OTTAWA — In Tuesday’s election for Putnam County sheriff, voters will be looking to end months of uncertainty in the Sheriff’s Office. Since the unexpected death of 56-year-old Sheriff Mike Chandler in January after complications from heart surgery, the office has had two interim sheriffs.
Up for election to a full four-year term are Brian Seifker and Dennis Cupp. Both tout their many years of experience as the main reason voters should choose them over their opponent.
“What I want to bring to the table is 24 years of experience, including four years in the Marine Corps,” said Brian Siefker, who’s worked all his career in the Sheriff’s Office and is currently a captain. He is a member of the Special Response Team and the Under Water Search and Rescue Team. He’s running on the Republican Party line and has the endorsement of the Ottawa County Republican Party.
Dennis Cupp served 15 years in the Sheriff’s Office before becoming police chief of Leipsic in 2009. He’s also been a criminal investigator for the Ohio State Fire Marshal and a special U.S. deputy marshal tasked with helping track down criminals with the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force of the U.S. Marshals Service.
“I have been a law enforcement officer in a municipality, a county, and the state and federal government,” Cupp said. There’s “a lot of contacts that I have, a lot of things that I’ve seen that worked in other departments.”
Cupp, a Republican, is running as an independent.
“I decided to go independent because there were no Democrats running,” he said. “I did not want one party to make a decision on who was going to be the next sheriff.”
Both say combating the heroin epidemic and the ancillary crimes that result from addiction are their top concerns.
Siefker said he’d focus on outreach to the county’s youth.
“We need to get out there and educate people. Education, enforcement and rehabilitation, those are the three keys,” he said.
He’d also like to expand the office’s new K9 unit into schools. Interim Sheriff Tim Meyer purchased two drug-sniffing dogs earlier this year.
Cupp, who’s had a K9 unit in Leipsic for several years, said he’d re-evaluate the office’s participation in a Multi-Area Narcotics Unit that is based in Defiance.
“For me, I would like to see that unit do more in Putnam County than I believe they’re doing,” he said.
The biggest job facing the next sheriff may be in refocusing and revitalizing the office. Low morale was one of the reasons Seifker gave last December when he announced his intention to run against Sheriff Chandler, a decision that could have caused even more internal divisions had Seifker had to actively campaign against his late boss.
Siefker said Chandler’s supporters have nothing to fear, should he become sheriff.
“I don’t plan on getting rid of anybody,” he said. “I just want everyone to do their job, work well with others, and get along.”
Cupp said the Sheriff’s Office “needs to be more of a family,” the way he remembered it being when he worked there. He believes he has an advantage, coming in as an outsider.
“People have told me, ‘It’s about time we’re going to have someone in there who’s going to be different,’” he said.
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