Tarrant Appraisal District board adds oversight to employee-filed complaints

Tarrant Appraisal District employees will be required to obtain approval from the chief appraiser before submitting complaints to regulatory agencies, according to a new policy the board of directors approved at its Dec. 9 meeting. The policy is intended to add more oversight to complaints filed by appraisal district employees to agencies like the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, the Texas Real Estate Commission and other regulatory agencies. The policy passed 4-0, with board member Rich DeOtte abstaining. “We don’t like surprises. I don’t think any board does. So I think the policy will ensure that if that ever comes up again, that the chief appraiser is aware of it, the board’s aware of it, and that there is a process to do it,” board member Tony Pompa said. “We don’t want to keep somebody from making a complaint if they feel like wanting to be made legally can be made, but we need to know about it.”

Discussion regarding this policy started in June after Director of Residential Appraisal Randy Armstrong filed four complaints in his official capacity against Realtor Chandler Crouch to the Department of Licensing and Regulation. These complaints were filed without Chief Appraiser Jeff Law’s approval. This incident prompted the district to open an internal investigation into the matter, and Armstrong was suspended for a week, on Aug.12. That same day, the board of directors also voted to suspend Law for two weeks without pay for his handling of the situation. Law was up for evaluation at the Dec. 9 meeting but the task was tabled because of his illness-related absence at the board meeting that day. The chief appraiser’s evaluation’s timing aligns with recent calls to release the full internal report produced after the incident. The summary of the full report, produced by Walsh Gallegos, was made public during that Aug. 12 meeting. Board member DeOtte requested the full evaluation of Jeff Law to be released to the public on Nov. 11. In an interview with the Fort Worth Report in the following days, DeOtte brought up concerns of official oppression, which under the Texas Penal Code describes public officials taking advantage of their official capacity.