A groundbreaking ceremony was held Thursday morning at the new $23 million Dallas County Law Enforcement Center at 25979 U.S. Highway 6 in the Ortonville area of Adel.
With the massive earthmovers of McAninch Construction rolling in the background and a line of patrol cars nearby, Dallas County Sheriff Chad Leonard and some two dozen deputy sheriffs, jailers and administration staffers gathered at 10 a.m.
“We chose this location to do the groundbreaking because this is where the American flag is scheduled to be,” Leonard said. “One of the guys in the bulldozers GPSed it for me this morning, so we’re standing within five feet of that.”
Leonard was joined by the three-person Dallas County Board of Supervisors — Chairperson Kim Chapman and Supervisors Brad Golightly and Mark Hanson — and several other elected officials, including Iowa Sen. Jake Chapman, Dallas County Recorder Chad Airhart and Adel City Council member Bob Ockerman.
Construction is estimated to take 20 months for the facility, which will include a new county jail and jail administrative services, new sheriff’s administrative offices, with patrol, investigations and civil law offices and an initial appearance courtroom.
Calling the new law enforcement center “long overdue,” Leonard reflected on the efforts spent by his department and the lessons learned in the process of persuading voters to approve the financing of the project.
“With each attempt we learned a lot,” he said. “The biggest lesson was don’t leave anybody behind. We started off doing the civic organizations in the larger communities, thinking that that was enough and that the word would get out, but it took going to every town, from Linden to West Des Moines. I know I did well over 120 presentations, but these folks behind me, they did all the jail tours. They fielded all the phone calls. They set up the meetings for me. I couldn’t have done it without all of them, and I couldn’t have done it without all of you.”
Dallas County Supervisors Chair Kim Chapman thanked the sheriff for his tenacity in educating the voters about the issue, and he thanked the project’s lead architect, Jerry Purdy of Design Alliance, and consultant, Sid Samuels of the Samuels Group, for moving the facility forward.
Financing for the $23 million construction also moved forward this week with the successful sale of $8.265 million in general obligation capital loan notes to the investment bank of Raymond James. Tim Oswald of Piper Jaffray Co., the supervisors’ financial consultant, managed the sale for the county. He said eight bids were made on the notes Tuesday morning.
“It’s a good number,” Dallas County Operations Department Director Rob Tietz said of the 2.86 percent interest rate on the notes.
The strength of Dallas County’s financial position was also confirmed this week when Moody’s, a credit rating agency, raised the county’s rating from AA1 to AAA, the highest possible rating. Ratings indicate the relative trustworthiness of an institution’s securities, such as its capital loan notes.
“We owe this rating increase to sound fiscal management,” Chapman said at the Tuesday meeting of the supervisors, “and to the good stewardship of all our department heads countywide.”
The rapid growth in the county’s tax base and the low property tax levy rate leaves the county with a ready revenue source, which strengthens its creditworthiness.
At $21.3 million, the current design — a 92-bed facility, expandable to 172 beds — was planned for a 25-year life cycle, Samuels said.
