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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMr. Bennett handouts 09-23-19i Tarrant Appraisal District January 31, 2018 Mr. Daniel J. Bennett White Settlement, Texas 76108 Re: Open Records Request. Dear Mr. Bennett: Jeff Law Executive Director Chief Appraiser In your open records request dated January 30, 2018, you first asked for the following: Policies & Procedures (written) for certification of ballots for Tarrant Appraisal District's Board election that have been provided to all Governmental Agencies and Political subdivisions of the State of Texas within Tarrant County and Travis County. Tarrant Appraisal District has no such written policies or procedures. You next ask for the following: List of Agencies, Taxing Entities and judicial divisions which have been supplied with these Policies for the last two Election Cycles 2015 and 2017 Tarrant Appraisal District has no such list. Sincerely, '7-T AC6�p Mary Mc oy Public Information Officer 2500 Handley-Ederville Road • Fort Worth, Texas 76118-6909 • (817) 284-0024 . www. tad. org 1. gives opportunity for taxing units to vet candidates 2. gives clarity to the process 3. will make the voting process fairer • can invite candidates to a meeting • opportunity to acquire written responses to a set of questions posed by the taxing unit • opportunity for the candidate to visit with each taxing unit without invitation • ample time to make sure of proper notifications by CAD • this will create ample time to coordinate with like-minded taxing units who share the same concerns and/or issues about representation. • accountability of the candidates to the taxing units will be expanded • slows down the process; enabling to identify what is in the best interest of each participant in order to provide the best representation for people they represent • takes away any inequities within in the process tracking and registering casted ballots • ample time to fix any inconsistencies that may develop due to unintended errors (Crowley's 2015 votes were not counted) • allows for taxing units to obtain a ballot and resume of each candidate (some received nothing i.e. RIVER OAKS 2017) Cat!t?x V1 Ils®n From- Joe Bennett < Sent: Thursday, August 1, 2019 4:12 PM To: Cathey Wilson Subject: Editorial submission From: Joe Be'laneltt< Date: Monday, December 11, 2017 Subject: Editorial submission Dear Star Telegram, Your recent editorial in the'Star Telegram' addressed several reasons why many citizens have lost faith in the Tarrant Appraisal District (TAD). Citizens have no direct opportunity to affect the govemance, policy or operations of TAD, although decisions TAD and its management make directly affect every individual that owns property in Tan -ant County. The Board of Directors of the TAD is the governing and policy making body that the Executive Director of TAD answers to. The taxing entities in Tarrant County nominate and elect the TAD Board of Directors. However, the election process is not known or understood by many citizens and is.unfair to the smaller cities. Although all taxing entities (cities, county, school districts, etc.) each vote on TAD board of Directors, these votes are heavily weighted. The fewer larger taxing entities (large cities, school districts, county) individually have 25 to 30 times more votes than the more numerous, but smaller taxing entities (smaller cities). This makes it nearly impossible for smaller cities to gain any representation on the TAD Board of Directors. To elect a Director the smaller cities must work together and even then the larger taxing entities can take advantage of an unfair voting process to overcome the efforts of the smaller cities. Taxing entities vote in public meetings at any time before the deadline for votes to be counted. Since these votes are public record, larger entities that have many hundreds of votes simply wait until the deadline, find out if the candidates they want have enough votes or not, apply their hundreds of votes in block to elect their candidates. This is very unfair to the smaller cities that have only 10 to 30 votes each. A perfect example of this is the Tarrant County Commissioners Court. Just this week they had on their agenda to vote for TAD Board of Director nominees. However, after checking the votes already in, they did not vote, but tabled their vote waiting until next week, just before the deadline in order to guarantee they knew how many votes to apply to their candidates to guarantee their election. Small cities do not have this luxury because none of them individually have enough votes to elect any single Board member. This voting inequity can easily be eliminated by requiring that all votes be done at the same time. This would be much fairer to the small cities and would be a simple and small step for TAD to take to begin rebuilding the trust with citizens and elected officials in smaller cities. You inferred in your editorial that the Tarrant Appraisal District has a group of disengaged Directors who are not doing the business for which they were elected. It seems the Commissioner Court and other larger taxing entities are promoting this and many other characteristics you so expertly pointed out Unfortunately these practices may be harming the citizens of Tarrant County in its wake. Richard Newton RESOLUTION R-19-4412 A RESOLUTION SUPPORTING A CHANGE TO THE PROCEDURE FOR VOTING FOR CANDIDATES TO SERVE ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE TARRANT APPRAISAL DISTRICT; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Colleyville, Tarrant County, Texas (the ""City") hereby supports a procedural change to the voting period for taxing units to cast ballots for candidates to serve on the Tarrant Appraisal District board of directors pursuant to Texas Tax Code 6.03; and WHEREAS, the City Council finds that the procedural changes set forth herein will increase impartiality and transparency in the voting process; WHEREAS, the City Council finds it has the authority to approve the proposed procedural changes pursuant to Texas Property Tax Code 6.03. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLLEYVILLE, TEXAS: Sec. 1 THAT the foregoing recitals are incorporated herein and made a part of this Resolution. Sec. 2 THAT the City Council hereby finds that each and every taxing unit eligible to vote for candidates to serve on the board of the Tarrant Appraisal District under Texas Tax Code 6.03 shall be required to cast all of the taxing unit's votes for candidate(s) of its choice no earlier than December 8 and no later than December 14 of each odd -numbered year, during the taxing unit's regularly scheduled meeting day and time. Sec. 3 THAT any taxing unit that does not have a regularly scheduled meeting during the-timeframe defined in Section 2 (above), may, during that time period, call a special meeting during which the taxing unit shall be required to cast all of the taxing unit's votes for candidate(s) of its choice. Sec. 4 THAT should any taxing unit eligible to vote under Texas Tax Code 6.03 fail to conduct its vote in conformance with the procedural changes adopted herein, the taxing unit shall be Resolution R-19-4412 Page 2 of 2 deemed to have waived its vote and the unit's proportionate voting entitlement under Texas Tax Code Section 6.03 shall not be counted toward nor included in the total votes cast for the candidates to serve on the board of directors. Sec. 5 THAT should any word, sentence, paragraph, clause, phrase or parts of this resolution be adjudged or held to be void, the same shall not affect the validity of the remain portions which of this resolution which shall remain in full force and effect. Sec. 6 THAT this resolution shall be effective immediately upon approval. AND IT IS SO RESOLVED. APPROVED BY A VOTE OF _ AYES, _ NAYS AND —ABSTENTIONS ON THIS THE DAY OF 2019. Mayor Richard Newton Place 1, Tammy Nakamura Place 4, George Dodson Place 6, Callie Rigney ATTEST: Christine Loven, TRMC City Secretary Mayor Pro Tern Bobby Lindamood Place 3, Kathy Wheat Place 5, Chuck Kelley CITY OF COLLEYVILLE Richard Newton Mayor September 21, 2019 Mayor Hunter, I am writing to outline my support for Resolution R-19-4412, adopted by the Colleyville City Council on August 20, 2019, This resolution recommended changes to the Tarrant Appraisal District process for electing directors to their board. The election of board directors for the Tarrant Appraisal District is designed to give each taxing entity a say in the make-up of the board for the coming year. We are all assigned votes and a timeline is outlined for the nomination of candidates and the final voting process. One could argue that this is a fair, open, and inclusive election process. Unfortunately, the current system does not actually support that argument. Presently, each community is alloted a number of votes based upon their pro-rata share of taxes imposed. This allows larger organizations to garner a greater percentage of the votes. Further, the inclusion of school districts and cities compounds the weighted vote for larger entities. The weighted nature of the voting often precludes smaller entities from making a difference in the selection process in essense disenfranchising their ability to choose a director. Unable to effectuate change, the smaller entities participate in name only. Further complicating the process is the scattered timeline for when the voting takes place. This process can result in larger entities determining the make up of the board before smaller communities have a chance to consider the matter. Equally challenging is the ability of larger groups to wait until the end of the process to pick and choose winners by allocating their votes among candidates. The concerns addressed within the resolution adopted by Colleyville were directly aimed at addressing the aforementioned concerns of weighted votes and inconsistent voting timelines. The proposed changes are intended to level the playing field and give our smaller taking entities a true seat at the table. I would be happy to answer any questions regarding this matter. Sincerely, Richard Newton, Ph.D., EE., PMP Mayor, City of Colleyville 817-247-1642 Mobile https://mail-attachment.googIeusercontent.com/attachment/u/O/...voZr2uYgVIUzjrP74CSC3Nbe INieR3WW_igANuSPWnbuWi4xZr5M 9/22/19, 7:17 PM Page 1 of 2