Board of Equalization and Review Open Meetings Report Card

Transylvania County, North Carolina

Representatives from the Transylvania NAACP supported the Rosenwald community and homeowners in their tax assessment appeal hearings beginning in April of 2025 and concluding in June 2025.

The hearings are held by the Transylvania Board of Equalization and Review.

The state of North Carolina allows public access to these hearings. This is facilitated by open government laws are known as “sunshine laws” because they help shed light and accountability on the government’s work.

All Government employees and elected officials have a responsibility to obey and respect the law, act ethically and conduct their work in an open manner.

In the last year we have found that the conduct of the Transylvania County Board of Equalization and Review during the 2025 convening for tax appeal hearings has violated both the spirit and the letter of the statutes and its own handbook despite requests to rectify its conduct.

The Report Card shown below itemizes the many instances where the specific statutes on open meetings were violated. Together, they demonstrate a willful disregard of the law.

The Board of Equalization and Review is appointed by the Transylvania County Commissioners. The information from this report card was submitted to them via email, you may read their response here: https://transnaacp.org/boer/2/

REPORT CARD

1 The Law:  § 143-318.9 Chapter 3 Preparation Item F ‘Space’

  • “All hearings should be held in a space which allows for the public to be present and witness all the hearings, deliberations, and actions of the board. An environment of the board hearings should be established to encourage citizen participation”.
  • Violations:
    • Meeting space was not sufficient in size to encourage citizen participation. The TCBER has as many members as the County Commission, plus two staff, yet hearings were held in a room capable of seating a dozen people at most.
    • The door was always closed when appeals were being heard
    • Outside the meeting room, the Board had an easel and sign which read “Tax Office Appeal Meeting. Please be seated until called.” The effect was to deter both appellants and the general public from entering the space during the hearing.
    • Twice the door was locked while hearings were held. One Board member shook his head “no” to the person trying to enter.  A second Board member unlocked the door after the person knocking said “you can’t do this”. Later in the day the door had to be unlocked again by a Board member.
    • County property appraiser Blair Greiter told Hannah Bowers in the tax office before the hearings began that he was not sure she would be allowed in the room during the hearings.
    • The Board chose to deliberate on all the day’s appeals at once, and if appellants had chosen to stay for deliberations, they would not have all fit in the room at once.

2 The Law: § 143-318.11 Chapter 4 General Considerations Item A number 3 & 4

  • “Commonly known as the “Sunshine Laws,” the state of North Carolina has enacted statutes designed to shed light on, and promote public access to government activities. Among these laws is the Open Meetings Law, which reflects the declared policy of the General Assembly that the hearings, deliberations, and actions of public bodies be conducted publicly”.
  • Violations:
    • The chair of the Board, John Decker, told Hannah Bowers to leave the room for deliberations.
    • On at least two occasions, Hannah Bowers or Angela Emerson entered the hearing room at the time a hearing was scheduled to begin, only to be told to leave the room as the Board had not yet begun and they were discussing ‘social matters’.

3 The Law: § 143-318.11 Chapter 4 General Consideration Item D Recommended Format number 11-13

  • “Once the board has indicated the course of action it will take concerning the appeal there should not be any other communication concerning the appeal between the board and the taxpayer or county unless all parties are present to hear the conversation”.
  • “All decisions by the board have to be made in an open public meeting. All citizens including the appellant have the right to be present and hear the deliberations, all discussions and the vote by the board members”.
  • “There should be no attempt by the county to mislead the appellants that they must leave as soon as their hearing is over or that they cannot be present for the deliberations”.

  • Violations:
    • Appellants were told that the Board would deliberate at the end of the day. There was no mention that the appellant could be present for those deliberations, which could be considered misleading. This resulted in discussion of the appeals without all parties present.

4 The Law: § 143-318.12 Public Notice of Official Meetings

  • “For any other meeting, except an emergency meeting, the public body shall cause written notice of the meeting stating its purpose (i) to be posted on the principal bulletin board of the public body or, if the public body has no such bulletin board, at the door of its usual meeting room, and (ii) to be mailed, e-mailed, or delivered to each newspaper, wire service, radio station, and television station that has filed a written request for notice with the clerk or secretary of the public body or with some other person designated by the public body. The public body shall also cause notice to be mailed, e-mailed, or delivered to any person, in addition to the representatives of the media listed above, who has filed a written request with the clerk, secretary, or other person designated by the public body. This notice shall be posted and mailed, e-mailed, or delivered at least 48 hours before the time of the meeting.”
  • Violations:
  • It was the practice of the Transylvania County Tax Office to email the requested daily hearing schedule the night before, or sometimes the morning of the scheduled hearings.

5 The Law: § 143-318.14 Broadcasting or Recording Meetings

  • “Except as herein below provided, any radio or television station is entitled to broadcast all or any part of a meeting required to be open. Any person may photograph, film, tape-record, or otherwise reproduce any part of a meeting required to be open.”

  • Violations:
  • Blair Greiter presented a copy of federal and state criminal wiretapping statutes to Hannah Bowers and Angela Emerson, and when asked why he had given us the document, his response was “in case you are recording”. His intent was interpreted as a suggestion that any recording of the meeting would be illegal, which according to state statute, is false and misleading.

On June 12, a letter from the NAACP Executive Committee detailing violations was hand delivered to all of the County Commissioners, Jamie Laughter, County Manager, the Tax Commissioner, and both Tax Department employees, Blair Greiter and Chris Owens.

As a result of these experiences, and to ensure integrity and transparency moving forward, we request the following:

  1. That all county tax office employees and TCBER members be required to attend a training session on the requirements of open meeting laws.
  2. That any future meetings of the TCBER and/or public hearings be held in a space that can comfortably accommodate at least 16 people.

                                                                                                            Sincerely,

                                                                                                            The Transylvania NAACP

3/5/2026