Cuyahoga County’s Sheriff could once again be decided at the ballot box in 2028 after County Council on Tuesday voted 7-4 to advance a proposal out of committee to the full body. Since the reform of county government, the position has been appointed by the County Executive. Ohio’s other 87 counties all have an elected sheriff.
Like most big ticket decisions, Tuesday’s vote was accompanied by the usual heated volleys and accusations across the three branches of Cuyahoga government, including a debate between originalism and progressive change.
Meanwhile, County Executive Chris Ronayne argued it wasn’t the right time for the discussion, instead arguing we be spending our time debating more important issues, like levies going before voters this November and next year.
“This whole separately elected sheriff conversation does not need to happen right now,” Ronayne said.
Ronayne, who handpicked Sheriff Harold Pretel in 2024, insisted that recent charter amendments, in 2012 and 2017, bestowed Council with enough power to keep check on the sheriff position.
Pretel, he said, has had a strong tenure: He helped revise when and how sheriff’s deputies can chase suspects who flee in their cars, had valuable input in the new county jail site in Garfield Heights, and played a role in Crime Gun Intelligence Center.
“I’m proud of what you’ve done, you as a body have helped keep corruption out of the sheriff’s office,” he said. “Is there a need for improvement? Absolutely.”
“But this is all a distraction from a conversation that matters,” Ronanye added.
Yet what seemed to rile up Council on Tuesday is just how many sheriffs have come and gone. Since FitzGerald’s first pick of Frank Bova in 2011, the county’s said hello and bye to nine sheriffs for a variety of reasons.
Many on Tuesday felt that high turnover was a sign that the position of sheriff was better decided by the people themselves as to increase accountability.
Lake County Sheriff Frank Leonbruno advocated for the change during public comment.
“Whatever elected sheriff exists,” Leonbruno said, “he or she serves the people and it is the right of the people to unelect them from office and put in a sheriff that they believe they can trust to obey the law and enforce the law.”
“I believe that election is essential to have a good sheriff,” he said.
County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley emphasized the importance of the role in general, especially as one in charge of the County Jail.
“This is one of the most important position in county government,” O’Malley said. And “make no mistake, when you are responsible for the lives of 1,600 detainees, that makes your position be most important.”
But can we depend on Cuyahoga County voters to lean toward fairness?
As Council President Dale Miller reminded the body, elected sheriffs around the country are 91 percent white and 98 percent male. A sheriff appointed by a county leader, he argued, could allow more diversity—Pretel, after all, is Hispanic, Miller was quick to point out.
And if the people elect a bad sheriff, there’s no telling that they’re going to learn their lesson four years later.
“Under our appointed system, we have opportunities for oversight and management,” Miller said.
“We can’t give that up. Everybody wants to be independent, but our country’s founders recognize that human nature is imperfect and requires checks and balances,” he said.
County Council will make its final vote August 4 as to whether or not the decision of the sheriff heads to voters in 2028.
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