By PATRICK ADRIAN
Special to The Eagle Times
CLAREMONT — In response to recent criticisms of the city’s current abatement process, the Claremont Policy Committee plans to propose the creation of a five-member board of assessors, in order to expand the number of authorizing participants in the process and overall transparency.
While some details of the proposal remain undecided, the Policy Committee crafted much of the structural framework for a new governing board last night during its scheduled meeting at The Visitor Center. Policy members in attendance were Mayor Charlene Lovett, City Councilors Abigail Kier and Jon Stone, and resident Bonnie Miles, a local real estate agent whom the city council approved to the committee last week. Also participating in the meeting was City Assessor Joe Lessard, who provided the committee with professional expertise and suggestions.
Lovett said during the meeting that the proposal’s focus is not the personalities or the politics in the process, but the process itself.
“The litmus test [for decisions made in this proposal] is what process would be the best process for our city,” Lovett said.
The committee plans to propose an assessors board comprising five members: the city assessor, three city-appointed board members and one city-appointed alternate. The city assessor’s role in assessing properties would remain unchanged, but instead of reporting assessments and recommendations to the city manager for approval — as done at present — the city assessor would report to the three-member board, who would approve requests and recommendations by a majority vote.
To prepare for drafting this proposal, each policy committee member looked at the four New Hampshire cities that have a board of assessors: Lebanon, Keene, Concord, and Berlin.
The committee leaned heavily during last night’s discussion on Lebanon’s model, based on Lovett’s findings from conversation with Lebanon’s assessor Rick Vincent. Based on Vincent’s experience with Lebanon’s board of assessors, the policy committee would like candidates to have a background relevant to the assessment field, whether that be in finance, real estate, property appraisals, math, or construction. The policy committee also want the Claremont board to meet bi-monthly, and will suggest to this board that they consider meeting on a weekday afternoon, which Vincent said has been the best meeting times for its board members.
“[Vincent told me] that their biggest problem was having volunteers for the board when board meetings were in the evening,” Lovett told the committee. “By moving the meetings from evening hours to noon, now they have five members, which they have never had before.”
Unlike Lebanon, the Claremont committee decided to make terms for board members three years rather then five, which Claremont’s committee thought was unnecessarily long. The committee preferred three years to two, when considering many members would need a year to learn and settle into the position.
Two major details remain undecided. The first is how long a committee candidate must reside in the city. The second is who will appoint members to the board, the city manager or the city council.
The policy committee agrees that any board candidate must be a Claremont resident. However, Jon Stone feels strongly that any candidate must live in Claremont for at least a year, as this board’s decisions will have great impact on Claremont, which requires the board members to have a personal investment in the city’s welfare. Other policy members feel that many new residents bring perspective, relative experience and readiness that might get lost by imposing a length of residency.
The committee will hold unresolved decisions for its next meeting on Nov. 1.
The committee plans to have a drafted proposal ready to send the city council by Nov. 9. The council will have to approve the proposal for adoption.
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