Board of Assessment Appeals orders assessor's office to re-notify missed appellants and sets schedule to clear backlog

The Board of Assessment Appeals discussed plans to clear a backlog of missed hearings and instructed the assessor's office to re-notify appellants by letter, email and phone so there is a record of contact.

Peter Rupert, a board member who led the discussion, moved to accept March 31 as a special meeting date to hear some of the outstanding appeals. The motion passed by voice vote after members agreed to a series of scheduling and procedural changes.

Why it matters: Board members said early scheduling errors and late or missing notices left many appellants unaware of their hearing times. One member estimated the number of unresolved no-shows at roughly 30–50, and the board set a firm target to complete hearings and deliberations by May 31.

The board adopted a hybrid hearing format and a more structured schedule. Neil Fink, identified during roll call as a board member, outlined a plan for members to record availability on a shared Google Sheet so the schedule could be locked and managed centrally. "I'll send everybody this link to this Google Sheet," he said, explaining members would indicate start and end times and the sheet would prevent uncontrolled last‑minute edits.

On contact procedures, Rupert said the assessor's office must both email and send letters, and also make phone contact. "I'm going to insist that the assessor's office send a letter because they need to send a letter anyway that they email and that they make phone contact," he said. Members discussed leaving voicemail messages that require a callback within 24 hours to rebook a hearing.

Board members also agreed on time limits intended to speed deliberations: the member who heard the appeal should present it (2–3 minutes suggested), the appellant's opening similar to what appellants had been allotted, about five minutes of deliberation, and roughly two minutes for a vote. "We are going to be hard pressed to get through them all if we don't keep ourselves very strictly in line with the time limit," Rupert said.

Several members cautioned that hybrid participation can cause delays when remote audio drops or overlaps. One member said remote audio often lags and that the hybrid model could slow decision-making if people talk over each other; the board agreed to adopt behavioral protocols and minor security steps for the Zoom connection to avoid disruptions.

The board also approved multiple sets of prior minutes (December, February and several March sessions) — including one amendment to record appeal #970 on March 5 PM as withdrawn rather than a no-show — by voice vote.

Next steps: staff will prepare a list of outstanding appeals, the assessor's office will re-notify affected appellants by letter/email/phone, members will populate the shared scheduling sheet with availability, and the board will use the agreed time limits and hybrid protocols to work toward completing hearings by May 31. The meeting adjourned by voice vote.