CONTACT

Who to reach, and how.

Every vote on this project is cast by someone with a name, a district and a published e-mail address. This page is the shortest route from a concern to the person who can act on it.

WHO KEEPS THIS DESK

Sumter County Citizens for Transparency

Two neighbors keep this desk. Write to us about anything on the site — a correction, a document you think we should have, a question about the petition, or an offer to help.

Kirk OrganizerKevin Dowling Organizer

contact@scc4t.com

Messages come to the organizers, not to any government office. We do not publish a message, or your name, without asking you first.

YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS

Two bodies decide this.

Write to the one that governs where you live — and to both if you want the moratorium adopted on both sides of the city line.

SUMTER COUNTY

Sumter County Board of Commissioners

Unincorporated Sumter County — everything outside the Americus city limits. The county votes on the moratorium for that ground, and on county zoning and permitting.

SeatMemberE-mail
District 1 Clay Jones cjones@sumtercountyga.us
District 2 Mark Waddell mwaddell@sumtercountyga.us
District 3 Jim Reid jreid@sumtercountyga.us
District 4 David Baldwin Chairman dbaldwin@sumtercountyga.us
District 5 Jessie Smith jsmith@sumtercountyga.us
Office, meetings and agendas
Office
500 West Lamar Street, Suite 100, Americus, GA 31709
Mail: P.O. Box 295, Americus, GA 31709
Phone
(229) 928-4500 · fax (229) 928-4503
Hours
Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Meets
Work session: second Tuesday of the month, 6:00 p.m.
Regular board meeting: third Tuesday of the month, 6:00 p.m.
Both at 500 West Lamar Street. The county states all meetings are open to the public and offers Zoom attendance.
Online
sumtercountyga.us ↗ · County Agenda Center ↗

Sumter County elected officials and contact information sheet · Current as of May 2025

CITY OF AMERICUS

Mayor and City Council of the City of Americus

Inside the Americus city limits. The council votes on the moratorium for the city, and on the city zoning ordinance the draft would pause.

SeatMemberE-mail
Mayor Travis Rush trush@americusga.gov
District 1 Dr. Terence J. Clemons tclemons@americusga.gov
District 2 Nelson Brown nbrown@americusga.gov
District 3 Kristopher “Kris” Bowden kbowden@americusga.gov
District 4 Frank Ceresoli FCeresoli@americusga.gov
District 5 Kelvin Pless kpless@americusga.gov
District 6 Daryl Dowdell ddowdell@americusga.gov
Office, meetings and agendas
Office
City Hall, 101 West Lamar Street, Americus, GA 31709
Phone
(229) 924-4411 · City Hall: (229) 924-3650
Hours
Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Meets
Regular monthly meeting of the Mayor and City Council. Check the city for the current date and time before you go.
Council meetings have been held at the Russell Thomas Jr. Public Safety Building, Lee Street.
Online
americusga.gov ↗

City of Americus elected officials and contact information sheet · Current as of May 2025

HOW TO APPROACH THEM

Three ways in, cheapest first.

15 minutes Write to them One e-mail, to your own district member first, in your own words.
  1. Write to the member who represents where you live, and copy the chairman or the mayor. A district member counts letters from their own district differently from a mass e-mail to everyone.
  2. Put the ask in the first sentence — "please vote to adopt the 18-month data center moratorium" — then say who you are and where you live. Many officials read no further than the first line.
  3. Give one concrete reason of your own: your well, your road, your power bill, your view. A reason nobody else can write for you is the one that gets quoted in a meeting.
  4. Ask a direct question you want answered. A question obliges a reply in a way a statement does not.
  5. Be civil and be brief. The people you are writing to are neighbors, and a letter that insults them gets forwarded as proof the opposition is unreasonable.

Correspondence about county or city business held in an official's account is itself a public record under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70(b)(2) — including yours.

An evening Speak at a meeting Five minutes at the podium, five speakers a night — sign up the same day.
  1. Decide which body you are addressing. The city and the county meet separately, on different nights, and each votes only for the ground it governs.
  2. Get on the list early: only five people speak at a city meeting, and the sign-up sheet opens 30 minutes before.
  3. Write out what you will say and read it aloud once against a clock. Five minutes is about 600 words.
  4. Bring a printed copy for the clerk. What is handed up becomes part of the record; what is only spoken can be summarized in the minutes.
  5. Say your name and district at the start. The minutes have to identify who made and seconded each motion and how each member voted — your name in the record is the same kind of fact.
Three business days Ask for the records Any resident can demand the documents behind a decision, in writing, and get an answer on a clock.
  1. Send a written request to the agency's records custodian. Writing is not legally required, but only a written request carries the Act's enforcement provisions (§ 50-18-71(b)(3)).
  2. You do not have to say why you want it. Purpose is irrelevant to the right of access, and the right extends to requesters outside Georgia (§ 50-18-71(a)).
  3. The agency has three business days to produce the records for inspection — or, in the same three days, to describe what exists and give a timetable (§ 50-18-71(b)(1)(A)).
  4. Ask for electronic records in the format the agency keeps them in, including message headers and attachments (§ 50-18-71(f)).
  5. If any part is denied, the agency must cite the specific code section, subsection and paragraph in writing, and must still produce the parts that are not exempt (§§ 50-18-71(d), 50-18-72(b)).

The first quarter hour of staff time is free, copies are generally capped at 10¢ a page, and there is no fee to simply inspect records routinely open to the public, such as deeds, ordinances and zoning maps.

CITY OF AMERICUS

Speaking at a regular monthly City Council meeting

  • You may address the mayor and council on a matter of public concern for no more than five minutes.
  • The total number of speakers at a meeting is limited to five.
  • Call the City Clerk, Sierra Harvey, at 229-924-4411 ext. 244 on the day of the meeting, or sign up in person at the Council Chambers before it starts.
  • A sign-up sheet is available 30 minutes before the meeting.
  • You cannot yield your time to someone else, and you cannot speak beyond five minutes.

The county runs its own meetings; ask the county clerk at (229) 928-4500 how public comment is handled at a work session or regular meeting before you plan on speaking.

WHAT THE LAW GIVES YOU

You are entitled to the paperwork.

Georgia's Sunshine Laws are not a courtesy the county and the city extend. They are a standing obligation, with deadlines and penalties, and they apply to this project.

Every meeting is open

O.C.G.A. § 50-14-1(b)(1): "all meetings shall be open to the public." That covers the county commission, the city council, and their boards and authorities — including planning and zoning.

Records are open by default

O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70(a): public records "should be made available without delay." The Act is construed broadly and its exceptions narrowly, so the burden sits on the agency to justify withholding, not on you to justify asking.

Three business days, in writing

An agency must produce records for inspection within three business days, or within those same three days describe what exists and say when you can see it (§ 50-18-71(b)(1)(A)).

A private company's records can still be public

Records a private entity prepares or holds for or on behalf of an agency — or in cooperation with public officials, or contemplating the use of public funds — are public records (§ 50-18-70(b)(2); Cent. Atlanta Progress, Inc. v. Baker, 278 Ga. App. 733 (2006)).

An agenda on request

A meeting agenda must be made available on request under § 50-14-1(e)(1). That takes an e-mail, not a formal records request.

Somewhere to complain

The Attorney General runs an Open Government Mediation Program for records denials and closed meetings: (404) 656-7298. A filed complaint is itself an open record and may be shared with the agency it names.

READ IT YOURSELF