Tarrant County commissioners voted Tuesday to recall Tarrant Appraisal District board chair Kathryn Wilemon, two weeks after Keller City Council initiated the recall process.

When a TAD board member is recalled, the taxing entities that voted for that person have the opportunity to elect a new representative.

But, Wilemon resigned the day after Keller City Council recalled her, leaving local political leaders questioning how to go about filling her seat. Wilemon was first elected to the board in 2019, and her term would have wrapped up at the end of this year.

The ultimate decision to fill a board vacancy after a resignation is in the hands of the board rather than the taxing entities — as in the case with recall. The Texas tax code does not determine which process supersedes the other.

Commissioners approved the motion 4-1, with commissioner Gary Fickes voting against the recall. The next step in the process is collecting résumés from candidates to replace Wilemon, said County Judge Tim O’Hare.

It’s unclear if the other entities that voted for her will go through the recall process as well.

“We wanted to preserve the Tarrant County government’s right to pick the successor,” said O’Hare when explaining his vote. “If it went to a straight resignation, then a board gets to pick the replacement, and I’m not a big fan of board members picking their own board members.”

In a legally murky situation such as this, public officials must act in accordance with the will of the people, Keller Mayor Armin Mizani said during public comment.

Mizani was one of a dozen people who attended Tuesday’s commissioners meeting to publicly urge the court to proceed with the recall, which was initiated after years of controversies at the board.

The public commenters slammed the TAD board for its refusal to address an “explosive” audit of new appraisal software in 2016 as well as its handling of unauthorized complaints made by a TAD employee against property tax consultant Chandler Crouch.

Critics identify Wilemon as responsible, because she “repeatedly rejected placing important items on the board agenda that might provide transparency and oversight to the chief appraiser [Jeff Law],” former Colleyville City council member George Dodson said Tuesday.

Dodson added, “I don’t see how taxing entities can put up with a board that only appears to be there to rubber stamp every decision of the chief appraiser.”

This story was originally published March 7, 2023, 3:55 PM.