Residency requirement to be loosened for Cerro Gordo County sheriff’s deputies

MASON CITY — Cerro Gordo County officials are in agreement to allow the Sheriff’s Department to loosen up some requirements as part of their recruitment efforts to fill deputy vacancies.

Currently, a deputy must live inside Cerro Gordo County, but Sheriff David Hepperly plans to expand that to allow future deputies to live within 20 miles of the county border. “I think that would locally here for me open up the possibility that there would be other certified law enforcement people that would consider applying for our department if they knew they didn’t have to move to the county, if they live within whatever requirements would be. That would also open up that maybe other applicants who don’t necessarily feel that it would be in their best interest to move but would still be interested in working for us, it would attract those people as well.”

Hepperly says he’ll also be looking into other things to attract qualified applicants.  “A lot of agencies now to attract personnel, they’re giving hiring incentives such as bonuses, moving expenses. Another thing that we’ve run into is that we may have a candidate that’s under contract to another law enforcement agency. A lot of agencies now are buying out contracts to attract people.”

Several law enforcement and public safety agencies throughout the state and region have loosened up living requirements to attract candidates for open positions. The Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s Office currently has three vacancies for deputy positions.