Perry County Sheriff Steve Bareis, headed for at least a 10-month deployment to Africa with his National Guard unit next year, will not run for reelection.
Instead he's more likely to come home from the deployment and get ready to take up a new job as Sesser police chief.
Bareis, who will celebrate 20 years with the sheriff's department in November, said the upcoming deployment to a U.S. Naval base in the east African nation of Djibouti would make it impossible to run for reelection, as he would have no ability to campaign.
The deployment is meant to be from January to November 2022, but, "with COVID and so forth, it could go longer," Bareis said.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday Bareis was appointed the interim police chief of Sesser. He expects to work 10 to 15 hours a week for Sesser as an independent contractor -- hours he said will mostly be in the evening, after his day at the county is done.
Bareis said Sesser Mayor Jason Ashmore approached him two months ago about taking over as chief of police from Ryan White, who is leaving.
Bareis said his primary focus now remains the Perry County Sheriff's Department. He will continue to be full time with the department until his deployment in January, at which time the running of the sheriff's department will fall to his chief deputy, Capt. Wally Behm.
When he returns to Perry County in late 2022, a new sheriff will have been elected and Bareis sees his main role as facilitating the transition. After the new sheriff is sworn in, he anticipates taking over as the full time Sesser police chief.
Bareis is a chaplain with the Illinois National Guard and has been assigned to the 404th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, based in Normal, Illinois. He will travel to Africa with about 200 personnel, who will set up at the anti-terrorism response base run by the U.S. Navy in Djibouti.
"Our job is primarily leadership," said Bareis, who said he can't publicly get too specific about the mission.
It is a dangerous part of the world. The small Republic of Djibouti is located where the Red Sea meets the Gulf of Aden. Yemen is across the water, Somalia is to the south.
"My job is not only religious support, but morale and advising the commander," Bareis said. "A chaplain's job, as I see it, is to make sure soldiers are ready to fight."
Will he run for office again? Bareis says you can never say never, but he doubts it. He, his wife and their 17-year-old daughter plan to remain living in Perry County. His Sesser job is only about 10 minutes away.
Leaving Perry County service doesn't come easy, Bareis said, but he admits the past couple years have been hard.
"I love what I do and I love serving Perry County," he said. "But the last two years have been very difficult given the cuts in staffing. And when I was told about the deployment in December, I knew I was going to be coming back without a job. I'm 52, and I'm not ready to retire."
