About Nick Volk
Nick has lived in Iowa his entire life, born in rural Johnson County and raised on the family farm. At age 7, his family moved to a larger farm in rural Jones County. There he attended elementary and high school. During these years, he was heavily involved on the family dairy farm, was an active member of local 4-H clubs and had both dairy and beef projects for county fairs. After high school, Nick attended UNI and later the University of Iowa, where he graduated with a BBA in Finance.
He married his sweetheart, Carol, around this time and they have been married for almost 50 years. They are the proud parents of five children and eight grandchildren. As do many parents, Nick coached all of his children’s sporting activities including baseball, softball, basketball, and football.
Nick’s professional life has centered around the financial services industry. He began as a field examiner for the Iowa Division of Banking for six years. After that he entered the community bank industry and moved to Walford where he has lived the past 44 years. During that time, he was employed as a loan and investment officer for two locally family-owned banks as well as serving on two bank boards of directors. He retired from active employment in 2017. In his retirement, he continues to be a licensed insurance agent servicing area farmers and others.
During his adult life, Nick has served on a number of religious and civic Boards including Metro Catholic Outreach, Catholic Worker House, as well local parish councils and school boards. He also served on the Benton County Community Foundation, Benton County Redistricting Commission and the Benton County Compensation Board.
Nick would like to add Benton County Supervisor to his list of community service.
Why I’m Running
The first question a voter should always ask when anyone declares their candidacy is, “Why are you running?” My answer has two parts:
Reason number one is the turmoil that has seemed to dog the supervisor’s room at the County courthouse. Over the past two years, the county has had one sexual harassment lawsuit resulting in a $250,000 settlement outside of court, the sudden and unreasoned dismissal of the entire Board of Health, and costly employment settlements with two former Human Resource Managers totaling $170,000.
Any one of these events would beg the question, “Can’t Benton County government exist and operate without all the drama?” Collectively, it’s just too much. Shouldn’t the leadership of the County government be able to function without all these excess payments to get litigation settled? The question should instead be, “Shouldn’t Benton County residents expect and deserve better of these elected leaders?”
Now, I know that two of the current Supervisors are not running for reelection. That is probably more than just a good thing. However, ever since the election of 2022, the entire County Courthouse consists of elected Republicans. I think anyone could draw a correlation between the start of all this “drama” and the last election. I will let the voters judge whether this is coincidental or causational. I will strongly suggest that a little “two-party government” may be a sound and attractive alternative.
Reason number two is I would like to and can do the job! I spent over 44 years living in Benton County. I have worked in the banking industry at two local community financial institutions. I am an independent insurance agent for the same number of years. I have worked with farmers, business owners, laborers, and others to help solve their financial needs. I can do the same for Benton County. I know how to read financial statements, build/analyze budgets, and project cashflows to make rational judgments on the viability of plans and projects. Sometimes they are “no-brainers”, and sometimes they can’t be justified even with the best of intentions.
As a candidate, I’m offering my experience, my impartiality, and my sense of duty to be your Supervisor for the next four years. I promise, without reservation, that my service will be accountable and transparent. I would sincerely and with gratitude appreciate your vote on November 5.
Sincerely,
Nick Volk
