CLEVELAND — Harold Pretel is now the eighth person to hold the position of Cuyahoga County Sheriff since 2009, when the sheriff became an appointed position. Pretel spent the last nearly 30 years with Cleveland Police. He said he’s here for the long haul.

“Critically important to have stability and to have longevity and to be able to have that vision and work towards realization of that vision," Pretel said. 

Pretel will now manage a jail that’s been riddled with scandals and lawsuits. The county is looking at a new jail site in Garfield Heights.

County council meetings have been filled with opposition from the public about that location. 

“We’re going to need to actually go and provide something that’s actually going to be beneficial to the community," said Kareem Henton of Black Lives Matter Cleveland. "The community benefits by it staying downtown.”

Council members question how much all of this would cost. County Executive Chris Ronayne said his proposed site has a $750 million price tag. Council member Sunny Simon believes it may actually cost more than $800 million due to inflation, and she said the site may be bigger than she thought.

“The original proposal from the Garfield site was 40 acres, and now it’s all of a sudden gone up to 70 without a plan of how any of that will be used," Simon said. 

Simon said she won’t support the Garfield jail site. Ronayne said the location is in the middle of the county. Simon tells Spectrum News that’s not a good enough reason to move it.

“The jail site in Garfield is in the center of the county, but most of the users are coming from Cleveland and east side of Cleveland, including Euclid, East Cleveland," Simon said. 

Ronayne plans on paying for the new jail by expanding the duration of the county’s sales tax. Pretel will just have to wait and see whether he will have a new jail to run as part of his new job.

“My job is to make sure that it is managed and it’s run accordingly, and wherever that facility is going to be, that is my job," Pretel said.