A 109-minute executive session — the third time since August 12 that a closed-door meeting was on the agenda regarding the county assessor — wasn’t enough for Sequoyah County Commissioners to reaffirm their commitment to Brandy Dobbs’ success.

Instead, the county commissioners chose to kick the can on down the road in the ongoing scrutiny of the office that determines the fair market value for property throughout the county.

With almost every seat filled for the weekly meeting, the county commissioners convened in executive session “to discuss the matter of the employment, demotion, disciplining or resignation of the Sequoyah County Assessor.”

By the time District 3 Commissioner Jim Rogers gaveled the public portion of the meeting back to order, District Attorney Jack Thorp announced “based on our assessment at this time, with what we believe to be a good path going forward in the shortterm, it is our recommendation that we take no action at this time, however, with continued evaluation.”

Following a 97-minute executive session in August, Rogers had announced that, after talking with the Oklahoma Tax Commission, “they feel like there’s a lot of improvement going on” in the county assessor’s office.

Rogers then spoke on behalf of county commissioners, specifying that “we want that office to be successful. We want you to have what you need to be successful,” he publicly told Dobbs.

“The auditors have stated that things are looking good, that we’re getting to a point that things are improving,” Rogers explained in August.

District 1 Commissioner Ray Watts concurred.

“We had all the confidence in the world of her — still do,” he said in August. “All three of use appointed her. There’s a lot of confidence in Brandy.”

But like in August, the commissioners chose to continue monitoring the success of the county assessor’s office instead of putting questions to rest by issuing a clean bill of health.

During the first hour of the executive session, the commissioners received input from Gary Snyder and Adam Ortenburger from the Center for Local Government Technology (CLGT) at Oklahoma State University, as well as Todd Holliday, president of LandMark GSI, which provides the computer-assisted mass appraisal (CAMA) software that is revolutionizing the way county assessors operate.

Following those separate behind-closeddoors sessions, there was a 35-minute discussion among Dobbs and the commissioners.

Thorp pointed out that no comments are allowed regarding what transpired during executive session. The assessor’s office provided a compliance checklist showing what the Oklahoma Tax Commission expected to be accomplished since July, and Dobbs says all tasks have been completed. Those compliance measures include: • Continue removing “value calculation function codes” used to artificially hold/lower CAMA-generated fair cash values

• Continue working with the CLGT in redelineating residential neighborhood boundaries with the goal of reducing the number of neighborhoods from several hundred to about 20

• Continue working with CLGT and the LandMark CAMA staff to import current parcel mapping from DataScout into LandMark

• Work with CLGT and LandMark to mass update residential parcels with new neighborhood codes and land model codes derived from the re-delineating residential neighborhood boundaries

• Work with CLGT to create new residential neighborhood factors that match current sale indicated fair cash value Compliance expectations not due until February and March 2025 include:

• Work with CLGT to create new residential neighborhood factors that match current sale indicated fair cash value

• Produce and mail County Assessor Notices of Increase in Valuation of Real Property (OTC Form 926) Other business

In other business, the commissioners approved an agreement between Sequoyah County 911 and the town of Muldrow.

“With the workforce out there now, we’re having a hard time finding dispatchers-in-training. I really see dispatching going centralized anyway,” Watts explained, who is also serving as interim town administrator for Muldrow. “Along with that dispatching, you’ve got to have jailers. We’re going to keep our jail open, but we are going to try a year with 911 and see if we can maybe … it’ll cut our costs down, and it’ll help them. David’s come up with a contract, and the town has signed it. It just needs board of commissioners approval.”

“As a 911 board member, all the 911 board is on board with that. We’ve got a good deal hashed out to try and see how it’ll go,” explained Rural Fire Protections District #1 Fire Chief Heath Orabanec, who returned Sunday from a four-month deployment to California, Idaho, Utah and New Mexico where he helped fight wildfires. “Hopefully it’ll be effective for them, and be beneficial to 911 financially. If this works, we already have some other cities that are paying right now for us for our services there.”

Rogers agreed, because 911 dispatchers are “24/7, 365. It’s just a no-brainer for the cities as well.”

The commissioners also opened bids on a rubber tire loader requested for District 3.

Four bids were received — G.W. Van Keppel, 2021 Hyundai HL940A,$104,000;Warren Equipment, 2021 Cat 926m, $144,550; Kirby Smith Machinery, 2023 Komatsu WA2008, $147,300; and Kirby Smith Machinery, 2022 Komatsu WA270-8, $169,800. Rogers will review the bids, and is expected to request awarding the winning bid next week.

Following the regular weekly meeting, the commissioners convened an emergency meeting to extend the countywide burn ban through Nov. 4.

According to the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture and Forestry, any person convicted of a violation of a county-issued burn ban shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine of not more than $500, imprisonment for up to one year or both.

Under a burn ban, it is against the law for any person to set fire to any forest, grass, range, crop or other wildlands. Campfires, burning trash and bonfires are also prohibited.