Voters in Buchanan County will have to decide between three candidates in the race for sheriff.

In order shown on the ballot, Ron Fisher is running as a Democrat, Bill Puett as a Republican and Pat Grove is running as an Independent.

Fisher is a former law officer and court marshal.

“I want to implement more patrol officers out there,” Fisher said. “We need an emphasis on the county. We’ll let the city and the highway patrol take care of the highways and let the deputy officers take care of the county roads.”

Puett is the current Undersheriff for the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office.

“We also have to look at problems that are facing our community like the influx of drugs and violence that we’ve seen throughout our community in northwest Missouri,” Puett said.

Grove is a former Kansas City Police Commander and St. Joseph Police Department Sgt.

“I think that looking towards a workers agreement is something that is primary on my list and is a focal point of my campaign,” Grove said. “I think that’s something that these guys need, some type of protection from management to look towards a more positive type influence.”

Grove filed as an Independent after issues with his certification after filing as a Republican in February. As we previously reported, Grove withdrew from the August Primary in May after a civil complaint questioning Grove’s qualification at the time of filing due to an expired peace officers certificate.  The complaint was brought against him by Puett.  Grove said he has since corrected the issue by retaking and passing his test.

Each of the candidates talked about turnover in the sheriff’s office as an issue.

“We’re losing a lot of our good officers to bigger departments and we need to figure out a way to hang onto them,” Fisher said. “I’ll be more of a personnel officer trying to talk to the men and try to encourage them to stay and if I can implement something to change it.”

“We have a lot of discussion about salaries right now.  There’s other law enforcement agencies in the area that make significantly more than our deputies make,” Puett said.

“I’d like to get control of the spending so at some point they could possibly look forward to better pay and better benefits,” Grove said.

Current Sheriff Mike Strong plans to retire.  Voters will decide who will fill his position Nov. 8 during the general election.