Cullman County Sheriff Matt Gentry announced Friday he plans to retire and will not seek re-election. After 25 years in law enforcement and 10 years as sheriff, Gentry said he has seen a lot of changes and he is proud of his time in office.
"I think about all the things that we've implemented in the last 10 years," Gentry said. "I think about our community events. We do more community meetings than any other sheriff's office in the state."
Gentry said he has become disturbed watching politicians who are part of "the establishment" not having self-accountability and self-term limits.
"What is hard is to say, 'You know what? I'm going to do my job and then I'm going to go do something else," he said.
He said good leaders know when to move on to the next thing.
Gentry still has two-and-a-half years left in his current term. He said he made the choice on his own to retire because he wants to be fair to the people. While he said it would be easy to run again, he remembers a conversation he had with his dad when he was running for sheriff in 2014. His father asked him to show he has honor, integrity and accountability and to hang his hat when it was time.
"I want to leave the people with this. I am going to be your sheriff for the next two-and-a-half years," Gentry added. "I will work every day as hard as I can just like the day that I started."
As for what's next, Gentry said he does not know.
"What I can tell you is I don't know what the future holds, but I will follow wherever God leads me," Gentry said.
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