Linda Murken

Linda was born and raised in Story County – on a farm in Franklin Township, just west of Gilbert.  She and her husband Jim Noland returned to the farm over two decades ago.  They have two children and six grandchildren.

Linda graduated from Gilbert High School and Iowa State University.  Volunteer work with YSS led to a career in adult community corrections, as a Probation and Parole Officer and eventually as Director of the Second Judicial District Department of Correctional Services. She established the Story County Mental Health and Criminal Justice Task Force, which developed our Jail Diversion Program.  She also volunteered with ACCESS, served on their board, and developed Batterers’ Education Programs in the Second Judicial District.

After retiring from corrections in 2010, Linda helped organize the Gilbert/Franklin Township Fire and Emergency Rescue Agency and served as the board’s first President.  She also served as President of the League of Women Voters of Ames and Story County, as a Story County Planning and Zoning Commissioner, and worked as a precinct election official.

As a Supervisor, Linda has worked on Story County’s responses to the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Derecho, as well as helping guide the development of the StoryComm public safety communications network. She also organized the Headwaters of the South Skunk River Watershed Management Authority. Among her priorities for 2021 are a study of rural broadband needs, updating the Ames Urban Fringe Plan, reviewing and implementing recommendations from the Story County Housing Needs study, and helping design and implement an assessment of the Headwaters of the South Skunk Watershed. She currently represents Story County on the following boards: Ames Area Metropolitan Planning Organization Transportation Policy Committee, Central Iowa Regional Transportation Planning Alliance Policy Committee, Headwaters of the South Skunk Watershed Management Authority, Second Judicial District Department of Correctional Services Board of Directors, Squaw Creek Watershed Management Authority, StoryComm Board of Directors, Story County 911 Service Board, Story County Conservation Board (ex-officio) and Story County Emergency Management Commission.
 
She also serves on the Prairie Rivers of Iowa Board of Directors, advocates for prairie restoration as a way to improve our water quality and soil health and is restoring a sizable portion of her family farm to prairie.