CLEVELAND — Cuyahoga County is the only county in Ohio to appoint the sheriff position rather than have someone elected, and there’s a recent push to change that.
Back in 2009, in response to several scandals involving Cuyahoga County officials and the sheriff at the time, voters approved a charter changing the method of selecting the county sheriff. It was switched from an elected position to an appointed one.
Since then, six sheriffs have been appointed in Cuyahoga County and the current interim sheriff, Steven Hammett, is getting ready to set to step down at the end of the week.
Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne will then have to pick a new interim sheriff, before recommending a permanent replacement for the position. That recommendation would then need to be approved by county council.
County Councilman Mike Gallagher, R-District 5, said the turnover rate with sheriffs is a concern and wants to see the position be picked, once again, by the people.
In statement to Spectrum News, Councilman Gallagher said:
“There has been no reasonable concern raised to not return to an elected sheriff. This experiment has failed miserably.”
Still others, including Councilman Dale Miller, D-District 2, want things to stay the way they are.
“We should give more time for the charter concept to work,” Miller said. “I’m not in favor of changing the method of selection at this time.”
Meanwhile, Ronayne isn’t choosing a side on the issue.
“Our priority is to appoint an Interim Sheriff before February 17th,” Tyler Sinclair, a spokesperson for Cuyahoga County, told Spectrum News. “The Executive believes that conversations between councilmembers, stakeholders, and the community surrounding this issue are valuable and worthy of discussion. He’s listening to that dialogue but is not taking a position at this time.”
In order to switch the position of sheriff back to an elected one, a charter amendment would have to be placed on the ballot in a general election and be approved by voters.
