The Regional Planning Commission elected David Pfeiffer as its new Chairperson this month, replacing Larry Palm, who previously led the Commission for more than a decade. As we welcome Commissioner Pfeiffer to his new role, we recognize Commissioner Palm’s extensive contributions.
Recognizing Larry Palm’s Service to CARPC
Larry Palm, CARPC’s long serving Executive Chairperson stepped down from his position this month. While he continues to serve as Vice Chairperson, his contributions to CARPC are considerable.
Larry was appointed by former Madison Mayor Paul Soglin as commissioner when CARPC was first established in 2007. He was elected Vice Chairperson in February 2010, Chairperson in August 2011, and Executive Chairperson in 2017. He also currently serves as a County Board Supervisor.
During his tenure as Chairperson and Executive Chairperson Larry was a driving force in transitioning CARPC from an agency without direction and mired in conflict to a partner and resource for local communities and a facilitator of collaborative regional planning. His influence came in four areas.
Positive Commission Environment. Through his engagement of commissioners and skillful facilitation, commission meetings are now mostly collegial. Longer serving commissioners have commented that current tone of meetings, compared to earlier years, are much more positive in tone. As Commissioner Jim Schuler put it, “Larry has one of the most essential—but rare—competencies of leadership: he listens.”
Structure and Operations. Larry has a special interest and skill in organizational structure and operations. Under his initiative and leadership, CARPC significantly improved its bylaws through multiple revisions. He also led the effort to institutionalize leadership positions in the agency. To fill the gap in executive roles and functions left with no Executive Director, he helped establish the positions of Executive Chairperson, Agency Director, and Deputy Agency Director which, combined, elevate CARPC stature.
Mission and Vision. When Larry took over as Chairperson, CARPC lacked an adopted mission and vision. Commissioners expressed divergent ideas of the agency’s purpose. It’s constituents were got mixed messages. Larry led the agency through a series of strategic planning sessions in 2012, 2016 and 2019 that generated consensus on CARPC’s vision, mission, constituents, and agency planning focus.
Leadership in Regional Planning. Over the first several years of Larry’s service as Chairperson it became increasingly clear that a lack of common vision and plan for regional growth was a major impediment to collaborative planning towards shared goals. In 2015 Larry and staff embarked on a new initiative, A Greater Madison Vision. Drawing from successes in other regions, Larry and staff met with key leaders in the region to form a broad-based 50-member steering committee. Employing extensive stakeholder and public engagement in a scenario planning process, the initiative identified shared public priorities for growth. CARPC applied these priorities to establish regional growth goals and launched the Regional Development Framework in 2019. Working closely with local and regional partners, the Regional Development Framework lays out strategies and a growth scenario to achieve shared regional growth goals.
Other commissioners recognize Larry’s contributions. Commissioner Crombie stated, “Larry served as Chair when I was first appointed to CARPC. I was impressed with him the moment I met him. He has a strong understanding of CARPC and was an excellent chair. I was honored to serve with him when he was chair and look forward to continuing to serve with Larry.”
CARPC’s new Chairperson, David Pfeifer, summed up Larry’s contribution to CARPC well: “Larry’s leadership has been instrumental in CARPC’s mission to strengthen our region by engaging communities through planning, collaboration and assistance. The community outreach initiative A Greater Madison Vision and the ongoing development of the Regional Development Framework will be a lasting legacy of his public service as Commission Chair.”
Welcoming David Pfeiffer as Chairperson
Commissioner Pfeiffer is Board Chair of the Town of Pleasant Springs. He was appointed to CARPC in 2015 by the Dane County Towns Association. He previously served as CARPC Vice Chairperson.
“As far as priorities,” David says, “my focus will be on the completion and adoption of the Regional Development Framework along with outreach to promote proactive and cooperative planning that serves to encourage regional growth that is aligned with the priorities and goals voiced by citizens during the A Greater Madison Vision initiative.”
