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Recently I was asked a question about how local township assessors associations bring value to our profession. I can answer from my own area and experiences with the Rock Island Township Assessor’s Association.
When I started in 2013, my local association would meet once a month. With the expansion of email, desktop sharing, teleconferencing, and the like, the meetings were changed to twice a year. Special or more meetings can and have been scheduled when the assessment offices were dealing with specific items throughout the county.
In the early days, our association would hold its meetings at night, after hours. There would be dinner provided for the township assessors and deputies covered by the dues to the association. We would have a speaker on various topics related to the assessment or real estate.
Since the change in meeting frequency, we mainly meet in the fall before the Rock Island County Board of Review publishes. We also meet in the spring after the Board of Review closes. This way we can discuss the types of complaints or challenges that came up and how we can address them in a more uniform manner throughout our individual jurisdictions. This in turn will help keep the process uniform throughout the county. We invite and get attendance from the Board of Review and the Chief County Assessment Office. We find this is a nice way to get participation and open conversation between the local assessors and the county level.
We also do have very casual fun meetings at times. For instance, we had the current assessors and deputies take a river dinner cruise on the Mississippi River. We also invited retired assessment officials in the area. It is important to not only look to the future but hear and learn about the past practices. This profession is always evolving; there is always something to learn.
Through these meetings, the value is that personal knowledge is being enriched by sharing. A fellow assessor might be doing things differently from you. It gives you a chance to talk about things, maybe adopt a different way or view. The important thing is communication. By meeting face to face several times a year, it also keeps the other communication channels open. It is like the invaluable networking when you get to the conferences held by the IPAI, TOI, IAAO, etc. The experience and wisdom of others in our profession are a great but often overlooked resource.
We have good association participation in Rock Island County. When an issue arises that impacts all of us, we have engagement from every township assessor. At times when our meetings focus on more siloed issues, we still have excellent engagement because each assessor understands the need to unite and communicate for the greater good.
As I mentioned, our meetings typically have a speaker on a related topic. We also have a short business meeting either at the beginning or the end of the presentation. However, the Pledge of Allegiance is always the first order of business before we begin the meeting. We keep our agenda simple:
This is just a short overview. If you do not currently have a local township assessors association, it is easy to begin one. There are some regulations that need to be followed, but nothing too difficult to navigate. The benefit of having such an organization is great. For myself, when I was new in the industry, attending our local assessor’s association meetings was an invaluable way for me to learn and connect with the other local assessors and their offices in my immediate area. This education started before I was given the opportunity to go to classes and obtain my CIAO designation. More than that, it helped me decide that I do like and enjoy this line of work and wanted to pursue this as my career.
Derek Devers serves as the Moline Township Assessor in Rock Island County and is the current President of the Rock Island County Assessor’s Association. With years of experience in property assessment, Derek is dedicated to fostering collaboration, consistency, and professional growth within the assessment community.
