Sheriff Mike Oltersdorf said this week that he's not ready to make any formal announcement about his plans to run for a fourth term as Leelanau County's Republican sheriff - despite a recent challenge announced by Leelanau County commissioner Mark Walter of Elmwood Township.

Earlier this month the District No. 2 commissioner announced that he plans to seek the Republican nomination for sheriff in the August 2008 Primary Election. Walter said he hopes to bring “a different leadership style” to the county sheriff’s office.

“It’s just too early to be making any announcements about the election,” Oltersdorf said this week, “and, besides, the deadline to declare candidacy isn’t until sometime in May 2008,” he added.

“I can tell you, however, that I do not aspire to hold any job or public office other than Leelanau County Sheriff,” Oltersdorf said, “and I don’t expect to be doing anything next year that’s too different from what I’m doing right now.”

Oltersdorf said he was “not disappointed” that Walter had declared his candidacy for sheriff.

“What I am disappointed about,” the sheriff said, “is that Mark Walter has been a county commissioner for three years and not once has he stopped by my office to express any concern or make any recommendations about how I could do my job any better.”

The sheriff said he looks to fellow citizens – and especially to fellow elected officials on the county board who set the Sheriff’s Department budget – for their recommendations on how the Sheriff’s Department can operate more effectively.

“If Mark Walter, as a county commissioner, has had any concerns or recommendations about how the Sheriff’s Department should be run, you’d think I would have heard from him,” Oltersdorf said. “But he’s never been in my office to talk to me, nor has he brought me any facts or recommendations,” the sheriff said.

Oltersdorf was first elected Leelanau County Sheriff in 1996 following a decades-long career in law enforcement. He resides in Suttons Bay Township.

Walter, when he is not serving as a county commissioner, works full time as at Lieutenant Shift Commander at the state’s Pugsley Correctional Facility in Kingsley. He has worked for the Michigan Department of Corrections at various facilities throughout the state for more than 22 years. Walter has also served in the Michigan Army National Guard and as a Reserve Road Patrol officer with the Kalkaska County Sheriff’s Office.