Leelanau Township unanimously voted to offer the position of township tax assessor to Barry Wauldron at its meeting on March 18.
Wauldron was the second of two candidates to interview for the position. On March 17, the township board interviewed its first candidate, David Yack.
Discussions regarding the search for a new tax assessor began earlier this year, with the board keeping in mind that the current contract with Michigan Assessing Service was set to end March 31.
Wauldron will replace the previous assessor, Christy Brow, when he assumes duties as early as April.
“I think the interviews went very well,” said township Supervisor Barbara Conley at the township’s March 18 special meeting. “We also had most of our Board of Review in attendance at the meetings and they were able to offer a couple of questions to each of the candidates. I think both were very qualified, but Mr. Wauldron was a unanimous choice for the board.”
Wauldron is credited as being a level III certified Michigan Advanced Assessing Officer (MAAO), but has been working in assessing since 2018, Conley said. He has a master’s degree in urban planning and historic preservation from Eastern Michigan University, and was previously a geography lecturer at the University of Michigan-Dearborn from 20042017. Conley added that Wauldron has experience in assessing agricultural, rural, and suburban properties for several townships downstate such as London and Dundee townships. In addition, Wauldron ran for election for Lodi Township Supervisor in the state’s November 2024 general election.
While Wauldron currently resides downstate, he is a frequent visitor to Northport and Leelanau County. During the special meeting, Waldron said he typically comes up north to Leelanau every year, and has been visiting the area with his wife for the last 20 years.
“It (the job) would be a great fit for us and the idea is that over an amount of time, we would eventually relocate,” Wauldron said at the meeting.
A couple members of the township’s Board of Review (BOR) were also present at the meeting to ask Wauldron questions. Leelanau Township’s BOR currently includes Paul Rebori, Robert (Bob) Carroll, and Mary Tonneberger. The BOR is a local committee of electors from within the community and are appointed to two-year terms by the township board to receive and hear taxpayer appeals of the annual assessment roll. Citizens who appear before the BOR typically challenge a decision of the assessor and the BOR is responsible for making an independent judgment based on the facts and on law. Decisions are only made by the BOR members though.
BOR member Carroll brought up the concern of accessibility for citizens that need to reach the assessor. He said one of the things he and members noticed during the BOR is how a strong majority of people spoke about inaccessibility in trying to contact the previous assessor, noting how part of that reason is because of limited office hours. There were also issues in getting answers from the assessor through emails and phone calls, with some in-person appointments scheduled to see properties being no-call, no shows.
Wauldron assured Carroll and the board that there would be no problems like that if he was the assessor, explaining how he would also make a point to introduce himself to citizens in his first months on the job. In terms of the BOR, Wauldron said the assessor should be responsible for touching base with members and making sure they receive required and upto- date training.
“I can tell you that there would not be a no-call no show, that is now acceptable. I’ve been in public service my whole life and it’s not so I can short change the public… I like to make appointments with people, we know where we’re meeting and when we’re meeting and what they want to talk to me about,” Wauldron said. “There’s always issues when you come into a new job and there’s always fires that need to be put out or issues that weren’t resolved previously… I like to talk to them (citizens) beforehand so I can have their information up and try to answer their questions intelligently because I’m looking at their property on the computer.”
