PAINTSVILLE, KY. — After the recent firing of Administrator F.D. “Pete” Fitzpatrick at the Big Sandy regional detention center two months ago, there were about a dozen or so applicants for the job according to Daniel Castle, constable at Blaine and chairman of the BSRDC board.
On July 15th a new Administrator officially took over the job.
Byron Hansford of Paintsville, Ky. began work after his hiring. Hansford isn’t new to the facility. He worked as an intelligence officer under former BSRDC administrator Randy Madan. Mr. Hansord was originally from Floyd County and moved to Johnson County in 2007. Hansford is 57 years old and is married with 5 children. He worked as a Kentucky State Police Officer and Detective for 22 years.
Hansford stated that he has plans to update the jail and if possible add more beds for the overcrowding situation.
“There are many problems to tackle, and I plan to tackle each of them head on and work on the problems that have been addressed as long as it is in the budget,” Hansford said.
“Our goal was to bring the very best candidates to be considered for the administrator position. I feel we accomplished that,” Castle said. “The level of professionalism and competence the applicants brought to the table was very high. In the end, one stood above the rest.”
The board unanimously voted to offer Mr. Hansford the position.
“We are very pleased with the outcome. BSRDC’s future is bright,” Castle added.
Knowing him personally, BSRDC definitely got an upstanding man. Byron is a straight shooter and as fine of a man as there is. I’m happy BSRDC hired someone with such fine character. Congrats Byron