Zimmerman Sworn In As St. Louis County’s First Elected Assessor

While his official swearing in as St. Louis County's Assessor took place Wednesday, Jake Zimmerman has already started evaluating his staff and how they go about the business of setting property assessments.

Zimmerman was sworn in at a noon ceremony held in the St. Louis County Council chambers at 41 S. Central Ave., in Clayton. Zimmerman, a Democrat, defeated Republican candidate L.K. “Chip” Wood for the office on April 5, the first time the assessor's position has been an elected one.

Before the meeting, however, Zimmerman had already gotten to work. He held a town hall-type meeting April 15 with members of his staff to learn some of their thoughts and concerns, he said.

“I've been doing some preliminary work and meeting with people one-on-one,” Zimmerman said.

When asked if current staff members will stay on board, he said there could be some changes in responsibilities and some shuffling around. There will also be new hires to fill existing vacancies.

Until a thorough review of systems and processes are completed, Zimmerman said, he cannot predict staff changes. 

“We'll use that opportunity to steer the ship, but until we do a top to bottom review of systems and processes and until we can find out what's working and what's isn't, it's hard to make a prediction,” he said.

Asked what type of systems and processes he meant, Zimmerman said "there's 170 people in this office and its got a lot of moving parts and its got a lot of wheels and pulleys. And until I have a chance to get under the hood and figure out what's making all of that tick and figure out what's working and what isn't, that's a pretty hard question to answer.”

“The sooner the better, but we should be realistic,” Zimmerman said. “We're in the middle of reassessment season and right now and property owners are starting to get those notices in the mail, so the first thing the office has to do is get the job done and make sure every taxpayer is getting treated fairly.”

Zimmerman said his “grand plans for building new and better systems, to some extent, we're going to have a trial by fire, and learning what's happening from this reassessment process right now will get me some good substance and good ideas on how we can make the process better.”

Before the ceremony St. George resident Bob Burns praised Zimmerman and his chances for success in his new position.

“He's a wonderful man,” Burns said. “He was a great state representative and worked for the Missouri Attorney General's office. He's always been an equal advocate and worked for people. He's never been interested in only people with money. He helps everybody."

The invocation was given by Rabbi Susan Talve, followed by the a cappella singing of the national anthem by Gustavo Perez Diaz, the presentation of the colors by the St. Louis County Police Color Guard and ending with the benediction given by the Rev. Earl Nance.