City of Fitchburg Board of Review Annual Meeting – May 14, 2026

The City of Fitchburg Board of Review met Thursday, May 14, 2026, beginning at 8:35 a.m. in the Francis Huntley Cooper Council Chambers at City Hall. Chair Sean Pan presided. Present were Elton Krim Jr., Carol Poole, Amanda Kinesa, Andrew Slager, Mark Fairchild, and later Richard Bloomquist; Sharifa Toon was absent. A quorum was present. City Clerk Tracy Oldenberg staffed the meeting. The board completed annual statutory filings, reviewed and accepted assessment objection forms for residential and commercial properties, approved subpoenas for commercial property records, and scheduled future hearings.

Routine Approvals

• Approved the minutes of the August 28, 2025 Board of Review meeting by voice vote.
• Confirmed the meeting was properly noticed on April 10 in the newspaper, at City Hall, on the front doors, and on the city website.
• Reappointed Andrew Slager as vice chair of the 2026 Board of Review.
• Confirmed Mark Fairchild and Andrew Slager completed the mandatory annual Board of Review training on April 30; the training emphasized that the board should take roll-call votes so the record is clear for potential court review.

Discussion Items

• City Assessor Chris Leeds filed the annual assessment report and presented the assessment roll, described as roughly 2,100 pages covering just under 10,500 parcels. No additions, eliminations, or double assessments were identified. The annual report is no longer required to be filed with the Department of Revenue but remains publicly available.
• The assessor reported that 2026 was a maintenance year, with no market-wide revaluation. Open-book notices were mailed April 16; open book was held April 27–29, with 79 total contacts and about 20 value changes. Determination letters were mailed April 30. Just over 1,600 assessment notices were sent.
• Residential objection forms: The board accepted the form for 4525 Pawnee Pass (parcel 0609-051-2643-8) and approved a request for appraiser James Coke of Scott Appraisal to testify by telephone or Zoom; the property owner is expected to appear in person. The owner of 5848 Park Hill Circle (parcel 0609-0816-273) filed within the statutory two-hour window, and the board accepted that form as complete.
• Commercial objection forms: The board accepted forms for Osprey Apartments, Prima Vista, Riva West, Turnberry Apartments, Vista Apartments, Hatchery Hill 3 LLC (2981 Cahill Main and 5550 Catasbend), Valley View Apartments, Franklin Square Condominiums (2001 and 2004 Greenway Cross), and High V Inc. The assessor said the forms were complete. Richard Bloomquist recused himself from this vote because his company uses Reinhardt for real estate acquisitions.
• Subpoenas: The assessor requested approval of subpoenas for the commercial objectors to obtain additional income, expense, and rental information. The subpoenas, prepared with outside counsel Amy Seibel, cover the commercial properties, with responses due by noon on May 29. Bloomquist also recused from this vote.

Key Outcomes

• Minutes, meeting notice, vice chair appointment, and training confirmation were approved by voice vote.
• All filed residential and commercial objection forms were accepted for completeness.
• Subpoena requests for the commercial properties were approved by voice vote.
• Waiver requests were postponed to the future meeting.
• The board scheduled residential valuation hearings for Monday, May 18, at 10 a.m. and a Monday, June 8, 8:30 a.m. meeting for subpoena compliance review and consideration of waiver requests.
• The board remained in session until 10:30 a.m. to satisfy the statutory two-hour objection-filing window, then suspended the meeting to May 18 at 10 a.m.