AUGUSTA — On Friday morning, when plows were crisscrossing Kennebec County to clear the many inches of snow that had fallen the night before, a county employee walked into the office of Ken Mason, the sheriff-elect.

He informed Mason that two plows had struck each other on county property and that an accident report would need to be filled out. Mason – who was elected in November but would not be sworn in as sheriff formally for a couple days – told the employee to ask a supervising officer to complete the report.

“I would take it myself,” Mason added, “but I’m not authorized yet. I would take it in a heartbeat.”

After that conversation, Mason said that’s the kind of leader he hopes to be as the new sheriff in town.

“I’m going to lead by example,” he said. “If there weren’t deputies close by (to help out with an accident report), I would have done it myself.”

Until early December, Mason was the chief deputy of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, which has about 30 full-time workers and 10 part-time employees.

But after winning a two-way race against sitting Kennebec County Sheriff Ryan Reardon in November, Mason, of Readfield, will take control of the comparatively large central Maine agency. He’ll supervise 165 people, 120 of them full-time, with 90 of those working at the jail and 30 in law enforcement.

Post-election, Mason already has made his presence known in the department. He has met nearly all its employees, regularly attended meetings of the Kennebec County commissioners and rearranged the furniture in his new office.

“My focus is going to be on the employees here at the (sheriff’s office) and the citizens of Kennebec County,” Mason said. “My employees, my fellow employees, much like in the past month, they’ve seen me. I’ve been coming in. I’m going to keep tabs on how things are going – not micromanaging, of course, but keeping my fingers on the pulse of the agency.”

Mason won the Nov. 8 election with 33,387 votes over Reardon’s 31,644.

The top law enforcement job in Kennebec County had opened up earlier in 2016, when former Sheriff Randall Liberty resigned to become the warden of the Maine State Prison. Reardon, of Oakland, who had been chief deputy under Liberty since 2010, was appointed sheriff in March by Gov. Paul LePage.

When he is sworn in at the beginning of January, Mason will move the department’s current chief deputy, William Johnson, into the office of professional review. He will make Sgt. Al Morin, who now works in that office, his chief deputy. Morin and Mason both used to work for the Augusta Police Department.

Before taking his Lincoln County post in February 2005, Mason, 54, worked for the Augusta Police Department for 18 years. He served in the Marine Corps from 1981 to 1986 in radio communications and as a drill instructor, earning the rank of sergeant.

Mason said he supports alternative programs that allow inmates to receive treatment for drug addiction, but that he is still learning what programs are offered in Kennebec County. He plans to continue offering several existing programs at the jail, including the CARA program, which targets substance abuse and criminal thinking among inmates, and an initiative that aims to help incarcerated veterans.

“I’m going to try to make them better,” Mason said.

Mason said he hopes to cut down on the inmate population in Kennebec County jail, which is rated to handle about 150 inmates but regularly holds more than that.

“We have a problem with overcrowding,” he said. “It’s the nature of this beast here in Kennebec County because we’re locking up a lot of drug dealers. … We have to find other places to bring prisoners.”

 

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