Commissioners vote to remove BOA members
The Jones County Board of Commissioners took another step in the process of removing the remaining two members of the Board of Tax Assessors with an appeal to Superior Court by those members the only recourse to impede the process.
Board of Commissioners Chairman Chris Weidner called the Jan. 7 hearing to order that was scheduled for the purpose of the removal of Timothy Andrews and Scherryl Morgan from the board of assessors.
Letters from the Noland Law Firm informing the members of the pending action and addressed to them in their capacity as board members were placed on the desks where they sat at their Dec. 5 meeting.
At the conclusion of that meeting, however, it was reported the letters were found unopened in a trash can. Attorney William Noland said a second letter was delivered to remaining members of the board of assessors Dec. 27, also containing a copy of the first letter.
Both letters contained information spelling out in detail the process of the members’ removal and the reason for it.
The Jan. 7 hearing began with Noland, who represented the commissioners, presenting the grounds of the removal, citing Georgia Code sections related to the asserted violations.
The bottom line for the violations was the failure of the Board of Tax Assessors to meet the standards established by the Georgia Department of Revenue in three areas. The first was the failure of the fair market value assessment of properties; the second, the unlawful use of overrides and grade changes; and lastly, the violation of the open meetings law.
Noland said the supporting evidence included the failed sales ratio studies by the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts, newspaper articles and videos of the Board of Commissioners and Board of Assessors meetings.
In the second letter sent to the tax assessor board members, it was made clear that ignoring the notices would not stop the process.
“Please understand that your willful refusal to accept mail addressed to you in your official capacity will not be considered as a defense to your removal,” Noland wrote.
The attorney explained that, although there was an option for an appeal to superior court, the ultimate decision for the removal is up to the Board of Commissioners. He added that any one of the grounds could be sufficient for the removal of board members.
A defiant Andrews was the only member of the Board of Assessors to attend the hearing, and he wasted no time in sticking to his usual defense.
“I was not aware of the hearing until I heard about it on the news this morning,” he stated.
Andrews, who is the chairman of that board, complained that business could not be conducted at their Jan. 2 meeting because they did not have a quorum. Their board, which was down to three members because of resignations, was now down to two. The term of their third member, Geraldine Hogan, expired Dec. 31.
Noland explained again about two attempts to deliver the letters. Andrews continued to say he did not receive the letters, although he did admit to seeing the letter on his desk Dec. 5.
“It could have been junk mail,” Andrews stated.
County Administrator Jason Rizner said each of the letters was also emailed to the board members, but Andrews dismissed that by saying he had emails he had not opened in weeks.
Andrews also demanded the county provide him counsel for the appeal to superior court. Noland said he did not believe that was required of the county, but he would research it.
Weidner called for a decision, and Commissioner John Wood made the motion to remove Andrews and Morgan from the Board of Tax Assessors. The vote to approve the motion was 4-1 with Commissioner Daylon Martin opposed.
Martin stated that Chief Appraiser Tony George had added properties to the Jones County tax digest every year, which had angered some people. He also talked about problems with other boards.
“To single out this group is not OK,” he said.
Commissioner Sam Kitchens said the action had nothing to do with other boards. He said it had been an ongoing problem since 2022, and the problem was compounded by the commissioners being required to stay at arm’s length due to the separation of powers.
“We supply the department’s budget and provide training every year,” he said.
Kitchens talked about the notification letters and Andrews’ response that he did not know about the hearing.
“This has been discussed for months. Their option is superior court. It’s our duty to make sure the law is abided by,” he said.
Wood said the county is under a time frame, and he would like a meeting called next week to interview candidates for the three open Board of Tax Assessor positions.
“We need people who want to serve and need to proceed in a timely manner,” he said.
The commissioner said to his knowledge the digest has always been submitted on time.
Martin said property values spiked because of the COVID pandemic. He said he did not know if the assessors could have caught up and added that the department was not staffed for what the county wanted done.
The commissioner also pointed out that the peer review of the tax assessor department had not been received. The report had been anticipated to be received before the Christmas holidays.
Andrews came forward to speak at the hearing on five separate occasions to rebut the comments of others. His ultimate defense for not opening and reading the letters from the Noland Law Firm was he did not believe they were placed in the proper mail receptacle.
Andrews’ voice seemed to get louder each time he spoke. He blamed everyone for the situation except himself, George or any member of the Board of Assessors.
“No one told us we were standing on the train track and a train was coming,” he said.
Andrews’ final statement was that the real issue was the commissioners wanted the chief appraiser to be fired and the board would not do it.
Following public comments, Weidner reiterated that the tax assessor board members have 10 days to submit a written request to the Clerk of the Board, Shannon Wagner, if they wish to appeal the commissioners’ decision to superior court.
The Jan. 7 meeting in its entirety can be viewed at jonescountyga.org by selecting “view commissioners meetings.”
