Summit County Sheriff opens new CCW license office

by Laura Bednar

The Summit County Sheriff’s Office opened a new concealed carry weapon license processing station within the county’s Title Bureau office at 1030 E. Tallmadge Ave. in Akron.

Summit County Sheriff Kandy Fatheree said she was met with a backlog in license applications when she took office in January, resulting in the need for a second location. The first location is within the Summit County Jail at 205 E. Crosier St., which underwent staffing reductions as a response to the pandemic.

Fatheree said only one deputy was in the office taking appointments for CCW licenses and renewals while COVID-19 restrictions were in place. This, paired with an increase in demand for the licenses, caused a perfect storm of problems, according to Fatheree.

Gov. Mike DeWine approved a temporary amendment to House Bill 614 last year, allowing people to get their CCW licenses anywhere in the state. After this went into effect, Fatheree said she was notified that Summit County residents were going to other counties for their licenses and overcrowding the offices.

“In January, appointments were not available until August [in Summit County] and that was unacceptable,” said Fatheree.

Summit County Clerk of Courts Sandra Kurt worked with Fatheree to open the new Tallmadge location, which operates Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. allowing walk-in appointments up to 3:30 p.m.

“We more than doubled our productivity at the new location,” Fatheree said. “If you look at the volume of walk-ups versus appointments, there is a need.”

She said when the location first opened in June, it received between 30-40 people a day, though now the number has settled at around 20.

Said Fatheree, “We found our process at Tallmadge so successful, we are looking at adding a location in the southern part of the county and the northern part.”

She said the sheriff’s office needs to be more efficient and wants to implement scheduling software that would make the CCW license application process easier. This would allow a person to complete the majority of their application online and pay with a credit or debit card, leaving just an appointment to take fingerprints.

In addition, Fatheree said she is “looking to remove the CCW office from the jail entirely.” She explained that limiting the public entering the facility is safer for everyone.

“CCW is the duty of the sheriff, we are doing the best we can do to offer better service to people in our county,” Fatheree said. ∞