Dallas County sheriff to retire Wednesday after 15 years in office

Chad Leonard isn't going to work on Thursday.

For the majority of his life, the Dallas County sheriff has served the public. After Wednesday, though, he will no longer don a badge and uniform.

Leonard is retiring after more than three decades of both law enforcement and military service.

He was first elected as sheriff in 2006, and has won every election since. His retirement comes two years before his term expires — but that wasn't planned.

"The reality is my dad's not doing very well," he said.

Leonard, who grew up in Spencer, will return to his hometown to look after his father, at least initially. After that, he's not sure.

"I'll probably resurface again," he said. "I've never not worked my whole life."

From a young age, Leonard worked on farms with chickens and hogs and delivered newspapers.

He has public service in his blood — all three of his brothers served in the military and his sister is an officer with the Iowa Department of Transportation. So as soon as he graduated high school in 1990, he joined the United States Marine Corps and served for four years.

He then worked a series of jobs in law enforcement, starting at the Clay County Sheriff's Office, moving to Sioux Rapids and the Buena Vista County Sheriff's Office before eventually being hired as a deputy in Dallas County around 1997.

Ten years later, he became the sheriff.

Moving the county forward

Over the years, the thing Leonard said he is most proud of is his staff and his officers, none of whom were killed in the line of duty during his tenure.

He gives his employees credit for helping him with one of his more visible accomplishments — a new jail and sheriff's office.

After three failed bond referendums in three years, Leonard and his employees were able to secure approval for the fourth referendum in 2017 for the $22.9 million project.

Completed in 2020, the 56,670-square-foot jail has about 130 beds with room for expansion. It also houses the sheriff's department.

The new facility replaced one built in 1987, when the county had 20,000 residents and 28 sheriff's office employees. Today, the population in one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation is more than 103,000 and the department has 100 employees — nearly double the number of staff from when Leonard took office.

"There's no doubt that we can accommodate the future growth of Dallas County out here," Leonard said from the administrative offices.

That growth brings a few public safety concerns with it, he said. He'd prefer to have even more employees as the population booms, but nationwide staffing shortages have affected hiring.

"I used to get 200 applicants for one deputy position," he said. "I recently had five openings and I think we only had 45 applicants."

The county isn't experiencing major crime, he added, though he expects the rate of growth will make Dallas County "a learning curve" for years.

He's also proud of the department's involvement with Special Olympics and the car show employees hold each year to raise money. Prior to COVID-19, officers also held an annual training course to teach the public how to handle their firearms, and he hopes the next administration continues that work.

Around 2016, the county built a new dispatch center and transitioned to a statewide radio system.

He plans to stay involved in the county, including reinstating the Youth Character Building Academy, which he founded with assistance from the Waukee Police Department. The academy invites youth to participate in a boot camp program for two weeks each summer and introduces them to volunteer opportunities with local law enforcement offices.

That academy was paused around 2017 and he hopes it can restart at the new sheriff's department complex.

What happens next

As he looked back on his career, he said he appreciates the support the county has showed him since he first took office. One of the most rewarding parts of his job has been meeting the people in the community he serves.

"Being engaged with the public is a blessing for me," Leonard said.

Terry McClannahan, the department's communications director, said Leonard raised the standard for other Dallas County agencies and his employees. He brought direction to the department, he said, and listened to every voice to move it forward.

"You can't stand still. You can't get satisfied and he would not let you get satisfied," McClannahan said. "He would say, 'Okay, this is what we did last year. What are we going to do this year?'"

Supervisor Mark Hanson, who has served on the Dallas County Board of Supervisors for Leonard's entire tenure, said he was impressed with the sheriff's dedication to garnering approval for the jail's bond referendum.

"He was awesome on that project," Hanson said. "He really championed that and took it to the next level. I'm really proud of him for what he did and how he stepped up on that bond issue."

Members of the Dallas County Board of Supervisors will discuss at their meeting Tuesday whether to appoint a replacement for Leonard or hold a special election.

Anyone who wants to congratulate Leonard on his retirement is invited to stop by the sheriff's office from 3 p.m. to 6 pm. Wednesday at 28985 Thin Blue Line Lane in Adel.

Sarah LeBlanc covers the western suburbs for the Register. Reach her at 515-284-8161 or sleblanc@registermedia.com. Follower her on Twitter at @sarahkayleblanc

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Dallas County, Iowa, sheriff Chad Leonard retires early in term