With the newly proposed criminal court building going on the ballot this year in Dallas County, Sheriff Adam Infante discusses potential advantages it could bring to the county.

Infante explains that Dallas County is amongst the fastest growing counties in the state of Iowa, and it is becoming a challenge to manage that growth from the Board of Supervisors position. He says that there’s a space needs issue in the county, with a focal point on the courthouse in Adel. Infante illustrates that the sheriff’s office wants a courthouse with a more secure holding area.

“Right now, they sit in the gallery in courtrooms, amongst the public, all of them together and most modern courthouses have holding areas, not quite like a jail, but a room secluded and protected for inmates, and we take them one at a time from those rooms. We’d also like to have a say in the security of it.”

Infante calls the current courthouse a beautiful building, but acknowledges that it’s not expandable and there’s only so many ways to reconfigure it from the inside. He believes a modern facility would be better for both inmates and Iowa residents entering the building. The bond referendum, which costs $60.3 million will be put on the November city and school election ballot.