After careful consideration and months of suspending our decision, the Tribune Editorial Board has decided to endorse incumbent Bob Kindler for sheriff of Freeborn County.

Kindler is calm, cool, pragmatic and logical. He was elected four years ago to produce change in favor of integrity and accountability in the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office, and it is clear he has done that. However, the job is not completed, and he deserves another term to keep the department going in the direction he charted.

We’ve all been there. Divisiveness happens in any workplace when people get promoted. A buddy who one day was at an equal status in the workplace suddenly has a higher level of responsibility, and it can make workers question the supervisors. In most workplaces, people have to get with the program or find the door. In a union shop, people can become disgruntled over promotions or other issues, such as what kind of police work they are assigned while on patrol, and yet keep their jobs. (Talk to any career police officer in these United States and, no matter whether they are on the positive or negative end of the attitude spectrum, they describe how some of the cops are on board with the department leaders and some are not. It’s that way everywhere.)

In a union shop that also has elections, it’s a more difficult task to keep things on the right track because the union-protected staff can try to run the top cop out of a job.

So take that environment where some got promoted and some didn’t during a reorganization and add to it that one deputy lost his position in a very public court case. It’s going to be difficult to get everyone on the right seats on the bus and not have a few folks want to let the air out of the tires.

Despite this, Kindler embraces the election system because he trusts the way the state founders set up Minnesota. That’s a respectable and positive outlook.

The decision to let Marcellino Peña go was a fine example of Kindler holding his people accountable. It wasn’t the popular thing to do, but it was the right thing to do. And Kindler isn’t about popularity — he isn’t the greatest campaigner we’ve seen — but his everyday mindset is about right versus wrong and an honest-as-the-day allegiance to the rule of law.

Kindler is not a micromanager and trusts his sergeants to lead. Indeed, that’s the way to go. That said, we have a suggestion for him. He probably could work on being more extroverted.

What do we mean? Look at the difference in Kindler from the debate before the primary election and Kindler from the debate earlier this week. He was more assertive and a much bigger personality the second time. We want to see that second version of Kindler. Presence is the right term. By nature, he is humble, and that’s good, but being a sheriff and the management style it requires needs presence. Be the coach of the football team, rather than the general manager.

We appreciate Kurt Freitag running for the position and airing the issues. It has been a healthy debate for all of the Freeborn County voters. Freitag is engaging and has presence, but we worry about him being hotheaded, to put it succinctly. Coming across in debates as angry rather than reasoned probably cost him votes.

Voters in Freeborn County made a choice four years ago. Kindler has increased patrol presence throughout the county. He has feasible ideas to increase patrols even further. Commissioners respect his budgeting skills and he has saved on needless overtime. He pushed for and received a full-time emergency manager position for Freeborn County, vital in the wake of the 2010 tornado outbreak. He has hired hard-working and diligent deputies since he became sheriff. He wants to implement greater courthouse security — the judges desire that — and he has improved the Sheriff’s Office relationship with area fire departments. Most of all, the Sheriff’s Office has become more professional seeming than four years ago. It’s easy to see the ship is headed in the right direction.

OK, so what about that defamatory website? What about the campaign sign incident? What about the Dale Glazier case? What about the incident with the Hollandale farmer?

There is much to each of these incidents that has muddied the waters for both candidates and for voters. We could go on about them and explain why Kindler is to be believed in each and every item and how his accountability approach, of course, will result in some people getting in trouble. Instead, we ask people to cut through these distractions and see the personalities of the two men and see where they stand on the issues.

We see no reason to vote Kindler out of office. Give him another term, and voters will see where the department is in four years.