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Tracy K. Hall

The Mayor and City Council of Americus was scheduled to present a proclamation for honorary council member, approve the consent agenda and appoint individuals to varying boards and authorities for the regular March meeting held on March 23, 2023. What would typically take 20-30 minutes ended up taking over an hour.

Kelvin Pless of District Five invited Bernard Minyard to serve as honorary council person and Daryl Brown gave the invocation.

After this point Nelson Brown, representing the people of District Two, took the floor again this month to continue what he began in February. In February he wanted to speak on a “moment in black history” in which for approximately 20 minutes he outlined his, and other officers’ work for the Americus Police Department. In February he remarked he would be back in March to do it again. He stood up at the dais reporting he wanted to “say more because I didn’t finish up last month.” He came with a slide show, and made reference to several officers, however he spoke mostly on his own service both in the APD as well as the military. He started with work done in the 1970’s and 1980’s. He began to opine about his personal military service. He then tried to tell a story about the “blue flu” but it winded into another topic about his stories. “I’m not sitting down, I’m standing up and I’m telling the truth.” He later went into stories of his work done during the height of the crack epidemic “that stuff was a killer especially for the black race.” “These people running the street at night, these people, that you call cockroaches that running around.” He reports the officers had heart and professionalism. He said, “with community support and the dedication from the officers, you know what we started doing, getting together, they got to go, and what I mean with that is we took care of some business.” He then starting speaking on teamwork and took on telling more stories of what he and other officers did in specific cases. After 38 minutes of listening to Brown’s stories, the meeting proceeded as usual.

After announcements from the city manager, the council had an opportunity to make comments. Brown once again took the floor for another five minutes to close out the meeting.

In addition to Brown comments, approving the consent agenda, and updates from the city manager, the council approved 11 appointments of citizens to boards and authorities.

The next meeting of mayor and city council will be on April 13, 2023 at 6pm in the public safety building on Lee Street. The meeting is open to the public and as such, the public is encouraged to attend. The agenda for the meeting should be posted on the city’s website no later than 48 hours prior to the meeting and it, as well as instructions on how to join virtually, can be found at americusga.gov.