Former state senate candidate and City Councilwoman Ceretta Smith is challenging Gary Jones for the Grovetown mayor’s post in the Nov. 7 election.
“These last few years, I’ve had a front-row seat to the inner workings of the municipal government, and I think Grovetown needs a leader that’s going to take the city to the next level,” Smith said.
A former Army medic and longtime federal employee, Smith said she wants to ensure all voices are heard and integrity maintained in the rapidly-growing military enclave.
“I’m running to ensure that every citizen, resident, employee and council member’s voice is heard and represented,” she said, “and to ensure that we maintain the integrity of the municipal government.”
Smith won the council post in 2021 with 74% of the vote after the death of member Allen Transou. She garnered nearly 41% of votes in the 2020 11-county senate contest with Max Burns, R-Sylvania.
Smith said she’s strived to bring fairness to the council, such as her push earlier this year to appoint Councilwoman Deborah Fisher as mayor pro-tem. Fisher would have become the city’s first-ever Black mayor pro tem.
Three of the council’s five voting members disagreed and instead reelected member Eric Blair.
“One council member has been the mayor pro tem for seven years. This is his eighth year,” Smith said. “When you look at other municipalities, they rotate the mayor pro tem.”
Smith also clashed with Jones over his decision last year for Grovetown to sponsor a rodeo. “I felt like that was excessive spending,” she said.
Bordering Fort Gordon, Grovetown’s population of 17,148 is becoming increasingly diverse. Recent census data show 24% of residents are Black and 17% are Latino.
City officials recently announced plans to maintain current tax rates, which increases taxes on a $200,000 home by about $75.
A Fayetteville, N.C. native, Smith has degrees in theology and counseling and was inducted last year into the Augusta Technical College “Den of Distinction.”
She’ll challenge the Republican establishment in Jones, who received $1,000 apiece from Columbia County Commission Chairman Doug Duncan, Commissioner Gary Richardson, businessman Mark Herbert and Burns earlier this year.
Jones was first elected Grovetown mayor in 2015 after serving for five months as its police chief. He won a $300,000 settlement from Waynesboro, where he formerly was deputy chief, in a whistleblower lawsuit earlier this week.
Smith is hosting a news conference at 1 p.m. today at Veterans Park, 103 Old Wrightsboro Road in Grovetown.
