MOUNTAIN PINE -- The Mountain Pine City Council appointed Alderman Rick Petty Sr. on July 11 to serve as mayor until the end of the year and plans to hold a special election in November to fill the final two years of the former mayor's second term.
The council has yet to adopt a resolution calling for the special election. City Attorney Brian Albright said it intends to add the mayoral race to the ballot in the Nov. 8 general election, when all of the city's eight alderman positions will be up for election.
The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of a four-year term that concludes in 2018.
Albright said Petty, whose son Rick Petty Jr. also serves on the council, is eligible to run in the special election. The filing period for the mayoral and alderman races begins Friday and ends Aug. 19.
Former Mayor Robert Palmer announced his resignation in April, but it didn't take effect until last month. The council declared the position vacant at its June meeting after it discovered that Palmer was no longer living in Mountain Pine.
Palmer took office in January 2011 after defeating incumbent Frank Babb Jr. in a runoff. He defeated J.L. Long for re-election in 2014.
State Desk on 07/24/2016