In January 2021, a new police chief joined the Humboldt Police Department.

It had been more than a decade since the department had its own police chief — the duties of police chief were contracted out to the Humboldt County sheriff, an arrangement originally prompted by a situation where the mayor at the time didn’t reappoint a police chief at a time when the city administrator position was also vacant. What was meant to be a temporary Band-Aid continued for over a decade.

Joel Sanders, a police officer with 30 years of experience, took up the job after 22 years with the Urbana, Illinois, police department.

“I didn’t want to walk into something that wasn’t manageable, but I didn’t want a retirement job, where I just sit and do nothing,” he added.

Humboldt was that perfect fit. Sanders grew up in a small town and his first policing job was in a small town, and he felt Humboldt would be just right.

Sanders is focused on building strong community relationships and feels Humboldt is the perfect size to accomplish that well.

Sanders said with his passion for mental health services, he hopes to bring something like a mental health emergency room to Humboldt in the future.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office’s newest deputy is a little short, kind of loud, could probably use a haircut and is prone to fleas.

Rooster, a 2-year-old Dutch shepherd, joined the department last month after being trained by and certified with Deputy Andrew Shillington for the past two years.

Shillington said the sheriff’s office hadn’t had a working dog since around 2008 and shortly after he joined the department in early 2019, he presented Sheriff Dean Kruger with the idea of adding a K-9.

Kruger agreed and Shillington got Rooster as a 9-week-old puppy in May 2019 and started his training. Rooster’s first day of duty for the department was April 1.

Toward the end of the year, the city of Humboldt hired a new city administrator to replace Travis Goedken, who left in early September to be the new city manager in Decorah.

City Administrator Cole Bockelmann was hired in November and started in mid-January.

Bockelmann comes to Humboldt from the small Nebraska town of Yutan, where he’d served as the city administrator for about three years.

A native of Sergeant Bluff, Bockelmann was looking to move to a larger town, and had his eye on somewhere in Iowa. He started on Jan. 10.

“Humboldt has done a good job with growth and development and I want to continue that,” Bockelmann said.

The Humboldt County Memorial Hospital is continuing to expand its services and facilities.

In late 2021, the hospital began working with an architect to design a new space for the hospital’s mental health therapy and counseling services. The project is still in its earliest stages and the hospital’s Board of Trustees still needs to approve the final project and design.

When the HCMH Therapy and Counseling center was established in July 2019 with the hiring of one full-time licensed mental health counselor, the hospital found existing space within the hospital campus to provide the service, said hospital Chief Executive Officer Michelle Sleiter.

“And just with life as we know it today, the volume and those seeking services has continued to increase,” she said.

In April 2020, space was added to accommodate two providers by taking square footage from the ER and infusion waiting room. A month later, in May 2020, a second full-time provider was added.

Now, the hospital is looking to add a third provider to the practice.

The other half of the story is the space the counseling department took over from the ER and infusion center is needed by its original occupants.

The project proposal is for a 3,000-square-foot, single-story addition to the HCMH with an additional 600 square feet of renovation. The addition would be used for outpatient therapy and counseling services, with access to the new space being through the existing hospital corridor.

In November, the HCMH Board of Trustees approved a contract with Atura Architecture of Clear Lake for $83,000 to create the design plans. The new space is expected to include a private entrance and exit, a waiting room, a patient resource room, receptionist space, four provider offices, one nurse space, three counseling rooms, two play therapy spaces, two exam rooms and a restroom.

The expected cost of the project is about $1 million, Sleiter said.

In 2021, the hospital began construction of its new Emergency Preparedness and Response Building, with three drive-thrus for testing and vaccination distribution and space to house the hospital’s ambulance fleet and other emergency vehicles. The building opened in August.