CLERK OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS 111 NW 1 Street, Commission Conference Room Thursday, October 27, 10 a.m.

Transcription

1 CLERK OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS NW Street, Commission Conference Room Thursday, October, 0 a.m. VALUE ADJUSTMENT BOARD INTERGOVERNMENTAL SERVICES DIVISION 0 BOARD MEMBERS (Present) Commissioner Juan Zapata, Chairman Commissioner Jose "Pepe" Diaz School Board Member Raquel Regalado Mr. Anibal Duarte-Viera Hani Jardack VAB ATTORNEY Manuel A. Blanco, Esq. 0 COUNTY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE Jorge Martinez-Esteve Assistant County Attorney STAFF Pedro Garcia, Property Appraiser Lazaro Solis, Office of Property Appraiser Robert Alfaro, VAB Manager Mark Martinez, Clerk of the Courts

2 Description A G E N D A Page 0 I. Convene the 0 VAB and implement Department of Revenue Rules governing VAB Organizational meetings. II. Discussion of Prehearing Checklist pursuant to DOR Rule D-.0. III. Approval of VAB forms for tax year 0. IV. Approve administrative procedures, filing fees and rescheduling guidelines for the 0 tax year. V. Request for Qualifications of Counsel to Miami-Dade VAB VI. Discuss and provide for the employment of special magistrates for tax year 0. VII. Presentation of the VAB Policies and Procedures Manual. VIII. Such other business as may properly come before the Board. 0

3 0 0 (Thereupon, at 0:0 a.m., the meeting commenced as follows:) If we can all rise for a moment of silence and Commissioner Diaz will lead us with the Pledge. (Moment of Silence). (Pledge of Allegiance). CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Good morning, Everyone. Thank you for being patient. Let's get this started. Do we need to approve the agenda, Mr. Blanco? MR. BLANCO: Yes, sir. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: So I want to make a quick change. I want to move Item V to VII and put VII where V was, so we'll take the presentations of VAB Policies and Procedures as V, then we'll go to VI and then VII will be the Request for Qualifications for Counsel to Miami-Dade VAB. Is there a motion on the agenda? COMMISSIONER DIAZ: So moved. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Moved. Seconded?

4 0 0 BOARD MEMBER REGALADO: Second. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: It was second. Any objection? Show the agenda adopted. First item, Convening the 0 VAB and implement Department of Revenue Rules governing VAB Organizational Meetings. What do we need to do for that, Mr. Blanco? MR. BLANCO: Mr. Chair, first and foremost, I just wanted to greet everybody. Members of the Board, the property appraiser's office, et cetera, the County attorney. We have a quorum in attendance at this point. It is Raquel Regalado, as the School Board Member, yourself and Mr. Jose Pepe Diaz as the Commissioners; Mr. Hani Jardack and Anibal Duarte-Viera as the citizen members. And this is the 0 annual Value Adjustment Board organizational meeting, at which point we adopt various resolutions and take certain actions that are described prescribed by Department of

5 0 0 Revenue under the rules of Chapter V of the administrator code. I'm looking at the agenda in your kit, and I'm going to follow it for the purposes of meeting, other than the changes that you just made to and to, correct? CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: That is correct. MR. BLANCO: Today, we also have four written requests by agents to speak. Mr. Chair, it's your prerogative as to whether you wish to have them speak at the beginning, at the end and the amount of time you're granting each one of them to speak: These are Wendy Beck, Charles Schlossberg, Stanley Beck and **Mr. Carry pan. Under I, there are nine items, which the law -- which DOR requires to do one by one, with three of them requiring resolutions. These are items I, III and VIII. I, the first order of business is the appointment of ratification of myself, Manuel Blanco, as the attorney for the

6 0 0 Value Adjustment Board for 0, which is the last year remaining of my contract. As you recall, we have a rather lengthy process, which used to extend for more than year. We're all pleased to announce we finally caught up for the first time in a year completing 0 cases as proceed by HP by May, 0. My contact information is provided in your kits. And additional copies may be obtained from Mr. Alfaro. We will need a resolution ratifying this, sir. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: The resolution is ratifying -- MR. BLANCO: Appointing me as counsel for the last year and for today's proceeding. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: That's not on the agenda right now. We're going to deal with that as Item VII. Let's deal with Item #. What do we do, with regard implementing the Department of Revenue Rules of VAB.

7 0 0 MR. BLANCO: We're required to read all this by the DOR. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: So go ahead and read them. And then once you read those, that will -- then we take a motion or -- MR. BLANCO: Yes, sir. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: And that will bring us in compliance with the new governing rules regarding the Value Adjustment Board. Is that correct; Mr. Alfaro? MR. ALFARO: That is correct. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Let's proceed. Before you start, if there's anybody who wants to speak on any issue, just please approach the podium. I will tell you what we'll do when it comes to the selection of the magistrates. I'll let folks speak before the folks who have applied to be magistrates or to be a VAB counsel, they can come and speak beforehand. And then I'm going to recognize the people who've applied for those positions and then allow them or minutes, depending how we're doing time-wise. Then

8 0 0 we'll proceed to make those selections. We've all been provided with resumes for everybody who's applied. I want to give the public comment about anybody who's applied or anyone who's incumbent magistrate or any other position that will be decided, they can speak before we actually go through the process of selection. Okay. Mr. Alfaro. MR. ALFARO: Commissioner, we have one request, did not submit a written request to speak, Mr. Rolando Rodriguez likes to speak with you. BOARD MEMBER REGALADO: We need a motion. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: To speak on? MR. ALFARO: On some items, different items. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Is it on Item I on the agenda? Anybody wishing to speak on Item I on the agenda. Let's deal with Item I, then we'll go down the list. That's speak on this item. Please approach the podium and

9 0 0 we'll be happy to recognize you. Okay, proceed, Mr. Blanco. MR. BLANCO: Okay, Mr. Chair, Number, I earlier stated the Members of the Board are currently present and contact information are also provided in your kits. And additional copies may also be obtained by Mr. Alfaro. Number, Mr. Robert Alfaro is also present as a designee of the Clerk, the Honorable Harvey Ruvin for Value Adjustment Board. His contact information is also available in your kits. And we will need a resolution for appointing Mr. Alfaro again for the 0 tax year. Number, Chapters D- and D-0, Florida Administrative Code containing the uniform rules of procedures for hearings before the value adjustment boards and special magistrates and the associated forms adopted by the DOR are available in Mr. Alfaro's office as well as on the web. Number, the Florida's Government in the Sunshine Manual must also be available to the public, to special magistrates and

10 0 0 0 VAB members. And may be obtained in Mr. Alfaro's office as well as on the web. Number, the DOR Rules D-, as well as the Florida Statute through, are also available in Mr. Alfaro's offices and on the web. Number, the next item is to discuss the general information of Florida's property tax system, the respective roles within the system, taxpayer's opportunities to participate in the system and property taxpayer's rights. Generally, the Florida tax system is an ad valorem system, meaning it's a tax levy based on the value of the property both real and personal. Initially, the property appraiser in this case, Mr. Pedro -- the Honorable Pedro Garcia and his department make the original assessment, meaning that he values the property based on fair market value as of January st of the tax year. It then becomes a matter of public record through the TRIM notice procedure, which goes out at the end of August of

11 0 0 each year. I believe the deadline for filing for this tax year was September th. If the taxpayer disagrees with the TRIM notice and disagrees with the assessment and lack of exemption he or she feels he or she deserves, then he or she can petition the VAB for us to look at their case through the hearing process. Our special magistrates, whom have been appointed in order to hear these cases, may recommend a reduction or grant an exemption, which hasn't been granted, if he or she is impressed and satisfied with the evidence presented. If either party is not happy with the decision, the taxpayer may appeal with the circuit court. Number, adopt and ratify by resolution any filing fees for petitions filed for the 0 tax year, not to exceed $ per parcel, as prescribed by statute. As you know, this has been the fee for many years. And we would need a resolution for this as well.

12 0 0 Number, Mr. Alfaro has advised me that the tangible property and legal hearings for the 0 tax year should be starting shortly within the next month. The real property hearings will be approximately within a couple of weeks as will the real property hearings. And we will finish up by no later than the deadline, if we keep the schedule. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: That's it? MR. BLANCO: Yes, sir. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: So bring up the first item we need to adopt the resolution on. You said there were three. Was it three things? MR. BLANCO: Yes, sir. It's Number, which is the ratification of myself. COMMISSIONER ZAPATA: That will wait till Item VII. Next. MR. BLANCO: The second will be Number, which is the appointment of Mr. Robert Alfaro as the designee. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Is there a motion?

13 0 0 BOARD MEMBER REGALADO: So moved. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Second? MR. DUARTE-VIERA: Second. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Any objection? There's no objection. Show that resolution as adopted, sir. MR. ALFARO: Thank you. MR. BLANCO: And, Number, which is adopt and ratify by resolution any filing fees for the petitions, which is $ as prescribed by statute. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Is there a motion? COMMISSIONER DIAZ: Second. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Second? Any questions? Ay comments? Show that adopted by resolution without objection. Is that it? MR. ALFARO: Yes. MR. DUARTE-VIERA: Second. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: We've now complied with the Department of rules governing the VAB organizational meeting. Is that correct? MR. BLANCO: Yes, sir. And, Number, also has to be read

14 0 0 verbatim. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Number on the agenda or Number on your list? MR. BLANCO: Number on the agenda. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: We go to Item II, anyone from the public wishes to make an Item II, dealing with Prehearing Checklist pursuant to DOR rule D-.0, correct? MR. BLANCO: Correct. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Resolution adopting that checklist? MR. BLANCO: I have to read it. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Go ahead, please. MR. ALFARO: Number, the Board is composed as provided by law. Number, the Board's legal counsel is appointed as provided by law. Number, the Board's legal counsel meets the requirements of Florida Statute Section.0. Number, no Board members represent government entities or taxpayers in any administrative or judicial review of property taxes and no citizen members of the Board are members or employees of a

15 0 0 taxing authority during their membership on the Board. Number, the organizational meeting was noticed in accordance with Florida Statute Section.0, and is being held in accordance with law. Number, the DOR's rules, procedures and laws for Value Adjustment Boards are being provided per paragraphs,, and above. Number, the DOR rules, procedures and laws are available on the Clerk's website. Number, the qualifications, training and certification of the special magistrates were verified. Number, the selection of special magistrates was based solely on proper experience and qualifications; neither the Property Appraiser, nor the petitioners influence the selection of special magistrates. Number 0, all procedures and forms of the Value Adjustment Board are in compliance with the Florida Statute

16 0 0 Chapter ; and the Board is otherwise in compliance with Chapter. Number, notice has been given to the chief executive officer of each municipality within Miami-Dade County, as provided by Florida Section.. At this time, Mr. Chair, we just need a motion approving. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Is there a motion to approve the checklist? COMMISSIONER DIAZ: Moved. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Seconded? MR. DUARTE-VIERA: Second. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Seconded by Mr. Jardack. Any questions, any discussion, any objection? Show that item adopted without objection. Now we're onto III, approval of VAB Forms for tax year 0. Anyone from the public wishing to speak on this item? Okay, Mr. Blanco, what do we need to do? Do we need to approve this? Is there a motion, resolution?

17 0 0 MR. BLANCO: Yes, a resolution, sir. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: The approval of VAB forms for the tax year 0. COMMISSIONER DIAZ: Moved. MR. DUARTE-VIERA: Second. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Seconded. Any question? Discussion? Objection? Show that item adopted without objection. Item IV, approval of the administrative procedures, filing fees and rescheduling guidelines for the 0 tax year. Anybody from the public wishing to speak on this item? Mr. Blanco, what do we need to do for this? MR. BLANCO: The following Item IV is just the approval. The details are lengthy and available to you. And these are the implementation of the VAB administrative procedure, authorization and retention or refund of filing fees paid on erroneous duplicate petitions,

18 0 0 rescheduling guidelines. These were changed as of, by HB, which no longer provides for an automatic or freebie reschedule. Only provides for one good cause per party, which means the property appraiser's office has one and the taxpayer has one good cause to reschedule. Appeals of decisions rendered by the special magistrates notes since, the Board has declined to hear the de novo appeals from the decisions of the special magistrate received from taxpayers property appraisers, directing all such appeals to the circuit court, which has original jurisdiction and related -- matters related to taxation, including appeals from the Board. Mr. Chair, we need a resolution for this. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Is there a motion to approve -- COMMISSIONER DIAZ: Moved. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: -- Item IV. Moved and --

19 0 0 MR. JARDACK: Second. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Second by Mr. Jardack. Any question, discussion, objection? Show item without objection. VII of the VAB Policies and Procedures Manual. Do we have copies of that manual? MR. ALFARO: I have additional copies here, but I think they all should have them. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Who's missing a copy of it? Okay. All right. Anybody want to have -- anybody from the public wishing to comment on -- MR. BLANCO: Presentation -- CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: -- policies and procedures manual. I don't know if anybody has a chance to look at it. Is this available to the public? MR. BLANCO: Not yet, sir. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Not yet. MR. BLANCO: It will be. COMMISSIONER DIAZ: Motion. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Go ahead and

20 0 0 0 present it. Got a quick statement on it or anything you want. MR. BLANCO: I just wanted to thank Ms. Regalado for her heavy input regarding this. It was very, very helpful. And the only modifications that were done from the one that was approved back in, I forget when, back when. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: When we dealt with it the first time? MR. BLANCO: Right, when you all approved it the first time. The major changes that were made to follow in compliance with the new rules HB. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Good. Anybody have any questions, comments? Ms. Regalado? BOARD MEMBER REGALADO: No, I just want to thank, Manny. Thank you. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Thank you for your work on this. I know you put in a lot of work. Very nice. So we finally have rules, manual policies and procedures. This will be made available to the public how, do we

21 know? 0 0 MR. BLANCO: Via the website, I assume. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Is this something we can post on the website? MR. ALFARO: We can put it on our website? CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Is there a way to comment online when they post it? MR. ALFARO: We can set that up as well. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: I think what would be good to put it out there and allow the public to comment on it. Maybe there's something that we missed, or something that can be added and I think it will be good for the future of Value Adjustment Board. Ms. Regalado. BOARD MEMBER REGALADO: To prevent any liability issues with the posting, if we can just have an where people can their comments and then consider them as opposed to live posting. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: I love live

22 0 0 postings, you know. They get people all kind of stirred up. That's fine, if people want to, you know, just to protect their privacy, they can send an , but I think it be good to get feedback from the public and the folks who are obviously governed and impacted by any of these policies and procedures. So we need to adopt this officially, right? MR. BLANCO: Yes, sir. BOARD MEMBER REGALADO: So moved. COMMISSIONER DIAZ: No, no. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: We'll allow Ms. Regalado to move it. Commissioner Diaz second. Any comments, discussion, objection, question? Show that item adopted. We now have board's policies and procedures adopted for Value Adjustment Board. Thank you very much. COMMISSIONER DIAZ: How long has it been? CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: This has taken two years, since I was chair.

23 0 0 Item VI, discuss and provide for the employment of special magistrates for tax year 0. All right, folks, you all have copies of this. Now help me out, because there's VAB attorneys, correct? There's a property folks that we need to fill. MR. BLANCO: Yes, sir. We need to fill at least eight and we have two incumbents that you requested that they show up today to -- CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Correct, from the special magistrates as well as the new applicants. So we're going to take the attorney special magistrates. MR. BLANCO: The attorney special magistrates, you recommended that we take all the incumbents. I don't believe there's any present here. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Is there any objection to continuing with the incumbent members? Okay, so we need a resolution

24 0 0 adopting the incumbent members. Anybody want to move that we retain the incumbent members? BOARD MEMBER REGALADO: Moved. COMMISSIONER DIAZ: Second. CHAIRPERSON ZAPATA: Incumbent attorney special magistrates. Any show it adopted without objection or do we need roll call? MR. ALFARO: It's good. CHAIRPERSON ZAPATA: Voice vote is good. Show the incumbent magistrates adopted. Who are the new applicants? Raise your hands, so we know they are. MR. BLANCO: I'll leave that to Mr. Alfaro. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Mr. Alfaro, yes. MR. ALFARO: We have 0 new appraisal magistrate applicants. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: These are the attorneys. All the incumbents? We needed eight slots; is that correct? MR. ALFARO: Yes. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Eight slots have

25 0 0 been filled? MR. ALFARO: Yes. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: So we're done with the attorney, because I have a lot of applications. The attorney special magistrates. All the ones we selected were all incumbent attorney special? MR. BLANCO: That is correct. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Okay. Good. So then next item? Did anybody have any comment on attorney special magistrates? Okay. MR. ALFARO: I have one comment, Commissioner Zapata. One incumbent attorney magistrate is applying for the VAB counsel. I just wanted to let you know. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Okay. Good enough. You can point them out. I did see the resumes. Now we can proceed. Can we deal with the property appraisers? So we needed to fill two positions? Or refresh my memory here. MR. ALFARO: There's 0 applicants

26 0 0 for the -- there are two applicants that they're here to make a presentation. There's a couple of complaints that we have, but there's 0 new applicants for appraisal magistrates, two of them are tangible personal property. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: That's what I wanted to refer to, so we need to fill a couple slots for tangible. MR. ALFARO: For tangible, yes. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Should we separate that process? MR. ALFARO: Would you want me to call them now and make a presentation? CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Yes, let's deal with that first. Does anybody in the public wish to make a comment on anything dealing with this tangible personal property magistrates? Okay, nobody from the public. The two folks that we have. MR. ALFARO: Monica Fide and Ed Weiner, and I apologize if I mispronounce your name.

27 0 0 CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Now, explain this. I want to be clear. I want to make sure everyone on the board is clear. There's two vacancies in the tangible personal property and there's two people, who have applied -- MR. ALFARO: That's correct. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: -- for that criteria. I want to make sure. COMMISSIONER DIAZ: That's a simple -- CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: This is the -- the math works out nicely. Appraiser special magistrate summary sheet, right? Everybody have one of these? I just want to make sure everybody has it and there's a folder with all the backup documentation. So the two was Monica Fidel and Ed Weiner. Those were the two. MR. ALFARO: That's correct. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: So they'd like to come up and just do a brief introduction for the personal -- the tangible, personal property.

28 0 0 MS. FIDEL: Here. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: There should be a button light turn on. MS. FIDEL: This button? Okay. Thank you. Thanks for having me. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Speak into the mike. Go ahead. MS. FIDEL: Oh, okay. I'm Monica Fidel. Fidel as in Castro. Sorry, but I'm not Cuban. I'm a personal property appraiser, and I've been doing this since 00, having retired from the World Bank in Washington D.C., where I was a public sector specialist in the public sector organization department working with a Latin American and Caribbean region. I studied the appraisal studies program at G.W., George Washington University in 00, and then we moved to Miami in 00/00. I'm a certified member of the International Society of Appraisers, ISA. I'm a board member of ISA, an organization that has about 00 members. I'm the president of the South

29 0 0 Florida Chapter of ISA. My appraisals conform to the uniform standards of professional appraisal practice, USPAP. And I typically do appraisals. More than anything, I do estate tax appraisals, estate planning appraisals and estate for equitable distribution. I also do divorce appraisals, insurance coverage, insurance claims and donations. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Thank you very much. Anybody have any questions? Ms. Vidal? Okay. Thank you. Next. MR. WEINER: Good morning. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: You got two minutes more or less. I didn't count the time on her. MR. WEINERT: It's Ed Weinert, merit society of appraisals. I've been doing appraisals for years. I've served in eight different counties as a special magistrate. I own my own company. I do

30 0 0 0 appraisers for any kind of appraisal you can think of. That's basically it. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Okay. Anybody have any questions? Okay. Thank you very much. Weinert? MR. WEINERT: Yes, Weinert. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Great. Thank you. Mr. Blanco, correct me, your recommendations, do we need -- did you recommend that we take the two tangible personal property? No? MR. BLANCO: No, sir, those are the new applicants. What I suggested is that we take all the incumbent. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Correct. Mr. Alfaro, is it okay if we go ahead and just adopt since we need these two? MR. ALFARO: If it's okay with you, we can do them. I have them included in the ballots. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: So what I want to do is take care the tangible personal property appraisers, I want to take care of that. Move on that. And then we can concentrate fully on the special

31 0 0 magistrates. MR. ALFARO: That's fine. COMMISSIONER DIAZ: There is no ballot on this one. MR. ALFARO: There is a ballot on this one. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Oh, there is a ballot on this one. So let's distribute the ballot and let's take care of the personal property, the tangible personal property. MR. ALFARO: And keep the ballots with you. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Keep them? MR. ALFARO: Yes, because they're going to be automatically checked out. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Can we not do it by resolution? MR. ALFARO: That's fine. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: I got ya. The ballot is separate. Okay. Everybody vote. There's two vacancies. Okay. All right. The next category we're going to take are the real estate appraisers. There

32 0 0 were two gentlemen. So can we do this in different ways? Can we adopt the incumbents with the exception of two folks that I wanted to bring up, so we have a quick chat with them? MR. BLANCO: Yes, sir. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Let's do that first. I wanted to have Mr. Spool come up and the other gentleman I believe, was it Mr. Delgado, Jr.? MR. BLANCO: Yes, sir. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Yes. So can we have them come up here real quick. Good morning. This is not a board of inquiry, so you could all relax. I just wanted to have some clarification. There were some comments that were made or some memos that were issued. I took a look at them, so I wanted to have a quick discussion about this. Did you want to speak to this item, sir? MR. BECK: Yes, sir. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Can we have him speak first?

33 0 0 MR. BECK: A couple of us. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: You have ability to rebut anything he says. MR. BECK: Thank you, sir. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Can he come up. The property appraiser, if you want to make a comment, not required. Then I wanted to hear from the two gentlemen. MR. BECK: Chairman Zapata, Members of the Board, my name is Stan Beck. I've appeared before this Board representing taxpayers for 0 years. I'm board certified in taxation. And I can tell you that -- just want to refer to Mr. Alfaro's comment. There were two complaints against the incumbent special magistrates. Those complaints are from the property appraiser's office. Not one complaint from anyone else. Now, think about it, the property appraiser's office is prohibited from statute from interfering and influencing this process and yet they're the only complaints before you. In fact, to the contrary, your staff

34 0 0 has recommended that all of them be retained. Now I have never witnessed such illegal interference between certain members of this Board and the property appraiser's personnel regarding the selection of special magistrates. I have reached out to the Inspector General's Office. In response, they have their representative here. I intend to contact the auditor general, who chastised Broward County for behavior in their last report, which was nothing compared to what I'm observing here. And I intend to ask the Department of Revenue to investigate the interference by the property appraiser's office into this process. Florida statute.0, specifically states that the Board shall ensure that the property appraiser's office does not influence this process. It's not voluntary. It doesn't say may. It says shall ensure. It's a mandate. And it was enacted decades ago, because the legislature, in their wisdom knew that property appraisers traditionally have a process, a habit of

35 0 0 meddling in this process. And that is what happened. But that's only half the story, because the other half of the story is that the correspondence that some of the members of this Board received illegally contains the most gross misrepresentations of facts that we have ever seen. There is a portrayal of Mr. Spool as having an inappropriate conversation with a lady. That lady is a female employee of the property appraiser's office. And they didn't tell you, in their letter, that she initiated the conversation. They did not tell you that she initiated a private conversation. She's known Mr. Spool for years. And the language she used to initiate that conversation, which you're so concerned about apparently that you singled him out with one other person, where she said that she started talking about her ex-husband and his three girlfriends in one day and then talked about her children, who were with the three girlfriends.

36 0 0 Now, the conversation that followed from Mr. Spool was about an article that appeared in Time magazine about addiction to Internet porn. And there was nothing offensive. She didn't stand up and walk out. There was no one else present in the room. She wasn't offended. She did nothing. She never went to Mr. Alfaro and said -- CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Mr. Beck, I'm going to give you another minute. MR. BECK: Thank you. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: I think you made your point. I think you made your point. I appreciate it, but -- MR. BECK: The statute is extremely clear. This Board has nothing, nothing to consider, other than the recommendation from your staff, which was to retain these people. And as much as I call for an investigation, I want you to know the investigation has been conducted by your staff. They looked at the tape. I looked at the tape.

37 0 0 You're going to hear testimony from people, who have looked at the CD, listened to the evidence and they're going to tell you that it was benign. You can ask Mr. Alfaro or Mr. Blanco, was it benign? I am confident they will say yes, but then you look at the letter that you got from the property appraiser's office and you look at how they've interfered with this process, and you have to conclude that they are way out of line. I have the highest regard for Pedro Garcia. We talked on Monday, see what we're going to do today. I'm not condemning him, but the fact of the matter is he has to take responsibility for the illegal activity of his staff. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Thank you, Mr. Beck. Ms. Regalado. BOARD MEMBER REGALADO: Thank you. Just as a point of clarification. I think it's important to clarify a few things, and I would like our attorney to also weigh in on this.

38 0 0 The Value Adjustment Board cannot make a determination on the choosing of magistrates based on outcome. That's what the statute says. MR. BECK: I didn't say it did. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: We're not going to have a debate. BOARD MEMBER REGALADO: We're not going to have a debate on it. So as to what documents this Board has received illegally, these are all public documents. There's nothing illegal about them, okay? I cannot speak for the other Board members, but I was given the documents by our staff, okay? MR. BECK: So where did they get it from? It came from the P.A. BOARD MEMBER REGALADO: But the point is -- CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Mr. Beck, Mr. Beck. It's not a two-way conversation. MR. BECK: Those were not public. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: This is not a two-way conversation, Mr. Beck.

39 0 0 Excuse me, Ms. Regalado. MR. BECK: There is no defense for what the Board has done. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Sir, sir, I'm going to have you removed from this chamber, if you continue. I allowed you more than two minutes to speak. I don't appreciate the tone or the accusations that were leveled. MR. BECK: I'm sure you don't. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: I've given you plenty of time to speak your mind. Ms. Regalado. BOARD MEMBER REGALADO: I want our attorney to clarify the record, because it is one thing to make a series of accusations. As this Board, we have to ensure that we are not exposing the Value Adjustment Board to liability. My interest in that letter and the content of the same, whether benign or not, and our staff can talk about it, is the magistrates, as employees of this Board, if they do conduct themselves in a manner that can be deemed harassment, who

40 0 0 0 is responsible is this Board. Am I correct or not, Mr. Blanco? MR. BLANCO: If there's a complaint by the person deeming that she or he was harassed, yes. BOARD MEMBER REGALADO: So clarify the point, that is why the issue was brought to the members by our staff. Now, there's another point of clarification. My understanding is that a complaint has not been filed. MR. BLANCO: A complaint has not been filed. BOARD MEMBER REGALADO: How much time in terms of a statute of limitations is there for a complaint to be filed? MR. BLANCO: That I do not know. BOARD MEMBER REGALADO: Okay, it's five years, but that being said, that being said, I want to make two points, right? Number, we were not given documents illegally. Any document issued by this government, whether by the property appraiser, by the Value Adjustment Board,

41 0 0 by the Mayor's office, by the County Commission, they're all public documents. There's nothing illegal about us looking at them, receiving them or taking them into consideration. Now, whatever this Board decides to do beyond that is a separate matter. And what the limitations are statutorily are that we cannot make decisions on magistrates based on outcome, not on exposure to liability. Is that correct, Mr. Blanco? MR. BLANCO: That is my understanding of the law. BOARD MEMBER REGALADO: Thank you very much. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Okay, thank you. I think, Commissioner Diaz, you wanted to make a comment. COMMISSIONER DIAZ: Just to rephrase you said it right now. Was there anything done, misleading, wrong, in any shape or form for us to receive this? MR. BLANCO: In my opinion, after reviewing both magistrates DVD's, there

42 0 0 was really no basis. COMMISSIONER DIAZ: Based on the statement that the gentleman just spoke right now, stated you both reviewed and concurred with these findings. MR. BLANCO: I reviewed it and I concurred. I don't know if Mr. Beck saw it, because it is public record as Ms. Regalado stated. COMMISSIONER DIAZ: I want to hear the clarity from you, sir. MR. BLANCO: From me, there was no wrongdoing on either case. COMMISSIONER DIAZ: Are these public records? MR. BLANCO: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER DIAZ: Thank you. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Yes. I just wanted to speak. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Your name and address. MS. WOLENSKY: Wendy Beck Wolensky (phonetic), 00 Leon Road, Miami. I wanted to speak briefly and to iterate some of what Stanley said. It's the

43 0 0 appearance that the Board is being influenced by the property appraiser. Likewise, as it was being said, these complaints were not made by the people, who are involved in the instances that are raised in the letter. These complaints were raised by the property appraiser. So what you received were complaints from the property appraiser, which makes it appear that the process is being tainted by influence from the property appraiser. And to read you directly from the Statute,.0, states the Value Adjustment Board shall ensure that the selection of special magistrates is based solely on the experience and qualifications of the special magistrate and is not influenced by the property appraiser. And that's because this is a board that's supposed to be protecting taxpayers and to make sure there's an equal playing field for everybody, so obviously you have a property appraiser as a party to the value adjustment board proceedings in. If

44 0 0 you're able to be influenced by the property appraiser, that would put the taxpayer in undo advantage. Now, I personally did listen to the tape, because I was interested, because when I read that letter, I said this is not a man I've known for four years. This is not how I've seen him operate or have been witness to his operations. And I do believe that the letter is a mischaracterization of what did occur that day. It was frankly a conversation that was caught on tape, but was not during a proceeding. There was no agent or taxpayer in the room at the time. It was a conversation between the magistrate and the property appraiser's representative, who have been friend for years. And the conversation was dominated by the female property appraiser's representative and it was basically, just all it was was a conversation between friends and it was caught on tape and it somehow rose to that level. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Got it. Thank you.

45 0 0 Thank you. MR. SCHLOSSBERG: Hello, my name is Scott Schlossberg (phonetic), Bayshore Drive, in Fort Lauderdale, native of Miami. And I want to respond to the letters that whereby the P.A. office. One of the things that concerns me in connection with Mr. Spool, they talk about things that occurred many months earlier. The letter was written on September th. Well, they talk about stuff that occurred in March th, in connection with Mr. Spool that happened on July st. If it was as outrageous as they say it was, which it wasn't, 'cause I also listened to the tape, why didn't they contact the VAB the very next day? Why did they wait almost two months later to address it? And I hope that all of you did hear the tape, because I did and it was a grotesque mischaracterization. That's the anger. You know, people work their whole lives to develop a good reputation. And to have it smeared so casually by government bureaucrats is highly offensive to me. It

46 0 0 really is. I'm speaking as a person. Not as somebody who's a tax rep. And it really, really bothers me that we have to deal with this. And as your own legal counsel and staff, they read everything with Mr. Spool. They piled it on in connection with the other gentleman. The P.A.'s office, quite frankly, was out of control. They're acting like prima donna. He had to run the hearing. I hope you take the advice of your staff, because I did take the time. I used to work for the property appraiser's office. I worked for Dade County for nine years. I've been representing taxpayers for years. The real outrage is that office, the property appraiser's office, not these two gentlemen, who shouldn't even be here today, because your own staff recommended they should be retained. And they should be retained. And to have their reputation smeared so casually really offends me. Thank you.

47 0 0 CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Thank you, Jack. Anybody wishing to speak to this item? Oh, the two gentlemen, can you please come up again. I'll give you an opportunity -- and I wanted both of you to speak last, so you can basically -- no, no, you can stay there. I don't know if you guys want to put anything on the record, say anything? MR. ESTEVE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. On behalf of my client, I would just like to point out, Mr. Beck referred to a statute. And in the DOR rules under D-.00, the appointment of the special magistrates, it closes out the section by saying that the selection of the special magistrate must be based solely on the experience or qualifications of the magistrate and must not be influenced by any party or prospective party in any Board proceeding. That applies equally to both sides, but moving on in the section, it says special magistrates must adhere to Rule D-.0, of the same rules relating to disqualification or refusal.

48 0 0 And if one looks over at that rule.0()(a), it says if either of the Petitioner or the property appraiser communicates a reasonable belief that a board member or special magistrate has a bias, prejudice or conflict of interest, the basis for that belief shall be stated in the record of the proceeding or submitted prior to the hearing in writing to the Board legal counsel. Now, here the property appraiser and the deputy property appraiser didn't find out about these events until after the hearings had taken place, but as required in the rule, after learning of this behavior that they felt, in their opinion, created a bias, prejudice, conflict of interest or apparent conflict of interest, they followed, in following the rule put it in writing and directed it to VAB legal counsel to address their concerns of record. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Thank you very much. Who would like to go first?

49 0 0 Good morning and welcome. MR. SPOOL: So you want -- CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Obviously, look, the conflict of interest issue is kind of what may be uncomfortable and the reason why I brought it up, because obviously we got to select. As Ms. Regalado mentioned, we need to look at all aspects that in any way puts the Board in liability. I want to give you an opportunity. This is not an inquisition. I read it. I think you both have very good reputations. And there was this issue that came up, and I wanted to give you an opportunity. I know you responded in writing, but I don't know if there's anything you wanted to add. I saw your response. I'm okay with it, but I don't know if you maybe want to add -- MR. SPOOL: I'd like to give a quick overview of what occurred from my perspective. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Very quick. I want to hear your perspective. I want to make sure that doesn't get lost in this

50 0 0 0 process. MR. SPOOL: Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity. So what I believe it's the situation, which occurred on April th, is that correct, sir, which is the one that P.A. responded, the one that we're here to discuss? CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: That's the date. MR. SPOOL: On that date, the P.A. attempted to make a procedural change, which was in response to how the evidence would be presented. The taxpayer present, the taxpayer's agent present objected to that change, so after -- so there was some discourse as to what was going to occur. We broke for a minute for the property appraiser to get some clarification on their end. I took the opportunity to go upstairs and to see our own VAB attorney counsel. And so, after we spoke, I came downstairs pretty clear as to what had to be done. So after consulting with the VAB attorney, it was found that procedural

51 0 0 change was not -- requested by the P.A. was not consistent with Florida statutes. The P.A. protested and they left the hearing room. So the hearings continued without the P.A., as prescribed by Florida statute. And after the PA consulted with the hearings later that day, which just to kind of also put into perspective, the P.A. pulled all of their reps from all of the hearings. It was not just contained to my room. So after several hours of this pause, the hearings resumed and then it resumed in customary fashion with the P.A. presenting their evidence first, consistent with the interpretation of VAB counsel and myself. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: All right. Does anybody have any questions or comments? Mr. Delgado. Thank you very much. MR. SPOOL: My name is Leonardo Delgado, Jr. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Thank you. Mr. Spool.

52 0 0 MR. SPOOL: Yes. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Good morning. Welcome. MR. SPOOL: My name is Philip Spool. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Hang on for a second. MS. SCHWARTZ: I'm sorry. My name is Julie Schwartz, and if I can speak about the matter regarding the order of presentation of evidence. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: No, I want them to go last. I gave an opportunity to speak beforehand. Mr. Spool, go ahead please. MR. SPOOL: I've been special magistrate for the past nine years. I've been appraising in Miami for years. I also teach appraising as faculty member for Miami Dade College, both appraisal, beginning appraisal classes as well as advance appraisal classes. I also even teach continuing education classes, including the Honorable Property Appraiser Pedro Garcia, who was a student of mine two years ago in one of the CE classes he

53 had. 0 0 I wanted to address basically one that was personal conversation that I had with the female property appraiser. I don't want to get into disclosing who she is. She is a personal friend of mine, but one thing that is missing -- well, several things -- is this conversation took place. The letter was a misrepresentation that the property appraiser had where they stated I engaged in a conversation and then it also continued on by saying that it appeared that she felt uncomfortable. So I looked over the tape, and minutes she started talking about her family, which I've known her family. And minute seconds I talked about this article. The reason I talked about the article, even though it was a short period of time, and perhaps I shouldn't have used the words I did, was the fact in, when she got a divorce, and I knew what was leading up to a divorce, the husband at the time --

54 0 0 CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Listen we don't need to get into personal stuff. Listen, Mr. Spool, I mean, look, that kind of staff conversation, I don't need the details. If you feel there was something -- and I wanted to give you an opportunity. This is again public record. And I requested from our staff, I wanted to see all correspondence dealing with folks who were applying for the magistrate position, so we came across these memos. And then so I just made some comments about -- you know, there's several incidents, so I wanted to give you an opportunity to just maybe explain your perspective. I know you put it in writing, but I don't know if there was something else you wanted to add or share or maybe give additional clarification on. MR. SPOOL: No, I think what I wrote was a true reflection on how I feel. I obviously made a mistake when I lost my cool with the property appraiser the first thing there. The way that the letter was

55 0 0 written and how I pronounced his name was really not correct, but we don't want to get to there. I'm concerned as a property appraiser as well as a special magistrate, because as a magistrate, we still have to do appraisals. And the fact is, is that one of the appraisals I did for a client of mine, who every year I've been doing an appraisal for, and it's stated in there, that happen to appear in front of one of the other special magistrates. I have no control over what a client does with their appraisal. And it was almost like that -- it was a mischaracterization of myself. And I take very good pride of my reputation. Like I said, I've been appraising for years in Miami. As a matter of fact, I never had any single taxpayer had filed a complaint against me as a magistrate in the nine years I had. I never had any problems before. And if you read my response, the last

56 0 0 paragraph, I stated there, and I truly mean it, I still have high regard for Pedro Garcia, and Lazaro Solis and Manny Bernice. I have no objection to them writing a letter. I think it was wrong the way it was worded. I think that it needed clarification. And I believe that the letter that I wrote explains the clarification of what took place. And I'd like to continue on as a magistrate. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Thank you, Mr. Spool. Ms. Regalado, you have a question or comment? BOARD MEMBER REGALADO: Yes, just really quick. Look, I think in both cases we have -- specifically in this one an issue of just bad judgment, okay? I think that to penalize said bad judgment at this point would be legally incorrect. However, magistrates should not be engaging in these conversations in chambers while it's being filmed, okay,

57 0 0 just from a legal point of view. You agree with me there, right? MR. SPOOL: You're absolutely correct. Absolutely. BOARD MEMBER REGALADO: I don't care if you've been friends with her for 0 years. And, again, I think bad judgment on your part and bad judgment on the employee's part, right? Bad judgment on both parts. So as opposed to just beat a dead horse, what I think we should consider as a Board is, Number, Mr. Alfaro, as part of our magistrate training, are you open to including an hour or two on what is and what is not sexual harassment? We can have an attorney come in and speak to our magistrates about it. I cannot force the property appraiser to do the same with their employees, but I recommend it. There's certain conversations that should not be had in these forums. And I think that's just a matter of protecting the Value Adjustment Board and the employees of the Value

58 0 0 Adjustment Board. Once you have a magistrate, you know, and our new batch of magistrates that have received that training, then if something like this happens again, I think that this Board could then take the action, you know, that it wants to, because there would be notice as to what is or is not expected of magistrates in this realm, which is a realm that I believe is purely outside your role as a magistrate in determining an appraisal, but does expose the Value Adjustment Board to liability. Whether this case was an example of that or not, the fact that the conversation even happened is my issue as an attorney. So I think that that's something that we should consider, whether now or at a later point, but unless anybody has any other questions, I mean, I think that's that on the merits. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: And to emphasize I think two things that Ms. Regalado said, that is what I think is important for us as a Board. Number is the high

59 0 0 standards. MR. SPOOL: The what? CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: High standards, maintaining high standards of what you say or don't say. What is appropriate to say or not say, correct? MR. SPOOL: Yes. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Where we can improve in the training process to make that point clear to our magistrates is what I think is important. That's what I wanted to do. Listen, we all have those conversations, when we come and take these official positions when we're going to make these decision, when you actually become a magistrate, there's going to be a certain behavior expected from everyone, right? It happens to all of us who are in a public position. It also applies to the VAB Board. So, you know, what I wanted to clarify is, Number, is there anything -- and I'm glad Ms. Regalado brought it up in the training, I absolutely think that

60 0 0 0 needs to be incorporated into the training. And without using names, maybe we can use some of what happened here as a learning experience and be able to teach it without having to use these gentlemen's names, which I think have performed, you know, honorably in their work. Like you said, it was simple banter, a comment. You know, without thinking about it too much, it gets misrepresented or somehow gets twisted around and it becomes, you know, an issue. I think, again, we should always strive to be better. And that's what I think we can achieve from this. Mr. Alfaro, do you have a comment? MR. ALFARO: Yes, Commissioner Zapata. Remember, these folks are not County employees, but the VAB attorney -- CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: But they work for the VAB? MR. ALFARO: The attorney should include what you're asking for in the training manual or part of the manual. CHAIRMAN ZAPATA: Mr. Blanco, I'm

61 0 0 directing you, and if there's any objection, let me know, but I think this Board should definitely incorporate that. Again, Mr. Spool, I think what concerned me was, you know, all of us in the public eye get into trouble with the appearance of impropriety. Not that we did anything wrong. It's just the appearance of it, so we get judged in a very harsh manner. I think we've all experienced it firsthand. So that's why we're conveying it to you. You got to be very careful. And, listen, it's easy to, you know, do something that would be considered normal in any circumstance and then somehow it would generate that appearance. So what caught my eye was I think it was incident Number, where you, being helpful -- and I would say that I would probably do the same thing 0 out of 0 times, you know somebody good? Yeah, here let me give you the phone number. That could be brought into question whether or not that is correct or not.