Commissioners OK using private appraisal company

COEUR d’ALENE — Kootenai County commissioners approved a request Tuesday from Assessor Bela Kovacs to use a private company to conduct property appraisals and assist with training personnel.

The commissioners voted 2-1 on the request during a regular business meeting.

The estimated cost of the work and services to be performed by Highland Appraisal Inc. under the proposed agreement is $260,000, plus other expenses for travel, lodging, meals, mileage and materials.

Kovacs said there are about 1,600 new construction sites that will need to be appraised.

“As soon as the board signs the contract we should be good to go,” Kovacs said after the meeting.

He said the need to use Highland is due to staff vacancies, as well as computer and technology issues.

His office was down five residential appraisers and recently hired three, but they will need to be trained.

In a memorandum to the commissioners, Kovacs wrote, “The Assessor's Office presently is in a situation of having an insufficient number of qualified, experienced, and certified appraisal personnel to perform the work and services, thereby, potentially jeopardizing the ability to meet future statutory deadlines.”

Commissioner Bill Brooks cast the dissenting vote.

“I am tired of covering up or handing Bela a Band-Aid,” Brooks said later in his office.

He said Kovacs hasn’t been getting the job done.

“Now he wants us to hire somebody to do his job, and the answer is no, no and hell no,” Brooks said.

Commissioner Leslie Duncan questioned the costs involved in hiring Highland Appraisal Services as well as hiring and training new staff.

She noted the estimated quarter of a million dollars alone for Highland’s work, plus other expenses.

“Just want to make sure we’re keeping an eye on that balance,” she said.

Commissioner Chris Fillios also was concerned that costs could escalate and should be carefully monitored.

“That could get expensive,” he said.

Duncan said, when expenditures with Highland Appraisal hit $200,000 she would like Kovacs to check back in with the commissioners and provide an update on their work.

“Monitoring is part of any contract, so absolutely,” Kovacs said.

He said Highland is among the best in state, has the training, skills, technology and tools to operate effectively and efficiently.

He said they will be “showing us some best practices and how to use the systems that we currently have in ways we have not been using them.”

They plan to use Highland on a temporary basis.

“Ultimately, the goal is train up our own staff and not contract out for it,” Kovacs said.

Kovacs’ pay was recently cut in half from about $90,000 to $45,000 by the commissioners, who cited a failure to perform the duties of his office.

He was appointed to his office in May 2020, after the death of assessor Rich Houser. He won the Republican primary election for the office in May.

Kovacs defended his job performance in the Sept. 14 memorandum to commissioners.

It reads, in part:

“...the Kootenai County Assessor’s Office is now in a period of decline, instability, transition and challenge. The present situation is the result of a variety of factors not the least of which includes" the absence of a prior strategic plan, prior succession plan, or a prior continuity of operations plan.

He said the Assessor's Office's use of Highland is part of a recovery plan.

The first phase includes filling vacant positions, which is underway, and training staff in latest practices.

According to the memorandum from Kovacs, the plan also involves the engagement of "consultants and experts to assist in completing the work to meet statutory deadlines while also training new personnel and redesigning the departmental business process around best practices and state-of-the-art systems that will serve Kootenai County. This Recovery Plan will provide more efficient and functionally compatible business processes and systems."