Boone County commissioners voted on Nov. 17 to initiate negotiations with Nexus Group on cyclical reassessment and new-construction vendor contracts while also approving proceeding with incumbent GUTS pending legal review, after a lengthy public discussion about staffing, scope and cost.

The county assessor presented two responsive proposals: GUTS, the long-time local vendor (combined annual bids read into the record of approximately $338,600 for cyclical reassessment and $620,980 for new construction), and Nexus Group, whose combined bids were read as $125,000 and $155,000 for the two contracts. The bids as presented to the board produced a roughly $679,600 annual difference in favor of Nexus on the record, prompting detailed questioning from commissioners and staff about whether the proposals were “apples to apples.”

The assessor told the board her office relies on outside vendors for reassessment work given current staffing and county growth; she recommended continuing with GUTS, citing local experience, dedicated personnel and services that she said are not clearly included in Nexus’s proposal. The assessor also cited parcel counts presented in the meeting (a 2021 count of 37,648 parcels and an updated 2026 starting count of about 39,374 parcels) and warned of statutory deadlines for reassessment work.

Supporters of staying with GUTS emphasized local responsiveness. Kevin Van Horn, a county council member, said he valued after-hours availability from the incumbent. Representatives for GUTS (and a local vendor representative) said incumbent staffing levels (about 13 dedicated people) and on‑the‑ground assistance with a range of daily assessor tasks make a difference for continuity during large local projects.

Opponents and those urging more procedural care said the RFP distribution and scope may not have been broad or specific enough. Dan Lamar, county councilman at large, and others urged reworking the RFP so all relevant functions were included and all capable vendors had a clearly structured opportunity to respond. Several speakers representing small towns and taxing units warned that inaccurate or late reassessments could delay tax revenues to schools and municipalities.

Nexus Group’s representatives defended their bid. Brian Cusimano, Nexus’s chief operating officer, said Nexus serves hundreds of thousands of parcels statewide and has not missed contract deadlines, disputing characterization of the bid as unresponsive and noting Nexus’s litigation support and defenses in appeals. "We have never been late for any contract that we've been engaged on," Cusimano told the board.

Commissioners discussed statutory authority and options outlined by legal counsel, including approving, tabling, rejecting and reissuing an RFP. After debate, one commissioner moved to approve the GUTS contract pending legal review; another moved to initiate negotiations with Nexus. The motion to open negotiations with Nexus carried by voice vote with a recorded result of 2–1.

Next steps: the board authorized negotiation with Nexus and approval of GUTS pending legal review; any final contract execution will follow legal vetting and require the statutory steps identified by county counsel. The item will return to the board as negotiated agreements or further legal advice is provided.

Vote: Motion to initiate negotiations with Nexus Group carried 2–1; motions earlier in the meeting (e.g., consent agenda, PTO, years-of-service policy) passed by voice vote without recorded tallies on the record.

(Reporting notes: amounts and some numeric lines were read from the record; one vendor’s numeric readout for a highway-bid item was garbled in the transcript and is noted as such in procurement records.)