Lang
9/25/25
The Johnson County Board of Supervisors has declined to continue pursuing a joint facility that would have included the sheriff’s office, a new jail, and the Iowa City Police Department.
That move came during Wednesday’s supervisors’ meeting. During a meeting last week, the Iowa City City Council seemed lukewarm to the idea, although it did vote 4-3 to continue pursuing the proposal.
Johnson County Sheriff Brad Kunkel pulled his support for the joint facility shortly after the city council vote. Kunkel told KCJJ he wasn’t comfortable working with politicians he felt didn’t respect the role of law enforcement in the community. The sheriff also cited the fact that the city pulled out of a verbal agreement to use a parcel of city-owned land between South Riverside Drive and the Iowa River, near the Iowa City Transit facility, as the site of the joint operation.
A recent Shive-Hattery study indicated the county and city could have saved a combined $10.25 million by merging the facilities of the sheriff’s office and police department.
County officials still hope to put a proposal for a new jail and sheriff’s facility on the November 2026 ballot.