BOA agenda 081318 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 9 of 11 LeAnn Brown said she had asked to keep this hearing brief because she was scheduled for surgery the following 1 morning and Andy Petesch had agreed to askfor this hearing to be bifurcated out of professional courtesy to her and 2 because they both agreed that the decision tonight would be important in determining what happens next. 3 4 MOTION by Barry Katz toclose the public hearing. Seconded by Susan Halkiotis. 5 6 VOTE:UNANIMOUS7 8 Karen Barrows asked Susan Halkiotis for her thoughts. 9 10 Susan Halkitios thanked Randy Herman for hisquestions. She said she is squeamish about being overreaching. She 11 thinks Andy Petesch madegood arguments. However, she comes down ontheside of allowing the subpoenas to be 12 issued. Without the subpoenas and information, there are remaining questions to be answered. Herposition is to allow 13 the subpoenas to be issued. 14 15 Karen Barrows asked Randy Herman to expresshis thoughts.Randy Herman said he thinks it is legitimate to ask 16 whether the entitythat owned the propertywasissued the certificate. He does notthink the rest is within the scopeof 17 this board.He does not think it is within the scope of this board to look behind the Department of Revenue’s decision. 18 So, if it is possible to rewrite the request to limit the subpoenas only to the issues of identity, he would be in favor of 19 that. He deferred to the county attorney on whether or not the board can do that. 20 21 Susan Halkiotis said she had a related question. LeAnnBrown mentioned questions about thequalifying financial 22 information to gain one of the farm tax exemptions. Susan Halkiotis does not know how that is unraveled when the 23 question of the entities is resolved. Ifinformation was given to acquire a certificate and that certificate was then used to 24 base a decision on, and the certificate should nothave beenissued, then the whole thing falls apart. 25 26 Randy Herman said even if theoretically in another case fraudulent information was provided to obtain the certificate, he 27 does notthink the countycan look behind it. Hethinksthe only question this boardcan look at is whether the entity 28 issued the certificate was the one that owned the property.His opinion is that the board does not have the power to 29 look at whether the Departmentof Revenue miscalculated the revenue. 30 31 Barry Katz said this is the kind of information that the boardneedsto know and would be argued before us at the next 32 hearing we have with these parties. He then said he was not sure whether Randy Herman is a lawyerand giving a legal 33 opinion. He is in favor of issuing the subpoenas and that LeAnn Brown and her party have a legitimate right to have this 34 information. 35 36 Randy Herman said he is an attorney, but there is no case lawthat he is aware of on the interpretation of these 37 statutes.His opinion is based on what he thinks is a straightforward reading of the statutes. 38 39 Karen Barrows said she agrees withSusan Halkiotis and BarryKatzthat the boardshould allow the subpoenas to go 40 forward, for the reasons they have stated. 41 42 MOTION by Barry Katz toissues the subpoenas.Seconded by Susan Halkiotis. 43 44 VOTE:3-1(RANDY HERMANFOR REASONS PREVIOUSLY STATED) 45 46 Karen Barrows called for a vote to adjourn. 47 48 Michael Harvey said that before adjournment the board needed to set the date for the next hearing on this case, with 49 guidance from James Bryan. 50 102