BENTONVILLE -- Asele Mack is a candidate for the District 15 seat on the Benton County Quorum Court.
Mack, a Democrat, will face the winner of the Republican party primary election in the Nov. 6 general election. Joel Edwards, the incumbent justice of the peace, faces Jamie Sheppard in the May 22 primary contest.
Mack, 51, of Bentonville, is a librarian at Northwest Arkansas Community College. She has lived in Benton County for three years and in District 15 for about half that time.
Mack said one reason she decided to run for the Quorum Court was to offer voters more diversity in their representatives.
"If you look at the Quorum Court, with 15 people, there are only four women on the court. Women represent more than one-fourth of the population of Benton County."
This story has been updated to reflect Mack was 51, not 60, at the time this story was written.
Mack, a naturalized citizen who is from Moscow, said she is inspired by this country and its people and wants to contribute to making her adopted home a better place.
"I love the people here," she said. "I love the sense of community, the sense of confidence that you can make a difference. I want this community to be the best it can be."
Mack said her background as a librarian would be valuable on the Quorum Court.
"By training and experience I'm going to look at the facts," she said. "I'm going to weigh all of the facts and make an objective decision."
Mack said she is interested in transportation and would want to work to see that the county does all it can to improve roads and other infrastructure to ease traffic congestion in a growing area. She also said her work has given her experience working with budgets.
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.
NW News on 03/08/2018