Sheriff Rodney Smith
Sheriff Smith is a lifetime resident of the Coolville area. He graduated from Federal Hocking High School in 1980. He has been happily married for 25 years and has 1 child. Sheriff Smith is a very passionate motorcycle rider, both on and off the roadways.
Sheriff Smith completed the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy at Hocking College in 1987. He was hired as a Corrections Officer at the Athens County Sheriff’s Office later in 1987. He was quickly promoted to Deputy Sheriff and assigned to road patrol in 1988 where he responded to calls for service & investigated those calls.
Sheriff Smith was promoted to Sergeant in 1997 and was the first line supervisor in charge of afternoon shift. His responsibilities at this time was supervising 5 deputies assigned to the shift.
In 2001 he was promoted to Lieutenant of Operations and served in an administrative capacity monitoring the day to day operations of the office. He served in administrations until 2009 when he returned to the Patrol Division as Lieutenant and supervised the midnight shift deputies.
Sheriff Smith retired on July 31st, 2013 with 26 years of law enforcement experience. Sheriff Smith was temporarily instated as Sheriff on March 28th, 2014 by the Athens County Commissioners. He was then officially appointed as Sheriff on April 8th, 2014 by the Athens County Democratic Central Committee.
Sheriff Smith’s goal is to focus more on property crimes as they are related to the ever-growing increase in drug abuse in our current culture. Sheriff Smith is also increasing our resources to combat drugs in Athens County more effectively. Sheriff Smith is dedicated to helping the community members come together to solve the problems we face in Athens County.