At the time of his win, Clark thanked his supporters.
“It all paid off tonight, and the citizens of Clark County have spoken,” he said. “I can’t wait to serve them as their Clark County sheriff.”
Clark served different roles in the sheriff’s office from 1997 until early last year. Burchett fired Clark in 2023 shortly after the new 911 dispatch center opened. She wrote to him he was “terminated because I have lost trust in you as my fiduciary.” Clark said she fired him because she thought he would run against her in the election, though he said he had planned to run only once she retired.
Now in office as sheriff, Clark has also selected his leadership staff, including Chief Deputy Mark Lane.
Clark also is Madison Twp.’s fire chief, something he said taught him community leadership and has given him incident command and crisis response expertise. Clark has been with the Madison Twp. Fire Department for 32 years, serving as its chief for 17 years.
After becoming a Clark County deputy, Clark worked his way up to detective, sergeant, lieutenant, then to major. In 2011 he received the Ohio Distinguished Law Enforcement Valor Award from then-Attorney General Mike DeWine.
As a Clark County Sheriff’s major, Clark headed the efforts to launch the new combined 911 dispatch center that opened in 2023. He also led the sheriff’s Special Operations Team and often gave media briefings regarding incidents involving the department.
The new sheriff is a lifelong resident of Clark County and a 1994 Southeastern High School graduate as well as graduate of the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy – Clark State College. He is married to his wife of more than 25 years, Julie, and has three children.
Burchett had been sheriff since 2017. She defeated longtime Sheriff Gene Kelly, a Democrat, in a year Republicans swept the county in November 2016. She beat Kelly by 8.8% percentage points. She was the county’s first female sheriff.
Clark has said he hopes to increase recruitment, waiving application fees and improving the sheriff’s office’s work environment. He has also said a major concern is the office’s budget.
He has said his first step in office will be to evaluate personnel and the budget to get staffing to the level it should be. He said he plans to return the office “back to where it should be.”
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
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