Staff

Mr. Palmer served the City of Folsom, California, for 23 years as Assistant Finance Director/Information Technology, Director of Administrative Services, Assistant City Manager, and City Manager, retiring in 2018 after seven years as the City’s chief executive. Mr. Palmer served Folsom during a time of significant growth, contributing to and completing two annexations that increased the City’s size by more than 3,500 acres and 11,000 housing units. Using alternative service delivery, contracting, efficiency measures, and public/private partnerships, Mr. Palmer successfully led Folsom, a full-service city, through the Great Recession, guiding the City Council and the community through a strategic restructuring of City operations that not only retained the City’s high-quality services and infrastructure but also improved balance sheets in the general, internal service, retiree health, solid waste, wastewater, and water funds. During this same period, Mr. Palmer aided several community organizations through their own restructuring, increasing their self-reliance and reducing their requirements for public funding. Mr. Palmer’s work in economic development, in collaboration with the Folsom Chamber of Commerce, led to the location and expansion of several high-technology employers to Folsom, for which he was awarded the Folsom Chamber of Commerce’s Chairman’s Award in 2014. Mr. Palmer was also appointed to the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System Advisory Committee by the California Attorney General.

Mr. Palmer is an International City/County Management Association Retired Credentialed Manager, having earned and held this designation since 2011. Mr. Palmer earned a master’s degree in Public Administration from Golden Gate University, a bachelor of arts degree in Organizational Leadership from Chapman University, and a certificate of achievement in municipal leadership from the University of Southern California School of Policy, Planning, and Development. Before his service to the citizens of Folsom, Mr. Palmer served as an information technology professional in both the public and private sector, and he worked on a number of large-scale IT implementations in the banking, corporate, general government, and public safety sectors.