Polk County Sheriff-elect Johnny Moats said he owes a debt of gratitude and will work hard to show it.

"I just want to thank the people who came out and supported me. I couldn't have done it without them," he said.

"I'm looking forward to being the sheriff the next four years and making Polk County a better place."

Moats beat out Democratic incumbent Kelly McLendon by a comfortable margin in the Nov. 6 election by taking 57.02 percent of the vote.

Moats had 7,592 votes according to final unofficial results handed in at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, compared to 5,714 (42.92 percent) for McLendon.

Messages left for McLendon seeking post-election comment were not returned.

Moats said he will be busy preparing for the transition. He has a month-long sheriff's school he must attend before he takes office Jan. 1.

Once he takes office, Moats said he will began working to build a team that has the county's interest at heart. He said he will be meeting with all sheriff's office employees to assess their skills and hear their ideas.

Moats said he doesn't anticipate firing people, but admits some won't fit into the type of culture he is trying to create at the sheriff's office. The sheriff-elect said those people probably started looking for new jobs once the election results came in and probably will resign before the new administration takes over.

Moats said he believes most of those already employed at the sheriff's office are valuable to his efforts.

"There's a lot of good people who work there and I hope most of them stay," he said.