Aquinnah selectmen accepted a bid from the Regional Resource Group (RRG) to outsource the assessment of property values for the town.
At Tuesday’s selectmen’s meeting, the board also appointed Elaine Vanderhoop and Gary Haley as the new assessors, after both Marsha Shufrin and Adam Wilson, the former assessors, recently resigned.
The decision by the town is the latest development in a long-running saga of contention and distrust between the board of selectmen and the board of assessors.
With regard to the bid for assessing services, the former board of assessors sent a letter to the president and regional tax assessor of RRG, Harold Scheid, stating that the decision by the selectmen to outsource came with no input from the board of assessors.
The letter also mentioned concerns for additional “amenities” offered by RRG that are priced beyond next year’s fiscal budget, but are essential for town government to function.
Angela Cywinski, the town’s paid assessor who is being replaced by the consultant, said functions such as reading deeds and charting cartographic maps would require additional fees to be paid to the company.
Another thing the letter took up was the responsibilities of the board of assessors to perform “mandated tasks that the outsourcing company are not contracted to perform,” the letter read.
“We do not have a concise delineation of the obligations this volunteer board will have to undertake without a paid assistant assessor or even a clerk to work with.”
The letter said assessors were present for the bid opening, and requested a copy of the proposal for review, but were never forwarded a copy.
“We do not believe outsourcing is a viable option for the town currently. As a result, we voted unanimously not to accept your proposal for outsourcing assessing services for the Town of Aquinnah,” the letter from the board of assessors read.
Concerning the board’s decision to outsource the town’s assessing services, Cywinski said selectmen “rushed through the decision with no rhyme or reason.” She suggested that proper procedures for terminating her position as the paid assistant assessor were not taken.
“The selectmen are bullying a 12-year employee. And there has been no disciplinary hearing — no one has come to me and told me the reason I am being laid off,” Cywinski said.
Cywinski said that, although RRG has experience working with small seasonal communities in Massachusetts, they have never worked with an oceanside resort community.
“The people that are going to suffer the most from this decision are seasonal taxpayers who won’t have a direct line of communication with the board of assessors,” Cywinski said.
Angela has been wrongfully terminated by Selectmen who, in order to get rid of an excellent employee who knew too much, first seized control of the independent Assessors, and now contracted out Angela’s duties, in a vicious personal vendetta which will hurt the town. Angela repeatedly notified Selectmen that the town cannot rely forever on large annual overrides. Rather than trying to fix the problem by enforcing the Settlement and seeking federal reimbursement, the Selectmen have killed the messenger. The town will continue to require large overrides and head inexorably towards the tax ceiling.
Hopefully the drama Ms. Cywinski continually found around herself can now fade away. RRG is a professional team, no drama, no baggage, no agenda. A smart move by the town. Honestly — how many seasonal taxpayers will even know she’s gone, if that’s her biggest concern? End the drama, thank you.
I learned more than I ever wanted to know about the dangers of outsourcing assessing about 12 years ago when Vision Appraisal’s reassessment in West Tisbury blew up because they and the assessors didn’t realize that some of the people they were trying to, uh, stick it to actually lived and voted here. Dear “New News”: there is NO SUCH THING as a profit-making company with “no baggage, no agenda.” Without strong oversight by local elected officials, outsourcing can be a disaster. And in case you haven’t noticed, rising property values are probably the #1 cause of the housing crisis, the exodus of year-rounders from MV, and the disintegration of what used to be a community.
I hope Angela has something in her contract that might prevent her termination.
Why outsource something that will cost more, instead of keep island money on the island ?
Aquinnah selectman are horrible – this Was retributive and personal. I don’t know how residents continue to vote for these clowns.
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