Tarrant Appraisal District chair Kathryn Wilemon could lose seat after Keller vote
The chairwoman of the Tarrant Appraisal District board could lose her seat after a vote Tuesday night by the Keller City Council.
The council voted unanimously to recall Kathryn Wilemon after several high-profile controversies at the agency over the last year. For her to lose her seat, other Tarrant County taxing entities that voted for Wilemon in 2021 would have to take similar action.
TAD board members aren’t elected by taxpayers. Rather, entities in Tarrant County with taxing authority, like the Keller City Council, cast votes. Because taxpayers do not vote for TAD board members, the Keller mayor and council said they believed it was critical to take action that reflects taxpayer concerns.
“I think the overwhelming consensus we get from interactions with our residents is that no, we have not improved accountability and transparency at TAD,” said Keller Mayor Armin Mizani. “In fact, we’re more distrusting of TAD leadership.”
Council took up the issue after multiple members of the public, including local Realtor and tax consultant Chandler Crouch, appealed to the council to recall Wilemon at a Feb. 7 city meeting.
“There is a cultural problem at the appraisal district on how they address problems,” Crouch told the council during a public comment session. “It seems like the main mode of operation that they attempt to solve issues is just to ignore them and wait for them to go away.”
There have been repeated public calls for more transparency at TAD, which is responsible for local property tax appraisals among 73 jurisdictions in the county.
In November 2021, TAD’s director of residential appraisals, Randy Armstrong, filed complaints against Crouch with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. In the complaints, he invoked his position at TAD without permission to do so. An investigative report found no merit to the complaints.
The Star-Telegram has requested the report. The board’s attorney, Matthew Tepper, wrote to the state attorney general seeking to prevent the release of the full report, arguing attorney-client privilege.
In September, Armstrong was suspended. Chief appraiser Jeff Law also was suspended for his handling of the situation.
When asked why the Keller council voted to recall Wilemon, Mizani and Councilwoman Jessica Juarez referred to these instances, as well as a June TAD meeting in which hundreds of people showed support for Crouch but were forced to wait outside in triple-digit heat because the meeting room could accommodate only 14 people.
Earlier this month, the TAD board agreed to create a committee charged with reviewing the agency’s conflict of interest policy for employees. The review was prompted by a Star-Telegram report that detailed a TAD employee’s potential violation of the policy, which involved selling real estate in Tarrant County while working the taxing agency.
Juarez said she received dozens of emails about the complaints against Crouch and the June TAD meeting. Citizens’ concerned prompted her to do her own research into the issues, she said.
Mizani said, “When you have residents that see these stories and this continues to get worse, something needs to happen.”
