2014 Winter Newsletter

Florida Chapter of IAAO

Winter 2014

Staying Appraised

CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS

The 2014 Florida Chapter Annual Conference and Business Meeting are on the horizon. If you have a particular topic that you would like to present or know of a speaker you would like to hear, please contact 1 st Vice-President Alice Weinberg, alice@scpafl.org or the Committee Chair as soon as possible.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Exemptions Chair: Marsha Coleman, mcoleman@citruspa.org Real Property Chair: Pat Alesandrini, alesandrinip@hcpafl.org GIS Chair: John Watterson, john.watterson@pa.martin.fl.us

President’s Message ......... 2 Committee News ............... 4 TPP Seminar ...................... 5 Membership Update ........ 6 County Spotlight ................ 7 Professional Designation 8 IAAO/IPTI Report………… 10 Leadership Days Report .. 11 Member Spotlight ............ 12 Peanut Gallery .................. 14 Career Opportunities ...... 15

The conference and annual business meeting will be held April 30 th – May 2 nd at the Hyatt Pier 66 in Fort Lauder- dale. The Florida Chapter Committees will assist with plan- ning and technical equipment needed during the presenta- tion. Typical time slots range from 1 to 1.5 hours and multi- ple presenters and/or opposing view debates are always welcome.

2013-2014 FCIAAO

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

EXECUTIVE BOARD

If you‟re anything like me, I‟m finding it hard to believe that winter (such as it is in Florida) is upon us and 2013 is quickly coming to an end. Several (maybe many) years ago it seemed this time of year offered a bit of a break between finishing one roll and beginning another. Alas, those days are gone as we are challenged with doing more with less

PRESIDENT Neil “Nick” Nikkinen, AAS, CFE Real Estate Assessment Dep. Director Orange County

VICE PRESIDENT Alice Weinberg Community Service Director Seminole County

Neil “Nick” Nikkinen, AAS, CFE

2 ND VICE PRESIDENT Todd Finlayson, CFE

and VAB hearings in many counties extend into the New Year. I wonder what year Miami-Dade is working on? Check out the county spotlight on page 7 where the Honorable Carlos Lopez- Cantera provides some insight into the largest county in the state. Your Florida Chapter has accomplished many things in 2013, al- though some of them are behind the scenes and may be hard for you to immediately see. Your executive board has been hard at work reinforcing the in- ternal framework of the chapter to insure its future success and to ease the transition between current and subsequent board members. The Chapter‟s two newest steering committees, Real Property and IT/GIS, are now in place and will be assisting the executive board to develop specialized tracks for the 2014 Annual Conference. Director Tracy Drake developed a Chapter Committee Handbook for both new and existing committee members to use to familiar- ize themselves with the chapter‟s history, committee goals and responsibilities, and operating procedures. Tracy is now working on developing a policies and procedures manual for the executive board which will outline in detail how to conduct the chapter‟s business. The executive board also revised outdated job descriptions of each Officer and Director‟s responsibilities in order to stay abreast with technological changes and, with member approval, amended the bylaws accordingly. In order to keep all this data in a secure, accessible file system, Membership Director Katie Casey created a Google Docs site for the executive board to store historic minutes, newsletters, finan- cial documents, policies, etc.

Director of TPP St. Lucie County

TREASURER Doug Will, AAS, CFE

Chief Deputy Leon County

SECRETARY Brian Loughrey, CFE Administrative Director Sarasota County

MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR Katie Casey, CFE Senior Projects Administrator Seminole County DIRECTOR Justin Edwards, CFE Office Operations Supervisor Putnam County DIRECTOR Tracy Drake, CAE, RES, AAS, CFE Assistant Property Appraiser Clay County

DIRECTOR Marsha Coleman, CFE Director of Tax Rolls Citrus County

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT Lainie Claudio, CFE Assistant Property Appraiser Marion County

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Winter 2014 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

This achievement is tangible evidence of how your chapter is leveraging technology to gain efficiency. It wasn‟t too long ago this accumulation of 25 years of historic data existed in the form of 16 banker boxes that was transferred between board secretaries by SUV. Vice President Alice Weinberg then un- dertook the monumental task of scanning those 16 banker boxes worth of data onto a hard drive. Katie then made it easily accessible to each board member by sorting the data and creating a web portal on Google Docs. Please also see Katie‟s announcement on page 6 highlighting her efforts to bring the Chapter into the era of social media and the chapter‟s new Facebook page. For those of you who have recently registered for the TPP seminar or renewed your membership, you may have noticed that the Chapter now accepts PayPal and credit card payments through the website. Secretary Brian Loughrey spearheaded this long-discussed effort which again leverages technology and improves efficiency for our members and the executive board. On a related note, Director Justin Edwards is working on redesigning the Chapter‟s website. The goals of this project are not only to freshen-up the look and embark on a total chapter “rebranding”, but also to update the site‟s internal architecture to allow the executive board to modify pages, photos, text etc. easily from their desktops, thereby eliminating the need for long term maintenance contracts. 2013 ended with a successful TPP seminar on Wednesday December 4 through Friday December 6 in Lake Mary. Please see Katie Casey‟s article on page 5 for a full review of the two day event. Lastly, your executive board met Wednesday evening December 4 to discuss the status of these projects, future goals of the chapter and de- velop plans for the 2014 Annual Con- ference which will be held April 30th to May 2nd in Ft. Lauderdale at the renowned Pier 66. Please mark your calendars for this event which will not only be educational, but offer net- working opportunities in an excep- tional location. We‟ll also have a special guest joining us, so you won‟t want to miss it. So as we close out this busy but productive year, I wish each of you a blessed and Merry Christmas, and a healthy and prosperous New Year.

Neil “Nick” Nikkinen, AAS, CFE FCIAAO President

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Winter 2014 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

COMMITTEE NEWS

FCIAAO Committee Members have been appointed and recently received in- formation pertinent to their specific areas of responsibility. It is wonderful to have such an outstanding group of individuals who have stepped forward to provide their expertise to benefit our organization and its members! FCIAAO Vice President Alice Weinberg will be working with the committee chairs as a liaison for committee responsibilities beginning with plans for the upcoming 2014 conference. The list of committees and the members who have agreed to serve are as follows:

Alice Weinberg

EXEMPTIONS STEERING COMMITTEE

Marsha Coleman (Citrus County), Erin Moore (Pinellas County), Scott Tussing (Manatee County), Paulette Stearns (Hernando County), Megan Hill (St. Johns County), Karen Jones (Okaloosa County), Tim Bean (Palm Beach County), and Angela Paulauskas (Alachua County)

TANGIBLE PERSONAL PROPERTY STEERING COMMITTEE

Chairman: Gwen Klaiber (Citrus County), Christopher Mitts (St. Lucie County) and Kimberly De- lano (Marion County), Sharon Hatala (Indian River County)

REAL PROPERTY STEERING COMMITTEE

Chairman: Pat Alesandrini (Hillsborough County), Russell Counts (St. Lucie County), Kevin Johns- ton (Hernando County), and Wendy Sapp (Alachua County)

GIS STEERING COMMITTEE

Chairman: John Watterson (Martin County), Dan Anzaldi (Brevard County), John Enck (Palm Beach County), Shannon Martin (Clay County), and Chris McElroy (Osceola County) PROFESSIONAL DESIGNATION COMMITTEE Chairman: Michael Chavez (Miami-Dade County), CAE Advisors: Pat Alesandrini (Hillsborough County) and Joe Reilly (Seminole County); RES Advisors: Terry Taylor (St. Lucie County) and Jim Ogburn (Duval County); AAS Advisors: Doug Will (Leon County) and Tracy Drake (Clay County); CMS Advisors: Cheryl Horton (Palm Beach County) and Mark Gallo (Pasco County); PPS Advisors: Brenda Fisher (Alachua County) and Maryann Deasy (Palm Beach County) These committees are vital to the success of FCIAAO and along with the work of many others repre- sent the reasons this chapter has been awarded the IAAO Outstanding Chapter of the Year Award six- teen times – including most recently for 2013 and going back to the first award in 1990! Committee members have recently received the FCIAAO Committee Member Handbook outlining Chair responsibilities, committee purpose and responsibilities, as well as other pertinent information. Director Tracy Drake reviewed IAAO‟s Committee Guidelines and included those in FCIAAO‟s hand- book. The Annual Conference in May will result in yet another success due to the hard work of the Florida Chapter‟s dedicated and hard-working committee team.

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Winter 2014 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

TPP SEMINAR IN LAKE MARY

FCIAAO hosted the 2013 TPP Seminar held in Lake Mary December 4 th through 6 th . 82 attendees en- joyed 3 days filled with useful topics covering everything from Excel to Cell Site Evaluation. The TPP Steering Committee did a great job putting together the topics and organizing the speakers. A special thanks to Committee Chair Gwen Klaiber and Committee Members Christopher Mitts, Sharon Hatala and Kimberly Delano for all of their hard work. The event was held at the Marriott Lake Mary, where DOR was also hosting 4 IAAO courses, including the pilot offering of Course 331- Mass Appraisal Practices and Procedures taught by FCIAAO member Pat Alesandrini. Incom- ing IAAO President Kim Lauffer attended the course and several FCIAAO Executive Board members welcomed Kim to Florida and invited her to our 2014 Annual Conference.

2013 TPP Seminar Photos

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Winter 2014 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

MEMBERSHIP UPDATE

2014 Membership Renewal Reminder Electronic membership renewals were sent out in early December. Please pay your dues by January 30, 2014.

Announcing ONLINE Payments! FCIAAO is now accepting major credit cards for renewal and conference payments! Partnering with PayPal, you will able to make secure payments immediately and with no addi- tional fee. Save a stamp, pay online!

Win a Lifetime Membership to FCIAAO!

As a special THANK YOU for paying your membership dues on time, we are giving away a LIFETIME Membership to FCIAAO!! All you have to do is pay your membership renewals by the January 30 th deadline to be entered to win! Contact Katie Casey at katie@scpafl.org if you have any questions .

SURVEY SAYS! The Executive Board would like to thank you for participating in our re- cent „Conference Dates‟ survey. Our current format of holding the annual conference and business meeting in April received the overwhelming ma- jority of votes. We appreciate all of the feedback and look forward to continuing to offer exceptional edu- cational opportunities!

Florida Chapter of IAAO is now on Facebook! Florida Chapter IAAO recognizes the benefit of so- cial media in today‟s tech world. As we continue to make strides in the digital direction, we have re- cently launched our very own Facebook Page! Head over to facebook.com/fciaao and like us! We will be posting event information, links and pic- tures and connecting with our members! It‟s a growing page, so if you have any feedback or post suggestions, please email socialmedia@fciaao.org

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Winter 2014 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

COUNTY SPOTLIGHT: MIAMI-DADE COUNTY

Miami-Dade County is located in a unique, subtropical region of the country and is known worldwide for its beautiful beaches, cultural diversity and tourism. It is the largest county in Florida in terms of land area and population, with more than 2.5 million people, nearly 1,000,000 properties and 35 incorporated cities. Half of its residents reside in the unincorporated area. Dade County was founded on January 18, 1836. The County was named after Ma- jor Francis L. Dade, a soldier killed in 1835 during the Second Seminole War. With the arrival of Henry Flagler‟s East Coast Railroad in 1896 and construction

Carlos Lopez-Cantera

of the Royal Palm Hotel, South Florida became more accessible and progress soon followed. During the 1920‟s, as new subdivisions and tourist resorts were built, the real estate boom changed the area. By then, the community had changed so much that visitors remarked it had changed like “magic”. The moniker stuck and Miami came to be known as the “Magic City”. As a result of international attention, on November 13, 1997 voters added “Miami” to the County‟s name, officially making it Miami-Dade County. Over the years, Miami-Dade County evolved into a modern metropolitan community and so did its government. The County‟s electorate adopted the Home Rule Charter on May 21, 1957. The new char- ter formed a unique metropolitan form of government. In 2008, the Miami-Dade County Home Rule Charter was amended to transfer the duties of the County‟s property appraiser from a person ap- pointed and supervised by the mayor to a person elected by the voters. On August 14, 2012, Carlos Lo- pez-Cantera became the second property appraiser to be elected by the citizens of Miami-Dade. Since taking office, Property Appraiser Lopez-Cantera has published property values earlier than ever before in the County‟s history, empowered staff to complete on-the-spot assessment reviews, spearheaded a new initiative to fight homestead exemption fraud and has made prompt and efficient customer ser- vice the top priority of the office.

2013 Preliminary Tax Roll At-A Glance

Real Property Parcels

894,200

Tangible Accounts

111,992

Just (Market) Value

$255,778,130,980

Taxable Value

$185,118,599,304

Carlos Lopez-Cantera was elected by the voters of Miami-Dade County | Number of Employ- ees: 345| Online: www.miamidade.gov/pa facebook.com/MiamiDadePA twitter.com/ MiamiDadePA

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Winter 2014 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

PROFESSIONAL DESIGNATION COMMITTEE NEWS

The FCIAAO Executive Board proudly introduces the Professional Designation Committee (PDC):

Chairman : Michael Chaves, CAE (Miami-Dade County)

CAE Advisors : Pat Alesandrini, CAE, RES, MAI, SRA (Hillsborough County) Joe Reilly, CAE (Seminole County)

RES Advisors : Terry Taylor, RES (St. Lucie County) Jim Ogburn, RES (Duval County) AAS Advisors : Doug Will, AAS (Leon County) Tracy Drake, CAE, RES, AAS (Clay County) CMS Advisors : Cheryl Horton, CMS (Palm Beach County) Mark Gallo, CMS (Pasco County) PPS Advisors : Brenda Fisher, PPS (Alachua County) Maryanne Deasy, PPS (Palm Beach County)

Please visit the FCIAAO website for advisor contact information; they are eager to assist FCIAAO members through the designation process.

The PDC is always looking for future advisors. If you would like to be considered, please contact Mi- chael Chaves ( mmc@miamidade.gov ).

CONSIDERING AN IAAO PROFESSIONAL DESIGNATION?

If you plan on pursuing an IAAO designation and have not yet applied for candidacy, please be aware that the IAAO has waived the $35 desig- nation application fee through December 31 st . Also, some of the require- ments are changing on January 1, 2014 . For more information, visit IAAO‟s website at www.iaao.org

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Winter 2014 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

CONGRATULATIONS NEW DESIGNEES!

The FCIAAO Executive Board and the PDC would like to congratulate the new designees:

Brian Lasher, RES Pinellas County

Kevin Campanaro, RES Pinellas County

Jeff Miller, RES Citrus County

Curtis Crossley, RES Duval County

Brian Oakey, AAS Volusia County

Cynthia Forness, RES Pinellas County

Denise Schmidt, RES Pinellas County

Keith Hall, RES Duval County

James Hammond, RES Pinellas County

The Tony Hodge Award is granted to FCIAAO members who earn their IAAO designation. At the 2014 FCIAAO Annual Conference in Fort Lauderdale, the Executive Board will recognize the hard work of new designees and present them with a $250 check! To be eligible, new designees must be a FCIAAO member in good standing for 12 months prior to being awarded their IAAO designation. New designees should email a copy of IAAO‟s letter conferring the designation to Michael Chaves ( mmc@miamidade.gov ).

WELCOME NEW DESIGNATION CANDIDATES!

Kevin Hayes Zulma Hollar Judy Malarkey

Keith Alexander Chris Brewer Gwendolyn Brooks Christian Cao Barry Dunmire Joseph Federico Gregg Goldberg Matthew Graves Robert Grota Dionne Harnish

Michael McKinley Carolyn Munsell

Joseph Russo Thomas Wells Lisa Wright Byron Thomas Nik Cutrell

The PDC is compiling a list of Florida Designation Candidates. If you are a candidate, and your name is not listed above, please email Tracy Drake ( tdrake@ccpao.com ).

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Winter 2014 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

AN IAAO/IPTI JOINT CONFERENCE REPORT

Challenges in the Valuation of Unique and Leisure Properties

IAAO recently held a conference in Ft. Lauderdale with two days of in- teresting material including presentations on hotel valuation, time- shares, golf courses, casinos and much more. The conference was hosted jointly by the IAAO and IPTI, the International Property Tax In-

Dorothy Jacks, AAS, CFE

stitute. IPTI is a independent organization that provides professional advice in all aspects of property tax. With many members in Europe and Canada, IPTI partnered with IAAO to pre- sent this conference to a broad range of attendees from across the globe.

In attendance at the two day meeting were many Florida Chap- ter members, including Nick Nik- kinen, current FCIAAO President, and past-President Sheila Crapo. Also there were the Honorable Ed Crapo, Alachua County, Hon. Greg Brown, Santa Rosa County, Hon. Katrina Scarborough, Osce- ola County, Hon. Ken Wilkinson, Lee County and Hon. Rick Singh, Orange County. The conference was welcomed to Broward County by the Hon. Lori Parrish. Former FCIAAO Treasurer and board member Tim Wilmath gave

a great presentation called "Zen and the Art of Hotel Valuation". His presentation highlighted the tricky hotel industry where being "OK" is really not enough for a hotel to be profitable. Also presenting was Dena Wescott, CFE from the Orange County Property Appraiser's office. Her presentation in collaboration with Joy Garas from Walt Disney World covered the valua- tion of Amusement Parks. The Hon. Greg Brown and the Hon. Ken Wilkinson also collabo- rated on a presentation entitled "Natural Disasters - Valuation Challenges". The robust agenda and some excellent networking opportunities including a tour of the larg- est cruise ship port in the world (Port Everglades) made the conference a real success. Oppor- tunities to speak with attendees from as far away as South Africa brings a new perspective to the valuation field. IAAO plans to continue offering these opportunities that bring value to IAAO members and partners.

Article Contributor: Dorothy Jacks, AAS, CFE, Palm Beach County Past FCIAAO President Past IAAO Board Member Co-chair IAAO International Special Committee

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Winter 2014 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

IAAO 2013 LEADERSHIP DAYS REPORT

IAAO hosted the 2013 Annual Fall Leadership Days in Kansas City 11/1 - 11/2/2013. This two day event occurs each Fall and Spring allowing committees to meet and discuss associated topics.

To serve on a Committee, an IAAO member in good standing, must be appointed by the IAAO President and approved by the Board of Direc- tors. The appointment is for a period of one to two years dependent upon whether the committee is a “standing” or “special” committee. The committee chairs are appointed by the IAAO President. Committee service is a great way for members to network and share expertise with international peers. Florida is well represented by the following committee members: Lainie Claudio, Honorable Ed Crapo, Sheila Crapo, Tracy Drake, Dorothy Jacks, Colleen Keene, Michael Prestridge, Diane L. Sobol, John Thomas, Robert E. Turner, (IAAO 2012-2013 President), William M. Wadsworth, Warren J. Weathers and Alice Weinberg. Alice Weinberg

Committees include: Certificate of Excellence (CEAA), Chapters & Affiliates, Communica- tions, Conference Content, Education, Instructor Relations, Membership Services, Planning &

“Committee service is a great way for members to network and share ex- pertise with international peers. ”

Rules, Professional Designations, Research, Technical Standards, and USPAP Committees.

Attendees were welcomed by President Turner and Incoming President Kim Lauffer who will be taking office January 1, 2014. During the breakout committee meetings, the IAAO Execu- tive Board and IAAO Executive Director Lisa Daniels visited each committee to discuss their progress and lend IAAO‟s support. It was announced that the “International Member Committee”, a “special committee” was granted the new status of “standing committee” by the Board of Directors and the co-chairs for that committee are FCIAAO‟s own Dorothy Jacks and David McMullen. You will be hear- ing about the committee‟s initiatives in the near future. Dorothy and David met with each committee during Leadership Days to get input on how we can contribute to furthering coop- erative goals with our international members. It was an exciting two days that included very productive meetings and networking with fel- low IAAO members. The 2014 Spring meeting will be held in Kansas City on 3/7 /14– 3/8/14 following by the Fall meeting 11/21/24-11/22/14.

Article Contributor: Alice Weinberg, Seminole County FCIAAO Vice President

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Winter 2014 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: JOHN WATTERSON, GISP, CFE

What do you do for the PA? I am the GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Specialist for the Martin County Property Appraiser‟s Office. I support Office de- partments with various GIS products, such as maps, custom data- sets and geographic analysis. These tools aid in making informed decisions and working efficiently. I often provide GIS training to staff. How long have you been employed with the PA? I have been employed by the PA for ten years. While a geography student at FSU, I also worked as an intern for Tallahassee-Leon County GIS in a large parcel mapping project for the Leon County Property Appraiser‟s Office until I graduated in 1999. What do you like most about your job? My job is so varied, and I have regular opportunities to apply the GIS skills I have learned over the years to projects. The GIS field is dynamic and always changing. When the opportu- nity presents itself, I also like writing programming scripts to automate my GIS workflows; it‟s like solving a puzzle. Where were you born? I was born in West Palm Beach, Florida, where I also grew up. Where was your best vacation ever? My best vacation ever was a trip with a friend to the Grand Canyon and Southern Utah in 2005. We visited Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks. We made many strenuous hikes. The beauty of these places can‟t be put into words and pictures can never do justice. John Watterson, GISP, CFE

The Grand Canyon is so immense and magnificent that you could just stare at it for hours, and it‟s mind-bending to learn that the Colorado River and surface uplift created it over 17 million years ago. It‟s over a mile in depth, over 270 miles long and, in some places, 18 miles wide. We hiked about a fourth of the way down into the canyon, but then the heat became a problem and we turned around. In fact, there were park rangers all over the place telling people to turn around.

(Continued on page 13)

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Winter 2014 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

Bryce Canyon National Park is also spectacular to look at from its rim. Within the Canyon is a laby- rinth of tall, orange-looking rock formations. It was so much fun to hike at the bottom of the canyon be- cause, at that point, you are literally in a maze, and almost feel like you‟re on another planet. My favorite park was Zion. It is a relatively small but stunning canyon with waterfalls, light forests, and wonderful hiking opportunities to incredible vistas of the valley. A river runs through the canyon, which provides a refreshing swim from the 100 plus degree summer heat. We also went tubing on this river just outside the park. I‟ll never forget the scenery of this place and hope to return again someday. What are your hobbies? I love listening to classical music. Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn are among my favorites. It‟s remarkable that Beethoven composed some of the greatest music of all time as a deaf man – what perseverance. I like playing various sports, especially volleyball and surf-

ing. I always surf at Fort Pierce Inlet State Park. It‟s a great spot because it has ridable waves almost every day of the year. I also collect antique maps; I have some rare maps from the 1700‟s and maps of Florida from the late 1800‟s. Maps and geography have been my love since childhood, which is obviously why I‟m in the GIS field. I even remember, as a kid, drawing my own maps of imaginary places. As you can imagine, with my interest in geogra- phy, I love traveling. Finally, I follow FSU sports, especially foot- ball. What do you plan to do when you retire? Since I love working and my GIS job so much, I don‟t plan on re- tiring for a long, long time. But when I do finally retire, I‟ll keep busy, and, no doubt, there will be plenty of vacations and visiting of family and friends, along with church volunteer work.

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Winter 2014 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY

Bruce Strenth, CFE We are quickly moving through another year. The days are getting shorter and people that you have not seen for a while are returning from wherever they have been. The kids in the neighborhood have dressed up…not to Trick or Treat this year, but to go to the homecoming dance. I often hear people say they will be happy when the weekend comes. I like the weekend, but I decided a long time ago that I was going to quit wishing my life away one week at a time. I have found that Monday has its treasures, as do Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Friday, Saturday and Sunday are special, but the other days can be too. Most of us are very active with our jobs, raising our children, looking after loved ones and dealing with the day-to-day issues of life. I have found that a little time in the garden or a few minutes talking over the hedge to a neighbor can wash away a lot of what life has beaten you up with that day. There are no miracles in what I am writing about, just a look at life where you allow yourself a little time somewhere along the way. I like to get up early and go outside before very much is going on. My little dog and I sit and watch as the squirrel in the palm tree comes out to greet the day. He stretches, scratches, licks his paws, wipes his eyes and scampers down the tree toward the adventures of his day. My cocker spaniel usually treats him to the very first of those adventures. The last time we spent time together I encouraged you to stop, smell and take a look at the roses. What I write now is more encouragement for the same. Our world seems to spin faster and grow smaller all of the time. We are connected, informed and in touch almost all of the time. It does not have to be all of the time. When I was at a local store the other day, I saw “bubble bath” for sale; if you cannot find any other quiet spot in your world maybe you should give “it” a try. I would be remiss if I did not mention that I have spent many hours with people I have met and got to know through the Florida Chapter of IAAO. Though those hours have not all been time of leisure, they have all been profitable to me both in learning and living. I encourage you to visit the website www.fciaao.org to keep informed and attend a conference or seminar as often as you can.

Article Contributor: Bruce Strenth, CFE, Tangible Personal Property, Highlands County

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Winter 2014 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

Call for presentations

The 2014 Florida Chapter Annual Conference and Business Meeting will be held April 30 - May 2nd. If you have a particular topic that you would like to present or know of a speaker who you would like to hear, please contact 1 st Vice-President Alice Weinberg, alice@scpafl.org or the Committee Chair as soon as possible.

Exemptions Chair: Marsha Coleman, mcoleman@citruspa.org Real Property Chair: Pat Alesandrini, alesandrinip@hcpafl.org GIS Chair: John Watterson, john.watterson@pa.martin.fl.us

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

Real Estate Assessment Director

Orange County

Commercial Manager

Orange County

Residential Analyst

Orange County

Director of RP Assessments

Putnam County

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Winter 2014 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

Mission Statement

“To offer relevant educational opportunities in ad valorem appraisal and administration,

and to promote professional development of our members.”

A publication by the Florida Chapter of International Association of Assessing Officers