Latest on St. George from BR. Business Report

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St. George proponents making final push to get incorporation issue on December ballot


Organizers of the city of St. George incorporation effort have scheduled what they say will be their final fundraiser to "help finish up getting the last signatures we need and then helping us transition from a signature drive to a campaign," says St. George spokesman Lionel Rainey III. The group has 17,700 signatures on its petition for a ballot referendum on the incorporation effort, Rainey says, adding he believes that will be enough to get the measure on a December ballot. Previously, the group estimated it needed to collect roughly 18,000 signatures, but that figure was based on the number of residents who live within the boundaries of the St. George Fire Protection District. Rainey says the group has since learned that the St. George fire department serves several areas that are actually outside the boundaries of what would be included in the proposed city of St. George. "The upshot is, there are more registered voters in their fire district than there are in what would be the city of St. George," Rainey explains. "So we don't need quite as many signatures as we thought we did." Rainey says he has been meeting with the Registrar of Voters and should know by the end of the week exactly how many signatures he needs to get the issue on a ballot. An attorney representing the city in the fight over the incorporation, Mary Olive Pierson, has said the city will immediately challenge any effort to put the St. George measure on a ballot. Rainey says his group will push forward regardless. "I don't know how to respond to a city-parish that says it is going to file suit against citizens who have done nothing wrong and followed the letter of the law," he says. —Stephanie Riegel

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