Born and raised in Maplesville, Mayor Aubrey Latham, who has held a seat on the town council for 14 years, begins his term as mayor.

“It’s home,” Latham said, referring to Maplesville. “I’m fulfilling an opportunity to fulfill a job and to carry on the work that was started.”

Latham succeeds Kurt Wallace, who resigned after being elected state representative in District 42.

Latham, who considers himself to be family oriented, is married to his wife, Patricia, and has three stepchildren. He enjoys spending time and being outside in the yard and on the water with his family.

He has been active in the town of Maplesville for 29 years, since he began working with the gas and water company in 1981.

Latham worked with the company for four and half years; during that time, Latham also began working with the Maplesville Fire Department in 1982 and is still active with the department today.

“For years, the only hobby I had was the fire department,” said Latham. “I was fire chief for 16 years.”

As mayor, some of Latham’s prominent concerns he plans to address are roadwork and updating the EMS fire truck.

“They are all main concerns when you get down to it,” said Latham. “We have a need to have some street work done. That is my personal main concern and, in general, whatever the town needs to make it better.”

Latham would like to see and encourages more attendance and participation from the general public at the town council meetings. He would like anyone with input to come and let it be known, he said.

“My goal is to try to have an answer for every question – I want to try to address every issue,” said Latham. “That’s what we’ve been doing in the past and Kurt Wallace did a good job of making sure, so I want to try to keep that going.”