Closed meeting includes taking evidence from employees, illegal under Sunshine Law
Despite the attention being paid in the news and on social media to issues between Jones County and the State of Georgia with property values, the Jones County Board of Tax Assessors appeared to be unprepared to have elected officials and members of the community in attendance for their recent meeting.
The Sept. 5 meeting came to order at 4 p.m. without any acknowledgment of the people in the room, with the meeting agenda available only to board members. Upon request, an agenda was provided to this reporter, but no additional copies were produced.
At the conclusion of the agenda items, the board went into a closed session that lasted from 5-8 p.m. Three Jones County Commissioners – Sam Kitchens, John Wood and Chairman Chris Weidner – waited in the lobby for the entire three hours.
Commissioner Wendy Vaughn left to attend another meeting. She returned at 7 p.m. and was there when the meeting reopened.
The Board of Assessors members at the meeting were Chairman Mary Watts, Scherryl Morgan, Tim Andrews and Geraldine Hogan. One of the board seats is vacant due to the recent resignation of Angela Brooks.
Watts has been a member of the board for 16 years.
Jones County Chief Appraiser Anthony George seemed to run the meeting from its beginning, presenting board members with approval of motor vehicle appeals, E&Rs & NOD, and approval of a homestead exemption for a disabled veteran.
With the exception of a couple of questions for clarifications from Watts, each of the items were unanimously approved.
An interesting point was noted by George concerning the homestead exemption for the disabled veteran. The appraiser said, unlike other exemptions that must be received by April 1, a homestead exemption for a disabled veteran can be accepted and approved anytime.
The final item on the agenda was the Chief Appraiser’s Report.
George took that opportunity to talk to board members about the 2023 Sales Ratio Report from the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts. The 2023 report was similar to the 2022 report, with the exception of the sales ratio being even lower than acceptable.
As he did with his presentation to the board of commissioners, he said the problem began with the explosion in sales prices for properties after the COVID-19 pandemic. George said they attempted to manually increase values in the affected neighborhoods but noticed in 2022 and 2023 some values had not changed.
The appraiser said in 2023 they made 9,400 changes, and this year property values were raised from 6-15 percent, depending on the property. He said the 2023 changes increased the property digest by $139 million.
“That’s a significant change, but I can’t tell you if it was enough for the DOAA to say we made improvements,” he said.
George said the board of commissioners agreed to file an appeal with the DOAA, and at that time they will present the information and ratio studies they have done.
The appraiser said the ratio studies he has done, broken down by classifications, resulted in a sales ratio of 40.04, but the DOAA report states it is 31.71.
To be acceptable to the state, the ratio needs to be above 36.
“My question is how they got to that number,” he said. “We have to ask face to face.”
George said the evaluations were not done in the usual way, but it was an unusual time after COVID-19.
“We needed to change the values but wanted to be fair to everyone,” he said.
The appraiser said in 2024, the values were changed by square footage, which is the way it is done normally. He said the DOAA would tell them if the increase was enough or needed to be set higher.
Andrews asked questions about the manual increases, and George said it was done manually to be fair to taxpayers.
The appraiser said the DOAA appeal was the first step, and if the appeal is denied, they can go to arbitration. He also said it would be a good idea for Jones County to hire a consultant for the appeal.
George’s report shifted from the sales ratio to complaints about comments made about him at the Sept. 3 board of commissioners meeting by two employees. He claimed the employees’ comments were false and went so far as to suggest the statements were not their own but written by a third party.
The appraiser gave no evidence of the third-party involvement or the identity of that third party.
George also spoke about stories written about him in 2012 in The Washington Post, prior to his 2017 employment with Jones County. He said all the claims in those stories were false and stated they were written because the reporters were attempting to win a Pulitzer Prize.
He said a federal lawsuit in 2006 by four female assessors was also the result of false information and were dismissed for lack of merit. George said this was the first time he publicly addressed the articles.
“I pray none of you ever get lied on. I lost family and friends because of it,” he said.
George said the comments from the Jones County employees hurt him but stated he would not treat them any differently.
At the conclusion of his report, the board of assessors announced they were going into closed session. Several in the audience questioned not being allowed to speak.
Andrews said they had already voted to enter closed session but would allow public comments when they reconvened.
Kitchens notes illegal session
Three hours later, the board of assessors reopened its meeting. The men who had wanted to comment had left, but several citizens and the four commissioners remained. Kitchens’ first question for the board was their plan going forward, but there was no response.
“Not fixing this is not an option,” he said.
The commissioner then proceeded to state that, in his opinion, the assessors violated the open meetings act. He explained they brought employees into the session to give evidence, which is not allowed.
“The people are supposed to know what is said to those employees. That should not have happened,” he stated.
Watts said they did not know that. She said she thought speaking with them had to be in closed session.
Kitchens went on express his displeasure at watching employees walk out of the closed meeting with tears in their eyes. He said he hoped each one of those employees would write down what happened in the closed session.
“You have one responsibility and that is to make sure the tax assessments in Jones County are fair and open. That’s not happening. We’ve failed two audits. One appeal was denied, and another is coming up. This is where we are, and I want to know what you plan to do about it,” he said.
Morgan asked Kitchens if the employees he was so concerned about were the same ones he said he wanted fired last week. She told the commissioner that she was not incompetent and did not appreciate his statements.
Kitchens said his statement did not refer to individuals but the board as a whole.
“It takes three votes to make an action, and none of you have the guts. We are in the same place we were two years ago,” he said.
Andrews said he believed the tears from the employees were because of their passion for their jobs, not because of anything said to them by board members.
“They love what they do and don’t feel good about where that office is today,” he said.
He also said he felt it was unfair to expect board members to know how to do appraisals.
“We trust the expertise of the department. From what I know, these people are committed to their jobs,” he said.
Andrews said going forward they know there is a problem.
“I don’t know what you are asking us to do that we didn’t do. We set policy and provide oversight,” he said. “If they don’t perform, we take the appropriate action.”
Kitchens said what the commissioners heard from the staff was the state told them what to do to fix the problem, but Jones County is still doing things wrong. He pointed out there was no agenda, so the audience had no idea what would go on at the meeting.
“We had no idea if it was going to be an open discussion,” he said.
Andrews said this was the first time they had an audience. He said they were appointed to do a job and have done it to the best of their knowledge. The board member said the staff had never come to them with complaints. He did admit that, from what they heard from employees during the closed session, something was done incorrectly.
“Is what was done inappropriate, I don’t know. None of us here want Jones County not to be able to collect taxes,” he said. “We are here to assist the county to get funds to operate to provide services to the citizens.”
Andrews said they are receptive to do what they need to do.
Watts said they did not think the employees would be comfortable talking to them in an open meeting.
“We wanted them to talk to us,” she said.
Kitchens asked her if any action would be taken. She said no, that they were trying to figure out the problem.
“We’ve been here for three hours, and you have no solution? I’m asking you to find a resolution,” the commissioner said.
Watts asked for any other comments. With no response, the meeting was adjourned.
