Supervisors swear in Brantley as first woman county administrator

The Warren County Board of Supervisors removed the “interim” tag and named long-time employee Loretta Brantley as the Warren County administrator on Monday morning.

The board appointed Brantley as interim administrator in January following the retirement of John Smith who had served almost two decades in the position. Smith became ill last fall and had been hospitalized for several weeks before announcing his retirement.

Brantley is the first woman to serve as administrator for Warren County.

“I’m very excited,” she said Monday afternoon. “This is my hometown. I will do my best to serve this county and its citizens. It’s truly a blessing to me.”

District 3 Supervisor Shawn Jackson said Brantley is both more than qualified for the job.

“We are faced with record infrastructure damage due to flooding and unknown negative impacts of epic proportions due to the coronavirus outbreak,” Jackson said. “This is not the time to bring in a person who is new to Warren County governance for such an important role as county administrator, especially when we have a qualified candidate who has been comptroller for many years for the county. Given Mrs. Brantley’s experience and the trying times we are facing as a county, strategically, it made no sense to bring in someone who was new to the role and the county.”

Brantley previously served as county comptroller prior to this appointment.