BENTONVILLE -- All three incumbents who faced challenges in the Republican primary for their Benton County Quorum Court seats won their elections Tuesday, while voters in District 12 chose a newcomer to replace an outgoing justice of the peace.
Residents decided the outcomes of four contested races for the Quorum Court during Tuesday's election.
Incumbent Jeff Dunn beat out challenger Michael McCaskey for the District 1 justice of the peace position; Joel Jones -- current District 8 justice of the peace -- got the better of challenger Lisa Richards in the race for his seat; John Rissler garnered more support than Caroline Geer for the District 12 position; and incumbent Joel Edwards clinched the District 15 position over Andrew Sova.
Complete but unofficial vote totals were:
District 1
Dunn 791 (53%)
McCaskey 712 (47%)
District 8
Jones 634 (52%)
Richards 587 (48%)
District 12
Rissler 1,221 (61%)
Geer 792 (39%)
District 15
Edwards 889 (66%)
Sova 454 (34%)
Jones will face off against Democrat Carol Vella for the District 8 seat in the Nov. 5 general election. No Democrats filed to run for justice of the peace for Districts 1, 12 and 15, meaning Dunn, Rissler and Edwards will be sworn into their respective positions in January.
Ron Homeyer, the current justice of the peace for District 12, did not file for reelection.
Dunn, 53, is a resident of Prairie Creek and has lived in District 1 for 20 years. He graduated from J.P. Taravella High School in Coral Springs, Fla., and is the director of business development at Epic Sales Partners. He's in his first term as a Benton County justice of the peace.
Dunn believes the biggest issue facing the county is its criminal justice system over the next three to five years. He also said Benton County is growing more quickly than any other county in Arkansas and has the highest number of cases per judge in its criminal court district.
"We're going to be adding another judgeship here in the next few years, and we just have to have room to absorb this growth as it continues to happen," Dunn said. "If we don't take care of this, then we're not going to have a place for the people to have their day in court in a timely manner, and then, if [they're] convicted, we need to have a place to put them and to take care of them."
Jones, 41, has been on the Quorum Court since 2011. A five-year resident of Bentonville, Jones works as a logistics and freight broker and has a bachelor's degree from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
Jones said he has enjoyed serving his community since he was first elected a justice of the peace. To him, Benton County's criminal justice system has issues that need to be addressed, specifically the county jail not having enough space. He believes the county needs to figure out how it can not only expand the jail, but operate it afterward.
"We have money to do a very modest -- what I would say is kick the can down the road -- expansion, but we don't have any money to operate it once we build that expansion," Jones said.
Jones also said the Quorum Court will have to readjust to not having money provided through the American Rescue Plan Act to subsidize the county budget next year.
Rissler, 52, has lived in Siloam Springs for six years. A fresh face to elected office, Rissler graduated from Oklahoma State University with a bachelor's degree and works as a real estate entrepreneur.
Rissler said he has worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service. He's been a public servant in Arkansas and elsewhere helping people become better stewards of their land.
Rissler said growth is Benton County's most pressing issue. He argued growth is affecting everyone in many ways.
"With all this growth comes change," Rissler said. "I may not have all the answers to the problems, but I promise to be diligent in finding the solutions. I can tell you that I'm committed to reducing bureaucratic red tape whenever possible. I did that in many states and in Washington."
Edwards, 56, has been a Quorum Court member since 2017 and a Centerton resident for 12 years. He earned a master's degree from Capital College in Maryland and works as a real estate developer and concealed carry instructor.
Edwards said jail overcrowding is Benton County's No. 1 problem. He said it's gotten to the point many of the county's smaller communities won't send people to the jail because they know these people will be released and it's not worth the effort to drive and drop them off there. County Judge Barry Moehring picked him to be the chairman of the county Detention and Courts Facilities Subcommittee.
"We've done a great job of marshalling about $20 million in reserves that we could use to build a jail, but our problem is -- and this is something that the sheriff has talked about a lot -- we don't have the $3 million to operate an expansion," Edwards said.
Edwards said the county hopes to get help from the state and is continuing to look at ways to save money it can use to address this issue.