Finance Committee - 06/16/2021 Page 6
his field of expertise. As we got more involved with him on a few properties, we realized that yes we did want him to do all
of the properties we had listed. We may still be adding more.
Alderwoman Lu
Okay. | have a couple of other questions.
Has he completed anything from the original contract? | know we've paid out about $24,000.
Steve Bolton, Corporation Counsel
We have had some things that he has done all the work we have asked him to do. In certain cases, we use his expertise
up to a point but do not ask him to complete the final report. Typically those cases resolve, we discover we don't need a
final report, although we probably have used the expertise he brings to bear on it to guide us in our negotiations.
Alderwoman Lu
Okay so he has worked on many of these for the $24,000...just a little confused that both of the work orders are the
same. Originally for $20,000 and currently it’s now an additional $130,000.
Steve Bolton, Corporation Counsel
The $20,000 was never going to be the total amount. That was sort of a get started situation.
Alderwoman Lu
Okay. Just, | think, one more follow up if | could. | had a question about the budget meeting when Assessing presented
to us. | recall that the line item for, | think, other contracted services was lower and we were told that that was because
we now have a fully —| think Mr. Vincent is fully qualified to do commercial assessing and so | just wondered about that.
That just seems a little bit different than now receiving a proposal to hire someone for commercial assessing.
Steve Bolton, Corporation Counsel
| was not — if | can finish — 1 was not here for the budget meeting with the Assessing Department but my understanding is
you're now talking about two different things. Prior to Mr. Vincent being hired, a man named Rex Norman was doing
consulting and in that capacity was essentially operating as the supervising assessor to the other assessors in the office.
Also we were using a man named David Cornell on a general consulting basis or his expertise in municipal assessing. He
provided some overall guidance in reviewing the operation of the department, the techniques that were being used, and
providing guidance in that way. Now that Mr. Vincent is on board, we no longer have the need for Mr. Norman’s services
so | think that accounts for some and we are probably are making much less use of Mr. Cornell but he’s a valuable
resource. | wouldn’t be surprised if over time we wanted to consult with him again.
But what we're talking about the item that’s under consideration now is an independent fee appraiser to use as expert
witness in individual cases. That is not something that we would use Mr. Vincent for typically.
Chairman Harriott-Gathright
Thank you Corporate Counsel. Alderwoman Kelly.
Alderwoman Kelly
Many of my questions were asked. | was going to ask about our new Chief Assessor and what role he can potentially
plan and the other question | had was just the jump in going from $20,000 to $150,000. It does sound like there was an
answer there but | wouldn’t be upset by a little bit of a more thorough explanation. | get it. I’m a consultant but we’re
jumping almost 6 - 7 times from what our original contract was.
Steve Bolton, Corporation Counsel
The $20,000 was never an estimate of what the total expense would be for all of these properties.
