Page 15 - Letter to NAR LT

Note from Ken Austin, Vice Chair MREC and Past MAR President, major donor, Hall of Fame
Late 2020 I had separate conversations with Keith. Karen and Kris, Realtors who are also 3 members of LAT. Keith’s was about his being told that accepting an agreed order would be his best bet. Kris and Karen complained about an MREC attorney. I had a meeting with the MREC administrator on December 10 and conveyed the concerns without their names. He promised to address them and to my knowledge has done so. After my talk With the administrator, I got back with each of the three individually and told them of my conversation with the MREC administratorand asked them to let me know if they hear anything after that date of any conversations that they felt were not professional from MREC staff. I tried to open lines of communication and took their complaints seriously. I did not hear back from them.
From: Ken Austin <ken@mscoasthomes.com>
Date: February 6, 2021 at 1:32:34 PM CST
To: Dorothy Thompson <dstsold@bellsouth.net>
Cc: BHansen@msrealtors.org, Kris Davis <kristynkdavis@gmail.com>, JON <jon@ritten.realtor>, Clarke Wise <CWise@msrealtors.org>
Subject: Leg Reg Meeting
Dorothy et al
I am working diligently to move things around so that I can make it to Jackson on Monday the 15th but it's dicey at this point.
Please explain why we cannot do this via zoom. Leg Reg has never been a closed meeting and but doing it this way it is being made a closed meeting . . . I don't believe that is in accordance with our bylaws, correct me if I am incorrect, and there may be individuals who have valuable input who are simply not able to make the trip to Jackson.
Assuming that this does not change, I want to share my thoughts about the recent email regarding the actions of the LAT.
When I was first approached about the proposed legislation that included the Real Estate Commission and, I believe, 4 other professional boards, as a pilot program, I did not have a major objection in theory. We had not seen the legislation and I felt that as long as there was adequate representation from knowledgeable folks from our industry that could correctly interpret the statutes and rule accordingly, that there was a professional hearing officer(s) conducting the hearing and as long as the individual licensee in question had an option to use the outside board or stay within the commission the idea, in theory, was not objectionable. As it applied to all similar boards, the Real Estate Commission was not being singled out. I later learned that none of the Executive Directors of any of the boards proposed to be affected by this legislation were consulted. As I understand it, that legislation failed.