STURGIS - After months of petition signing and several setbacks, supporters of the Piedmont incorporation have submitted more than enough valid registered voter signatures to the Meade County Commission to satisfy state law for setting an election date.

Meade County Auditor Lisa Schieffer told the board Thursday that the petitioners collected 29 valid signatures, two more than the required 27 voters, or 25 percent of those eligible to vote in the upcoming election.

Schieffer told Phil Anderson and other incorporation organizers that due to state law and time restraints, the election would be Aug. 14. If the a majority of voters approve the measure, the newly-incorporated city would then have to wait until the first part of October before electing the city's first five-person board of trustees. Anderson said that the board would then elect a mayor from within.

The new town's first job would be to prepare an operating budget for 2008. Those budgets are normally due to the county by Oct. 1, but Schieffer told Anderson that she could allow a little additional time because of the circumstances.

Before acting on the incorporation request, Piedmont-area residents had to ask Summerset, currently the state's newest town, to annex it. Summerset, which incorporated in 2005, is slightly more than three miles from Piedmont. However, Summerset's incorporation boundaries come within a mile of Piedmont's proposed town site. State law required Piedmont officials to first ask Summerset for annexation. After officials from the two communities reached an agreement, Summerset rejected the request, which allowed Piedmont officials to gather signatures for an incorporation vote.