PORT HADLOCK — Jefferson County Sheriff-elect David Stanko has mapped a reorganization strategy he expects will streamline operations once he takes office.
Stanko, 66, won the seat, which was vacated by former Sheriff Tony Hernandez, in the Nov. 4 general election, defeating Wendy Davis by 282 votes out of 14,678 cast, earning 50.96 percent over Davis’ 49.04 percent.
He has less time to prepare for assuming the job than some other recently elected county officials, since he also was elected to fill an unexpired term.
After the election is certified Nov. 25, Stanko will be sworn in along with Treasurer-elect Stacie Hoskins and Assessor Jeff Chapman for the unexpired term, and then Jan. 2 for the full four-year term.
Stanko said the first step is to fill the undersheriff’s position, which has been vacant since Hernandez left that post to become sheriff in 2009.
He plans to fill that post with Chief Criminal Deputy Joe Nole, a 21-year veteran of the department who was named as interim sheriff after Hernandez left to become the Milton police chief.
The next step is to change the duties of the department’s two captains, Ben Stamper and Mike Stringer, moving away from administrative responsibilities and putting them back on patrol.
The four officers — Stanko, Nole, Stringer and Stamper — will become the department’s management team and plot the direction for a more responsive Sheriff’s Office that, according to Nole, “will be more guardians than warriors.”
Stanko is developing plans for the Sheriff’s Office that ranges from giving deputies a higher profile in schools to getting rid of the department’s Hummer.
“The deputies will be more visible in the Brinnon, Quilcene and Chimacum school systems,” Stanko said.
“We want them to be there in uniform so they can show the kids they can talk to us any time, not just when something bad happens.
“We want to have a greater presence in the south county,” Stanko added.
“Instead of going to lunch at Ferino’s Pizza [in Port Hadlock], they should go down to Brinnon to the Halfway House in uniform and talk to people.”
Stanko plans to get rid of the department’s black Hummer, which it acquired free of charge as surplus in 2012.
Hernandez procured the vehicle with the intention of creating an incident response unit, but it was used only in parades.
“It gives the public the wrong message,” Stanko said.
“It’s meant for use in a SWAT team, which we have no need for here.”
The department can’t sell the vehicle, and the military doesn’t want it back, Nole said, so the department must donate it to a qualified law enforcement agency.
Training is essential, Stanko said.
He plans to conduct an active shooter exercise at Chimacum High School in December that will simulate how to react to a school shooting incident.
Unlike Hernandez, Stanko said he has no plans to work patrol.
This is good news to Nole, who said he never liked the fact that Hernandez worked in the field.
If there were a shooting incident, then the sheriff would become involved in the paperwork involved, according to Nole.
Stanko also hopes to increase the department’s visibility in service clubs.
Stanko is an active Port Townsend Rotary member and will ask Nole to join the Kiwanis or another service club.
Stamper or Stringer probably will be dispatched to attend weekly Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce meetings “so people can ask them questions about whatever is on their minds,” Stanko said.
Stanko entered the race in May expecting to receive the endorsement of the Jefferson County Democratic Party.
When that did not occur, he suspended his primary campaign for six weeks, and although he was elected as a Democrat, he said throughout the campaign that he identified more as an independent and intended to change to that designation as soon as possible.
“The sheriff should be a nonpartisan office,” he said.
“I want to avoid any indication of bias or prejudice,” he added.
“If I am free of the party, I can run the office the way I want to without any political pressure.”
Nole, who has worked under four sheriffs, said none of them ever bowed to political pressure, but there were several times when the sheriff was approached with a politically based request.
County Auditor Donna Eldridge said in an email that the open primary law makes switching parties an unofficial act and “is the same as any voter switching from thinking of themselves as a Democrat to thinking of themselves as a Republican.”
Stanko has said he plans to serve at least one full term.
If he leaves office, the process of naming a replacement would be different than that for other partisan officials, whose party offers three candidates from which the three county commissioners must choose.
Since Stanko did not receive the support of the party, it would be removed from the nomination process, and the commissioners could choose from their own list.
________
Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
