In this episode, we're joined by Board of Review Commissioner Samantha Steele (and her Chief of Staff, Dan Balanoff) from Cook County, Illinois to talk about being an elected official, best practices, as well as new trends in the assessment field:We cover: Introduction to Assessment Matters podcast Samantha’s (and Dan’s) background Samantha’s background in real estate brokerage, real estate valuation, tax representation, and elected office Important innovations Working with old CAMA systems and moving towards upgrades Automation to handle high volume (of appeals) Moving towards automatic evaluation models The need for more consistently updated data Difficulties and challenges when properties are not consistently (re)delineated and reassessed What is uniformity and why is it important? Vertical vs horizontal equity Long term plans Property appraisal is a long-term project Developing a better culture for the office What drives the high number of appeals in Cook County? Attorney requirements Profit in the appraisal industry — bad incentives and lack of transparency Overcoming a history of corruption and lack of government trust in Illinois Parting advice Getting involved with IAAO How to reach Sam