CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — Nueces County Chief Appraiser Ramiro "Ronnie" Canales has been placed on paid administrative leave.
On Wednesday morning, the Nueces County Appraisal District's Board of Directors voted unanimously to place Canales on leave pending an investigation.
During the same meeting, the board also voted unanimously to terminate the current Request for Proposal (RFP) procurement process for a new Computer-Assisted Mass Appraisal (CAMA) software system.
As 6 Investigates reported in March, allegations surfaced regarding a potential bias in favor of True Prodigy Tech Solutions, a developer of appraisal analysis tools. However, it is currently unknown whether the investigation into Canales is connected to those allegations, which were first raised during a February board meeting.
According to Neil Lindeen, the district's information systems manager, the RFP process allegedly used a template from another appraisal district that had already selected True Prodigy. This raised concerns that the process may have been tailored to match True Prodigy's specific offerings.
When board member John M. Cudd asked for clarification, specifically whether someone had “designed what Nueces County would need, according to [True Prodigy’s] product," Lindeen confirmed.
“The assistant chief appraiser (Leticia Roberts) obtained an RFP template from another appraisal district that had already selected True Prodigy and planned to use that template for NCAD’s solicitation,” Lindeen said. “You can kind of see where my concern is coming from for this whole process.”
The board has not released further details on the scope or focus of the investigation. An interim Chief Appraiser has been named in Debra Morin, who has served as a former Chief Appraiser in Live Oak County.
This is a developing story. We'll update it as soon as we receive more information.
