WEST BOYLSTON, Mass. - Worcester County Sheriff Lew Evangelidis was sworn in for a third term on Tuesday. After taking the oath, he discussed some of the challenges his administration will face and outlined goals for the years ahead. 

Evangelidis, a Republican, said he's focused on "keeping the ball moving forward" in his third six-year term, and believes the biggest threat to progress is recruitment troubles. 

"That's a big part of what we need to work on as we go forward, it's really hard to recruit anybody to work," Evangelidis said. "You ask a restaurant right now, any business, they're having trouble finding people. We need some great people to help us with this facility, whether it be correctional staff or civilian staff."

The Worcester County Sheriff's Office is looking for more effective strategies to draw in new employees and retain them. Evangelidis said it would be difficult to maintain newer programs without proper staffing levels, and those programs have been seen as a key area of progress during his tenure as sheriff. 

"We've expanded our programming dramatically in the last few years," Evangelidis said. "We've added culinary programs, we have an RV program now here where people can leave here getting trained inside the facility and get paid 30 to 40 dollars an hour building RVs."

For much of Evangelidis' tenure as sheriff, he's maintained a good working relationship with Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, who swore him in on Tuesday. She also offered some words of encouragement for Evangelidis and department employees in the crowd. 

"You do extraordinary work, and it's really challenging work so thank you for choosing to do it," Polito said. "Never take for granted what you have in terms of your opportunity to serve and help people."

Although Evangelidis will soon be working with a new administration, he's optimistic about the years ahead and excited to get to work.

"It took a long time to build what we built here, and I think we're finally really hitting our stride," Evangelidis said. "The goal is to keep that momentum going forward. At the end of the day, if people leave here and they don't repeat offend, we all win."