Commissioners select Commander Joe Kast as next Marion County sheriff

The Marion County Commissioners agreed Thursday to hire Joe Kast as Marion County sheriff to replace the retiring Jason Myers.

They will make the appointment of Kast, currently a commander in the Marion County Sheriff’s office, official at the June 26 commissioner’s meeting, and he will start the position July 1.

Kast will serve in the sheriff position through 2020, when it will go up for election.

“People have huge respect for him,” Marion County Commissioner Kevin Cameron said. “I think Commander Kast would hit the ground running.”

Kast has been with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office for 23 years in five different positions and previously spent three years with the Bibb County Sheriff's Office in Georgia.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office serves a population of 344,035, including 98,931 in rural areas or unincorporated cities, and contracts with the cities of Aurora, Jefferson, Sublimity and Chemawa Indian School.

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The department covers 1,182 square miles with an annual budget of $71.5 million and 357 full-time equivalent employees.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office is one of seven departments in the county headed by elected officials.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Kast said. “I’m looking forward to working with everyone in the office doing the good things we’ve been doing.”

Myers will retire from the position June 30 to take a position with the Oregon State Sheriff’s Association. He was elected to his third four-year term in January and announced his impending retirement days later.

Kast said he will run for the position in the next election and said he already has a campaign manager. 

The person who wins that election will serve a four-year term.

Kast and Josh Brooks, a lieutenant with the Oregon State Police Department from Sublimity, were the two applicants for the appointment.

“I really like some of his ideas,” Marion County Commissioner Colm Willis said of Brooks. “He brought fresh ideas.”

“I came away thinking Commander Kast had more specific knowledge of the sheriff’s office.”

In his letter of resignation, Myers endorsed Kast for the position.

The commissioners indicated one of the reasons they chose Kast over Brooks is Kast's broad knowledge of the Marion County Sheriff's office operations from working directly in the three major divisions of the department: enforcement, operations and institutions. 

They also indicated with the impending retirements of Myers and Undersheriff Troy Clausen, they desired continuity.

Myers' salary is $156,270.40 per year as sheriff. 

Kast said he will build on the work Myers has done as sheriff since being appointed to the position in 2009.

"That will be the interesting piece: I’m not going to try to fill Jason’s shoes," Kast said. "We’re going to use the foundation he laid down and build on it from there."

bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com or Twitter.com/bpoehler