Bellotti exits sheriff job to lead college

Nortfolk County Sheriff Michael Bellotti will step down after 20 years to head Quincy College.

Bellotti, 55, will serve as the interim president of the college, which has had a tempestuous past several months, with the state terminating its popular nursing program.

“It’s an awesome responsibility and opportunity,” Bellotti told the Herald last night after the college’s board of governors approved him for the top job.

Bellotti said this is an 18-month position, and he will decide next year whether to seek a permanent appointment.

Sheriff’s office chief counsel Robert Harnais will lead the department as special sheriff until Gov. Charlie Baker makes an appointment. Bellotti said he plans to leave the sheriff office in the next few weeks. The sheriff’s post will be on the ballot in 2020.

A member of a deeply connected Quincy family and the the son of former lieutenant governor Frank Bellotti, Mike Bellotti served in the Legislature for six years in the 1990s before becoming sheriff.

“I’m very proud of my tenure,” Bellotti said yesterday, touting the increasing focus on getting inmates back on their feet after doing time. “We’ve really tried to engage all the necessary stakeholders.”

The college ousted its former president Peter Tsaffaras in May as its nursing program imploded, falling from one of the community college’s main draws to one of the worst programs in the state over a couple of years.