It’s not personal. That’s what Coos County Tax Assessor Bob Main said of his bid to replace John Griffith on the Coos County Board of Commissioners.

Main and Griffith have a contentious history of heated words and wrangling that escalated when the county began slashing the budget and Main opted to close his office because of personnel cuts.

But Main, who has served as assessor for seven years (his current term as assessor ends next year), said he’s running for the higher office for a number of reasons. He wants to preserve public safety and to improve communication in the county, he said.

It was earlier this year when Main ordered the closure of the Assessor’s Office, reducing hours of availability to the public due to budget cuts, which resulted, Main said, in his losing four employees: two staffed positions and two vacant positions that were not filled.

Coos County legal counsel Jacki Haggerty informed Main only the Board of Commissioners could set office hours.

At a meeting of the Board of Commissioners on Jan. 31, Griffith and Main exchanged heated words. Griffith told Main his office would remain open.

“I guess we have a difference of opinion,” Main responded at the time.

Defying orders from the Board of Commissioners, Main locked the doors to the office on Feb. 1. The commissioners ordered the Sheriff’s Office to send a deputy to re-open the office and a letter from the board warned employees in the Assessor’s Office they could be terminated if they failed to show up to work during normal business hours.

Main said he backed off from his plan to close the office after realizing his employees could be let go because of his decision, he said.

Coos County Commissioner Kevin Stufflebean said that Main typically does not communicate with the commissioners, but instead voices his opinions externally to the public.

“Bob likes to play gotcha politics,” Stufflebean said.

Main said he wouldn’t discuss Stufflebean’s comments.

“I don’t think (the comment) warrants a response because it’s not professional,” he said.

 On the public safety issue, he pointed to staff cuts in the Sheriff’s Office, where a number of deputies were let go earlier in the year.

“Why is it that public safety is cut first” Main said.

Main said recent budget cuts were not equally distributed among the county departments. He pointed specifically to the personnel cuts at the Sheriff’s Office and the Coos County jail.

“Everyone should share the burden of the lack of funding,” he said.

Griffith contends the Sheriff’s Office suffered the biggest cuts because the office receives the largest amount of funds from the county’s budget.

“Each department gets a different share,” he said.

The staff reductions in the county were a result of anticipated cuts from timber subsidy payments. After an extension of the subsidy by Congress for another year, some of the cuts were halted.

Coos County Sheriff Andy Jackson has endorsed Main’s candidacy. Jackson said Thursday he likes Main as a candidate and wants him to be commissioner. His endorsement is not in response to cuts to the Sheriff’s Department, Jackson added.

In addition to focusing on public safety, Main said he believes the county should be more professionally managed and that he will work on communication between the commissioners and county employees.

Stufflebean and Commissioner Nikki Whitty said the race between Griffith and Main should be one to watch.

“It’s going to be a real interesting year,” Whitty said.

Main ran against Whitty in 1998 for a spot on the Board of Commissioners. He lost the primary by a handful of votes.

Despite the past issues with the board, Main insists he has no personal axe to grind in challenging Griffith. He just wants to bring the county together, he said.

“I have worked with John on a number of things,” he said. “I think John is great.”

Griffith said he’d been told that Main had entered the race, but declined to comment on the announcement.  

Griffith said he will run for commissioner again, but has been too busy to turn in the paperwork. The deadline for filing for the May primary election is March 11. There are currently no other candidates for the position, according to election officials.