Jimmy Cowan recently filed paperwork to run for the office of Marion County Property Appraiser in the 2020 election cycle. He becomes the third employee of that agency seeking to replace Villie M. Smith, who decided not to seek a seventh term.
Cowan, who has been with the Property Appraiser’s Office for 27 years, currently serves as director of field operations residential real property. He will square off against colleagues Neil Nick Nikkinen, Marion County’s assistant property appraiser; and Andrew Serrano, who reviews and analyzes problem deeds, works on geographic information system mapping, combines parcels and plots new subdivisions.
The other candidate hoping to become the next property appraiser is David Moore, the current vice chairman of the Marion County Commission, who has more than 28 years of experience in the real estate and financial industry.
A fifth candidate, Lee Herbst, announced this past Tuesday that he was withdrawing from the race. Herbst is the chief information officer for the Property Appraiser’s Office.