There was a reception for departing elected officials who served over a decade with Dallas County on Tuesday. 

The recognition ceremony was held for County Attorney Chuck Sinnard and the County Recorder Chad Airhart. Sinnard has spent the last 22 years as the county attorney and was recently appointed by Governor Kim Reynolds to be the district judge in Judicial Election District 5A. Sinnard said that being the Dallas County Attorney was his first job out of law school and he has strong ties in the county, but he explains that becoming a district judge offered a new challenge. 

“While I’ll miss serving the people of Dallas County, as a county attorney, I’ll get to continue to serve the people as a district court judge, not only for Dallas County, but the other counties in the 5A district. So, you know, that was a big draw for it, with that I’d be able to continue public service but maybe reach a wider crowd.”

Airhart held the office of county recorder in Dallas County and after 12 years he decided to retire and move onto other priorities. Airhart told Raccoon Valley Radio he never intended to make a career out of public office. He described the success the recorder’s office had during his time. 

“In 12 years time never used a penny of property tax dollars to run this office. It all ran from fees that were received over the counter for work that we did. And as we modernized and became more efficient with the better technologies we used, we were able to have less expenses in the office for staff because we were more efficient with the technologies we had, which meant that we had more money left over at the end of the day and that money went back to our county general fund and we were able to reduce property taxes that way. So it’s been an exciting time for me.”

Airhart notes that he plans on spending more time at his cigar business that he’s owned for the last five years. ReNae Arnold will be the next county recorder and Jeannine Ritchie will fill the county attorney role.