Sac City, Iowa (RI) – For the first time in over a century, a woman is serving as a county sheriff in Iowa. The Sac County Board of Supervisors picked Katie Stange to be the new sheriff last month. The deadline for citizens to ask for a county-wide vote has ended — so the job is officially hers.
Stange started with the department seven years ago and was the deputy sheriff.
Stange says one of her top priorities is persuading voters to approve building a new jail. Sac County residents will be voting a bond measure to build a new county jail in November. Last year, a 10 million dollar bond proposal to build a new Sac County Jail fell one percent short of reaching the needed 60 percent support for passage.
The current jail is more than 80-years old and officials say it doesn’t meet current safety standards. Stange is the first woman to serve as sheriff since Gunda Martindale. She was appointed in Allamakee County in 1921 when her husband, who was sheriff, died in office. That was common practice at the time because sheriffs didn’t have pensions that transferred to survivors. Stange replaces Jonathan Meyer, who had been appointed Sac County Sheriff in July when the county’s long-time sheriff announced his retirement. In early September, Meyer resigned and asked to return to his position as sergeant.
