As a youngster growing up in rural Logan County, Michelle Hines learned about the value of the Barren River Area Development District as the agency helped run a water line to her community.

Now, after 30 years on the BRADD staff, Hines is in position to set policy for the agency that helps 10 southcentral Kentucky counties with planning, economic development, infrastructure and services for the elderly.

At its Dec. 16 meeting, the BRADD board of directors voted to appoint Hines deputy director of the agency that has its headquarters on Graham Avenue in Bowling Green.

“I learned about BRADD as a youth,” said Hines, who has served as BRADD’s associate director of aging services since 2009. “I believe in BRADD, and I love working here.”

Hines has overseen the growth of the agency’s aging services department, working with outside vendors and procuring state and federal funding to help provide meals and other services to the region’s growing elderly population.

Her long history with BRADD makes Hines an ideal candidate for the newly created position, BRADD board Chairman Steve Thurmond said.

“Every successful organization must, in order to continue moving forward, plan for the future,” Thurmond said in a news release. “With the establishment of the deputy director position, BRADD is doing exactly that. With Michelle’s longtime experience in the organization and her heart for public service, she will be the ideal person to take this position and assist Executive Director Eric Sexton in continuing to move BRADD forward.”

Sexton said having a deputy director “will be a blessing” for an agency that has grown even during the coronavirus pandemic.

Created in 1968 primarily as an economic development agency, BRADD has grown over the years into a multi-purpose agency with an annual budget (including pass-through funding of state and federal dollars) of about $9 million and a staff of 44 full-time and five part-time employees.

Much of that growth has come in the area of aging services. Sexton said the number of meals served to seniors through BRADD and its partner agencies has continued to grow during the pandemic. The BRADD website now lists 25 staff members in the aging services area.

“When the area development districts started aging programs in the 1970s, I don’t think anyone thought they would be such a big part of what the ADDs do,” Sexton said. “With the population aging, those services aren’t going away.”

Hines’ experience with the aging programs will be an asset in her new role, but Sexton believes she will make important contributions to a wide range of BRADD programs.

“There’s a lot of value in the historical and institutional knowledge that she has,” Sexton said. “I couldn’t imagine a BRADD without Michelle. We’re blessed to be able to hang on to her a little longer.”

Hines said she hopes to give BRADD “at least a couple more years” and looks forward to serving as a mentor to those on the aging services staff.

Sexton said current Assistant Aging Director Alecia Johnson will serve as interim associate director of aging. Hines and Johnson will work together in a transitional period over the coming months.

Sexton said a search for a full-time replacement for Hines in aging services will begin with an internal search among BRADD staff members.