JACKSON TO END POSITION OF ELECTED CITY COLLECTOR

On Dec. 28, 1885, the Jackson Board of Alderman, under the leadership of Mayor Jefferson W. Limbaugh, passed a new set of ordinances and among those was an ordinance to create an appointment of a city collector whose primary duty was the collection of taxes. In April 1911 the city collector became an elected position. After 86 years, the elected position of collector has come to an end.

In April 1996, Jackson citizens voted to return the office of city collector to an appointed position. The change was effective April 30, with the end of last collector's term.

The official elected term of Jackson City Collector began on May 1, 1911, with the first elected city collector, Louis F. Wagner. In March 1919, the marshal's office and collector's office was combined and the title changed to that of marshal and ex-officio collector. It remained an elected position with the collection of taxes and licenses as the primary duties. The collection of water and light rates remained the responsibility of a separate appointed collector until January 1921 when the city clerk was given the duties involved in the collection of water and light bills.

Then again in September 1922 changes were made in the city collector position. The responsibility for the collection of water and light rates went back to an elected collector's office. Henry M. James was elected as city collector in April 1925. The collector's office remained a separate and elected office with the sole responsibility for the collection of taxes, licenses and utility bills, until recently.

Since 1925 Jackson has seen enormous growth. With that growth comes new changes. As the collector's office reverts back to an appointed position, two major changes will take place. With an appointed collector, everyone working in that office will be city employees. Under the "elected collector" system, all the collector's assistants were personal employees of that official. This allowed the city to contract the collection of taxes out to the county collector. As an elected official, the collector was unable to do so.

In the first 14 years, from 1911 through 1925, 10 different people held the office of collector. But from 1925, when the last major change was made, through 1997, Jackson had only 11 different elected collectors. The longest term in office was held by Deloris (Dee) Uren for 14 years. She not only has the distinction of having held the elected office of city collector longer than any of her predecessors, she was also the first woman to have been elected to that position.

The present and last elected collector for Jackson, Beverly L. Nelson, served six years and assisted the three preceding collectors as they fulfilled the duties of their office for a total of 23 years in the collector's office.