After 21 years of serving Story County as its assessor, Gary Bilyeu will not be reappointed to his position because of a decision by the Story County Conference Board to deny his reappointment.

The Conference Board met Wednesday to consider Bilyeu’s reappointment because his six-year term is up Dec. 31. The board voted 2-1 against his reappointment because of opposition expressed by Story County residents.

Bilyeu and Scott County Supervisor Jane Halliburton, who sits on the board, said the board made its decision based on residents’ complaints over Bilyeu’s consistency in his job performance and fairness in his assessments. Halliburton and Mary Ann Dilla, the Ames School District representative on the board, said all of the complaints expressed over Bilyeu’s job as assessor were from residents who have or are having legal battles with Bilyeu over appeals on his assessment of property values and classifications.

Bilyeu said he is still waiting to go to court with two property owners.

“They said I was ‘vindictive and arrogant.’ That’s not the case,” Bilyeu said. “I think it’s pretty ironic the people that are trying to destroy me are calling me vindictive.”

He said he is disappointed in the board’s decision. “I think the performance I’ve done over 21 years should have been more than enough for [the board] to support me,” Bilyeu said.

Halliburton said she was only aware of one complaint over Bilyeu’s performance as assessor.

“It’s the only communication I’ve received about dissatisfaction with Bilyeu at this point,” Halliburton said. “I think Mr. Bilyeu is a huge loss to Story County. His expertise and creativity is a real loss to the county.”

Halliburton and Dilla introduced a motion to table the vote for another meeting, but their motion failed.

Dilla said a motion to table was necessary because she said she felt personnel evaluations should not have been discussed publicly.

Halliburton offered the motion because she felt there were outstanding questions over what the ramifications of denying his reappointment were, as well as questions over what the process would be to appoint a new assessor.

“I didn’t think we had enough information and there were three new members on the board. I wasn’t comfortable with the new members not being aware of the process and the ramifications of the decision,” she said.

According to Iowa Code, the board is mandated by the state to oversee the actions of the county assessor. The board is composed of representatives of three groups who each receive one vote on the board. The groups include the Story County Board of Supervisors, each school district and all the mayors of Story County except Ames.

Ames has its own assessor under city ordinance that allows a city of 10,000 people or more to have its own assessor. Dilla removed herself from the discussion for this reason.

The board of supervisors was the only group voting to reappoint Bilyeu, with the others voting against.

Jack Christie, mayor of Collins, couldn’t be reached for comment, but has said he voted against Bilyeu’s reappointment because he has been inconsistent in his work and he wasn’t doing his job.

Bilyeu has been before the Iowa Supreme Court twice. In both instances, the court sided with Bilyeu.

Polk County Assessor Jim Maloney said from his work with Bilyeu, he has known him to be a good assessor.

“He’s pretty knowledgeable and competent, and it’s pretty unusual they are doing this,” Maloney said. “I only know of five out of 104 Iowa city assessors in the state with long established relations who won’t be reappointed this year.”