2 JPs: Consider party affiliation in coroner pick

HOT SPRINGS — Political affiliation should be a consideration when the Garland County Quorum Court appoints a new coroner, two justices of the peace said.

The Quorum Court declared the office vacant Monday. Under state law, it has 30 days to fill the vacancy created by Stuart Smedley’s retirement at the end of last year. Citing “unforeseen personal health reasons,” he left one year into the four-year term he was elected to in 2022. Deputy coroner Jayson Neighbors is serving as acting coroner.

The coroner position is a partisan office. Smedley ran as a Republican in 2022, defeating Justin Nicklas by more than a 2-1 margin in the party primary.

“This is a partisan seat, and the Quorum Court is elected as partisan parties,” District 4 Justice of the Peace Jimmy Young, one of 10 Republicans on the 13-seat Quorum Court, said Monday. “We have people we’re putting into a position that under state statute are in an office that was elected by partisan standards.”

Justice of the Peace Dayton Myers, R-District 7, asked for the party affiliation of the first of five applicants the Quorum Court interviewed for county treasurer in November. County Attorney John Howard asked him not to pose the question to the other applicants.

“I think the position should be filled by a Republican,” he said of the applicant the Quorum Court appoints as coroner. “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t interview people of both political affiliations.”

He said applicants could volunteer their party identification.

“I would encourage anyone who’s going to apply for coroner, if you feel comfortable, put your political affiliation on the resume when you submit it,” he said.

County Judge Darryl Mahoney said questions related to party preference would be inappropriate.

“Garland County’s position on that will be ‘you do not discuss partisanship,’” he told Young. “If you feel you need to, you can, but our position is, in an interview, you don’t discuss partisanship. That would be a discriminatory question to ask.”

The county posted the job opening on its website Tuesday. Mahoney said the application period closes Jan. 19 and that applicants will be interviewed Jan. 22 at a special-called meeting. The Quorum Court plans to fill the vacancy at a special-called meeting on Jan. 29.

Justice of the Peace Larry Raney, R-District 13, said questions given to applicants before the interview shouldn’t be as complex or numerous as those the human resources department prepared for the county treasurer’s opening. An applicant told justices of the peace that some questions were redundant and unrelated to the treasurer’s duties.

“I found that the process that we went through with the prepared questions was a bit awkward,” Raney said Monday. “Some of the questions required up to three or four answers the way they were given. I think that was an impediment to the applicants.

“I would suggest we go with a single question from the standpoint of soliciting a single reply and keeping the questions simple and not have as many complex questions as we had initially.”