The Woodward City Council accepted the resignation Monday night of Woodward Police Chief Joseph Cox.
Cox will assume a new position with the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals (DIA) starting Friday, Oct. 18. Woodward’s police chief since 2014, Cox will continue on a part-time basis until the city hires a full-time officer.
“I want to thank you, Joe, for your service,” said Woodward Mayor Todd Folkerts. “I think you’ve done an excellent, excellent job. I found nobody in this community who wouldn’t pat you on the back and say, ‘Good luck in the future.’ I know you’ll still be around part time but from the full-time side, thank you for everything you’ve done.”
The council first discussed Cox’s departure at an Oct. 1 special session, and Folkerts repeated at Monday night’s meeting the council’s determination to continue employing a full-time police officer.
“We have had a lot of discussion by a few people on our current police force and where we’re headed,” he said. “The council had a special session, and it was a unanimous vote for us to move forward in looking for a police officer. So that is the route as your mayor I am continuing to go down.”
Folkerts mentioned a meeting organized in early September by a non-resident of Woodward who was agitating to do away with the Woodward Police Department and to contract with the Dallas County Sheriff’s office for public-safety services. Folkerts said the city currently spends about $98,000 a year for police protection, and the sheriff offered to provide a deputy on full-time patrol for $105,000 a year.
“The sheriff’s numbers are more expensive albeit what he’s proposing would put an officer for 40 hours driving around the community,” the mayor said. “Our current police officer does 40 hours, but that includes investigations and all the other things that go along with it, not just patrolling. I still have yet to have an answer from anybody in the community, telling me what that 40-hour officer is going to give us patrolling the streets because I can drive this community in about 15 minutes.”
In order to illustrate the effectiveness of a municipal police department, the mayor used the recent example of the arrest by Cox of a driver on an OWI charge who was allegedly involved in a hit-and-run collision.
“I got nothing but compliments from those parents about that type of police work that we have using local law enforcement,” Folkerts said. “From the most people that I talk to in this community, they are wanting and still looking for a local police force.”
Cox told the council that leaving was bittersweet to him. He said he is excited to be taking on a new challenge but sad to be leaving a community he has come to care for deeply.
Cox said some part-time officers on the Granger Police Department have expressed interest in assisting in Woodward during in the interim, as the city seeks a new chief of police. He said he will himself be available on weekends, and eight-year Woodward Police Department Reserve Officer Chris Sprott will continue to serve the city part time.
Cox is moving to a multifarious department of the state government. The Iowa DIA is responsible for inspecting and licensing or certifying health care providers and suppliers, restaurants and grocery stores, social and charitable gambling operations, hotels and motels and beauty and barbershops.
