New sheriff in town: Washington County GOP picks Nate Brooksby in special election

There's a new sheriff in Washington County after the local Republican Party gathered in as special election to decide who replace outgoing Sheriff Cory Pulsipher, who is retiring due to health problems.

The election was between two seasoned veterans of the Washington County Sheriff's Office in Nate Brooksby and Jared Redfearn. In making their cases before party leadership, both said they value the law and promised to protect people's freedoms during their brief two-minute speeches.

Ultimately, it was Brooksby, who had been the chief deputy for the department, who came out on top, earning 106 total votes, just over 50%.

There were only 140 votes counted in this election as the only voters were delegates of the Washington County Republican Party.

The position opened outside of the regular election cycle after Pulsipher announced he would be retiring on Dec. 1 due to “serious health issues” he's been dealing with for the past 15 months, according to a press release sent out by the department. This isn’t the only change in the department leadership, as Undersheriff James Standley also retired earlier this fall.

After Standley left the department, Brooksby was appointed to replace Standley as undersheriff by Pulsipher so Brooksby would be “brought up to speed” on the department’s budget and projects, according to the retirement press release.

Pulsipher was in attendance for the election and Brooksby spoke highly of the sheriff. Given a 10-year difference in both age and work experience, he said he viewed Pulsipher as a "father figure."

"He's been a great law enforcement mentor throughout my career," Brooksby said.

Pulsipher, who has been the Washington County Sheriff since 2011 formally steps down on Wednesday.

During his speech, Brooksby emphasized his love for the county and his experience within the sheriff's department as reasons he should be picked.

"I've held every rank within the sheriff's office, except the office of Sheriff," he said. "I hope you guys can help me fix that tonight."

Brooksby has been in law enforcement for the last 35 years and spent the last 22 years with Washington County. During that time, he's held multiple tactical posts, including SWAT and search and rescue. Most recently he was the chief deputy for the department's patrol division before being appointed to undersheriff six weeks ago.

Being appointed to this position has given Brooksby — who was focused more on the patrol side of the job — an opportunity to learn more about the county jail and the administrative side of the department since that's what an undersheriff deals with mostly, according to Brooksby.

The other candidate, Redfearn, also touted his experience with the sheriff's department during his speech but also argued he would protect residents from any kind of government overreach no matter its size.

"You're expecting a sheriff to protect our way of life here in Washington County from any overreaching government, big or small," he said. "You're expecting a sheriff that will secure your God-given rights to life liberty and the pursuit of your happiness."

After the ballots were counted, Brooksby said that even though he expected to win he was relieved when it happened.

"With politics and elections, you don't know until you know," he said.

Brooksby has said his main priority would be to maintain a positive reputation among residents.

"By default, we're a law enforcement community. ... I just want to keep that up. I do want to be connected with the community," said Brooksby.

When asked what the biggest challenges are for a department that has grown to more than 180 employees, Brooksby said it was making sure the department was keeping up with the county's rapid growth of residents and tourists.

"In 2019, we had 134 search and rescue operations. In 2020, that went to about 175. So with the other states being shut down with COVID, everybody came to Washington County," he said.

Brooksby said he wants to add more staff to the department and hire four more deputies specifically to deal with search and rescue efforts as well as dealing with issues that happen in rural areas of the county. The sheriff's department is the only local enforcement agency for unincorporated land and often supplements local law enforcement in smaller municipalities.

Brooksby won't officially be made sheriff until he is approved by the Washington County Commission, although his confirmation seemed likely. All three county commissioners were at the election and all three are also Republicans.

The current term for sheriff runs until January 2023. The next election for sheriff will take place in 2022.

Sean Hemmersmeier covers local government, growth and development in Southwestern Utah. Follow on Twitter @seanhemmers34. Our work depends on subscribers so if you want more coverage on these issues you can subscribe here: http://www.thespectrum.com/subscribe.

This article originally appeared on St. George Spectrum & Daily News: Washington County Republicans picked Nate Brooksby as the new sheriff