2023 FCIAAO Spring Newsletter

Florida Chapter of IAAO

Spring 2023

Staying Appraised

2023 Annual Pre - Conference Edition

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

President’s Message……………... 2-3

It ’ s not too late to register for the 2023 FCIAAO Annual Conference. Late Registration Open! April 19 — 21, 2023. Now $175 FCIAAO Members and $210 Non Members. See Full Agenda on Page 3. Conference Hotel: Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront currently sold out Wednesday & Thursday Night! Overflow Hotel: Tru by Hilton Downtown St Petersburg

Annual Conference Agenda..…. 4-5

Professional Des. News……….……. 6

Education Calendar……………….. 8

Member Spotlight………....……...... 9

Best Practices………………….…... 10

County Spotlight Women’s History Month….……………………………... 11

2023 Conference News.….….. 12-13

In Memoriam……………….….…... 14

Employment Opportunities…….… 17

TRU by Hilton Downtown St. Petersburg

1

Spring 2023 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

2022-2023 FCIAAO

EXECUTIVE BOARD

We are less than one month away from the 35th Annual Conference in St. Petersburg. Wow, thirty - five years of education, professional development & networking opportunities for the thousands of members we have had over that time is amazing! I am so proud of the award - winning chapter we have become, and it could not have hap pened without the dedication of all the Executive Board members be fore me and the Committee Chairs and members. There is a reason they call us the “ Gold Standard ”!

PRESIDENT DeeDee Harnish, AAS, RES, CFE Director, Valuation Services Monroe County VICE PRESIDENT Christopher D. Mitts, PPS, CFE Appraisal & Automation Specialist St. Lucie County 2 ND VICE PRESIDENT Kevin D. Hayes, MAI, CAE, RES, CFE Deputy of Appraisals Pinellas County TREASURER A. Renee Large, AAS, EA, CFE Chief Administrative Officer Clay County SECRETARY Wynta Loughrey, RES, CFE Assistant Commercial Valuation Manager Sarasota County MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR Kathy Rhodes, CFE Manager, Western Community Service Center Palm Beach County DIRECTOR Gina Fletcher, AAS, CPM, CFE Assistant Property Appraiser Leon County DIRECTOR Opal Hudson, CPM, CFE Assistant Chief Administrative Officer-Value Hillsborough County

DeeDee Harnish AAS, RES, CFE

We are very excited about the conference this year. First, as of this writing, we have 297 registered attendees for this conference! This puts us back to our pre - pandemic attendance numbers and we are so pleased more of you can attend this year. Thank you! We are partnering and welcoming to our conference the Florida Association of Cadastral Mappers. It seemed like a no - brainer to collaborate with this group as their purpose compliments us. With this collaboration, they have assisted with the IT/GIS tracks and you will see that the topics this year are outstanding. We are also excited about our Wednesday afternoon general session of our version of Jeopardy! We “ borrowed ” this from the TPP Committee, as it is such a hit during their Annual Seminar. Steve Weissman will be hosting, and it is sure to be an hour of fun and learning something you may not know about mass appraisal, exemptions, and GIS. Who will be our contestants? Make sure you attend to find out! We are also continuing with our Vendor Presentations. These presentations are a great way for you to learn about the products and services these entities provide in a casual, open setting. Our vendors are very important to us and we are pleased to give them this opportunity to highlight what they do. Be on the look out for a chance to win some prizes if you attend one of those sessions. One of our main goals of the chapter is to provide education and professional development in the mass appraisal field. Part of that goal was to develop or provide original content that you could use in your daily work. This year, we were able to bring that goal to a reality with our Pre - conference Workshop “ Time Trending - Practical Application in your Jurisdiction. ” Manish Bhatt developed this workshop based on real - world processes they created in the Osceola Property Appraiser ’ s Office to derive time factors, and hopefully, those who attend will be able to see this and put it into action at their jurisdiction.

DIRECTOR Nikki Pontello, CFE Chief Administrative Officer St Johns County

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT Kenny Pennington, CFE, CBC Chief Deputy Osceola County

2

Spring 2023 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

2023 ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Finally, we are thankful to again have our Conference App this year. With the help of TrueRoll, we have made some enhancements this year such as digital check - in at the sessions. This will help you track your continuing education hours more easily. This App will also have conference schedules, session information and the session critiques, which has helped us become more green by reducing the amount of paper we use! The Steering Committees have been hard at work again to outdo themselves with the best conference content. Every year, they do an amazing job and without them, this conference would not be successful or interesting! They are truly the backbone of this conference. Make sure you congratulate them on a job well - done! If you are interested in serving on a committee, let us know! Our conference will be held at the Hilton Bayfront St. Petersburg. The Honorable Mike Twitty, of Pinellas County, will be welcoming the attendees to his county and rumor has it there may a musical performance at some point during the conference. We also would like to thank him and his staff for assisting us with on - site conference tasks. The help we receive from our host county is essential and tremendously needed as we continue to grow in our conference attendance. IAAO President Pat Alesandrini will give us an update on the latest news on the international front. I am sure he is grateful to have a short travel commute to this conference (I think he was in Turkey earlier this year)! We are very proud of him representing our state as the IAAO President. One of the functions we are most proud of is our continued effort to support a local non - profit organization. Each year we ask the host property appraiser to pick a local charity for us to donate to and this year, Hon. Twitty chose the CASA - Community Action Stops Abuse. We will be selling 50/50 tickets for a drawing where half of the money goes to the winner and the other half is donated to the organization. I think we can all agree this is a worthy cause and organization. Finally, mark your calendars for the International Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah August 27 30, 2023. The schedule will be announced soon. It will be an event you will not want to miss. I want to thank you for allowing me to be your president for 2022 - 2023. It has been an honor to represent you on our executive board.

Respectfully,

Dee Dee Harnish, RES, AAS, CFE FCIAAO President 2022 - 2023

3

Spring 2023 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

2023 ANNUAL CONFERENCE AGENDA

Bring your most flashy Key West

themed outfit for the Welcome Reception.

LATE REGISTRATION OPEN!

4

Spring 2023 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

2023 ANNUAL CONFERENCE AGENDA CONT...

LATE REGISTRATION OPEN!

5

Spring 2023 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

PROFESSIONAL DESIGNATION NEWS: TONY HODGE EDUCATIONAL AWARD

The Florida Chapter of the International Association of Assessing Officers supports our members who are seeking professional desig nations through the IAAO. The FCIAAO Professional Designation Committee is dedicated to promoting awareness of the IAAO des ignation program by raising professional competence of assess ment personnel through education. This includes encouraging par ticipation and providing candidates the appropriate tools, re sources and technical assistance for success. The IAAO Professional Designation Program (PDP) confers six in ternationally recognized professional designations: • Assessment Administration Specialist (AAS)

• Certified Assessment Evaluator (CAE)

Hon. Tracy Drake, CFA, CAE, ASA, RES, AAS Florida Chapter IAAO Professional Designation Advisor

• Mass Appraisal Specialist (MAS)

• Cadastral Mapping Specialist (CMS)

• Personal Property Specialist (PPS)

• Residential Evaluation Specialist (RES)

Tony Hodge Educational Award Eligibility

Effective January 1, 2022, the eligibility requirements for the Tony Hodge Educational Award are as follows:

The Tony Hodge Educational Award may be granted to FCIAAO regular members who earn their IAAO professional designation. The Executive Board shall recognize newly designated members at the successive FCIAAO Annual Conference and may present them with a $500 check. To be eligible, new designees must be a FCIAAO member (in good standing) for at least 24 consecutive months prior to being awarded their IAAO designation and receiving the award. Award recipients must be registered for the annual conference to participate in the awards program. New designees should email a copy of IAAO ’ s letter conferring the designation (or certificate) to tdrake@ccpao.com. It is the designee ’ s responsibility to provide proof of eligibility . Don ’ t miss out on being recognized as an industry leader! ~edited, Winter 2023 Staying Appraised

The FCIAAO looks forward to celebrating our new designees and Tony Hodge Educational Awardees during the annual conference, April 19 - 21. Stay tuned to the next edition of Staying Appraised for pics and highlights from the award presentation.

6

Spring 2023 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

7

Spring 2023 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

EDUCATION CALENDAR

FCIAAO - 2023 IAAO WORKSHOP 151: 15 - HR NATIONAL USPAP FCIAAO - 2023 WORKSHOP: TIME TRENDING PRACTICAL APPLICATION IN YOUR JURISDICTION

In - Person | April 2023

In - Person | April 18, 2023

The FCIAAO is sponsoring the offerings listed above during the 2023 annual conference. To register, please visit fciaao.org

IAAO 101: Fundamentals of Real Property Appraisal

Virtual | April 10 - 13

IAAO 600: – Principles and Techniques of Cadastral Map ping

Virtual | April 24 - 27

IAAO 402: Tax Policy

Virtual | May 8 - 11

IAAO 101: Fundamentals of Real Property Appraisal

Live Online | May 8 - 11

IAAO 311: Real Property Modeling Concepts

Virtual | May 22 - 25

The Florida DOR sponsors the offerings listed above.

For more details and to register, email PTOTraining@floridarevenue.com

Please also visit https:// learn.iaao.org to learn of more educational opportunities available through IAAO.

8

Spring 2023 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: UZMA SYED

Name: Uzma Syed

County: Pinellas County

What do you do for the PA? I am the Deputy for Information Technology

How long have you been employed by the PA? 8 years

What do you like most about your job? The variety. It is never the same job every single day. Also, I get a lot of satisfaction helping property owners. I feel like whatever question they ask is an opportunity to educate them, and hearing them say “ thank

you ” gives me lot of satisfaction. I am also all about process improvement. If I can improve some thing by 1%, 2%, 10%, or whatever, it makes me happy. I learned that philosophy from a book about changing 1% everyday to become better. In addition to all that, having the support of the leadership to improve is so important. My leadership gives me the time, space, and opportunity to try something,. If it doesn ’ t work, they are supportive and empower the whole office to try move on and try something else. The office has always been great about that, but under Mike ’ s leadeship it has become even more so, which also makes me happy.

Where was your best vacation ever? Colorado Springs. I ’ m an avid hiker and was able to hike portions of Pike ’ s Peak.

What are your hobbies and interests outside your job? Running, Hiking, Cycling, and Yoga. You will catch me running really early in the morning, then sitting on the beach watching the sun come up. I feel very blessed to be so close to the beach and water and to be able to experience this on a daily basis. It reminds me of being on vacation in The Bahamas years ago.

What is some of the best career advice you ’ ve been given? That I should put myself in the other person ’ s shoes. When talking to the other person, ask how they would like me to support them, and not assume I just know what is best for them. Try to really listen and understand what they are saying or asking, and ask them questions to ensure you are really responding appropriately.

What ’ s one thing peo ple would be surprised to know about you? I ’ m very good at Tetris. I can arrange and rearrange any closet like the game, and my family jokes that every cabinet in my house is organized Tetris style.

9

Spring 2023 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

BEST PRACTICES

IAAO has a wealth of Standards “ intended to guide property tax assessment officials, tax policy analysts, and administrators ” (IAAO.org). To learn more, please visit the TECHNICAL STANDARDS page of IAAO.

ATTENTION! If your office has implemented an innovated Best Prac tice, found a solution to an assessment problem, or received recognition for your awesome work, FCIAAO would love to share it with our mem bership. Please email Director OPAL HUDSON with the story, county logo, and any relevant pics so we can put you in our spotlight! This standard addresses quality for both the collection of new invento ry and the management of existing inventory. For all types of assess ment data, this standard outlines the general requirements for accura cy, currency, consistency, and completeness. Specific local standards should be developed in accordance with this general standard …. 1. SCOPE The IAAO Standard on Data Quality defines quality requirements for critical elements of assessment data and provides guidance for meet ing those requirements for use in mass appraisal. Assessment data for the purposes of this standard can be separated into property charac teristic, economic, and geographic.1

10

Spring 2023 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

COUNTY SPOTLIGHT: WO MEN’S HISTORY MONTH

In honor of Women ’ s History Month in March, FCIAAO thought it appropriate to highlight the first female County Assessor of Taxes in the state of Florida, Eleanor Gertrude Hickey Floyd. Commissioned in 1920, in Franklin County, the Honorable Eleanor H. Floyd was elected into office on November 2nd, 1920, which was just a few months after women in the United States gained the right to vote. Though a Democratic candidate, election technicalities caused her to run as an Independent on the ballot. Her term was for four (4) years, with her appointment starting the first Tuesday in January, 1921. The image below shows the original executive commission from then Governor of Florida, Sidney J. Catts, and attested by then Secretary of State, H. Clay Crawford. While the document was obviously amended to note the current governor, per the visible traces of prior names under Governor Catts ’ s name, it is interesting to note the gender related verbiage (his) throughout the document was not updated pertaining to Eleanor Floyd (her). The Honorable Eleanor H. Floyd passed away in 1976 at the age of 92. She was a trailblazer, not only in the assessment profession and the State of Florida, but in United States politics and the history of women across the world.

Franklin County Map, 1920

Courtesy of USF College of Education, and produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology

Today, Franklin County has a female assessor at the helm as well. The Honorable Rhonda Skipper was elected into office in 2012, after serving over 23 years working within the Franklin County PAO.

History & Commission document: Volume 15, State and County Officer Commissions (Series S1288), State Archives of Florida

Rhonda Millender Skipper

11

Spring 2023 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

2023 CONFERENCE NEWS

April 19 - 21, 2023

Click HERE to learn more about the city and what it has to offer. Start planning your trip today! Visit FCIAAO.org to register and for more details.

St. Petersburg, Florida

12

Spring 2023 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

2023 CONFERENCE NEWS CONT...

August 27 - 30, 2023

Click HERE to learn more about the city and what it has to offer. Start planning your trip today! Visit IAAO.org to register and for more details.

Salt Lake City, Utah

13

Spring 2023 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

IN LOVING MEMORY

The Florida Chapter would like to honor those who have contributed to the assessment community. Please send ‘In Memory of’ submissions to Director Opal Hudson. Announcements will be published in our quarterly newsletter.

14

Spring 2023 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

15

Spring 2023 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

16

Spring 2023 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Position Available

County

GIS Cadastral Mapper

Brevard County

Various Positions

Broward County

Economic Analyst

Florida DOR, PTO

Tangible Personal Property Appraiser

Duval County

Appraiser/Valuator

Escambia County

Field Inspector

Hillsborough County

Various Positions

Indian River County

Senior Mapping Specialist

Manatee County Martin County Nassau County Orange County Osceola County

Various Positions

Field Appraiser

Various Positions Various Positions

Various Positions

Pinellas County

Ommercial Appraiser II

Polk County

Commercial Manager

Putnam County

Various Positions

St Lucie County

Various Positions

Sarasota COunty

GIS Coordinator

Seminole County Volusia County Wakulla County Walton County

Commercial Property Analust Chief Property Appraiser

Commercial Appraiser

To post a job opportunity on the FCIAAO website, please email your job posting to Direc tor WYNTA LOUGHREY . It is the policy of the Chapter to only post job opportunities for member jurisdictions and subscribing member entities.

Click HERE to view more information on the FCIAAO Employment Opportunities page.

17

Spring 2023 Newsletter of the FCIAAO

Mission Statement

“ FCIAAO is a statewide community of mass appraisal experts, who offer education and profes

sional development opportunities in ad valorem appraisal, administration, and tax policy. ”

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

18

Spring 2023 Newsletter of the FCIAAO