Taylor County Board of Registrars in 1996. She was elected to the Taylor County Board of

Commissioners in 2004 and re-elected in 2008. She enjoys her position as a public servant. Patty is

currently serving as Chairman of the Board. It is with this mindset, she announced her candidacy

for Georgia House District 139 on September 26th, 2011. In a run-off election on August 21, 2012,

she won her bid to become the State Representative for HD 139. She is the first woman elected to

this position in this district of the state.

Mrs. James-Bentley is a proud member of the 2007 class of Leadership Georgia and 2006 class of

Leadership Taylor. She completed the Georgia Academy for Economic Development in 2006 and

completed the Basic Course for Economic Development at Georgia Tech in March 2008. Bentley was

featured in Georgia Trend magazine in October 2006 for the "40 Under 40" Rising Stars in Georgia.

She is also a member of the Young Elected Officials Network (YEO). She has served as Chairman for

the Economic Development/Transportation Committee for the Association of County

Commissioner of Georgia & and co-founder of the Taylor County Chamber of Commerce. Taylor

County’s Community Leadership program was coordinated for three years by Mrs. James-Bentley.

In 2010 the first class of the Youth Leadership Taylor County program was facilitated by Mrs.

James-Bentley. She is a true advocate for the youth. She often uses her own resources to assist

young people, whether it is with local organization's Black History essay contests or the summer

girl’s camp, or by taking students to the Georgia State Capitol to work as a Page for Representative

Lynmore James and Senator George Hooks. Bentley serves as a CARET (Council for Agriculture,

Research, Extension, and Teaching) for the College of Agriculture of Fort Valley State University.

Bentley also assists students with college preparation by providing students with SAT/ACT

registration information and financial aid assistance.

She has served as President for the Georgia Association of County Commissioners Black Caucus.

Under Bentley’s leadership the County Commissioners Black Caucus Summer Training sessions

were held on several college campuses; such as Albany State University, Fort Valley State

University, and Mercer University and with students of Savannah State University.

Bentley has served the people of Taylor County through the American Red Cross. She has been a

Red Cross volunteer for 15 years. Patty is married to Darryl Bentley and together they have five

children. They are members of New Piney Grove Baptist Church of Macon, Georgia. Mr. and Mrs.

Bentley are owners of Bentley Montford Mortuary, LLC located in Butler, Georgia.