The City’s bucket-hat-wearing police officer, Ryan Hutton, has accepted a new role within the City of Nevada structure.
Hutton, 36, started work today (July 12) as the City’s new Building and Zoning Official with the Planning and Zoning Department. He’s bringing his bucket hats along.
Hutton is excited about his new job and the future. “This job presented an opportunity to work for the City in a different avenue, where I can continue to be part of the community. Now, I can help the community grow.”
Hutton comes from a construction background. His grandfather started a construction company, and Ryan worked for the family business while he was in high school and when he was first out of college.
Now he looks to merge his law enforcement background with his construction background, as the two have more similarities than one might realize.
“This job allows me to continue working with people. It also allows me to study and apply codes, some related to law enforcement,” Ryan said.
He accepts the challenge of reading codes and applying them. “They’re all legally worded, so I’ll need to understand the codes and then break them down. But I like to study things, and I enjoy engineering concepts and reading blueprints.”
Day one, Hutton said, “is about trying to learn to swim! Starting out this is going to be about figuring out a new routine, and understanding all the things that need to be done during the day.”
Recently awarded as the 2020 recipient of the Iowa Police Chief’s Association’s Community Policing Award, Hutton also plans to continue being an officer with the Nevada Police Department. At this point in time, he’ll be out on patrol one day, every other weekend. And, he noted, “this new position will allow me to be a much more active member of the Nevada Fire Department.”
Hutton was recently working with his hometown fire department in Indianola and considering an eventual full-time career as a firefighter/paramedic. The Nevada Planning and Zoning opening has changed his trajectory.
“I still plan to work on getting my paramedic certification in the future, but I now plan to make a career with Nevada’s Planning and Zoning Department.”
This is good news for his family, which includes his wife Ashley and their four sons, William, 10; London, 8; Oliver, 4; and Beckett, 1. “We like Nevada, and we’re happy to stay in our neighborhood,” he said.
No matter what “bucket” hat he’s wearing – whether as Building and Zoning Official or as a police officer – Hutton said the most important thing he wants people to know is that they can feel comfortable talking to him.
“I want people to reach out and ask questions. When it comes to Planning and Zoning, I want to be able to help them with their projects, whether that’s getting them the right paperwork to fill out or figuring out what methods they can use to get their project done,” he said. “I’m here to serve people.”
—Written by Marlys Barker, City of Nevada
