County commissioners scrutinize county assessor
S equoy ah County Commissioners’ weekly meetings are not known for much drama.
Sequoyah County Commissioners’ weekly meetings are not known for much drama.
Monday was an exception.
For more than 1½ hours, about 20 people waiting in the commissioners’ outer office turned their heads in anticipation every time the door to the commissioners’ conference room opened.
Those waiting anxiously wanted to learn the fate of County Assessor Brandy Dobbs, whose employment status was the topic of discussion during a 97-minute-long executive session.
According to the commissioners’ agenda, the purpose of the executive session was “to discuss the employment, hiring, appointment, promotion, demotion, disciplining or resignation of the Sequoyah County Assessor.”
The conference room door opened five times during the executive session, and heads turned in anticipation each time. The first three times the door opened was by District Attorney Jack Thorp, who asked those waiting in the hall to move away from the doorway to ensure privacy, later emerged to speak privately with Dobbs, then when Thorp and Dobbs entered the conference room where Dobbs had a 35-minute discussion with the commissioners. The remaining two times that piqued everyone’s interest were when District 1 Commissioner Ray Watts emerged for a brief time, and then when Thorp opened the door a final time to allow everyone waiting to re-enter.
When District 3 Commissioner Jim Rogers gaveled the public portion of the meeting back to order, he summarized — albeit somewhat cryptic — what occurred behind closed doors.
Jim Rogers
“As county commissioners, it’s our job to make sure that we oversee and make sure that any situation that comes up, that we address that situation. We had an opportunity to bring Brandy in and visit with her. We feel like at this point — we’ve had an opportunity to visit with the OTC (Oklahoma Tax Commission), and they feel like there’s a lot of improvement going on there. So at this time, we feel like what we’d probably rather do is entertain a motion to table this until September 30, which is the first deadline and see where we’re at at that point.
“I want everybody to know this right here — we want that office to be successful. We want you to have what you need to be successful,” Rogers told Dobbs.
“We’ve learned a lot in the last few days. But when we get sent an email that gets our attention, we have to address that. We can’t just turn a blind eye to it.
“A lot of questions were asked. Brandy answered several of them,” Rogers explained. “And like I said, we want her office to be successful, we want you guys to be successful, we want you to have what you need to be successful. The last thing we want to do is take anybody’s job.” Rogers then said he would entertain a motion to table the agenda item, and the commissioners will continue to monitor the success of the county assessor’s office. “Like I said, the auditors have stated that things are looking good, that we’re getting to a point that things are improving. So hopefully we continue on that path,” Rogers said. “Brandy was in here explaining a lot of stuff that probably just flew right over the top of our heads. We’ve learned a lot about this in the last week or two.”
District 2 Commissioner Beau Burlison reiterated that the commissioners want the county assessor’s office — and every county office — to be successful.
“We had all the confidence in the world of her — still do,” Watts interjected. “All three of us appointed her. There’s a lot of confidence in Brandy.”
Watts then moved that the agenda item be tabled until Sept. 30, a motion that was unanimously approved.
More than an hour after the executive session ended, Dobbs explained what was discussed with the commissioners.
“We were aware there were discrepancies within the data,” she said. “We had already been diligently working with the Oklahoma Tax Commission and CLGT/OSU (Center for Local Government Technology at Oklahoma State University) upon discovery last year to address and correct those discrepancies.
“On July 12, 2024, my office sat down with the OTC and CLGT to outline a plan and steps necessary to rectify the discrepancies. We have already completed most of the items in said plan, which we received from the OTC on July 18, 2024.
“We are confident we will be successful in meeting all deadlines outlined in the plan. As always, the assessor’s office is here for the taxpayers of Sequoyah County to answer any questions or concerns,” said Dobbs, who has been county assessor for the past three years.
In other business, the commissioners approved:
• Financing documents for the sheriff’s office to purchase two Ford F150 police responders on state contract pricing
• Agreement for work on private property by and between Justin and Michelle Davis and District 3 for removal of trees along a roadway
• Rural Economic Action Plan (REAP) grant application for District 1, which, if funded, will be for the construction of a low-water crossing east of Roland
• Bill of sale for Indian Capital Technology Center for the purchase of a 140M motor grader
• Digi SmartSense quote of $3,210.38 for installation of equipment for the Sequoyah County Health Department, which monitors vaccine in storage units and room temperature
The county commissioners meet at 10 a.m. on Mondays in the courthouse annex.
