GLASGOW – About 200 people gathered Tuesday at Glasgow’s Plaza Theatre to watch candidates for Barren County judge-executive, county attorney, sheriff and jailer answer questions from community members.

The candidate forum was hosted by WCLU Radio. Each pair of candidates took turns answering questions about the disunity between local and county leaders, a growing drug problem and the candidates’ visions for the future of Barren County.

First up was Democratic incumbent Barren County Judge-Executive Micheal Hale and Republican challenger Jamie Byrd, a business owner with experience working with the Kentucky Department of Transportation.

Byrd touted the importance of presenting a unified front to state officials in Frankfort to bolster Barren County’s growth. Right now, she said, a lack of collaboration between local and county governments is leading to redundancy with real consequences, like the loss of funding opportunities.

Byrd cited what she claimed were inadequate plans to secure American Rescue Plan Act and CARES Act funds, as well as neglecting to apply to any of the over 70 post-tornado grants offered by the Barren River Area Development District as examples.

“The execution and handling of (the funds) was more of a reaction. It wasn’t preparing for the opportunity,” Byrd said. “If I’m elected the Barren County judge-executive, I hope to be more proactive with opportunities like that so that … when we have an opportunity to pursue an industry, we are ready.”

Hale argued that Barren County residents have greater concerns than the division between levels of government; that’s an issue that only seems to pop up around election time, he said.

In fact, his collaboration with local and county officials during his tenure as the current judge-executive has contributed to progress in the budget, he said.

“We now have a million dollars of surplus where we didn’t have hardly any at first,” Hale said. “We got there because of teamwork.”

In addition, Hale said he’s helped the county pay off several million dollars in debt and raised county employee wages to $15 an hour, without cutting any services or raising taxes.

Next, the two Barren County attorney candidates – incumbent Kathryn Thomas and Mike Richardson – took the stage.

They were asked how they would address the growing drug problem in Barren County, particularly among youth. Thomas spoke about a vape policy she enacted this year that cracked down on usage of the electronic cigarettes in Barren County schools.

She said that in the past year, there has been a 50% drop in school vaping incidents.

Thomas said that while the move was unpopular, she stands by it because addictions rarely begin with hard drugs like fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamines, but rather something on a smaller scale.

“If we want to address this, there is one and only way that we can do that,” Thomas said. “We can be a community partner with our local school systems, which is exactly what I’ve done.”

Richardson, an assistant commonwealth’s attorney, challenged the efficiency of Thomas’ vape policy. He said the program used resources that would be better utilized in other areas and wasted parent and student time with charges that rarely held up in court.

Instead, Richardson said he would go after the sources of the drugs, like convenience stores where vapes are sold and “juvenile drug traffickers.”

Sheriff candidates Kent Keen and Steve Garrison were next.

Keen said that under his leadership, the School Resource Officer program has grown from one officer to seven, and as money becomes available, will extend to all schools.

Garrison suggested that the county bring back the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program and diversify county law enforcement with multilingual officers.

Finally, jailer candidates Cody Huff and Aaron Shirley spoke about rehabilitation.

Shirley said reentry into society begins the moment inmates enter the jail, and that he would focus on offering a variety of programs to jumpstart the process. As a business person, he said he would also be helpful on the budgetary side of the job.

Huff said his four years of experience working in the Barren County Detention Center will help him make the right decisions. He added that while programs are important, they’re only helpful if and when inmates are ready to take the first step to rehabilitation.

On Thursday night, WCLU Radio will host a second candidate forum for mayoral candidates at the Glasgow Theatre Plaza.