STURGIS - After months of petition signing and several
setbacks, supporters of the Piedmont incorporation have submitted
more than enough valid registered voter signatures to the Meade
County Commission to satisfy state law for setting an election
date.
Meade County Auditor Lisa Schieffer told the board Thursday
that the petitioners collected 29 valid signatures, two more than
the required 27 voters, or 25 percent of those eligible to vote in
the upcoming election.
Schieffer told Phil Anderson and other incorporation
organizers that due to state law and time restraints, the election
would be Aug. 14. If the a majority of voters approve the measure,
the newly-incorporated city would then have to wait until the first
part of October before electing the city's first five-person board
of trustees. Anderson said that the board would then elect a mayor
from within.
The new town's first job would be to prepare an operating
budget for 2008. Those budgets are normally due to the county by
Oct. 1, but Schieffer told Anderson that she could allow a little
additional time because of the circumstances.
Before acting on the incorporation request, Piedmont-area
residents had to ask Summerset, currently the state's newest town,
to annex it. Summerset, which incorporated in 2005, is slightly
more than three miles from Piedmont. However, Summerset's
incorporation boundaries come within a mile of Piedmont's proposed
town site. State law required Piedmont officials to first ask
Summerset for annexation. After officials from the two communities
reached an agreement, Summerset rejected the request, which allowed
Piedmont officials to gather signatures for an incorporation
vote.
