process, clarification of voting procedures, explanation of any disqualification of taxing Unit votes, ummm consideration of recission of the adopted budget and direction to possibly restart the process of compliance with statutory requirements. Umm. We were in communication with the entities and tracked the majority disapproval within deadline. As part of your review, we would ask the board address two specific procedural concerns uhhmmm per report from Mayor Godby of the uhh city of umm Valley Mills. Mr. Moser disqualified taxing unit votes based on a form that was neither furnished nor made available. Despite there being no legal authority to disqualify taxing units votes based on a form which was not provided in the email budget packets. Uhh. I was unable to attend the last meeting, but I heard that a board member requested clarification on the subject, and was told something to the effect of it wasn't important, umm and it is. It is very important to the taxpayers, at least the ones I've spoken to. Additionally, the board should review written communications from the chief appraiser to county officials discouraging placement of the BCAD budget on any public agenda which raises concerns regarding interference with the statutory budget review process and the ability of taxing units to exercise lawful oversight and open meetings. Uhhmmm. For me, these are serious issues. And the third thing we'd like to possibly agendize is review of proposed capital improvement projects and facility expansion discussion and possible action regarding the necessity, scope umm and predicted costs, the funding methods and timing of any proposed new BCAD facility for a major capital construction project. Uhh. We request specific clarification for the public regarding plans reflected in prior meeting minutes regarding the multi-million dollar facility uhhh that was being quietly pursued without voter approval. Uhhmmm. Bond financing ummm through the acquisition, uhhh utilizing a nonprofit, uhhhh we request the board address legal authority, transparency requirements, funding structure for taxpayer impact of any such project, and consider suspending or canceling facility expansion efforts. Ummm These matters involve ongoing sorry, excuse me. These matters involve ongoing taxpayer concerns and fall squarely within the board's oversight authority addressing them openly would demonstrate commitment to transparency and restoration of public trust. So uhh I do thank you for your time and consideration of these items, uhhh and I look forward to your governance.

Steve Harr  18:17:48
Thank you. Anyone else? Alright seeing no one else from the public, 

[6.	CONSENT AGENDA – These items may be acted upon by one motion.  No separate discussion or vote on any of the items will be had unless requested by a Board member.
a.	Approval of BOD Meeting Minutes for December 18, 2025]

We'll move on to the consent agenda, as it indicated here, says it may be acted on by one motion. First of all, it's, since we're a new board and we don't have any background on any of this stuff, it's kind of hard to do, pardon me.

Chris Moser  18:18:16
I will help out if you need so, sir.

Doug Kieta  18:18:18
Kyle could probably comment on the minutes. Yeah,

Steve Harr  18:18:22
Kyle, have you received the minutes? 

Steve Harr  18:18:26
did you have any problem with them? Any issues with them?

Kyle Williams  18:18:26
Naw

Kyle Williams  18:18:26
Yeah

Steve Harr  18:18:27
All right, I'll take a motion and a second to approve the board meeting minutes from December 18.

Steve Harr  18:18:34
Why don't you make the motion?

Kyle Williams  18:18:38
I'll make a motion to accept the uhhhh

Steve Harr  18:18:40
just to approve the Board meeting minutes.

Kyle Williams  18:18:41
just the approval of minutes right?

Steve Harr  18:18:41
yeah

Kyle Williams  18:18:41
the approval, uhh the board director, meeting minutes for December 18, 2025

Doug Kieta  18:18:43
I'll second that. 

Steve Harr  18:18:49
Okay, all in favor. Aye, any opposed? All right. 

[6b.	Fourth quarter 2025 Financial Reports]

Now on the fourth quarter, 2520 2025, financial reports are those prepared by us, prepared by their auditor

Chris Moser  18:19:00
Alright, we have an independent CPA, Jane Murphy who does the books and accounts for every single thing that we spend, every dollar. At the last meeting. You don't have 'em guys. They're not in there. At the last meeting. We gave the last board every piece of financial or the most current financials. So they're just not here. They're not prepared yet. So that's why they're not there. Okay, so that would be a table, yeah.

Steve Harr  18:19:26
Let's table that until we can get them and see em, then on this last item is that just sort of a catch all?

[6c.	Review and Approve Supplemental Records]

Chris Moser  18:19:33
What the supplements are these documents right here, and those are any changes to the roll. They have to be approved quarterly. And so you have to approve them if you choose to. That's why it's on the agenda. Those are any changes to the role, which could be perhaps a homestead exemption that went back two years. Anybody that's filed a late protest and we've negotiated to and come to an agreement and change the value. It's all right there in those supplements, each one has a note on it as to what happened to it. Those are all of them. And sometimes board members will ask what they are, and I'll confirm we can get into the nitty gritty. Sometimes 

Doug Kieta  18:20:19
It's just his first sheet, Chris?

Chris Moser  18:20:20
Oh, the whole every single one of them is a change to an account. 

Steve Harr  18:20:25
So here's here's the practicality of this. Either we table it and somebody's going to go through that, or we ask the chief appraiser at this point if those are the recommended changes and approved changes

Doug Kieta  18:20:41
every property?

Chris Moser  18:20:41
That's correct.

Doug Kieta  18:20:42
One sheet for every property

Steve Harr  18:20:44
Okay, yeah. So you're either going to go through all of these not knowing anything about any 

Doug Kieta  18:20:46
or accept it

Steve Harr  18:20:46
 or you're going to accept the chief appraiser's recommendation on those changes.

Doug Kieta  18:20:53
Okay

Robert Clark  18:20:54
That's how many changes. 

Chris Moser  18:20:55
It's usually a lot more. I would say that Mr. Clark, this is a slow time of the year, so it's usually a much heavier stack. There's others. 

Doug Kieta  18:21:01
Does this happen every month?

Chris Moser  18:21:09
Every quarter.

Doug Kieta  18:21:10
Every quarter. 

Chris Moser  18:21:10
It's mandated in the maps, the methods and procedures with the state controller that this is on the agenda.

Steve Harr  18:21:15
And this is part of their maintaining of the roll the whole thing

Doug Kieta  18:21:17
Year I get that.

Chris Moser  18:21:17
Basically, if someone files a homestead who's lived in the county for multiple years, we can go back two years and supplement that role. That's the majority of what's in there. Any errors that we make are in there. Every last thing that we change after the roll is certified in late July is in there.

Steve Harr  18:21:37
It's just constantly keeping it accurate

Chris Moser  18:21:39
Correct. Any person that walks through the front door and we have to make a change, or need to make a change, it's a supplement, and it's provided to you to see.

Kyle Williams  18:21:52
So that's what I was asking for. Pretty much?

Chris Moser  18:21:54
I don't think so. Those are just day to day. 

Steve Harr  18:21:58
That's the day to day change. 

Kyle Williams  18:21:59
For example, somebody files a homestead, and they go back two years. We have to supplement the role to give them the tax refund that they deserve, that those supplements are in there 

Justin Blake  18:22:05
Is there a way to format it so we could just see ones that were changed from month to month? 

Chris Moser  18:22:13
Every single one of them is a change

Doug Kieta  18:22:15
Everyone one of them is changing

Justin Blake  18:22:15
everyone of those is a change 

Doug Kieta  18:22:15
every sheet

Doug Kieta  18:22:16
But they're all changed. 

Steve Harr  18:22:17
and this is a slow month

Chris Moser  18:22:22
It's for a quarter

Doug Kieta  18:22:24
This is one property. 

Steve Harr  18:22:26
Just logically, it seems to me that this is like a he's making. They're making, you know, these changes that taxpayers eventually have come in and asked for or they discovered, so they're either going to be asked for by the taxpayer, or if they're somehow wrong, the taxpayer is going to see them when they come through the next time and get their get their report and that and protest or raise the issue, what have you. So, I mean, it just seems to me like this is, this is just keeping the roll accurate.

Kyle Williams  18:22:53
So we know what that total is for.

Chris Moser  18:22:54
I never have totaled them, that is not something I've ever been asked to do. 

Steve Harr  18:22:58
Do we I was gonna, I was wondering about the same thing is, there's, is there a number?

Doug Kieta  18:23:05
Well, is there an impact, a measure of impact of all this? 

Chris Moser  18:23:11
We could come up with something, 

Doug Kieta  18:23:13
I mean, a metric that says, 


Justin Neuman  18:23:15
every single time that we do the supplements we do, send updated totals to every single entity.

Chris Moser  18:23:22
Yeah, so they know whether it

Justin Neuman  18:23:24
 in each each one of those, like when it's time, when he's talking about an exemption each year, that that exemption applies. So right now, before the taxes are like three years on the homestead. For one homestead it will be three sheets of paper. That one sheet each year, adjusting it

Doug Kieta  18:23:28
But here's my point, if this is a slow quarter, when you got a busy quarter, we're gonna get a stack of paper like this. It's totally meaningless. We can't absorb you can't We can't absorb that. You gotta give it to us in a form. It says the county. I mean, I'm just talking off the top of my head. I've only been here 20 minutes, but the County, the county value was x, and these pieces of paper make it x plus point, oh, one or something. I mean, it's got to be some measure of what all this means.

Steve Harr  18:24:18
Yeah, but think about this. Okay, let's say that's I'm not disagreeing with the fact that we should know where he started in a year and where we ended up after all protests and changes. But the fact is, if they said, okay, it just just as a possibility, this drops the taxable value of the county $50 million

Steve Harr  18:24:39
if all of those are accurate, we still got to approve them. 

Doug Kieta  18:24:42
That's true.

Chris Moser  18:24:43
There's also, there's also, 

Doug Kieta  18:24:44
It's true. 

Chris Moser  18:24:45
Let me just roll that back a second. There's limitations on what I can do. 

Steve Harr  18:24:49
I'm making an example to make an exaggeration, to make a point. I'm not in doubt about that at all, that there's limits on what you can do. But I can't imagine that we're in a position where we're not going to trust the chief appraiser. 

Doug Kieta  18:25:05
Well, no I understand it, does the law require us? 

Chris Moser  18:25:08
Yes.

Doug Kieta  18:25:08
The lawyer over here. Do, are we obligated? 

Justin Blake  18:25:12
Accountable

Doug Kieta  18:25:13
Accountable to approve these things?

Tyler McCarty   18:25:15
that's what. So what? I believe you guys are responsible for approving are sometimes that's set by you guys. If say that's like litigation, say there was a case in litigation, and you guys have authorized the chief appraiser to settle something within a range of $3 million okay, that's good. That's a board policy that now chief appraiser needs to adhere by what I understand by law that you guys are required to approve are not all changes to the appraisal roll, but only changes that are made under a certain section of the tax code. So that if these were accomplished under 25.25(b). Yes, you guys are required to approve those. However, if these were other corrections, those wouldn't fall under a 25.25(b) correction, and that would not be something that you guys are required to approve. That was a long answer, but

Doug Kieta  18:26:17
So, so if there was a change here of the power plant assessment, that'd be a pretty big deal, right? 

Chris Moser  18:26:23
Yes sir

Doug Kieta  18:26:23
Something like that. That'd be something we'd want to

Steve Harr  18:26:23
I'd want to know about it. 

Doug Kieta  18:26:25
You'd want to know about it, right? But let's not Steve Harr's fence line, I could care less well.

Steve Harr  18:26:34
Are these? Are these in all 25.25(b) changes? 

Chris Moser  18:26:36
No, no, no, no, no. One other thing, 

Steve Harr  18:26:40
I don't even know what 25.25(b) is.

Chris Moser  18:26:41
The procedural responsibility of who and why changes over the time period. At a certain time of the year, in the third quarter and fourth quarter, all the ARB decisions will be in there. Every single person that protests and comes before the ARB, we have to supplement the role for that year

Doug Kieta  18:26:58
Sure

Chris Moser  18:26:59
based on the timing of the event, so the responsibilities or how it occurred and who've done it, will change over the time period. And it could be the ARB who supplements the role, changes the role via decision on a protest, or it could be the chief appraiser that changes the role via implementing a homestead exemption and lowering someone's tax burden or even removing one for prior years, someone that does not qualify, maybe someone who's been renting their home out or lying



Steve Harr  18:27:28
it can make it can make any sense that we have to do every So may I suggest that we table this. We ask Chris to talk to the lawyer about, to Tyler, about what it is we do have to approve, and that the next meeting, he submits to us what we do have to approve, as opposed to and in the future, all these things. I don't if we have to approve all these ARB rules, but if we do, we do, but if we don't, then don't bring them in, right?

Kyle Williams  18:27:55
Like a list of what we're approving or disapproving as well. I mean,

Steve Harr  18:27:58
yeah, rather than us having to figure this out.

Justin Blake  18:28:00
What does it look like? You don't send this to the tax entities. You just need to change in their tax bill. 

Chris Moser  18:28:08
We actually do send that to taxing entities the calculations of how much money has changed

Justin Neuman  18:28:16
Total

Chris Moser  18:28:17
in their jurisdiction

Justin Blake  18:28:18
within their taxes. Correct?

Kyle Williams  18:28:20
So it does exist, yes, 

Justin Neuman  18:28:22
Well, it's not like beginning change. It's just the new totals.

Kyle Williams  18:28:31
Can we not get that? I've asked y'all for that numerous times, but

Justin Neuman  18:28:36
You weren't specific about what you wanted.

Steve Harr  18:28:41
Let's do this. It's not on the agenda. We'll put it on the agenda that we have a very frank conversation. Okay, so we've tabled the B and C, yeah, B and C, because we don't have to wait to have those also, it would be really helpful if, if the board could get things we're supposed to review and approve for several days in advance of the meeting. For instance, there's one coming up on a contract, which I'm not going to approve the contract personally, I'm not going to approve a contract that I haven't read, and thought about. So anyway, I'm just asking Chris and his team to do that for us.

Chris Moser  18:29:20
Yes sir.

[REGULAR AGENDA
7.	Discuss and Approve Bank account signatures and Safety Deposit Privileges]

Steve Harr  18:29:20
Number seven, discuss and approve the bank account, signatures of safety deposit privileges. So where are we? What is that? 

Chris Moser  18:29:27
Okay? So for every expenditure that is made, every check that is paid, lights, etc there, it's required that you authorize who is allowed to sign those checks when it comes to the board and the staff. Currently, there are two staff members allowed to sign checks, and usually it is the chairperson who and the vice chair who we would if, if we need them to sign a Check. In the event that staff cannot sign the check to pay the electric bill or normal expenditures, that we would find the director and say, Hey, Justin's out of the office. Chris is on vacation. We need two of you guys to sign these checks to pay the bills and then the safety deposit privileges. There's a safety deposit box at Citizen state bank, and currently I'm assigned I can get into it. I believe Justin can get into it. And you need to designate who you want to allow to get into that box.

Doug Kieta  18:30:34
What's in that box? 

Robert Clark  18:30:37
My question

Chris Moser  18:30:38
Nothing, really micro fish from, you know, meetings in the 90s. 

Chris Moser  18:30:44
That's what's in there, sorry that's what's in there.

Steve Harr  18:30:50
Yeah

Doug Kieta  18:30:51
Maybe you could auction that stuff off. 

Steve Harr  18:30:52
And you should see the stuff he auctions off, I bet he could. 

Chris Moser  18:30:55
It's stuff from prior administration. 

Steve Harr  18:30:58
So who are the two staff that can sign currently?

Chris Moser  18:31:00
 Me and Justin.

Steve Harr  18:31:06
 and what, Do you have a limit? 

Steve Harr  18:31:14
Yeah, that's fine. I just wanted, before we vote on it, I just wanted to know what you're breadth of authority is.


Chris Moser  18:31:14
Yeah, there's a limit of $2,500 that I'm allowed to spend, but we only do routine. 

Doug Kieta  18:31:15
What do you consider routine bills?

Chris Moser  18:31:16
The electric bill, the reoccurring 

Doug Kieta  18:31:19
Rent

Chris Moser  18:31:19
contracts that we have rent water bill. Eagle view, is a reoccurring contract. Eagle view, yes, sir, 

Doug Kieta  18:31:26
Which is what's that?

Chris Moser  18:31:28
airplane imagery. 

Doug Kieta  18:31:29
Okay.

Chris Moser  18:31:30
That's a regular bill that's paid, but that was more of a Board Authority thing. Anything that is a major expense will be submitted to the board, and I'm not spending any money that I'm not supposed to be doing. Like that's straight. 

Steve Harr  18:31:45
And then that's all. Is that typically reflected in these quarterly financial reports? 

Chris Moser  18:31:49
It does not show 

Steve Harr  18:31:50
Like gross

Chris Moser  18:31:50
us, yeah, yeah. But then it is, it is itemized to an extent, and you'll get those at the next meeting. 

Steve Harr  18:31:57
It's just us getting our arms around what we are doing. Well, I would, I would recommend that we approve the current situation, which is Chris and Justin having the authority to sign up to $2,500 on the bank, and then Chris having access to the safety deposit box.

Robert Clark  18:32:19
I second

Chris Moser  18:32:20
And a board member to have access to the safety deposit box? 

Steve Harr  18:32:21
I think they should have one of us to go look at it, make sure there's not a whole bunch of cards in there

Doug Kieta  18:32:21
One of us should

Doug Kieta  18:32:21
If for some reason you had to get in it and get around, right? 

Steve Harr  18:32:21
Right, right, okay

Doug Kieta  18:32:21
You gotta have somebody to get in it.

Steve Harr  18:32:21
Put my name on it. Is that okay with you guys? 

Steve Harr  18:32:24
Okay, so it's going to be Chris and Justin on the account up to 2500 and Chris and me on the safety deposit box. 

Doug Kieta  18:32:24
Right, you go look at it.

Steve Harr  18:32:29
Right. I'll go look at it. Robbie just made that motion.

Doug Kieta  18:32:45
I seconded it.

Steve Harr  18:32:45
All in favor, aye, any opposed? 

[8.	Discuss and Approve Letter of Engagement from Pattillo, Brown & Hill, L.L.P. for 2025 Financial Audit]

The engagement letter for the financial audit. Just like to have an opportunity to study it before we vote on it. That's my thought. If anybody, anybody disagree with that? Let's table that one and put that on the next agenda. 

Amanda Schwertner  18:33:09
You skipped over the second board member on the checks. 

Steve Harr  18:33:09
What's that?

Amanda Schwertner  18:33:09
Who on the board could sign the checks.

Chris Moser  18:33:09
Oh he made the motion for it. He said, The same situation. Chris Justin, 

Amanda Schwertner  18:33:14
okay

Tyler McCarty   18:33:14
and then do you need a board member? 

Chris Moser  18:33:15
Two board members as well. 

Doug Kieta  18:33:16
You and Chris can sign the checks.

Steve Harr  18:33:20
They want two more.

Doug Kieta  18:33:21
I mean, you and Kyle.

Steve Harr  18:33:22
all right, somebody like that. We did not put that in the motion, so we need to make the motion.

Doug Kieta  18:33:27
I make the motion that Steve and Kyle can sign checks of anything actually.

Justin Blake  18:33:37
I'll Second

Steve Harr  18:33:37
Second?

Doug Kieta  18:33:40
Thank you. 

Steve Harr  18:33:40
All in favor, aye. all opposed? 

[9.	Discussion and Approval of updated Personnel Manual with Big Beautiful Bill and other law changes]

okay discussion and approval of updated personnel manual with Big Beautiful Bill and other law changes. Do you want to explain that to us please?

Chris Moser  18:33:51
There's a document in your packets, basically we had a labor attorney look over the employee manual. What I have here is the changes that the labor attorney recommended. This is a labor attorney that's similar to MVBA a specialist in this category. The last time we had any updates to the employee handbook was in 2022 and there's been some federal and state laws change that affect our employee manual, and they're listed here, things you know, like equal equal opportunity, employment, anti discrimination, FMLA, GINA and also leaving separation powers, public employee standards and ethics obligations, the Crown act is in here as well about certain hairstyles and things like that. Nothing too crazy. I understand if you want to table this as well, like you said a second ago. Mr. Harr in advance would have been helpful. I agree with that. But if you want to pass it, these changes will be made in the employee handbook. 

Steve Harr  18:35:07
And who was the lawyer that was hired to do it?

Chris Moser  18:35:09
What's her name Justin? Michelle Boudreaux?

Justin Neuman  18:35:12
Michelle Bohreer

Chris Moser  18:35:13
Michelle Bohreer, 

Steve Harr  18:35:13
and who is she?

Chris Moser  18:35:15
She with 

Justin Neuman  18:35:16
She has her own firm

Chris Moser  18:35:18
 She has her own firm.

Justin Neuman  18:35:19
Advises many appraisal districts and other government organizations. She speaks at conferences, specifically 

Steve Harr  18:35:26
Where she located?

Justin Neuman  18:35:27
 Houston.

Steve Harr  18:35:30
Houston, I was going to think maybe we could get her to come tell us what she read and what she saw, but

Doug Kieta  18:35:40
I mean, not worth the cost, and

Steve Harr  18:35:42
Not worth the cost and I don't think honestly we're going to learn a whole lot by studying this piece of paper. So the so what you're telling me is the board hired a lawyer to look at its personnel manual, made changes, and now we need to approve her work.

Chris Moser  18:35:58
If you agree with the changes. 

Steve Harr  18:36:00
Well, I mean, how can we know? 

Doug Kieta  18:36:01
Steven the school boards looks at this every year.

Chris Moser  18:36:05
I would say that as well. School boards have sent me...



Doug Kieta  18:36:07
They have a specialty lawyer. They hand you pages and stuff, and we all say, Yes.

Steve Harr  18:36:14
We got that choice to approve it trusting. I mean, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not completely flippant. I mean, you're trusting the lawyer was hired to do the job. They did the job because they're skilled to do it, and now we've been asked to do it, or we can table it, and I could call her and understand it better and come back the next meeting. 

Doug Kieta  18:36:33
You could do that too.

Steve Harr  18:36:34
Now that's just probably not necessary. Honestly, I'm not going to learn a whole lot, but I'm willing to do that. Thoughts about that? 

Justin Blake  18:36:39
I don't feel like these issues seem cloaked in obfuscation. I mean,

Doug Kieta  18:36:53
Well Justin this crowd. You have to cut your beard, so

Chris Moser  18:36:56
That used to be in the manual where you were not allowed to have a beard in this office and work here. That was a change that I made in the past, 

Justin Blake  18:37:03
because you're so clean shaven. We know what side you are in this

Chris Moser  18:37:07
 and then there is genetic information, you know we aren't going to collect genetic information.

Doug Kieta  18:37:11
I think we are. My recommendation is we accept it. We'll be tabling everything, and we don't gain anything by doing.

Steve Harr  18:37:18
Why don't you make a motion?

Doug Kieta  18:37:19
I'll make a motion we accept the board the personnel policy manual changes recommended by our outside attorney?

Justin Blake  18:37:27
Second.

Steve Harr  18:37:30
All in favor. Aye. Any opposed alright we pass that.



[10.	Discussion of Board Authority and its limits and Board Duties to be accomplished as based on the Texas Comptroller Appraisal District Director’s Manual]

Steve Harr  18:37:39
Okay, so this item 10 was actually came from me, suggested before we back in December, when I got elected, I reached out to Chris and just said, because I got this sense having jumped into this and read that there's all the stuff that the lawyer just explained to us, you know, your duties, your responsibilities, what You can do what you can't do. And it just struck me as it being a lot for five, four, at least, who had not been on this board to come in. So I will just leave this issue this way. I did this summary for myself that I keep handy, because it's just it's instead of getting in the manual, digging all the way through it. It's just a summary of what what you can and what you can't do, and if you I'm gonna give it to you. It's up to you. You throw it away if you want to, but I did it for me. I'm gonna keep it for me. And it really just summarizes what he just gave us, although they just gave us a whole nice PowerPoint to the same effect

Justin Blake  18:38:35
We have three versions of it now.

Steve Harr  18:38:36
So, yeah, now you have plenty of stuff. I'll make sure you get one before the party's over. 

Chris Moser  18:38:37
Nice of you to do that Mr. Harr

Steve Harr  18:38:42
So yeah, I was just after reading all of it. I thought, boy, there's a lot of stuff going on here. It would be nice to have a summary.

Tyler McCarty   18:38:48
I have. I did bring some cards if you guys have questions on things. I'm happy to speak with you guys.

Steve Harr  18:39:01
Thank you

[11.	Chief Appraiser Report
•	January Mailouts 
•	Comptroller Transparency Star]

Steve Harr  18:39:03
Chief appraisers report

Chris Moser  18:39:04
Okay, guys, just to let y'all know about day to day events, we're doing our January mail outs right now. That includes all ag applications for new property owners, homestead applications for new property owners, business, personal property renditions, and any other routine mail out that we would do in January. So just letting y'all know what's going on in the office right now, at this part of the year, we are requesting property owners fill out ag applications which will be due April 30, homestead applications which are due April 15. And we are getting, building as right now. It's a little bit slow around the beginning of the year, but as these come out, we will mail out 1000s of pieces of paper to property owners and have them come in, and we will be speaking to them and servicing them as to what they want to do with their property and how they want want it appraised and the exemptions administered. That's what's going on with that. And then also the next thing is a comptroller transparency star. What that is is we have currently applied for three transparency stars with the state comptroller's office for governance and financing and things like that. They're on our website. Basically. What that is, is the how we're operating as of this moment is being documented and sent to the comptroller. They have a program that awards governmental entities transparency stars

Doug Kieta  18:39:50
for quality of 

Chris Moser  18:40:00
for how transparent you are with the public. 

Doug Kieta  18:40:13
So it's a good housekeeping seal of approval

Chris Moser  18:40:14
and yes, that's something that I definitely have wanted to do as a goal for the board of directors. And as we work as a team, I do believe we will be awarded three transparency stars. We've applied for three, and we are doing more than the requirements, and we're doing more than most of the schools, cities in the county. And so this, as of this moment, in my opinion, we are being we are the most transparent governmental entity in the county. For the transparency stars will say that. The county also is incredibly transparent. They video their meetings this. This meeting is being videoed. That's not a mandate. That's part of the transparency process, just to let everybody know what's going on with this governmental entity. So I do feel like we're going to be awarded those transparency stars. I think it's gonna be great. It's a good thing that we're doing more than the minimum or average requirements. And so I'm very proud of that. That's it.

Steve Harr  18:41:41
I read about that. I think that's exactly what you said. It's a, yeah, it's a, it's a check. 

Doug Kieta  18:41:45
The school has a rating,

Steve Harr  18:41:45
Basically being tested just like MAPS, which is a test, 

Doug Kieta  18:41:50
right

Steve Harr  18:41:51
Which they passed 100%

Doug Kieta  18:41:52
good

Steve Harr  18:41:53
that SVD, which is that school district value thing, it's another test, 

Doug Kieta  18:41:57
yeah

Chris Moser  18:41:58
Could I say one more thing on that? I know I was done, and I don't want to overstate it. 

Chris Moser  18:41:58
There are only three appraisal districts with any transparency stars in the state of Texas, Harris County, Tarrant County and Bexar County.

Steve Harr  18:41:58
Which is you got to pass that one. 

Steve Harr  18:42:03
No, that's alright

Steve Harr  18:42:10
What

Chris Moser  18:42:10
So we will be 

Justin Neuman  18:42:11
Travis.

Chris Moser  18:42:12
Travis Yeah, Travis County. There are no governmental entities in the county with any transparency stars. Any of the governmental entities can apply and follow those procedures and get their own transparency stars. But guys, I want to start off on a fresh, you know, note with you guys. I want to make sure that you know we're doing as much as we can to be public and transparent and let the public know what we're doing. That's my efforts, and that's what I'm doing. 

Justin Blake  18:42:36
That segs what segues into 12

[12.	Discussion to identify future agenda items including at least social media presence, electronic posting of agendas and minutes, method of preparation of minutes and posting of same, recording and broadcast of Board meetings and understanding and review of current budget.]

Steve Harr  18:42:39
yeah, let's talk about that, because that's obviously based on a lot that we've heard. So I'm opening this up. I put some things down here this. This agenda item was my suggestion as well, in advance of this, which is just for us to talk about those things individually, one on, you know, one at a time, and really think through it. And these are a few of them, social media presence, the electric the electronic posting of agendas, which I'd like to see us have a that's we can discuss it. I'm not here to discuss it now, but the posting of our agenda on a on a Facebook page for the for the Central Appraisal District, a closed one, with no comment, but just here it is. Here's what we're doing, so people can pick it up. How we do our minutes. We obviously got that. He's, I didn't know we recorded. I don't think we broadcast. Is this broadcast? 

Chris Moser  18:43:36
It's live

Steve Harr  18:43:37
On Zoom?

Steve Harr  18:43:38
yes. 

Kyle Williams  18:43:38
It's the first time! It's the first time! 


Steve Harr  18:43:39
Look into it through the website.

Justin Neuman  18:43:41
The agendas and minutes are also on the website.

Kyle Williams  18:43:41
It's never been like that before. 

Kyle Williams  18:43:45
It's a new one, though, right? That, that, that, this has

Chris Moser  18:43:45
This is a whole new setup...

Kyle Williams  18:43:45
First time, right?

Chris Moser  18:43:45
Correct, that's what I..

Kyle Williams  18:43:45
That's what I, that's what I 

Robert Clark  18:43:48
I think we would stop a lot of problems with people hearing his spiel earlier about just the state of Texas being a burden on top of the county appraiser's office. 

Doug Kieta  18:44:00
Yes

Robert Clark  18:44:01
And that's if the people of the county would hear something of that nature of his. You know what he told us earlier? Well, it stopped a lot of heartache, and the county thinking that the county office is the problem that's at hand of raising the taxes. It's not, I mean, I'm seeing a whole different life just sitting here last 45 minutes in here. So that's what blows me up.

Steve Harr  18:44:24
Let's put I'll put it on the agenda. We'll have an open discussion about it. People pick it up, and maybe we'll do some good there.

Doug Kieta  18:44:30
An agenda item that I'd like to see in the future, Steve, in reading in the, reading it, I read that orange book, and it says that the appraisal district can go to the taxing units and ask for a change to stagger the board. I think it's crazy to have a two year board and then everybody evaporates. I think I've never been on a board corporately or in the public where there haven't been staggered terms. And I think it would be a great opportunity, because Chris will have to go and sell that to the taxing units to get their approval. We could do that, but they have to approve it.

Steve Harr  18:45:14
Let's talk about, I'll put on the agenda. We can't talk about tonight, but we put on the agenda. I want to put on the agenda. I said this earlier. How we is it? What can we do with our appraisals, current appraisals? What can we do this year with our current appraisals, to stay within the window that we have to which is not much 5%

Steve Harr  18:45:39
But affect them the absolute least. We've been raising them for years and years. And it's I just want to see. I want to talk about it openly with him in public meetings about can we absolutely put the brakes on that? Can we leave it the way it is? Doesn't look like we have to be appraised every two or three years. I mean, there's all kinds of things I heard tonight that say maybe we don't have to do anything to the numbers this year, so I want to have a discussion about that. 

Justin Blake  18:46:02
Did we conclude anything on the social media presence?

Steve Harr  18:46:08
 We're trying not to conclude anything. We're just talking rather than have a discussion. 

Doug Kieta  18:46:08
We're just talking about putting things on an agenda.

Steve Harr  18:46:09
We're not committed to have a discussion about it because it's just under the category of future agenda, but it'll be on the next one. We concluded. We're going to put it on there. Okay, other thoughts, any other thoughts? Oh, you had one. We want to see if there's a way to determine before and afters?

Kyle Williams  18:46:34
Correct. 

Steve Harr  18:46:35
I'll find a way to well,

Justin Blake  18:46:38
Can we get those sheets that you send to the tax agencies with these adjustments.

Chris Moser  18:46:44
I think so 

Doug Kieta  18:46:45
Say, there's gotta be a way to summarize that? 

Steve Harr  18:46:48
Well, yeah, the bigger issue, the macro issue, is when he started, when he sends out those tax appraisals in April, or whenever we all get them, what's the number? What's that gross number of the whole county? And then when it's all done, after protests and ARBs and all that stuff, what's that? What happened to it? Did it go up? Did go down? Does it stay the same? Did it change? Because remember, we're just setting values those, all those taxing units are the ones that are putting it in people's pockets when they set their rates. 

Doug Kieta  18:47:25
But we're not setting the values, He's setting the values.

Steve Harr  18:47:26
I mean, I mean the appraisal district. I meant when I said "we", I meant I should have been clear. Appraisal district sets the values, and even though you can listen to....I'm not sure if we can say values... we're trying. That's a lot of my issues. For future discussion is, can we get the before and the after? Because it's important, I think, for us to know, because the taxing authorities say they're lowering their taxing rates, but they're still collecting real taxes. I mean, I've got some ton of information on that.


Doug Kieta  18:48:01
hear values are going up

Kyle Williams  18:48:02
Or if they're set low, correct me. If I'm wrong, they're setting them, and then after all the meetings, values go way down, are they losing the money for what they thought they were going to get in the beginning. That's some of the complaint.

Chris Moser  18:48:16
No, that is not the way it goes.

Tyler McCarty   18:48:16
The way it goes is: notices get sent out. Some values go out. There's the appeal process. You go through chapter 41 protest, ARB, here's the here's the complaints. You got to have 95% of that done by July 20th. Then the certified, certification that takes place in July, which effectively it's saying, "Hey, here's the values that you're going to base your tax rates off of", a lot of complicated formulas in a chapter that I don't have to deal with too much, thank goodness, but that articulate to what extent they can deviate from last year's tax rate that can set over July for establishing tax rates, August, September, tax rates are then set.

Justin Blake  18:49:09
I think there's a public perception that appraisal values mean the tax rates, but the more we can have those sorts of conversations

Steve Harr  18:49:19
right

Justin Blake  18:49:19
that your local taxing entities are determining the percentages property tax could double and they could lower their taxing percentage by 50% and still have the same budget, and it gives the responsibility on the public to engage with their School Boards, their city councils, etc

Doug Kieta  18:49:40
Well, we have a paper now that actually lets us publish things of educational value. We should. We could educate our taxpayers. Yes, to Robbie's point exactly that he didn't. He didn't know the difference between marketable, taxable, right?

Robert Clark  18:49:56
Yeah, from the state's perspective of they stay within 95 right?

Steve Harr  18:50:01
But where that happens is, is we need to have an agenda. We need to have an open discussion and understanding, asking all the questions we want from him, from him, and have somebody pick that up, whether they're the public is interested, or whether the paper is, I think that's a great idea. A lot of this is about

Justin Blake  18:50:17
You know, if we do a social media page, then it can be shared too, like, if those there's tidbits of information public finds relevant, then it can become... 

Steve Harr  18:50:25
Any other agendas?

Doug Kieta  18:50:29
Another item Steve, and this again, goes to all the complaining around here about the budgeting. I have no idea what went on. You know, I don't really care anymore, but, but what I do, what I do want to talk about, is how you prepare a budget. Because there's two ways to prepare a budget. You could start with zero and build your budget to your cost profile. Or you could say, like the military does. Well, last year, I spent 23 billion, so this year, next year, I gotta have 25 billion. I'm a fan of zero based budgeting, because that's what keeps businesses in business. So I would like to have a discussion about how we want to guide him to prepare the budget.

Steve Harr  18:51:13
Absolutely, the the budget process as I understand it, is he has to prepare a budget by June 15 for us to review. But in advance of that, I want us to go through it line by line and understand it, 

Doug Kieta  18:51:26
yeah

Steve Harr  18:51:27
so that we can give guidance that's good point, very good point.

Doug Kieta  18:51:33
One other item that's in the book, do we have to appoint these, AG board members?

Chris Moser  18:51:37
That isn't, that's not on the agenda

Steve Harr  18:51:37
I think it's advise and consent

Tyler McCarty   18:51:43
correct

Steve Harr  18:51:44
you know, so he 

Doug Kieta  18:51:45
not the ARB. 

Steve Harr  18:51:46
They asked about it last meeting, who was

Chris Moser  18:51:49
Mike Myers.

Steve Harr  18:51:52
Michael Myers accepted a position on it

Chris Moser  18:51:55
and the others who were already on it.

Justin Blake  18:51:58
Who's all on it.

Chris Moser  18:52:00
Matthew Domel, Michael Myers, Mr. Greenwade, Mr. Ferguson, and Chelsea Doward, the ag extension agent

Doug Kieta  18:52:07
oh yeah

Chris Moser  18:52:08
We've got a great group.

Steve Harr  18:52:09
Well, I'm going to put that on there because I don't understand what it is. 

Doug Kieta  18:52:11
What the Ag board?

Steve Harr  18:52:12
 Yeah, well it's an advisory board

Tyler McCarty   18:52:19
Yeah, So the Chief Appraiser, Appraiser is talking you guys are going to advise and consent on ag advisory board, and what they do is they should be informing Chris of typical agricultural standards that are happening inside of the county. What's typical for this type of agricultural operation that allows the appraisal district to establish their degrees of intensity. Looks like there is a good amount of ag out here, and so that's one of the tests getting open space appraisal is it has to be principally devoted to agricultural use, but it also has to satisfy the degrees of intensity that's generally accepted in the area, and that is established by the appraisal district.

Robert Clark  18:53:07
But they only meet twice a year, right?

Chris Moser  18:53:08
Once a year, once a year or more. 

Steve Harr  18:53:11
I guess it doesn't change very much. 

Robert Clark  18:53:14
So what do they do? 

Chris Moser  18:53:15
They do talk about productivity values and the documents that they submit about lease rates in the county, are directly reflected on the amount of taxes that ranches pay on the property. The information

Robert Clark  18:53:30
Wildlife exemptions?

Chris Moser  18:53:31
yes, wildlife and, AG, the taxes that is paid is all derived from the information from that board on lease rates. So Chelsea Dorward knows the amount per acre. You know, she's the ag extension office agent. The documents that they submit are how the formulations are calculated for your AG taxes.

Kyle Williams  18:53:52
So some of the some of the biggest ranchers are on that board. Is that not a conflict? What you're saying awhile, ago. Is that different.

Robert Clark  18:53:54
No, because they don't set the rates.

Chris Moser  18:53:54
They do have to have to have ag land as well

Robert Clark  18:53:54
They just advise

Robert Clark  18:53:54
It is a mandatory requirement.

Tyler McCarty   18:54:06
All they do is advise on it. They're providing information that may not be typical or available to Chief Appraiser so that they can implement

Robert Clark  18:54:14
on that big ranch. They could say they give $20 an acre average for farmland. And then you do adjust your AG, your ag rates per okay, you only get $20 an acre per year.

Chris Moser  18:54:27
It's an average between all five members. So every single input is put into the calculation, and it's a five year average over the last five years, with the current the current one removed from the equation. We also solicit those this information to the public, and that's done random. So those five members are predominantly the that's where we get the productivity values from their forms. We also are mandated to mail those same forms out to random farmers and ranchers in the county, which we do, and we make sure that we have a running list that it's random, so we don't, for each year, we change who we send it to, and then if they send it back, they will be added to the calculations as well. So it's not just those five. It's a

Robert Clark  18:55:10
It's a how many of those do you send out a year?

Chris Moser  18:55:11
Oh, gosh, 200

Robert Clark  18:55:11
200 

Doug Kieta  18:55:11
It's a voluntary reply? 

Robert Clark  18:55:12
Yeah.

Chris Moser  18:55:12
I mean, they're not gonna... we don't get a lot of responses, to be honest with you.

Doug Kieta  18:55:20
Yeah, that's the

Steve Harr  18:55:27
One other item I was gonna suggest we put on our agenda is to discuss, and whether, discuss among ourselves and also with the chief appraiser, whether there are special needs that he has to appraise the solar farms and that data center. I mean, that's just not your average chicken farm out there, 

Robert Clark  18:55:48
Correct


Steve Harr  18:55:48
And I want to get it right.

Steve Harr  18:55:52
So we just need to make sure they have what they need on there, particularly before the budget, because it could be an outside specialist or some kind

Tyler McCarty   18:56:02
I would say that's typical, most districts for complex properties that

Chris Moser  18:56:07
We have a specialist Capital Appraisal Group, who's already contracted and they're already, I myself have been on the ground as well. But capital appraisal is in charge of all utilities, solar and utility, and they would be. They're aware. I can have them at the meeting

Robert Clark  18:56:24
Did they show up at the county meeting and talk about that, where was capital appraisal. 

Chris Moser  18:56:28
I don't know if it was if they were there. Yeah, I guess they were, yeah

Steve Harr  18:56:31
I just want to learn more about it. So that's

Chris Moser  18:56:33
We can have them there.

Steve Harr  18:56:33
and then the public submission we received today, I'm gonna look through all this and try to make out of it what I can to have agenda items that we may need to discuss there as well. Okay, anything else we need to put on our 

Doug Kieta  18:56:53
Good start. 

[13.	Discuss and Set Date and Time of Next Meeting]

Steve Harr  18:56:54
Just wanted to mention, just talking to Chris before and back in December, his his normal year, kind of we jump, jumped in a little bit was just to start in February. And so I'm sure he has a method and a protocol for things he needs us to do. And so what I was thinking is that that we could have

Steve Harr  18:57:17
at least one more meeting, if not two more meetings, before we get to, kind of his world starts in February to go over these and kind of get these out of the way and get them solved as best we can, so that we take care of issues that are were on our minds when we got elected, and we've heard in the public and and get those things resolved before we get into what the normal year looks like for him, budgeting and the like. So is that? Is that okay? If you guys need a couple more times this, this month, 

Doug Kieta  18:57:48
It's alright with me man.

Steve Harr  18:57:50
you have your calendars. We need to pick some pick some days.

Steve Harr  18:57:56
Well, Doug, you said you were

Doug Kieta  18:58:00
I'm gone next Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I'll be going 18, 19, and 20.

Steve Harr  18:58:05
Well, okay, I can't do it the 15th, and nobody wants to meet on Friday, so let's look.

Kyle Williams  18:58:13
I'll be I'll be gone 22nd to 24 for stock show.

Steve Harr  18:58:16
Okay, alright. Well, maybe we just get one more meeting in 21 can we do 19? 

Doug Kieta  18:58:21
I can't. 

Steve Harr  18:58:23
You can't. 

Doug Kieta  18:58:24
No.

Steve Harr  18:58:24
Okay

Doug Kieta  18:58:25
I can do 21 

Steve Harr  18:58:26
No, he can't 

Kyle Williams  18:58:27
No, 21st I don't know

Doug Kieta  18:58:31
what 27 or 28?

Steve Harr  18:58:35
the week of the 26th I can't do 27 but I could do 26 or 28 

Doug Kieta  18:58:41
Yeah, I could do both.

Kyle Williams  18:58:44
sure, one 

Steve Harr  18:58:45
26, 28 

Justin Blake  18:58:46
I'm good with that.

Steve Harr  18:58:47
Let's go Monday night. Is that okay, Robbie? 

Robert Clark  18:58:51
Monday the 19th, 

Robert Clark  18:58:51
Yes, sir.

Steve Harr  18:58:54
no, 26

Robert Clark  18:58:56
26 Thank you. 6pm 

Steve Harr  18:59:01
Yeah, we moved it to six to we heard some complaints before we got elected that five o'clock was a problem for some people to get here. So we moved it to six to try to open that more for the public.

Robert Clark  18:59:16
Just looking ahead, if we started with social media and it's, let's say, live broadcasted, would five o'clock help? You know that get out there where we don't have to keep them till six. I mean, it's another hour to pay somebody, I'm just saying on their time.

Steve Harr  18:59:31
I totally agree with you, and I think that that's one of the values of making sure it's they know about it, it's being broadcast. They have availability. They don't have it's just a lot of the public came tonight. They just came to listen. Well, they can sit at home and listen and have a Coca Cola or whatever.

Robert Clark  18:59:46
Let's keep it at six next one, and then we'll discuss the next being at 5 or after we get social media or whatever. 

[14.	Adjournment]

Steve Harr  18:59:51
All right. Need a motion to adjourn.

Kyle Williams  19:00:01
I make a motion to adjourn

Steve Harr  19:00:02
All in favor. aye

Robert Clark  19:00:02
We didn't need a do we need a motion for the next meeting.

Steve Harr  19:00:05
Well, we're adjourned. We'll see you next. We'll make our first mistake. 

Justin Blake  19:00:08
We'll do better next time. 


Nathan Diebenow  19:00:17
I have a special request to get a photo for the newspaper with all the.

\* This transcript was compiled from uncorrected Closed Captioning.
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