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APPROVED JULY 9, 2018 341 property owner, once the property owner has brought forward a tax exemption certificate from the 342 Department of Revenue, the statute seems to require the county must accept that and cannot look behind 343 it. Aside from the issue of identity of the entities, what authority does LeAnn Brown think the Board of 344 Adjustment has to look behind the certificate issued by the Department of Revenue? 345 346 LeAnn Brown answered she thinks that is interesting and will be a question of first impression because the 347 statute is new. Whether a county has the authority to look behind the certificate has not been litigated. She 348 has never seen a tax exemption certificate issued to the owner of this property as Southeast Property 349 Group LLC or Wild Flora Farm LLC, so she has not asked that question yet because she is not past the 350 identity question. She thinks the county staff should have looked at the document and said the property 351 owner is Southeast Property Group LLC and the certificate is issued to Wild Flora Farm. Done. She thinks 352 that would have been correct. She asserts that the county looked behind the certificate and made an 353 argument that the legal formalities of corporate ownership and individual ownership somehow have no 354 meaning and issued an opinion which blended together a bunch of legal entities. She added that one 355 reason she wanted to bifurcate the hearing was because it is difficult for her to answer questions until she 356 can see what she is talking about. She is 100 percent certain that the Board of Adjustment does not hold a 357 tax certificate with the name of the property owner on it, even if we assume that a post-issuance merger 358 somehow has play here. 359 360 Andy Petesch said that was quite a bit of time that LeAnn Brown had and asked for 66 seconds. 361 362 Karen Barrows granted that time. 363 364 Andy Petesch said the question is what would this board would do with this information if they got it. If this 365 board starts going behind the Department of Revenue, there will be attorney fees awarded to Kara Brewer 366 and SPG and Wild Flora Farm because that is absolutely outside the scope of this board's authority. If this 367 board wants very specific additional documentation with respect to whether Wild Flora Farm LLC is what 368 the Department of Revenue intended when it issued the certificate, that can be addressed. The rest is 369 entirely unnecessary to determine that entity question. 370 371 Karen Barrows asked whether there were any other questions. 372 373 Barry Katz asked whether he understood correctly that regardless of the Board of Adjustment's decision, it 374 was going to be appealed to Superior Court. 375 376 Andy Petesch, standing with LeAnn Brown, said they could jointly respond. Andy Petesch said it was 377 uncharted waters and they are unsure how a court will treat an appeal of this decision. LeAnn Brown said it 378 is fair to say whatever the board does with this case, it will end up as an appeal somewhere. She believes 379 there are three or four appeals on this case already. She will have to appeal because without the 380 subpoenaed documents, her hands are tied to make burden of proof to this board. 381 382 Barry Katz said that was his understanding. He anticipated this. He then asked Andy Petesch whether the 383 fees he alluded to would be directed at LeAnn Brown's clients. 384 385 Andy Petesch said the county would be liable for attorney's fees, under state statutes, 386 387 LeAnn Brown said it is troublesome to her that the board would consider the threat of attorney's fees when 388 making a decision on this matter. Having read the statute several times, she does not think it is a foregone 8