Voters will decide the future leadership of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 3, choosing among three candidates seeking to become the next sheriff.
Interim Sheriff Lori Streeter, Northfield Police Chief Jon Hall and former corrections officer Gary Gagnon seek to fill the remaining two years of the six-year term. Following the 2025 departure of former Sheriff Christopher Donelan, Gov. Maura Healey appointed Streeter, who was superintendent of the Franklin County Jail and House of Correction at the time, to serve as interim sheriff.
Lori Streeter
With more than 30 years of experience, Streeter, 62, is hoping to convince voters to remove the “interim” from her title.
She said her experience with the Sheriff’s Office, including serving as interim sheriff, makes her the most qualified candidate.
“I’m running because I think this department needs leadership that has experience,” Streeter said.
Streeter first joined the department part-time in 1985 and has served several roles, from corrections officer to superintendent and special sheriff. The superintendent runs the 320-bed facility’s day-to-day operations, and a special sheriff serves if the sheriff is out of the state.
Streeter has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and an associate degree in social work from Westfield State College. She grew up in Shelburne Falls and now lives in Greenfield with her wife.
“I was one of the first female officers,” she said. “I’ve been a part of every major transition in that department. That’s given me a comprehensive understanding of how the department works.”
Throughout her time with the Sheriff’s Office, she has seen changes to the physical facility, the department’s budget and policies. Streeter said that since becoming interim sheriff, she has steered the department through financial challenges, including budgetary limitations and a state investigation into how its funds are spent.
After the release of the Office of the Inspector General’s report that called sheriff’s department spending processes “opaque, chaotic and deeply flawed,” Streeter said the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office has worked to change its culture around spending money, focusing on transparency and department essentials. She added that she has worked to advocate for the department to have a strong local presence, and will continue to advocate for an independent Franklin County Sheriff’s Office as a special commission continues to look at the consolidation of sheriff’s offices and services.
If elected, Streeter said she plans to continue the work that she has started regarding policy and budget. She said she has built relationships with state legislators and other local officials that are necessary to succeed in the role.
“What drives me every day is we do a really good job here,” Streeter added. “My goal is to continue to develop an organization that invests in its people and the community.”
If elected, Streeter said she plans to continue to expand the department’s educational programming and establish a women’s pre-release program, designed to help individuals transition back into society by providing services, training and support.
In her time with the department, Streeter has prioritized treatment of mental health and substance use disorders, and supported the establishment of Franklin County’s Community Justice Support Center in conjunction with the state Office of Community Corrections.
“We’re trying to get our population ready to succeed when they leave,” Streeter said.
She secured the Democratic nomination on an uncontested ballot in the Sept. 1 primary, receiving a total of 11,653 votes across Franklin County, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. She said she is grateful for the support she has received so far and hopes voters continue to support her in November.
Streeter has also served as chair of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Women in Criminal Justice Conference and was previously chair of the Massachusetts Sheriffs’ Association’s Education and Training Committee.
“The bottom line is I’ve done the work. I’m ready to continue leading with integrity,” Streeter said. “I don’t think there’s anyone more qualified than I am.”
Gary Gagnon
Inspired by his experience working at the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Gagnon, 42, is looking to make the department more transparent as sheriff.
Gagnon, who is running as an Independent candidate, said that if he is elected, he plans to increase transparency and public access within the department. He worked at the Franklin County Jail and House of Correction for nearly 10 years beginning in 2010. Before that, he interned with the Springfield Police Department and the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office.
Gagnon accused the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office of being riddled with small-town politics and bureaucracy, and administrators who are not transparent and focus on earning a paycheck more than doing the job effectively.
“I don’t want it to be a career,” Gagnon said. “I don’t plan on using it to boost the pension, ’cause I’m not doing that.
“I mean, you should be compensated for what you do, but don’t sacrifice your morals for money or power,” he continued.
If elected, Gagnon said he would want the sheriff’s salary to be reduced, though he did not specify by how much. According to the Massachusetts Office of the Comptroller, the current salary for the Franklin County sheriff’s position is $191,000.
Asked specifically how he would increase transparency at the department, he said he would “solve nepotism” by getting rid of job interviews because “you can twist an interview any way you want.” He believes that relying on seniority and test scores is a more efficient way to determine who is better-suited for promotions within the department. He added that he wants to add members of the public to a committee that reviews applications.
“I want to have people from the public, at least two spots … to sit in on all promotions, all hiring, so somebody from the public can actually see what’s going on,” Gagnon said, adding that such a process would make it so employees aren’t hired “just because they know somebody.”
Gagnon said that during his time at the department, he served in several roles, including corrections officer, sergeant and deputy chief. He added that he also served as vice president of the Franklin County chapter of the National Correctional Employees Union.
According to state Department of Labor Relations records, Gagnon is listed as the grievant on multiple complaints against the Sheriff’s Office. In 2014, Gagnon was fired by the Sheriff’s Office and, after filing a grievance, was subsequently reinstated, the records show. Then in 2016, Gagnon was denied a promotion to the role of caseworker and filed a complaint. The Department of Labor Relations found that the Sheriff’s Office did not violate the collective bargaining agreement with the correctional employees union by failing to promote Gagnon. Records also show Gagnon filed grievances for not being promoted in 2011 and 2013.
Other goals Gagnon listed include providing yearly audits to the public; providing further assistance to police departments facing staffing shortages; expanding educational programming for inmates, particularly in the trades; and expanding the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Regional Dog Shelter to house more animals, and hire its own veterinarian and dog trainer.
“I actually want to expand that significantly,” Gagnon said. “That’s one thing I’m very passionate about because I have dogs that are adopted.”
Gagnon also spoke about department financing, saying he believes he would be able to cut its budget and still increase programming and resources, such as adding a daycare service for staff, by trimming what he described as “excessive administration.”
According to the Secretary of State’s Office, there are no residency requirements for the sheriff’s position, meaning Gagnon can run for the Franklin County seat while being a resident of Hampshire County. He lives in Granby.
Gagnon said he believes he earned the trust of staff and inmates during his previous tenure with the department, and he hopes to earn the trust of voters as well.
“I worked there for a long time,” Gagnon said. “I built the trust of the officers and the inmates alike.”
Jon Hall
Hall, 45, has served as police chief in Northfield, where he lives, for the past five years. Prior to leading the Northfield Police Department, Hall worked as a sergeant, then lieutenant, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Police Department.
In a video posted to his campaign Facebook page, Hall, an unenrolled candidate, said he is running because he loves Franklin County and he wants to do what he can to support it.
“I’m going to go in there and make this the best Franklin County Sheriff’s Office I can for Franklin County because I care about Franklin County,” Hall said in the video. “That’s it. No promises other than I’m going to get up every morning, go to work and work hard.”
On his campaign website, Hall explains that if elected, his goals would include using the department to support regionalization of services and support law enforcement agencies across the county.
“Utilize the Sheriff’s Office to supplement law enforcement presence in our towns. Explore combining resources to lower expenses by merging overhead costs like administration, facilities and equipment,” Hall wrote. “Centralize leadership to ensure consistency in expectations and services offered. Cutting down on duplication/redundancies and reducing the overall financial burden on individual towns.”
He noted that he would like to see the Sheriff’s Office promote litter cleanup across the county and enforce illegal dumping regulations, as well as explore the expansion of services without large budget impacts. Hall wrote that he would like to explore how and if inmates at the Franklin County Jail and House of Correction could volunteer at the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Regional Dog Shelter.
He said the first thing he plans to do if elected is get to know the staff at the department and learn how it operates.
“It takes a team. I’m going to have to get to know the team,” Hall said. “I’m going to have to get to know the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.”
He began his law enforcement career in 2000 as a security supervisor at Greenfield Community College, where he also earned an associate degree in criminal justice. Hall also holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Westfield State University.
In addition to working as Northfield’s police chief, Hall also serves as the junior varsity girls basketball coach at Pioneer Valley Regional School.
On his campaign website, he explained that his interest in law enforcement stems from his childhood and interacting with police officers after the arrest of his father, who struggled with behavioral health and substance abuse.
“At a young age, I became familiar with the criminal justice system. Even then, I could see there was room for improvement and often thought about ways I would help others,” Hall wrote. “When I was 16 years old, I remember deciding that I wanted to become a police officer so I could help people who were facing circumstances like those my family and friends’ families experienced. That decision shaped the direction of my life.”
Hall wrote that if elected, he would continue to work toward his goals of helping people and improving the criminal justice system.
“That passion has only grown throughout my career,” he wrote. “I believe meaningful progress comes from being willing to look at the system honestly, build partnerships and find opportunities to work together.”
