Longtime Cerro Gordo County Sheriff Kevin Pals is retiring and did not seek reelection Tuesday.
Current Chief Deputy for the Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s Department, Dave Hepperly, was elected as the new sheriff with 12,190 votes. Hepperly defeated Brian Koob, a current trooper for the Iowa State Patrol and former member of the sheriff’s department, who received 9,994 votes.
“I just want to say that I’m very pleased that we were able to prevail and just very happy that the citizens placed their confidence in me that I did win the election. Sheriff Pals and I have worked together for a long time. I’ve been the chief under him for the last 22 years and he’s been a great mentor for me and I’m just looking forward to, you know, number one, his retirement kind of came as a surprise, but you know wish him well moving on from all the stresses of being the sheriff and you know I’ve had 22 years of being the chief so I’m ready to take over the complete role of sheriff and the responsibilities to go with that.”
Pals will be retiring after serving as sheriff since 2001.
