On Wednesday, January 18, 2017, I received the following letter from a property owner who attended a hearing at the Cook County Board of Review.  I'm very happy Mr. Le was pleased with the service we provided.

by Kevin Le
My experience working with the Cook County Board of Review, Room 601, 118 N Clark.

Today I would like to share with you some of my thoughts about my first time experience when I go to Cook County Board of Review to appeal my tax. As an Illinois resident for many years, I have come to Cook County building in Chicago many times and this is the first time I feel and appreciate there is some things Chicago does really good. It was the Cook County Board of Review (CCBR).

I am extremely impressed with how the effective, efficiency and streamline CCBR works. The night before I go to CCBR office, I expected there will be a long line, with everyone take a number and wait in the waiting area for hours therefore, I make sure my phone and my laptop fully charged. However in contrary to my expectation, the whole time I spent at the CCBR was less than eight minutes! The ways everyone were working there was so impressive. There was no waiting in line at all.

I was greeted at the front door and the person immediately asks me if I have any evidence to support my tax appeal. Once I show her I have a stack of at least 100 pages of documents, she directs me to one of the four stations to have my documents scanned. Immediately, when I step to one of these stations, someone greets me and handed my document to the person works at one of the scanning stations to scan my document. Within 2 minutes, more than 100 pages of my documents were completely scanned in the computer. They returned my original document and instructed me to go to the room in the back.

When I walked in the back room there was Commissioner Dan Patlak waiting to meet me. He looked at my paper work, looked at my complaint number and instructed me to meet the Assessor Analyst which was already there waiting for me. The analyst then asked me to present my case while she looked up for my 100 pages of document which was just scanned in a few minutes ago. Wow, what‘s an amazing system. This office has adopted technology so it has become a completely a paperless system which is much more effective and efficient than the traditional paper and pen system, not to mention the amount of paper wasted to print millions of document like mine! Not to mention the amount of storage space to store these document! I was so amazed at this speedy workflow; the whole process is so effective and efficient for a government entity. Once I am done with presenting my case, she said I am done for the day. I did not believe what I heard as I just came here and in less than 5 minutes and I am done? I ask her again, “Do you mean I am done and I can leave now?” “Yes” she confirms. That was it.

On my way out, as I was walking pass Commissioner Dan Patlak, he said “Goodbye Mr. Le” I stop and ask him how he knows my name? His response was “Your name is Kevin Le”. Wow, what an amazing customer service! Commissioner Dan Patlak has remembered my name when he greeted me earlier! I was stunted for the rest of the day. I have never experienced like this in both private and public sectors before. The services at Cook County Board of Review have surpassed my expectation and have changed my perception about how Chicago public works. There was no time wasted during the whole process. So much time was saved. Chicago resident doesn’t need to spend the whole day waiting to appeal their tax. I don’t know if my tax appeal will success and I will see a reduction in my tax but so far, I was able to text my boss to inform him that I will be available for the 10AM meeting because my meeting at the Cook County Board of Review was cut short to 5 minutes.

Listen to Commissioner Patlak's interview with Dan Proft and Amy Jacobson on AM560's Morning Answer.  This originally aired on October 31st, 2016.

From the Daily Herald:

It may be a bit extreme to say that Dan Patlak was born to serve on the Cook County Board of Review, but there is no question he is well suited to the job. He speaks with youthful energy and passion about the agency's mission of assuring fairness to all three interests served by the board -- the homeowners and businesses seeking tax reductions, the government bodies that depend on tax money and the broad general population of taxpayers whose tax bills ultimately are affected by the decisions the three-member board makes. He's excited about technology advances the office has implemented in recent years enabling the board to handle thousands more cases in less time than ever. And he has thoughtful ideas about the board's next challenge -- improving its ability to succeed when its decisions are appealed to the state. In addition to all this, he approaches the job not so much as a politician -- he's the lone Republican on the three-member board -- but as a commissioner whose responsibility is to rule the way the evidence and numbers tell him to rule. Patlak, a former township assessor who has been on the board since 2010, is challenged by Democrat Martin Stack, of Western Springs, an attorney and former information officer for the Cook County Sheriff's Office. Stack is a sincere candidate with a reasonable understanding of the Board of Review's responsibilities, but his calls for reform seem vague and not well founded. In any case, he can't match Patlak's clear enthusiasm and level of expertise. Patlak is endorsed.

Dan Patlak participated in WTTW Chicago Tonight's Candidate Free Time with a video statement, information about the office (Board of Review), Candidate Q&A and Candidate Statement.

Candidate Statement

Hello, my name is Dan Patlak and I am a commissioner at the Cook County Board of Review, the office that reviews property assessment appeals.

In 2010 I ran on the premise that taxpayers were entitled to have a commissioner who was highly qualified and who would make the job a priority. As a twice-elected township assessor, a Certified Illinois Assessing Officer, a licensed real estate broker and a former analyst at the Board of Review, I promised that I would serve as the first-ever, full-time commissioner and I have kept that promise.

By working with my fellow commissioners we have made tremendous strides in making our office more efficient, transparent and accessible. Online appeals were a priority and we put them in place eight months after my election. Our offices' first-ever annual report was issued in 2011 and every year thereafter and is available on our website. A Freedom of Information page was added to our website to make it easier for the public to review our decisions. This past year we made the most dramatic improvement in the history of the Board’s operations, completing a four-year project that resulted in the Digital Appeals Processing system, a government project that was completed in time and on-budget.

DAPS, as we now call it, allows appellants to upload their evidence to us online and they can check the results of their appeal and the notes written by our analysts on their home computer. We have eliminated the use of over two million pieces of paper by going to a completely digital system that eliminates the need to physically create, analyze and transport paper appeal files. DAPS has allowed us to adjudicate the largest number of appeals in the history of the county while still finishing our job in time to get second installment tax bills out on time.

As a candidate running for re-election I am asking for your vote in the March 15 primary and the November 8 general election.

Thank you so much for your consideration.