March vote called off

The only candidate for the city council was Kelsey Collum, who can be sworn into the seat during the April meeting

Some good news for the City of Aragon and local elections officials: they won’t be needing to hold a vote in March after all.

Qualifying for the seat left open following the resignation of Duel Mitchell in January came to a close on Feb. 10 with only one candidate signing up to get on the ballot, Aragon resident and former council candidate Kelsey Collum.

Collum, who ran in the November election for a council seat against Debbie Pittman, now will take the seat without any opposition and thus no need for a vote that would have been held on March 21.

Since the Polk County Board of Education also voted in January to decline to fund the election for the Education-only Special Purpose, Local Option Sales Tax extension past 2020, it means there is officially no need for a ballot at all locally according to Elections Director Karen Garmon.

Collum won’t be allowed to take over the seat until after the next Aragon city council meeting this coming month on March 16.

He said he was excited about the opportunity to join the council, and that his platform remains the same as it was when he ran in November 2016 for a seat: helping Aragon get better.

Collum did sit in during the Aragon city council’s work session on Feb. 16 and was involved in discussions, but made no decisions during the latest meeting.

Those who want to participate in upcoming elections in November for municipal seats in Cedartown, Rockmart and Aragon can contact the Board of Elections at 770-749-2103 for more information.

Local voters in the cities will go to the polls this fall to vote on several council and commission seats up for election this year. Those include the seats held by Cedartown city commission chair Jordan Hubbard and commissioner Matt Foster, along with the seat now to be held by Collum and one held by Hunter Spinks who ran unopposed to rejoin the council in 2016.

Rockmart voters will also get to decide on council seats currently held by Lucille Harris, Joe Henderson and Sherman Ross.

Qualifying for those seats will be held in August on dates to be announced. Each city will have qualifying information and costs to run for each position.