SCHOOL BOARD

that board members are allowed to have one-on-one conversations and maintained that there was no violation of the law because the conversations didn’t include debate or formal action regarding Wise’s position.

“ e legislature chose to say they are only public meetings if three or more members meet,” Blue said. “At the end of the day, so long as the votes are taken in public, with debate and with discussion, then there’s no harm to transparency.”

Steve Zansberg, Marshall’s attorney, argued that Colorado open meetings law prohibits elected ofcials from any conversations about public business outside of public meetings, regardless of whether formal action is taken.

“All of those conversations of public business were meetings under the open meetings law, which denes a meeting as any kind of gathering convened to discuss public business,” Zansberg said. “It doesn’t matter if a decision was made.” e parties also disagreed whether Peterson and Williams’ meeting with Wise constituted an ultimatum for Wise to resign or be red.

In a recording of the meeting, submitted as evidence in the trial, Peterson told Wise if he didn’t want to resign, the board would move forward with termination.

“If you call us Monday and say ‘No, Mike, I don’t think I’d like to resign, I’d like to move forward with a termination,’ then we can get to a special meeting and appoint a hearing o cer,” Peterson said.

In testimony on Monday, Peterson said he, Williams and Wise discussed Wise’s options regarding ending his contract, but an ultimatum was never issued.

“We did not say ‘Superintendent you need to resign or else,’ we discussed the resignation as one of the many options he had available,” Peterson said.

In addition to arguments that the board didn’t violate open meetings law, Blue said if the judge nds serial meetings are illegal, he should decide that the board xed any violation of the law by holding the Feb. 4, 2022, meeting where they discussed and voted on Wise’s termination publicly.

“ e Feb. 4 meeting was a threehour long, properly convened meeting, in which the directors debated the issue and voted,” Blue said. “ e only conclusion this court can reach is that was a cure.” at number dwarfs the nexthighest year for appeals — roughly 13,500 in 2009, according to Damisch.

Zansberg said the subsequent meeting does not x violations of open meetings law because the Feb. 4 meeting happened after Marshall sued the board.

“(Blue) has cited no case in Colorado where a public body cured an improperly made decision after a lawsuit challenging that decision was led,” Zansberg said.

Following testimony and arguments, Holmes said he would issue a written ruling within the week.

As of April 6, the school district has spent around $152,000 on legal fees in this case.

For updates on possible verdicts, visit the website at coloradocommunitymedia.com.

His o ce sent roughly 150,000 notices of new property values for 2023. If the number of appeals totals about 30,000, that’s a 20% appeal rate, the highest percentage of appeals in recent history for the county, Damisch said.

High appeals return

It’s the job of county assessors’ o ces to establish accurate values of homes and other properties to determine how much property owners will owe government entities in taxes — a process meant to ensure that the amount of taxes people pay is fair and equitable.

( e assessor doesn’t set the tax rate but determines the value of the property that the tax rate then gets applied to. Local government entities like counties and school districts set the tax rates. Property tax rates are o cially called “mill levies.”) e property valuation homeowners were receiving around early May is based on data as of June 2022, near the recent peak in the realestate market. at’s “in large part due to the fact the market was slowly appreciating,” meaning home prices were rising,

So even though home prices have declined since then, property values from the assessor’s o ce re ect last year’s exceptional highs.

It was a di erent story for about the last decade: From around 2013 to 2021, in Damisch’s opinion, appeals were below average.

Damisch said.

So when homeowners would receive their notices of property value from the assessor’s o ce — based on the real-estate market from the prior year — the values were low compared to the market value at the time of receiving the notice, Damisch said.

But 2023 is the rst year since 2009 where many homeowners received a property value from the assessor’s o ce that is often higher than what their home is worth on the market at the time of the new notice, according to Damisch. In 2009, appeals reached a high mark due to the effects of the recession, he said.

(As of June 11, Damisch was not sure what percentage of the appeals that his o ce received this year were for residential property.)

Higher levels of review e appeal season started May 1, and June 8 was the deadline to le an appeal with the assessor’s o ce. e Douglas assessor’s o ce will issue its decisions on Aug. 15, Damisch said. at’s because “we will require every hour that’s available to us to get that done,” said Damisch, adding “we’re working nights and weekends” to get through all the appeals. ose whose appeals are denied but want to go further can raise the appeal to the county Board of Equalization from Sept. 1 to Sept. 15. e board hearings are held in September and October, and the board will send out decisions on Nov. 1 in the mail.

And if a person is still dissatis ed, they can le their appeal within 30 days of the mail date of that decision to the state Board of Assessment Appeals. Hearings at that level will be held throughout next year, according to Damisch.

Dupont Park needs your help!

About 50 volunteers are needed to mulch landscaping at the park from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, June 24. Grab your baseball team, softball league, neighbors, and friends and register now. Create your account now at douglasvolunteers.com and then navigate to the calendar for this event and click register.

Reserve your day pass at Rueter-Hess Reservoir

The reservoir is open for non-motorized water activities including paddle boarding, canoeing, and kayaking from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays into late October.

Due to parking limitations, reservations are required. The cost of a day pass is $10. Reservations must be made online. Visit douglas.co.us and search Reservations.

Decode Douglas County

Visit eight Douglas County Open Space or Park locations, and look for clues to crack the code. Pick up or print your booklet today, discover new places including Sandstone Ranch, and decode the secret of Douglas County outdoors! Visit dcoutdoors.org/decode to start your outdoor adventure.