I am honored to be appointed as the District 12 County Board Supervisor to serve as your representative until a special election in the spring. I will work my hardest to live up to the high expectations set by Paul Rusk.

There are many serious issues facing District 12 that I believe Supervisor Rusk had been working on, including PFAS chemicals and the F-35s at the airport, controlling potential flooding, and expanding access to affordable housing. 

Our greatest challenge, however, is the COVID-19 pandemic. I encourage you and your family to stay safe by wearing a face mask whenever you are around other people. While a vaccine is now available, there will be long-term effects on physical and mental health, jobs and the economy. It will unfortunately take many years and plenty of hard work to recover from the effects of this pandemic.

I am pleased to be appointed by County Board Chair Eicher to the Health and Human Needs Standing Committee. The committee works to improve the health of our community through the Department of Human Services and providing support for mental health, foster care, alcohol and other drug abuse, aging and older adults, and employment services. 

I intend to use this appointment to the Health and Human Needs Committee to explore ways Dane County can improve our services to better support you, your family and the community. One area I’m especially interested in is mental health and how we can build stronger connections within our community to get help to people sooner.

I am very interested in hearing from you. I encourage you to contact me at palm.larry@countyofdane.com or 608-520-3066 if you have any questions or comments. Thank you.