Republicans choose Myers as Ashland County Clerk of Courts

ASHLAND – The Ashland County Republican Party Central Committee has chosen Ashland County Sheriff’s Office Corrections Division Secretary Deborah Myers as the next Ashland County Clerk of Courts.

The committee met Wednesday evening to interview all four applicants for the position and to make its appointment. Other candidates included Ashland County Common Pleas Court Administrator Tina Carpenter, interim Ashland County Clerk of Courts Cathy Bishop and Deputy Clerk Chris Daugherty. 

Myers comes to the position from the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office, where she has spent eight years as a corrections division secretary, overseeing the inmates’ commissary and providing accounting and secretarial support to the jail administrator. Prior to that, Myers was a dispatcher for the Ohio State High Patrol’s Ashland Post and was a deputy clerk in the Ashland County Clerk of Courts office from 1996 through 2001. 

Myers will succeed Bishop, who was appointed interim clerk by the Ashland County Commissioners in April after former clerk Annette Shaw resigned to take a position as Ashland Municipal Court clerk of courts.  

Chris Tunnell, who chairs the party’s central committee and is also the county prosecutor, said all four candidates had the necessary experience to do the job. Tunnell said Myers stood out as a candidate because she showed “a demonstrated track record of supporting the Republican Party.”

“She has in the past attended events, volunteered and supported Republican candidates,” Tunnell said. “She has a voting record of consistently voting Republican.”

Tunnell added the party feels the county needs a strong conservative in the position because the clerk of courts is responsible for making many decisions using taxpayer dollars. In addition to overseeing court records, Myers will oversee the title bureau, which Tunnell said brings in about $7 million annually. 

In addition to appointing Myers to the clerk’s position for the remainder of the year, the committee also nominated her as the party’s candidate to run for the office on the November ballot. 

“We of course anticipate the voters will choose her in November to complete the term,” Tunnell said. Shaw’s unexpired term runs through December 2020. 

Myers said she looks forward to returning to the clerk’s office, this time in a leadership role.

“I always enjoyed the work there and enjoyed working with the people, whether the employees or the people across the counter,” Myers said. 

Myers said she has a heart for public service and takes her responsibility to serve constituents and taxpayers seriously. 

“They’ve entrusted me to be there, and I need to act on their behalf,” she said. 

Myers said she will work hard to maintain the level of trust that has already been established in the clerk’s office. She also plans to investigate the procedure for implementing a new electronic filing system. She hopes to facilitate an easy transition by working with other clerks who have been through the process and working with the vendors who provide the service. 

An Ashland native who grew up in Polk and graduated from Mapleton High School, Myers lives with her husband, Kenny, in northern Ashland County. The pair have three adult sons.