Harold Brantley is sure hes the man for the job. I believe that I have a greater desire to serve all the citizens of Warren County than my opponent, he said. Brantley, a Democrat, is running for Warren County judge-executive. He served as Warren County magistrate for District 3 from 1982 to 1989.I have a great passion for what I think can happen in Warren County with the right people in the right places, Brantley said. And I dont think thats happened in the last four or five years. I believe that the accessibility to our current county official is a problem. That has been voiced to me on numerous occasions as Ive been going door-to-door. People complain that their phone calls are never returned, and requests for appointments go unanswered, he said. I respect peoples opinions, and I give them the same time I would like to have if I was on the other side of the table, Brantley said. Much of Brantleys campaign has been fueled by his own money, while his opponent boasts a long list of contributors. Brantley said thats intentional, and just underscores the difference between Mike Buchanon and him. We have not sent any mailing out soliciting funds, Brantley said. In fact, weve discouraged some. Thats the difference: Hes spending other peoples money and Im spending my own. I want to represent all the people, not just a few. I want to be obligated to no one. Brantley and his wife, Diane, have been married for 41 years. They have three children: sons Bill and Robbie Brantley, daughter Sandy Billingsley, and seven grandchildren. He is a member of Greenwood Park Church of Christ. Brantley has lived in Warren County since 1958. He holds a B.S. in agriculture from Western Kentucky University, and has taught an evening class on real estate there for more than 20 years. I started Brantley Appraisal Company in 1968, which, by my standards and most others, has been a successful business venture, Brantley said. We have real estate investment property throughout the city. Brantley was recognized as Bowling Green and Warren Countys 1992 Small Business Person of the Year. He served as president of Westerns Alumni Association in the late 1980s, is a past president of the Noon Rotary club and the Bowling Green-Warren County Jaycees, and a 1988 graduate of Leadership Kentucky. In 1990 he served as president of the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce. That was the year the Kentucky Industrial Development Council named him as 1990 Kentucky Volunteer of the Year. State corporation records list him as the sole officer of Landco Realty II and Heritage Mortgage Co., and as president of Commonwealth Realty and Southern Kentucky Furniture. Brantley and his wife own seven houses around Bowling Green, according to Warren County property records. He is also one of the directors of the United Way of Southern Kentucky, the Bowling Green-Warren County Community Hospital Corp. and Commonwealth Health Corp. He has been a director of the Boys Club, Junior Achievement and Community Education. In 1991 he was vice chairman and 1992 chairman of the United Way of Southern Kentucky. Brantley opposes the Kentucky TriModal Transpark, a proposed 4,000-acre industrial park between Bowling Green and Oakland with access to Interstate 65, railroads and possibly a new airport. The benefits that theyve projected will never warrant the risk and the costs involved, Brantley said. I believe that there are too many environmental issues that have not been resolved and most importantly, the majority of Warren County citizens do not support it, nor do they want to see it become a reality. He objects to the contention that the issue cant be the subject of a referendum. They say it cant be voted on anything could be voted on, Brantley said. It doesnt have to be a binding vote. Or a broad-based public opinion poll would do, to show the publics true feelings, he said. What Warren County needs is balanced economic growth, Brantley said. Weve got to have industrial jobs, but weve also got to have high-paying service jobs, he said. Those include banking and insurance, regional government offices and other professional-level, well-paying jobs. Weve got a great opportunity with the university as a centerpiece of our community, but students leave because they dont want factory or retail jobs, he said. His priority would be establishing a 40- to 50-acre business park that will attract offices and research facilities, with access to I-65 and the William H. Natcher Parkway. Attracting that kind of business would be a matter of delegating it to experts, Brantley said. I would see that we had the right people in the right places, he said. I would find the best recruiter in the country. We could spend about two days in Chicago and interview about three to six companies that have very successful resumes. When companies seek sites for future relocation, they dont do it in secret, Brantley said. This data is available, Brantley said. If a regional office is going to come up in the next three years, most of these companies that recruit businesses they know that. The county also needs to focus on improving its infrastructure, both to attract business and to improve quality of life, Brantley said. He points to the congestion on Scottsville Road and the lack of sewers in southern Warren County as examples of need. That, Brantley said, is going to be a major problem in the near future. Brantleys plans for Warren County include immediately beginning to install sewer systems in the south. He wants to see volunteer firefighters compensated for their out-of-pocket expenses. He enthuses over the idea of an improved county presence on the Internet, providing online images of the public records people most want to see. The property valuation administrators office is already digitizing property records, and Brantley would like to expand that to other county departments. He wants to offer full zoning information and data on utilities, complete with explanations of what the legal descriptions mean. That would be a tremendous tool for individuals that were in any profession, Brantley said. It would be a time-saver for anyone average citizens, lawyers, bankers and real estate agents who wouldnt have to leave their desks to get public information, and a money-saver for the county as access to records became a do-it-yourself job, he said. Better public access fits well with Brantleys philosophy of government. I believe that the governments role is to do for the people what the people cannot do for themselves and nothing further, he said.