2013 Winter Newsletter

IAAO REPORT

The IAAO finished their 78 th year with record-breaking attendance at the An- nual Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, high enrollment for courses and ex- ams and an excellent retention rate for members. Florida has the highest num- ber of IAAO members of any state, and with so many of us having firsthand ex- perience with the coursework from IAAO (through the CFE program) we should be proud to be a chapter of the IAAO.

Dorothy Jacks, AAS, CFE

The special relationship that the Chapter has with IAAO was furthered this year with the FCIAAO proposal and support of a Spanish-language translation of the

IAAO Glossary. Florida and many other states are seeing the integration of many ―Spanish as a first language‖ speakers into our workforce. Appraisal offices are no exception; the Florida Chapter recog- nized that resources in Spanish would help those staff and students to excel at coursework in our field, and improve their ability to explain complex appraisal issues to the general public who visit our offices daily. The Chapter approached the IAAO with this idea and supported the initial funding of the pro- ject. The IAAO Executive board welcomed and accepted this offer at their July Board Meeting and Sheila Crapo, past Florida Chapter President presented a check for $5,000 to the IAAO at the Kansas City Conference to move this project forward. The Florida Chapter will be noted as the catalyst for this project and its main financial supporter. The translation of the Glossary is underway with bids being accepted for professional translation ser- vices. Once the translation is complete, a committee of IAAO members who speak Spanish will be asked to assist on a special review team. This review will work toward providing the most technically specific and correct translations of terms used in our day to day work and will work on making the translation effective within different areas of the country and the Spanish speaking world. The Glos- sary translation ties in with a renewed effort to increase IAAO‘s presence internationally. This year, a special committee worked on creating the first International Strategic Plan for IAAO. I am excited to be a part of this committee and will continue during 2013 to co-chair the effort to really make the ―I‖ in IAAO mean something. My three year service on the IAAO Executive Board ended December 31, 2012. The experience was fantastic, and I cannot encourage our Florida IAAO members enough to become more involved in the organization either through committee service, as an instructor, a presenter or even just attending the conferences or webinars . If you aren‘t an IAAO member now, consider joining, there are always pro- motions running for membership – please contact me if I can help you look at your options or sign you up!

I will look forward to seeing you at an FCIAAO event soon.

Article Contributor : Dorothy Jacks, AAS, CFE, Assistant Property Appraiser, Palm Beach County

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Winter 2013 Newsletter of the FCIAAO