Qualifying to run
Here are key details if you plan to seek the Flowery Branch City Council Post 3 seat.
When to file paperwork: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday or 8 a.m.-noon Friday
Where: City Hall, 5517 Main St.
Fee: $144, or the candidate must file a pauper’s affidavit
Noteworthy: The special election is March 6. The winner will fill an unexpired term, which ends Dec. 31, 2013.
Contacts: 770-967-6371
Qualifying is set Wednesday through Friday for a March 6 special election to fill the Post 3 Flowery Branch City Council seat.
The city doesn’t have set districts, so all candidates are elected at large.
Those interested in seeking the office must file the proper paperwork — an affidavit stating they are, among other things, a city resident — at City Hall, 5517 Main St., from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday or 8 a.m. to noon Friday.
Candidates also must pay a $144 fee or file a pauper’s affidavit.
The last day Flowery Branch residents can register to vote in the special election is Feb. 6.
The seat became open because former Councilman Kris Yardley resigned to run for the state House District 25 seat vacated by James Mills, who was appointed to the state Board of Pardons and Paroles.
The District 25 election is Nov. 8, with Yardley facing fellow Republicans Bobby Banks, Emory Dunahoo Jr., Dominic Ottaviano, Todd Reed and Sonny Sykes. The election also features Democrat Paul Wayne Godfrey.
No one has publicly announced for the Post 3 seat.
Flowery Branch City Council members were split over whether to hold qualifying this week or closer to the election, with concerns aired that the dates would exclude certain people from seeking office.
Yardley would not be able to regain his seat if he loses his House bid. Also restricted are candidates seeking Flowery Branch council seats on Nov. 8: Post 1 incumbent Amanda Swafford and challenger Damon Gibbs and Post 2 incumbent Chris Fetterman and challenger Mary Jones.
The winner of the Post 3 seat will serve out the rest of Yardley’s term, which will end Dec. 31, 2013. Council members are paid $400 per month. The mayor, Mike Miller, receives $500 per month.
Until the March 6 election, the council will operate with four members and Miller. The mayor presides over meetings and votes only in the case of a tie, which Miller has done several times in the past month.
Yardley also was the mayor pro tem, which meant that he served as mayor in Miller’s absence.
Miller said that post will decided after the Nov. 8 election.
“Several of us on council have had that discussion,” he said. “... There’s no sense in electing somebody (beforehand) because once you elect them, you have to change over the signature cards in the bank.”