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BOA agenda 081318
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BOA agenda 081318
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BOCC
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8/13/2018
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Regular Meeting
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Agenda
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Page 7 of 11 <br />LeAnn Brown said the reason we have requested thesesubpoenasis to answer some of these questions. She said the 1 <br />questions Randy Herman asked her presupposed she knows the answers to those questions in those documents. She 2 <br />said what she knows isthat the Department of Revenueissued a certificateon October 17, 2017, to Wild Flora Farm3 <br />without an LLC attached to it and to KaraBrewer. She also knowsthat three weeks later, Southeast Property Group 4 <br />LLC filed an assumed name certificate, Wild Flora Farm,no LLC. She knows that Wild Flora FarmLLC was created on 5 <br />February 14, 2017, and that a merger occurred on February 19, 2018. That information answers no questionsfor her6 <br />about what information was shown to the Department of Revenue – whose revenue was being used – to determine 7 <br />whether the property owner was entitled to a certificate or what that certificate was.The document Andy Peteschgave 8 <br />to the boardis excellent evidence of why her party needs the subpoenas so that her party and the board can 9 <br />understand howentities that did not exist when the certificate was issued play a role in whether that certificate does 10 <br />appropriately apply to this property. She said if there is nothing in the documents to call into question which entity it is 11 <br />and whetherthat entity is the owner, (which she would submit to the board that it still is not), if we look at the materials 12 <br />and the materials do notsupport anythingshe wishes to argue, then she supposed it would make her hearings 13 <br />somewhat shorter, she said.Her party is askingthe board to let them all know what they are dealing with. She said14 <br />Andy Petesch can argue once everyone hasseen the information.Michael Harveyand John Robertshave not seen it.15 <br />16 <br />Randy Herman said putting aside the issue of the identities, LeAnn Brown has also talked about the length of time the 17 <br />income was reported, but it seems to him looking at the statute, assuming we have the correct property owner, once the 18 <br />property owner has broughtforward a tax exemption certificate from the Department of Revenue,the statute seems to 19 <br />require the county must accept that and cannotlook behind it. Aside from the issue of identityof the entities, what 20 <br />authority does LeAnn Brown think the Board of Adjustment hasto look behind the certificate issued by the Department 21 <br />of Revenue? 22 <br />23 <br />LeAnn Brown answeredshe thinks that is interesting andwill be a question of first impressionbecause the statute is 24 <br />new. Whether a county has the authorityto look behind the certificate has not been litigated. She has never seen a tax 25 <br />exemption certificate issued to the ownerof this property as Southeast Property GroupLLC or Wild Flora Farm LLC, so 26 <br />she has not asked that question yet because she is not past the identity question. She thinks the county staff should 27 <br />have looked at the document and said the property owner is Southeast Property Group LLC and the certificate is issued 28 <br />to Wild Flora Farm. Done. She thinks that would have been correct. She asserts that the county looked behind the 29 <br />certificate and made an argument that the legal formalities of corporate ownershipand individual ownershipsomehow 30 <br />have no meaning and issued an opinion which blended together a bunch of legal entities. She added that one reason 31 <br />she wanted to bifurcate the hearing was because itis difficultfor her to answer questions until she can see what she is 32 <br />talking about.She is 100 percent certain that the Board of Adjustment does not hold a taxcertificate with the name of 33 <br />the property owner on it, even if we assume that a post-issuance merger somehow has play here. 34 <br />35 <br />Andy Peteschsaid that was quite a bit of time that LeAnn Brown had and asked for 60 seconds.36 <br />37 <br />KarenBarrows granted that time.38 <br />39 <br />Andy Peteschsaid the question is what would this board would do with this information if they got it. Ifthis board starts 40 <br />going behind the Department of Revenue,there will be attorneyfees awarded to Kara Brewer and SPG and Wild Flora 41 <br />Farmbecause that is absolutely outside the scope of this board’s authority. Ifthis boardwants very specific additional 42 <br />documentation with respect to whether Wild Flora Farm LLC is what the Department of Revenue intended when it 43 <br />issued the certificate, that can be addressed. The rest is entirely unnecessary to determine that entity question.44 <br />45 <br />Karen Barrows asked whether there were anyother questions.46 <br />47 <br />Barry Katz asked whether he understood correctly thatregardless of the Board of Adjustment’sdecision, it was going to 48 <br />beappealed to Superior Court. 49 <br />50 <br />100
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