Former assessor to help department meet requirements

By Kristyne E. Demske
C & G Staff Writer

SHELBY TOWNSHIP — A $500 gift will end up costing the township’s now former deputy assessor/acting department head more than $20,000 a year, after the Board of Trustees approved his demotion to appraiser III at a Nov. 18 work session.

Jaime Barra’s demotion will be effective for at least as long as it takes for the township to get its tax rolls back from the state, which could be up to a year. After the rolls are returned, board members said the situation will be reassessed.

Barra told Police Chief Robert Leman in September that he had received a $500 gift in the spring from Mark Kassab — a member of the Downtown Development Authority and former Planning Commission member who works for a developer — after a tax parcel had been split for Kassab’s employer. Civil service rules prohibit such a gift. Barra also alleges that he went to Supervisor Richard Stathakis after receiving the gift for guidance, and said he and Stathakis agreed that Barra would donate $400 to charities of his choice and Stathakis would donate $100 to his charity of choice, his church. Stathakis denies allegations he was ever told about the gift.

The Board of Trustees hired attorney William Pilchak of the law firm Pilchak, Cohen & Tice of Auburn Hills Sept. 30 to investigate the matter. Pilchak’s report recommended that “Mr. Barra be removed from the acting department head position, even if that entails a demotion,” and that “Mr. Barra be suspended without pay for a period of time that will result in a financial loss that significantly outweighs his receipt of $500.”

The board voted Nov. 10 to suspend Barra without pay for one week, at a loss of about $1,650 to Barra, and to demote the deputy assessor from his position as acting head of the assessing department. No decision was made at that time as to when the suspension and demotion would take place, but Barra has since served the suspension, doing so from Nov. 13-19.

Rena Corum, assistant to the human resources director for the township, said at the Nov. 18 work session that Shelby Township currently had a vacant appraiser III position open. She recommended eliminating the deputy assessor’s position in the demotion and reorganizing the department without that title, but board members decided to just leave the deputy assessor position vacant for now.

Appraiser Supervisor Thomas Monchak would continue to supervise employees in the department, as Corum said there would just be a removal of one level of supervision above Monchak with Barra’s demotion.

“We have supervision of employees and supervision of work product,” Trustee Paula Filar said. “Jaime (Barra) … really wasn’t supervising the employees. Tom was doing it. He (Barra) was responsible for making sure that we got the rolls in, that we did the work that we need to do. Those duties, really, have been taken away.”

 The state took possession of the township’s assessment rolls over the summer because a Level 4 assessor did not sign them in March. Shelby Township is currently undergoing measures to get the rolls back and when the township is in compliance and the tax rolls are returned, Assessment Administration Services’ Level 4 assessor, Jim Elrod, will become Shelby Township’s certifying assessor under the contract with the company, and “we switch gears and make sure that the day-to-day operations continue to improve,” Elrod said.

At that point, the board will review Barra’s position again, possibly elevating him back to the position of deputy assessor.

While the state is in possession of the township’s tax rolls, Lisa Griffin, president of Assessment Administration Services and a Level 3 assessor who was the acting head of the township’s assessing department from September 2006 until May 2008, will be “supervising that the work is getting done,” Corum said. 

Barra said he felt he was being punished more than was originally called for in Pilchak’s report and asked that he just be demoted back to deputy assessor from his rank as acting department head, which would result in the loss of $12,000 annually.

“I’ve served this township and this community for almost 19 years,” he said. “I’ve worked with the board on PILOTS (payments in lieu of taxes), on a lot of different things that are outside the normal work.”

Russ Matika, a member of the township’s Board of Review, agreed that Barra contributes in a way Monchak can’t do by himself.

“I really do think that we need a deputy assessor,” he said at the Nov. 18 work session.

But the board disagreed, voting unanimously on a motion made by Trustee Paula Filar, and seconded by Clerk Terri Kowal, to demote Barra to appraiser III, “reserving the right to readdress the position at whatever time we … receive the rolls back.”

Kowal said she felt that Barra never should have been paid at the acting department head’s level — a pay scale usually reserved for the Level 4 head of the department — but Barra said he never asked for that promotion and was given the position in the fall of 2008 under former Supervisor Ralph Maccarone “unbeknownst to me.”

Barra was paid $85,745 annually as the acting department head of the assessing department. As an appraiser III he’ll make $65,639 a year and will incur other benefit cuts relating to that demotion. He said he’s also had to shell out about $3,000 in legal fees because of the investigation.

You can reach Staff Writer Kristyne E. Demske at kdemske@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1041.