By Beth Alston

County board to hold City election
AMERICUS — According the Sumter County Board of Elections, the upcoming Nov. 7 Municipal Election will be conducted by the Sumter County Board of Elections on behalf of the City of Americus. This, after last week it was reported that the City of Americus would be required to conduct its own election because the intergovernmental agreement had not been submitted by the deadline.
According to a statement released Tuesday by Robert Brady, elections superintendent for Sumter County, “the proposed contract presented to the City by the Board of Elections to conduct on going elections for the City, contained certain legal protections that both the City and the Board saw as necessary, and were not at issue. But because the Board was not in possession of an executed contract at the beginning of this election cycle it was feared that the citizens of the city and county would not have these protections that the Board deemed essential to best serve and protect all citizens concerned, prompting the initial decision to have the elections run by the City.
“After a proposal from the County Attorney to use the newly City ratified contract with certain additional conditions put in place, all parties agreed that it would be in the best interest of all citizens to have the Board of Elections move forward with the City’s elections.
“Since through the diligent efforts of all the concerned parties, and the dedicated efforts of both the City and County Attorney, an agreement has been reached that will allow the recently City ratified agreement to be used allowing the Board to take over the election process from the City.”