A standing-room-only crowd of more than 40 people showed up last Monday before last for the weekly meeting of the Sequoyah County Commissioners. Many were in attendance to witness the commissioners proclaim October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, while others were there for an executive session “to discuss the employment, hiring, appointment, promotion, demotion, disciplining or resignation of the Sequoyah County Assessor.”
But things did not go as planned. The proclamation was “left off the agenda,” and the executive session was postponed.
District 3 Commissioner Jim Rogers asked for a motion to table the planned executive session until Oct. 21, explaining that “we couldn’t get all the documentation information we needed to see where our progress was right now until that time.”
Immediately following the meeting, Rogers and District 1 Commissioner Ray Watts justified the decision to delay the review of the county assessor.
“We just prolonged it,” Rogers said. “We were just trying to get an update on the progress in that office.”
“The auditor’s report won’t come back until the first of the month, so there’s no way to update it,” Watts added.
“We’re just pushing it back. We’ll make sure we get good information,” Rogers concluded.
The county assessor’s office came under scrutiny on Aug. 12 when the commissioners convened an executive session that lasted more than one and one-half hours in which the employment status of Brandy Dobbs was the topic of discussion.
Following the closeddoor session, Rogers summarized — albeit somewhat cryptic — what was discussed.
“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.”
The commissioners agreed to table the August issue until Sept. 30, which was the deadline for OTC reports “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 publicly told Dobbs on Aug. 12.
“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 about the August executive session. “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 said the commissioners would 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.
Watts and 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 added on Aug. 12. “All three of us appointed her. There’s a lot of confidence in Brandy.”
Following the August meeting, 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,” said Dobbs, who has been county assessor for the past three years.
