Orange County NC Website
APPROVED JUL Y 9, 2018 <br /> 292 Randy Herman said to LeAnn Brown,on the elements of granting the subpoena request, she addressed <br /> 293 relevance, but there is also the requirements that the request be reasonable in scope and not oppressive. <br /> 294 He asked her to speak briefly on those requirements. <br /> 295 <br /> 296 LeAnn Brown said what we have asked for from the individuals is that if there were materials submitted to <br /> 297 the Department of Revenue,which she thinks would exist in a fairly easy way to reproduce, that her party <br /> 298 be allowed to see them so that they can understand to whom that certificate was issued and whether it was <br /> 299 the kind of certificate it needs to be.An argument about what you can look behind is an argument for the <br /> 300 hearing in chief, she said. The dates for these entities do not match the date of the certificate. Wild Flora <br /> 301 Farm did not exist when the certificate was issued, for example; therefore, she thinks it was unlikely that the <br /> 302 certificate was issued to that entity. She said as far as the legal relationship between Chris and Kara <br /> 303 Brewer, the Brewers can put down husband and wife, no big deal. She thinks it is appropriate for her party <br /> 304 to ask for this information. She said she does not think it is oppressive to ask for this information, In order to <br /> 305 use this farm exemption,she thinks the property owner has to indicate a willingness to provide this <br /> 306 information in order for others to support that the property owner is entitled to this exemption. She said her <br /> 307 party has not intended to look for deep, dark secrets. She reviewed that her party has asked for information <br /> 308 submitted to the North Carolina Department of Revenue and Orange County regarding eligibility and <br /> 309 compliance under these statutory provisions, as well as the relationship. She wants to know, for example, <br /> 310 whether the entities were merged. She said Andy Petesch has argued to Orange County and to this board <br /> 311 that somehow this is all the same thing. She does not think it is oppressive or unreasonable to submit to <br /> 312 this board the packet submitted to obtain the certificate. She said the argument that Michael Harvey has all <br /> 313 of this information is incorrect. The agenda packet includes what Michael Harvey has. <br /> 314 <br /> 315 Randy Herman said the board has documentation of the merger showing that Wild Flora Farm LLC and <br /> 316 Southeast Property Group LLC have merged and SPG was previously operating under the assumed name <br /> 317 Wild Flora Farm, so even if there was an issue about the identity at the time that the letter was issued, it <br /> 318 seems to him that it is possible that the issue would be moot at this point because the identities have all <br /> 319 merged. He asked if LeAnn Brown would like to address that. <br /> 320 <br /> 321 LeAnn Brown said the reason we have requested these subpoenas is to answer some of these questions. <br /> 322 She said the questions Randy Herman asked her presupposed she knows the answers to those questions <br /> 323 in those documents. She said what she knows is that the Department of Revenue issued a certificate on <br /> 324 October 17, 2017, to Wild Flora Farm without an LLC attached to it and to Kara Brewer. She also knows <br /> 325 that three weeks later, Southeast Property Group LLC filed an assumed name certificate, Wild Flora Farm, <br /> 326 no LLC. She knows that Wild Flora Farm LLC was created on February 14, 2017, and that a merger <br /> 327 occurred on February 19, 2018. That information answers no questions for her about what information was <br /> 328 shown to the Department of Revenue--whose revenue was being used--to determine whether the <br /> 329 property owner was entitled to a certificate or what that certificate was. The document Andy Petesch gave <br /> 330 to the board is excellent evidence of why her party needs the subpoenas so that her party and the board <br /> 331 can understand how entities that did not exist when the certificate was issued play a role in whether that <br /> 332 certificate does appropriately apply to this property. She said if there is nothing in the documents to call into <br /> 333 question which entity it is and whether that entity is the owner, (whlch she would submit to the board that it <br /> 334 still is not), if we look at the materials and the materials do not support anything she wishes to argue, then <br /> 335 she supposed it would make her hearings somewhat shorter, she said. Her party is asking the board to let <br /> 336 them all know what they are dealing with. She said Andy Petesch can argue once everyone has seen the <br /> 337 information, Michael Harvey and John Roberts have not seen it. <br /> 338 <br /> 339 Randy Herman said putting aside the issue of the identities, LeAnn Brown has also talked about the length <br /> 340 of time the income was reported, but it seems to him looking at the statute, assuming we have the correct <br /> 7 <br />