Joe Don Bobbitt’s tenure as the next Tarrant chief appraiser started with a standing ovation from the board of directors.
At its last meeting of the year, directors welcomed a new chief appraiser, closing the chapter on over a year of controversies that have marked the agency, including an internal IT investigation and leaked recordings that resulted in the firing of an executive director.
Despite some of the appraisal district’s controversies, Bobbitt said he looks forward to the challenge of rebuilding trust with taxpayers.
“I like taking things apart and seeing why they work and seeing how it works, and trying to fix things,” Bobbitt said. “This gives me opportunity to play with stuff and hopefully try to fix up what I know is already a good product.”
Bobbitt most recently served as chief appraiser of McLennan County in McGregor, Texas, for over 12 years. He also served in the U.S. Army for four years with two tours in Iraq.
Bobbitt will replace William Durham, who has been serving as interim chief appraiser since September after former chief appraiser Jeff Law resigned. Durham will remain until Feb. 1, 2024, and will receive a $10,000 performance bonus for his work at the end of his tenure as interim chief appraiser.
Durham, who will return full time to his role as director of commercial appraisal, said he will be there to support Bobbitt as he takes on this new role after a tough almost four months.
“There is a renewed spirit of optimism in the building,” Durham said.
Durham said he was not interested in throwing his hat in the candidate pool.
“I really enjoy what I’m doing in my old job,” he said. “I can’t see leaving that.”
The board hired a search firm to find the next chief appraiser.
Some critics of the appraisal district were concerned the board rushed the naming of a new chief appraiser when three new board members will be announced in January 2024.
Realtor Chandler Crouch, who has been speaking out against some of the agency’s practices after being targeted by a former director, said he would have preferred the new board to select the new chief appraiser.
“I know that there are several appraisal districts who are looking to hire.” Crouch said. “I have no choice but to have faith that this board made the best decision.”
Board members addressed these concerns and said that this was the best decision to move forward.
“This candidate is phenomenal,” said board member Rich DeOtte, who admitted having some initial concerns about the process. “I think the executive culture here changed a lot and that means transparency, openness, working with the board to solve some of the problems that we had to address.”
Crouch said the hiring of the new chief appraiser is the first step in rebuilding trust.
“We’ve taken big steps in that direction. The head of every department has changed, the chief appraiser and the board — the list is pretty long so we’re heading in the right direction,” he said.
Bobbitt said next year will be busy for him and the incoming new board members.
“It’s going to be a learning experience for them and us, and we’ll get it handled,” he said.
Forensic IT investigation finds no evidence of compromise
The board of directors also received an update on an internal IT investigation related to a potential security breach in the agency’s system.
Matthew Tepper, attorney for the appraisal district, announced that the third-party firm Apollo completed its forensic analysis of the agency’s computer system and found no evidence that any taxpayer information was accessed or compromised from the system.
“That does not mean that there was absolutely no chance that there was any taxpayer information that was compromised or taken,” Tepper told the board.
The findings are consistent with the Dec. 13 update on the issue, Tepper said.
Apollo’s findings also corroborated Tepper’s findings that there were vulnerabilities found in the agency’s computer system in the spring, summer and fall of 2022.
According to the forensic analysis, two pieces of malware made their way into the system.
“Fortunately, for TAD and all the public in Tarrant County, when that malware was launched, it failed. As a result, there was not a negative impact that was made,” Tepper said.
Tepper told the board the firm plans to do a scrub of the dark web next year to check if any TAD or taxpayer’s compromised information is out there.
Board member Vince Puente said while this investigation may be over, security remains an ongoing issue.
“Even if we do the dark web search, that may still be inconclusive. It doesn’t mean that we can tell the public your information was never taken from our system,” Puente said.
A final written report to the board is expected at the end of the month and will then be released to the public.
Sandra Sadek is a Report for America corps member, covering growth for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at sandra.sadek@fortworthreport.org or on Twitter at @ssadek19.
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