Amy Schartz Mellor announced Friday her candidacy for Barton County attorney’s office. 

Mellor was born and raised in Great Bend, graduating from Great Bend High School. She attended Barton Community College, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Management from National American University.

Mellor began her first career with the Great Bend Police Department in January 1983, as a patrol officer, and moved through the ranks to become detective sergeant. In December 1995, Mellor resigned from the Great Bend Police Department to accept a position as an enforcement agent with the Kansas Lottery, where she worked from 1995 until June 1998. In June 1998, she joined the Pawnee County Sheriff’s Office as detective until August 2005.

Mellor was accepted into Washburn University School of Law for the term beginning in August 2005. She graduated with her Juris Doctor degree in May 2008, and was sworn into the Kansas Bar on Sept. 26, 2008.

From August 2008 to October 2010, Mellor was an assistant district attorney for Wyandotte County. In October 2010, Mellor returned home to Great Bend and accepted a position as first assistant county attorney with the Barton County Attorney’s Office, where she is currently employed.

On Feb. 20, 2015, Mellor was appointed to the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training by Governor Sam Brownback; she is a member of the Barton County Bar Association, the Kansas Bar Association, Kansas County and District Attorneys Association and the Kansas Peace Officers Association. Mellor is actively involved with the Golden Plains Quilts of Valor as the coordinator for this group. She is a member of the Bend Chamber of Commerce, and American Legion Auxiliary. 

If elected Barton County Attorney, Mellor said she is determined to run an efficient office, to respond to and serve the needs of the citizens of Barton County, the law enforcement and legal community according to the laws of the State of Kansas, and her own high professional standards.