MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING

OF JULY 24, 2008

Chairman Dick Collyard called the Special Town Meeting to order at 7:55am. Roll call was made. Webb, yes; McGee, yes; Meinke, yes; Collyard, yes. Porter was excused. It was established that a quorum was present. The notice of this meeting was done in accordance with state statutes.

Telephone Conference with Assessor Charlotte Johnson

The Assessor Charlotte Johnson was then put on speaker phone for the teleconference.

The board’s purpose in this teleconference was to connect with the Assessor on issues that have come up to the board members.

Chris Webb had several questions for Ms. Johnson. Webb told the Assessor that the object of this discussion was to get a better understanding of the Assessor’s assessment process. Webb said that some assessments were raised because the properties were for sale. How did the Assessor choose these parcels? Ms. Johnson said that she shares information with the real estate agencies and then checks the square footage, etc. of that parcel against what she has on record. Johnson said that there is usually a 10% decrease in assessed valuation compared to the asking price. Johnson also gets the property sales after the sale is finalized. Webb asked if a visit was made to each site. Johnson said yes that she did if possible. She doesn’t get to all of them however. Some sites were not very accessible and that she sometimes had to walk a long way to get to the property. Bayfield County has a good building permit system. It is on line now Johnson said. Collyard said he had also found the site on line. Collyard then added that there were other issues that have been brought to the board’s attention. He said that he begin to list those areas of concern. The citizens need to call the assessor to have their questions answered as the board does not have this information. Johnson said that board members should get the name and phone number of the people who have questions and she will call them back. Johnson said that email is often the best way for her to get messages rather than by telephone.

Webb asked if Johnson would have all of the records at the Open Book and Board of Review on Monday July 28^th. Johnson said that she had them on her computer and that she would be transferring them to Elaine’s computer as well. It is a read only file so that the records can’t be changed. Webb asked how the assessments were made on the lake frontage in the areas where the lakes were so low. Johnson said that she has had this problem with the Tomahawk Lake properties with the Eurasian Water Milfoil problem. There still seems to be good sales activity on these lakes. If she sees a difference of more than 10% or more in the decline of the sales prices, she will address this. One sale does not make the market she emphasized.

Webb asked Johnson why the people don’t have a chance to see her when she is out on the property. Johnson said she doesn’t usually leave a notice that she has been there unless she needs to talk to the party. A lot of times, the people are seasonal or are at work when she comes. There was discussion if a site visit was mandatory. The Assessor said not really. Johnson uses the best information that she has on the parcel. She checks the lot sizes against what the county has. She did say that there are quite a few discrepancies in the county records and that the county continues to correct them. They have done over 200 so far.

Jack Meinke said that he had wanted to talk to Ms. Johnson when she had been at his property, but couldn’t get her attention.

Ms. Johnson will be here at open book and board of review on Monday. The Open Book will be between 2:00pm and 5:00pm and the Board of Review from 5:00pm until 7:00pm. Johnson asked that we keep her assistant in our prayers as the woman was recently diagnosed with brain aneurysms. The conference call was ended at 8:14am.

Webb said that she had a printout of information regarding assessment for the board members. Collyard said it would be good to have more information available to us.

Cemetery Stump Removal