Latham seeks seat on Benton County Quorum Court

BENTONVILLE -- Kelli Latham is one of three candidates running for the open District 11 justice of the peace seat on the Benton County Quorum Court.

Latham will face Dustin Todd in the May 22 Republic Party primary election. The winner will face Democratic Party candidate Susie Kuilan in the Nov. 6 general election.

Latham, 39, of Gentry, was born in Rogers and is a lifelong resident of Northwest Arkansas. Her husband, Glenn Latham, is a Republican party candidate for Benton County sheriff. Kelli Latham is a telecommunications supervisor for the Rogers Police Department, where she has worked for 17 years.

Latham said she decided to run for office as an extension of the kind of work she does as a police dispatcher.

"I just have a strong desire to serve," she said. "You do that a lot in dispatch and in city government. I wanted a chance to talk to people and see what's important to them and to represent them. It's important. It's their voices and they need to be heard."

Latham said she decided to run after learning that Bob Bland, the first-term incumbent, would not seek re-election. She said she wanted to offer a perspective of a rural county resident to the Quorum Court.

"I think it's a unique perspective," she said. "We live on a dirt road and we depend on rural services - the Sheriff's Office, EMS and the Road Department."

Latham said she wants to learn how the county Road Department operates and to represent the rural residents in the process.

"It's all important," she said. "The way they fund them, the way they pick which one is going to be paved."

Latham said she needs to learn more about the county's proposed $30 million courts building before she can form an opinion on the building or the funding options the county is considering.

"Finding the fiscally responsible way of getting it built is going to be the interesting part," she said.

Justices of the peace are paid on a per meeting basis -- $230.51 for Quorum Court and Committee of the Whole meetings and $144.08 for other committees they are members of -- and serve two-year terms.