Linn County Crossroads
Election could mean wholesale change for Palo
Posted on Nov 02, 2009 by Adam Belz.
Floodwaters rise into the southeast side of Palo on Wednesday, June 11, 2008. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette)
Tomorrow’s election in Palo could mean big changes there.
Four of five council seats are up for re-election, and the town will have a new mayor after Jeff Bureaugard stepped down and decided to run for council.
In all, the town has 16 candidates for four city council openings, an unusually high level of interest probably brought on by the flood.
“It just appears that people are upset with the way that the council handled things after the flood, or other personal agenda items that really haven’t come out,” said Paula Gunter, the lone city council incumbent not up for re-election.
Other Linn County towns, like Center Point, have three candidates for four openings. Alburnett has three candidates for three openings.
In Palo, aside from Bureaugard and council member John Harris, who is running unopposed for mayor, the other incumbents are Al Mengler and Trent Miller. Mengler is unopposed, though he faces a write-in campaign.
Palo, population 950, was one of the towns most affected by the flood in 2008. All but a handful of the homes in the low-lying river town were flooded. Gunter, the only person guaranteed a spot in the new city government, acknowledges that the changes could be major.
A raft of new council members will mean “a lot of educating,” Gunter said. “We still are working on getting our community center rebuilt, working on street projects, working on drainage issues – decisions that don’t get made over night.”
Here are the candidates:
Jeannie Blumer, incumbent
Darrell Cannon, former council member
John Deputy
Kevin Matt
Trent W. Miller, incumbent
Randy Moser
Sharon Murray
Chad Alan Packingham
Scott Spider Packingham
Rosann Sanders
Tom Sanders
Danyelle A. Suhl
Nick Wilderman
Orlie J. Workman
Al Mengler, incumbent
Jeff Bureaugard, mayor running for council
snookys59
02. Nov, 2009
"..a lot of educating"? For whom? Ms. Gunter or the newly elected council members? I think Ms. Gunter's comment is indicative of why there are so many candidates for the open positions. Obviously, people are fed up with the likes of Ms. Gunter and her current council members. This is what happens at election time when people in power let it go to their heads as the current council has done. It appears that the current council has NOT been listening to the people they are supposed to represent with this type of outpouring of candidates.