By Melinda J. Overstreet / Glasgow News 1
Jamie Bewley Byrd, 41, of the Austin Tracy area is challenging two-term incumbent Micheal Hale, 49, of the Green Valley area for the position of Barren County Judge-Executive.
Byrd is Republican; Hale is a Democrat.
Jamie B. Byrd
submitted photo
Micheal Hale
submitted photo
Both candidates were out of town for at least part of this week but made time for separate, audio-only interviews with Glasgow News 1 and submitted photos of themselves. The candidates were asked the same set of questions of which they had no advance knowledge.
Helpful experiences
First up, Hale and Byrd were asked to name two to three educational, work and/or life experiences they feel particularly prepared them for this position.
In incumbent Hale’s case, he was asked about the period leading into the first of the two terms he’s now served.
“I believe growing up in an agricultural situation, such as our family farm, and that we still operate today, I think that taught me definitely work ethic,” Hale said.
In addition, he worked at businesses on both sides of his family tree: St. Charles Market/Produce, where he learned customer service, finances and other skills, and the excavating business his father ran. Later, Hale had an excavating business of his own while he worked full time for the Glasgow Fire Department for more than 20 years.
“The fire service is a lot like the military in that it’s very structured. I started obtaining certifications that definitely involved leadership. … It also taught me a lot about emergency management,” Hale said.
He feels the diversity of his experiences helped him be prepared for different aspects of the judge-executive job.
Byrd cited her education first: a civil engineering degree from the University of Kentucky, with minors in math and physics. Part of the scholarship that enabled her to receive that education was a requirement to spend two years working for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet in Frankfort.
“I got the statewide view of everything that goes on in transportation and in government, and I got the opportunity to work with our county judge[-executives] and mayors and I worked in the rural and secondary [roads] program and as well as working in program management with the six-year plan, during my rotations in government,” she said. “I was able to learn how the processes work, how opportunities are available for our counties, and I actually got to work hand-in-hand with some of our Barren County individuals that came to Frankfort.”
Byrd started a business in 2009 that has grown to the point of expanding into different markets, all related to group cheerleading.
“I now own eight gyms in four states and I have over 95 employees, and I’m able to manage those employees. I manage a budget. I’m able to grow and be able to see where our weaknesses are and how we can better those, and I do feel that private-sector experience, and understanding how to make money, will help me benefit Barren County as well.”
Jobs
The judge-executive is one member of a team that works to recruit new business and help ensure that those already here have what they need. He or she is, by virtue of the office, a nonvoting member of the Barren County Economic Authority. The same applies to the mayors of the incorporated cities within the county.
The candidates were asked, acknowledging that this work isn’t solely their responsibility, what they aim to do to help maintain the jobs here and bring new ones.
Byrd said, “I think there’s opportunities if you work with your representatives, your senators in Frankfort, that we are basically creating an environment that people want to come to Barren County. They want to open businesses. They want to increase the opportunities that we currently have to create more jobs for our current citizens.”
She wants to work with individuals who can, along with her, go looking for those opportunities and create relationships with surrounding counties and others.
“All three of our mayors need to be a part in all of this, because we have a great opportunity, not just in Glasgow but in Cave City and Park City, to create opportunities for our citizens, and I think it’s about working together with those individuals to make those things happen,” she said.
Hale said that since he became judge-executive, he takes information about Barren County with him to any conferences and such that he attends and where appropriate, he’ll approach representatives of a business and introduce the possibility of expanding in this direction.
That has worked at least once, he said, so he aims to continue doing that and supporting the BCEA director. He said he intends to also continue to visit existing industries to learn about their needs, wants and desires and have conversations about what they need in terms of human resources or infrastructure, for example.
Hale said he intends to continue helping the BCEA director and board to continue to develop real estate inventory, noting they have three build-ready sites right now and continue conversations with Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and governor’s office with regard to infrastructure for those locations as well as recruitment efforts.
“They constantly have an invitation to Barren County,” Hale said. “Keep those relationships going, those conversations.”
Top priority
“I’ve got an agenda that’s got several things on it,” Hale said, but when pressed to limit it to one, he said that would be “to continue creating opportunities for our youths.”
That includes buying land and expanding parks and recreation facilities that are “busting at the seams” now; adding more real-world work opportunities within county government beyond the 30 or so employed now either with concessions the business or internships in offices, the road department, etc.; and continuing to help kids with scholarships for healthcare fields that a portion of the American Rescue Plan Act were used to fund, with a proviso they have to work in Barren County for two years after receiving their education.
“Everything I’m speaking of is retaining the youths,” Hale said. “Listening to them about how our community and future need to be is very important and it’s very achievable.”
Byrd said that going after more opportunities regarding grants would be No. 1 on her list.
She believes the county has not pursued some of the opportunities out there for grants for which it is qualified related to transportation emergency management, parks and recreation.
“That’s what I would like to see happen is to go after those opportunities,” she said.
Compliments/critiques
Each candidate was asked to name one thing that either the judge-executive or fiscal court did or a decision made that they were pleased to see handled the way it was. That was followed by the opportunity to name one thing the judge-executive or fiscal court decided or did that should have been handled better.
In Byrd’s case, it was two sides of the same issue.
“Our magistrates have done a good job of looking at where we have rushed opportunities and stopped …, because they needed to be researched more,” she said.
So, it was good they stepped back to take a deeper look, and established a committee to do so, before reaching a final decision with the American Rescue Plan Act funding. On the other hand, it was too rushed in the beginning, and she feels that happens too frequently. She said they need to make sure magistrates have enough time to understand an issue requiring a vote before they vote on it.
“In my opinion, that’s been the weakest link between our county judge and the magistrates — communication and transparency and working together,” Byrd said.
Hale said focused on financial matters.
“We’ve increased the revenue over half a million dollars. We’ve raised our unencumbered-cash balance by $8 million. We’ve paid our debt down by $6 million, so I feel like that’s very important …, knowing what the financial condition of the county was, coming into my first term,” he said. “We were borrowing money up to $600,000 that we don’t do anymore. We only had $7,000 in reserve. And this is way before COVID money came. We were already raising that. I’m very proud of that.”
On the other side, addressing what could have been handled better, he said he could have pushed more for more training for the fiscal court members, as it relates to parliamentary procedure, policy procedure, understanding what contracts mean, liability to the county.
Most of the current fiscal court members were new in Hale’s second term, and at least five of the seven magistrates will be new next year, as only two are seeking re-election.
“I had to learn all about that myself,” he said. “If I could have got them more education to make better decisions, I would have, and that’s something I’m going to try to change in this next term. … Those conversations will start the day after the election. That’s how important that is. But I have a plan to try to get them in front of it, get them the training they need and continue the training.”
One minute
In conclusion, each candidate was given 60 seconds to say essentially whatever they wanted.
Hale: “No one’s going to work harder for Barren County than what I am. I think I’ve proven that. I’m a servant of our community. I’ve always been a servant of our community. I have helped improve our financial status of our county. I’ve helped improve the quality of life in our county. I’ve helped grow parks and recreation and entertainment in our county. I’ve helped with the debt situation in our county. I’ve also helped provide facilities for mental health and drug addiction, alcohol addiction, in our county. And I believe that we can continue to build on those things, but the bottom line is, no one will outwork me as county judge-executive.”
Byrd: “The reason I’m running to be Barren County judge-executive is I feel like Barren County has a huge opportunity in so many areas. We have three strong cities in our county. We need to work together. We need more transparency, more unity between everyone. We need to be going to Frankfort more. We need to work with our U.S. representative and our senators and be available for any opportunity they feel Barren County would be available for. I feel that I can handle all the opportunities that this position will bring. I have the time. I’ve taken opportunities in my private business to move things aside so that I could do this.”
She aims to work with officials in Frankfort and also with the magistrates to have better lines of communication and work together, she said.
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