LETTER TO THE EDITOR: City Assessor Responds to Recent Article
Depiction of turmoil in office ‘completely unfounded characterization’
March 24, 2025
It has come to my attention that there are some questions regarding my recent departure and subsequent return to the City Assessor’s office. Although City policy is not to disclose information regarding personnel matters, for transparency I would like the opportunity to explain my (5) day departure.
I accepted the Director of Real Estate Assessment in another locality. This was a personal decision on my part to pursue a leadership role and train the next generation of assessors on future technology, tools, and processes in the industry.
However, after my new tenure started, I realized my heart was with Williamsburg and I requested to be reinstated. I would go as far as to characterize my feelings as a realization that this community and organization is the utopia of local government from my perspective. Serving in this community, I believe, is both an honor and a privilege. The City Manager agreed to reinstate me to my former station, with the same compensation and leave, at my request. I appreciate the organization willingness to permit me to do so.
This community, elected officials, city administration, and organization have given me and my family a place to call home for over 6 years. In those six years, we have accomplished a-lot, such as zero BOE (Board of Equalization Appeals), continued substantial reduction in administrative appeals, executing the fasted conversion in Vision history at the time which was featured at IAAO (International Association of Assessing Officers) conference, and recently I presented at the IAAO conference showcasing our Power Bi and SSRS (SQL Server Report Services) dashboards we built to inform our community and intergovernmental departments.
It should be noted that the Assessor’s office, Finance Department, and City Manager had a plan in place for management of appeals before I left. We agreed to terms with an interim assessor to review all of the administrative appeals in my absence and since I executed the FY2026 General Reassessment, I further agreed to consult to the City as needed.
The notices were mailed February 28, 2025 as required by City Ordinance Sec. 18-51. As of the date of this statement, the City Assessor’s office has only received (5) administrative appeals out of approximately 4,729 assessments. During the 5 days I was not employed by the City, we only received (1) residential administrative appeal.
In closing, since being made aware of the website posting titled “Turmoil in City Assessor’s Office Unexplained”, I felt it was necessary to respond to the article, and the completely unfounded characterization. I was absent no longer than I would have been if I had taken a vacation. I hope this statement serves as explanation and closes the matter.
Respectfully
Derek J. Green, AAS
(Editor’s Note: The letter above was published as submitted and is in response to an article that appeared in the Williamsburg Independent, March 22, 2025, “NEWS: Turmoil in City Assessor’s Office Unexplained, Williamsburg only confirms assessor 'returned' to role during busy tax season.” Mr. Green didn’t respond to request for comment before the article was published and the information contained in the letter above was not provided to the Williamsburg Independent at that time. The City’s communications director provided only the information reported in the article, despite multiple attempts by the Williamsburg Independent for additional clarification. Correspondence with the City by the Williamsburg Independent about this article can be viewed as a PDF below.)
