Ty Trenary selected as new Snohomish County sheriff

Noah Haglund, The Herald

EVERETT — Snohomish County has a new sheriff: Ty Trenary.

The County Council approved the appointment Monday with a 5-0 vote.

Trenary, 47, of Stanwood, is a captain at the sheriff’s office, where he’s worked since 1991.

He served as police chief for Stanwood, which contracts with the county for police services, from 2008 to 2012.

Trenary, a former leader of the union that represents sheriff’s deputies, also has worked as a sheriff’s office training manager and as a patrol supervisor.

Detective Sgt. James Upton, 53, of Monroe, also sought the job. He supervises detectives who investigate property crimes based out of the sheriff’s office South Precinct. Upton joined the sheriff’s office in 2003.

The sheriff is responsible for law enforcement in unincorporated Snohomish County, and provides that service under contract, including in Snohomish, Stanwood and Sultan. The sheriff’s office also runs the county jail. Combined, those operations include a staff of about 700 and an annual budget upwards of $100 million.

A looming concern for the new sheriff will be the jail, where at least seven inmates have died since 2010. The federal government earlier this month agreed to conduct a review of jail operations and medical services. Lovick in March requested that assistance from the National Institute of Corrections.

The sheriff’s post is nonpartisan, so candidates applied directly to the County Council.

The appointment followed a political domino effect created by Aaron Reardon’s resignation as county executive at the end of May. Reardon’s departure followed a series of scandals, most recently involving him and two members of his staff.

John Lovick, who had been sheriff, was appointed by the County Council to replace Reardon. Lovick, a retired state trooper and former state lawmaker, had been in the second year of his second term as sheriff.

Voters will cast ballots in a 2014 special election to determine who serves out the remaining year left on the sheriff’s term. A regular election for the four-year term is scheduled in 2015.

Both Upton and Trenary said they plan to run in those elections.