Warren Palm runs for public office

Former Luther College Director of Dining Services Warren Palm has put his name into the race for Winneshiek County District 2 Supervisor.

Palm, a Democrat and longtime resident of the county, will challenge Republican and 8-year incumbent John Logsdon for the seat November 2.

“I decided I wanted to give something back to Winneshiek county,” Palm said. “I’ve lived in the county for 39 years.”

Palm became interested in politics during the 2008 election when Luther hosted several presidential candidates.

Palm was already a registered Democrat but became more interested in the process after seeing former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson speak. Palm and his wife Bunny Seymour decided to attend this spring’s Winneshiek county Democratic convention, where Palm discovered the opportunity to run for office.

“They were looking for anyone in the primary to apply,” Palm said. “There was nobody running in the primary, so I thought about it for a few days and told them I would run.”

Palm gathered a petition with the help of friends and neighbors to get his name on the ballot.

“I got to know a lot of people around me, even some neighbors I didn’t know so well,” Palm said.

Since submitting his paperwork, Palm has attended Winnishiek county’s weekly board of supervisors meetings to observe how the system operates and what the duties of a district supervisor would entail. Palm has been particularly impressed with the variety of tasks facing a district supervisor.“It’s a fascinating process,” Palm said. “They’ll have a meeting with the county engineer where they vote on court house assistants, and they signed into Winneshiek County a national autism awareness month. I’m amazed more of the public doesn’t attend the meetings because a lot happens with the county.”

If Palm wins the election, he will primarily deal with budgetary items in Winneshiek county, something for which he says his tenure at Luther College prepared him. Palm oversaw the multi-million dollar Dining Services budget for more than 24 years.

“That [experience] will be a huge help because we balanced cost and revenue very successfully,” Palm said.

Palm was hired by his alma mater shortly after his graduation and retired in 2009 after the college contracted the multinational corporation Sodexo to manage Dining Services. During his 38 years working at Luther, he earned a reputation as a caring co-worker.

“He would bend over backwards for us when we had family matters,” Carol Martin, a current Dining Services employee, told Chips in fall 2009.

During his time at Luther, Palm focused on environmental initiatives. He started a recycling plan and headed up the compost and trayless initiatives in the last decade.

Palm said he won’t lose his enthusiasm for green issues if elected.

“I’m excited because now the county itself owns the recycling business in Winneshiek county, and that’s definitely under the umbrella of the county supervisor,” Palm said.

Palm also noted that one of the issues he would undertake if in charge would be getting the county involved in deferring the costs of development on the Luther-owned land near Pole Line Road.

“Probably a large percentage of people that would use it live in small towns around the county,” Palm said.

For now, Palm will campaign with friends and neighbors and continue to observing district processes.