Jan 6, 2014 2 min read

WAYNESBURG – Monday was a busy day for Greene County Sheriff Brian Tennant, whose first official day in office involved hiring three deputies, including a chief deputy, and getting the department up and running.

Tennant, elected to replace Richard Ketchem who retired, took the oath of office Thursday at a swearing-in ceremony at the Greene County Courthouse, but by law, Tennant could not assume the duties of office until Monday.

“I still have some hiring to do but we’re operational, at least on a minimal level,” Tennant said Monday morning, sitting at a desk in an office with a computer and several chairs but bare of any amenities or personal effects.

A deputy from his office had been dispatched to pick up a prisoner in Washington. “We’re starting to get things taken care of,” Tennant said.

For his chief deputy, Tennant hired Joseph French, 64, a certified police officer who earlier was employed as a deputy in the Greene County sheriff’s office for nine years.

Tennant also hired as a full-time deputy, Ryan Koffler, 28, a holdover from Ketchem’s office; and as a part-time casual deputy, Marcus Simms, 25, a former sheriff’s deputy who left the sheriff’s department earlier last year and is now a patrolman with the Waynesburg police department.

Kelley Mayhle, who worked for the sheriff’s office under Ketchem several years ago, also was hired as a clerk.

Koffler and four other members of the department under Ketchem were let go last Thursday. This left the county without a sheriff’s department for four days until Tennant officially started his term.

The lack of sheriff’s deputies required the court to continue two criminal court proceedings for which transportation was needed for prisoners between the jail and the courthouse. Those proceedings were to be rescheduled. A defendant who pleaded guilty Friday also was required to self-report to the county jail.

Tennant had been elected after defeating Erik Ketchem, son of Richard Ketchem, and William Lewis Jr., a deputy coroner and state constable, in the spring primary election.

The department, at full complement, has six full-time and several part-time and casual employees. The office is responsible for transporting prisoners as well as processing gun permit applications, serving court orders, warrants and protection-from-abuse orders, conducting sheriff’s sales and providing courtroom security in criminal proceedings.