PORTAGE (WKZO-AM) — Portage is starting from scratch to rebuild its assessor’s office, in part because of philosophical differences between Portage City Council members over how homes should be assessed.
It’s been a point of contention in the city for years.
City Manager Lawrence Shaffer introduced Ed Vandervries, the new head of the department, on Tuesday, who will be part-time.
Schaffer also says he’s hiring another assessor with management experience to be the assistant director and manage day-to-day operations.
“He knows how to do it, I have a good overview for it, so we got a good team to work on this,” Shaffer said.
But Councilman Terry Urban says they spent $200,000 on investigations that found nothing wrong with the old department.
“Members of this council and this administrator have created an environment where nobody wants to come and work for this assessor’s office,” Urban said. “There’s a reason why we didn’t get any full-time applicants.”
They also held a closed-door session to evaluate Shaffer’s performance. They voted 6-1 to give Shaffer the same two percent raise that other workers at city hall are getting.
Shaffer will also get a $1,000 bonus.
– John McNeill
EDITOR’S NOTE: A Previous version of the story indicated that Shaffer would get a $100,000 bonus. This was incorrect. Shaffer will receive a $1,000 bonus. We regret this error.
