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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Board of Civil Authority - 09/22/2022BOARD OF CIVIL AUTHORITY 22 SEPTEMBER 2022 The South Burlington Board of Civil Authority held a meeting on Thursday, 22 September 2022, at 6:00 p.m., in the second floor Conference Room, City Hall, 180 Market Street. Members Present: C. Shaw, Chair; D. Kinville, C. Trombly, H. Riehle, M. Emery, T. Barritt, B. Gross, A. Gross, P. Mahoney, C. Wagner, B. Nowak, M. St. Germain Also Present: M. Lyons, Assessor; R. Lisk 1. Review evacuation plans in case of an emergency. Mr. Shaw reviewed emergency plans. 2. Comments and questions from the public not related to the agenda: No comments or questions were presented. 3. Any change in the order of the Agenda: No changes were made to the Agenda. 4. BCA oath administered: Ms. Kinville administered the oath to members of the Board. 5. Approve Minutes from 28 July 2022: Mr. Trombly moved to approve the Minutes of 28 July 2022 as written. Mr. Gross seconded. Motion passed with all present voting in favor. 6. Hear appeals and set inspection date: a. South Burlington VT 1 FGF LLC – 124 Technology Park Way Mr. Shaw explained the appeal process. Ms. Kinville administered the oath to the appellant and to the Assessor. Mr. Lisk explained the need for a specific inspection time due to the nature of the building’s tenant. He then identified the building as located next to its “sister building,” (#88). It is 53,800 sq. ft. The building’s owner did not attend the appeal process last year. The original assessment was $18,076,000 which was reduced to $18,019,000 by the assessor. The sister building is appraised at $15,652,000. Mr. Lisk said he had looked at comparative sales in the area and also at an income approach. Sales range from a low of $72/sf to a high of $180/sf. He used an estimate of $200/sf for the usable area of 53,500 sf and got a sales approach estimated value of $10,700,000. BOARD OF CIVIL AUTHORITY 22 SEPTEMBER 2022 PAGE 2 Mr. Lisk said he then used an income approach using office property available for lease as of June 2022. Lease rates range from $12 to $21/sf for comparable or inferior office space in the general area. Using $21/sf NNN, office vacancy and bad debt of 10%, gross expenses of 20% GRI, and a market office capitalization rate of 8%, the fee simple value of the property would be $10,489,100. Mr. Lisk then said that based on both sales and income estimates, a fee simple value of the building would be $11,400,000. Ms. Lyons then explained that the building is a Class A building, well located and professionally managed. Class A buildings attract the highest quality tenants and command the highest rents. They tend to have long-term tenants. The current least is 10-20 years. Ms. Lyons noted that Mr. Lisk had said that $37/sf was “in the ballpark” for the lease. The information provided show the lease NNN Market per square foot at $21, and the income on the report is based on $21/sf. In the Income/Expense information, Ms. Lyons said she used the total square footage of the building as electrical rooms, janitorial closets, etc. are not removed from square footage calculations. Based on a conversation with Mr. Lisk, she used $37/sf which would equal $1,994,000 income. She used 15% for expenses based on the $226,840 expenses from Mr. Lisk. This totaled $287,137. She felt a vacancy rate of 10% was too high with a long-term tenant. She used 4% and a CAP rate of 6.9%. She also used the same tax load as 2021 at 2.13%. With this information she came up with a tax rate of $18,019,000., which is a slight decrease from the 2021 Grand List. Mr. Shaw asked about the existing commercial market. Mr. Lisk said there is a lot of unoccupied office space since the beginning of COVID with many people working from home. He added there is more demand on “credit risk.” Mr. Shaw asked if there is a difference between commercial and retail space. Mr. Lisk said both have difficulty but build to suit. Retail is doing well at this time. Mr. Gross asked what percentage of the building Immigration occupies. Mr. Lisk said 100%. GSA is a “front person” for all types of agencies. The lease is 15 years. Mr. Shaw asked why the appraisal wasn’t appealed before. Mr. Lisk did not know. Ms. Lyons noted that the building last sold on 10 December 2020 for $20,300,000. Mr. Lisk said the buyer paid that because the building is viewed as a triple rate entity and the buyer intends to be there a long time. They bought it with a GSA contract in place. BOARD OF CIVIL AUTHORITY 22 SEPTEMBER 2022 PAGE 3 Mr. Mahoney asked the percentage of tax paid by the landlord and tenant. Mr. Lisk said he didn’t believe that has been set. Mr. Shaw asked about any planned improvements to the building. Mr. Lisk was not aware of any. Ms. Lyons said the whole interior was redone in 2020 just before the sale of the building. Mr. Mahoney asked if there is anything further that could be done with the lot. Mr. Lisk said he didn’t think there is any excess land. There could possibly be a “bump out.” Testimony was then closed. It was agreed that Mr. Lisk will provide the Ms. Kinville with preferred inspection times from the tenant. An inspection team will then be assigned. Members agreed to meet on 20 October at 6 p.m. to hear the report of the inspection team. 7. Review August 9th Election: It was noted that candidates were not happy that they couldn’t get immediate results but that was explained to all candidates outside the polls on election day. Ms. Kinville acknowledged that is one of the drawbacks of the high speed scanner. She also explained how the scanner handled write-ins which helped at the end of the night counting. To purchase one for the city would cost $25,000. Ms. Kinville noted that the State is buying one. It took only one day for another town’s recount instead of the usual 3 days. Ms. Shaw said that over 10 years, it would pay for itself. Ms. Kinville said it is available for South Burlington to use for the November election. She felt that as time goes by, it will be used more and more by other communities. Ms. Kinville felt people liked voting in City Hall. Mr. Shaw felt the signage was excellent. Mr. Barritt suggested another round of publicizing new voting locations. Ms. Kinville suggested a full page in The Other Paper. Ms. Kinville brought up that it was mentioned by several election officials that there was a little too much visiting by election officials with voters and amongst themselves. Please keep conversations down to a reasonable amount of time and to make sure to not block the tabulator when visiting. 8. Begin discussion on elections impact on and capacity of Clerk’s office: BOARD OF CIVIL AUTHORITY 22 SEPTEMBER 2022 PAGE 4 Ms. Kinville said voting now begins 45 days before election day, and they are still doing all their regular work (e.g., marriage licenses, dog licenses, etc.). They are trying to find efficiencies. In the new budget, the office will get one full time person for some of the 45 days. Ms. Kinville was asked if people in the state are “getting this.” She said they are not. She also noted the number of Senior centers in the city to visit has grown over the years and there are now about 9 facilities in the city. Mr. Shaw asked what the BCA can do to help. Ms. Kinville wasn’t sure. Bringing in a person to help before the election would only be for non-complicated procedures. Much of the work that could be reduced prior to the election is setting all the schedules, more workers on pre- processing days, and maybe having BCA take over the senior visits. All of which would free up the clerk’s time to attend to the voters who are voting early. Mr. Mahoney asked if the Clerk’s budget was what it should be. Ms. Kinville said the budget is what the expenses are. The City Manager understands that most of what they do is statute-based. She has no problem setting her budget. 8. Other Business No other business was presented. As there was no further business to come before the Board, Mr. Barritt moved to continue the hearing to 20 October 2022 at 6:00 p.m. Ms. Emery seconded. The motion passed with all voting in favor.