2007 CATA CONFERENCE INFORMATION
It is time once again for another exciting CATA Conference. The re-appraisal always adds a bit of challenge to the process of getting the conference organized. As President, I am very pleased with the degree of dedication and effort all the board members have put forth to get this conference organized. Prior years have focused very strongly on developing something new. With eleven classes each day, and at least one activity every evening, it has become enough to maintain and polish what has been created. The dinner meeting remains one of our biggest challenges. We think it is extremely important to our conference in order to attract the membership for information sharing and running/voting for the executive board. It continues to be our goal to make this an event that most members are interested in participating. The CATA executive board is working very hard to meet the needs of the membership. Please keep in mind, participating in the surveys and evaluations is paramount if you do not feel your needs are being met. We do read them, and we do make changes as we can.
We look forward to seeing you all October 1-4 at Copper Mountain Resort!
--Loren Morrow, President
2007 Conference Reservations
As promptly as possible, have one person gather all of the registrations for your county, (one per member) and fax them all together to the treasurer, Heidi Pleban, Fax #303-688-2517. Provide with the fax, the total dollar amount needed to be requisitioned, an approximate date you expect the check to be processed, and an e-mail or phone contact. Please wait a couple of days before processing the requisition, as this will save us all time and energy.
NEW CANCELLATION POLICY
Cancellations of any classes from 30-11 days prior to the conference are subject to a 50% cancellation fee. Cancellations from 10 days prior to the conference date are subject to no refund.
If class changes are needed that cause a change in the amount due, please submit an amended requisition to Heidi reflecting the new amount --including any cancellation fees. No refunds will be made for cancellations after Sept. 14th. County refunds from CATA will be made as soon after the conference as is practical for the treasurer.
2007 Lodging Reservations
Click here for lodging information:
Tax Exempt Credit for Lodging
When making the room reservation for your county make it clear to the reservation attendant the charges for your rooms will be tax exempt. Ask for a fax #, and fax a copy of the sales tax exemption certificate to the reservation attendant immediately following making your reservations. Please keep in mind the room charges must be paid directly from county funds with either a credit card with the county’s name on it, or a county check for the charges to be
exempt. The State of Colorado will not honor tax exemption from the resort if the funds are not drawn directly from the entity
Conference Dates
Monday, October 1st through Thursday, October 4th, 2007. This time of year seemed to work out fairly well for most counties. This change was driven mostly by room rates and minimum guarantees. We thank you for continuing to support our decisions that work to keep costs down.
Conference Events
Pizza Party Monday night The Pizza Party continues to be a huge success. Look for addition details closer to the conference when the agenda is distributed.
Dance Tuesday night
Who will win the coveted 2007 CATA Cup? In its fifth year of existence, this honor goes to the county who has the most spirit at the dance, and which most consistently dresses and behaves in the context of the theme to the dance. This year's theme, as chosen by the current CATA Cup holders from the elusive and mysterious Sunshine County, is Hawaiian. Prepare your costumes and get festive!
Wednesday Night
The CATA executive board remains very attentive to the many concerns with the dinner meeting. The dinner meeting gives us a fantastic opportunity to facilitate more participation from the membership on voting issues. We continue to learn from prior years’ experiences, and hope you will continue to support this effort.
Speaker – We do not currently have a speaker scheduled, and are not intending to schedule anyone at this time.
Election – Our mid conference dinner meeting gives the most members the greatest opportunity to participate in the most important decision that CATA members make – election of CATA Executive Board Members. Along with the the dedication to professional practice which is the hallmark of CATA members, and along with the support Colorado counties have given to this conference, CATA’s well-deserved excellent reputation is directly attributable to its dedicated Executive Board Members. All positions but the Secretary are open this year. All positions are one year terms, except for the treasurer position which is a 2-year term. Open positions include: President, 1st Vice President, 2nd Vice President, Treasurer, and two board members.
Loren Morrow will fill one of the three board positions, as it is customary for the past president to serve in this capacity to give insight and guidance to what could be a substantially different board. The board asks any members who are assured of their Assessor’s support, and are willing and able to devote a fair amount of time, consider running for this board. The current board members get a lot of satisfaction from their efforts, but the satisfaction comes in large part, because of how actively involved they are, and are expected to be, in order to have the conference organized in a timely fashion.
Important notice to members:
Due to budgetary and planning considerations, in order to attend this dinner, members must indicate attendance on their original registration, and secure a dinner ticket at the registration table upon arrival – if you do not get a ticket, you will not be able to get dinner at our business meeting. Unfortunately, there will be no exceptions to this.
Refreshments – As always, there will be a Continental breakfast each morning, and refreshment breaks for the morning breaks and the afternoon breaks.
Download Registration Forms
and all Conference Information
2007 Class Information
We began offering classes on Monday to better meet the needs of the membership. We found that many individuals were given Monday as a travel day and were arriving fairly early in the day. We made some classes, and therefore CE hours, available for the afternoon for those wishing to take advantage of this time. The participation has remained very favorable, which in turn encourages us to continue to make this option available.
DPT – Our conference could not exist without the equally affordable and high quality education provided by the Division of Property Taxation. Appraisal Standards Manager Curt Settle and Harry Fuller have worked very hard with our Education member of the Board, Debbie Fangmeier (Weld County), to provide yet another fresh assortment and broad spectrum of classes which have wide appeal. Thanks also to Property Tax Administrator JoAnne Groff for her continued support of the CATA conference.
Private Sector Providers – If you haven’t taken Jim Felt’s Colorado Water Law, this is the year to do it. This class has gotten great reviews in the past. “The history of Colorado is written in water.” If you don’t know this, you are from Ohio. We are also welcoming back several of our past instructors and assessment education providers including Deane Wilson, IAAO, Thimgan & Associates, and McKissock. We have a new education provider, Kaplan College, on the schedule this year. IMPORTANT NOTICE: This SPSS class is an introductory class and is for those with little or no current experience with SPSS. This class is only available to county assessor personnel.
Apex – Randy Garret, Apex president, who has been a loyal and long time supporter, vendor and contributor to CATA and to the assessment industry in Colorado, again contributes his time and energy to present the Mobile Technology class. This is a great way to see new and fun tools and to kick off your participation in the conference on Monday, while attaining 3 CE hours.
Vendors – We are extremely pleased with the participation that our Vendors have provided over the past few years. We have grown to really count on the tremendous support we receive from Apex (Randy Garrett,) Tylerworks (Dave Hawker,) Spatialist, (Ian Lamont,) and CCI. These vendors have gone far beyond the minimum vendor fee we have instituted. These particular vendors also give us tremendous moral support in their commitment to our conference. There are a host of other vendors that may return. We are pleased to announce that CCI has agreed to provide our name badges again this year. This gesture translates into about a $1200 gift to CATA. It has only been through the generosity of vendors such as CCI that we have been able to do a few new things the past couple of years, we were unable to do previously.
Archives of the past CATA Conferences
