Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
A new term is underway for Colton Town Council representatives without Jim Dahmen on the panel for the first time since 1991.
Appointed that year and re-elected ever since – running unopposed – Dahmen retired his seat last fall in favor of Laci Hubbard-Mattix, a new resident and WSU instructor in the School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs.
“I was in there long enough,” Dahmen said. “There was a young person interested. I thought, it doesn’t hurt to have a change.”
A 1960 graduate of Colton High School, Dahmen is now a semi-retired as a third generation farmer. Dahmen also served as Colton Fire Chief for 42 years, retiring in 2015. For his time on town council, he served under three mayors, Bob Heitstuman, Greg Eiler and current Mayor Jerry Weber.
“Jim’s a big asset to our town, we’re gonna miss him,” said Weber, who also served as a councilman with Dahmen. “We sure appreciate all the work he did for us. He knew a lot about the town, the sewer, wells, if our maintenance guy was gone, he’d cover.”
Over the years, “steady” was a main descriptor.
“The city just making sure the city was going okay, the water system updated. It’s just never been a big problem out here,” Dahmen said.
With his retirement, Colton’s longest serving representative is now Dot Sharp.
“We all really had a good relationship on city council at the time I was there,” said Dahmen, who was on the sewer and water committee as well as the streets committee.
He is a nephew of Junette Dahmen and the late Stephen Dahmen, the couple who donated the Dahmen Barn.
The Colton town council meets once per month on Monday nights.
“If you wanted to stay on, nobody challenged you,” he said.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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