The citizens of Grovetown have reelected Gary Jones as mayor, along with electing Eric Blair and Richard Bowman to the two city council seats.
According to the unofficial election results, Jones (incumbent) received 580 votes (42%), with Ceretta Smith receiving 497 votes (35.99%) and Deborah Fisher receiving 304 votes (22.01%).
Jones, who was reelected for a third term, said he decided to run again because he wanted to ensure the work that has been done over the past eight years continues.
“What I want to do is continue with the level of professionalism, the delivery of service that we have now, which is stellar,” Jones said. “I want to continue to move forward with integrity, transparency, honesty and accessibility. Those are things that I think the public wants to see out of an elected official. Being accessible is one of them, I give my cell phone out to anybody that wants it and I’m always available to listen to a citizen.”
For the two city council seats, Blair (incumbent) received 833 votes (34.81%), Bowman received 834 votes (34.85%) and Marsha Keating received 726 votes (30.34%). Blair will be entering his third term and said he is looking forward to working with the other members of the city council.
“I think with Richard, myself, Gary and Sylvia Martin, I think we’re going to have finally have a harmonious council who is going to be able to get a lot accomplished for the City of Grovetown,” Blair said.
Out of the 9,355 registered voters in the City of Grovetown, there were 1,383 ballots casts in the election, for a 14.78% voter turnout.
Nancy Gay, executive director for the Columbia County Board of Elections, said there were no issues at the precincts.
The results are not official until they are certified. The Columbia County Board of Elections will meet at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 13 at the Board of Elections warehouse, 205 Range Road building L in Appling, to certify the results.
Stephanie Hill is the managing editor and covers Columbia County government for The Augusta Press. Reach her at stephanie@theaugustapress.com.
