Flowery Branch City Council won't be meeting on its normal dates through early March because of a shortage of available council members.

The council normally meets the first and third Thursdays of the month, but instead of today and Feb. 16, the council will meet Feb. 16 and 20.

The council is considering a matter that requires two readings before action is final.

Also, the March 1 meeting has been bumped to March 8.
The normal meeting time and place is 6 p.m. at City Hall, 5517 Main St.

The schedule was tweaked because of vacant Post 2 and 3 seats and to accommodate Councilwoman Tara Richards, who is training for a six-month deployment to Afghanistan.

Her deployment begins in March and runs through August.

The city charter requires that at least three council members and the mayor or mayor pro tem must be present to conduct a meeting.

The remaining council members are Joe Anglin and Damon Gibbs, and the mayor is Mike Miller. Anglin also serves as the mayor pro tem.

A special election is set for March 6 — the same day as Georgia's presidential preference primary — to fill Posts 2 and 3, which belonged to Chris Fetterman and Kris Yardley, respectively.

Yardley resigned last year to run for the Georgia House of Representatives, and Fetterman resigned in January because of a job transfer to Florida.

Former Councilwoman Mary Jones was the lone qualifier last week to fill Fetterman's seat. She will serve out the four-year term he had been re-elected to on Nov. 8.

The candidates in the Post 3 race are Jason Covert, Fred Richards and Pat Zalewski.

A run-off election, if needed, would take place April 3.

The winner will fill Yardley's unexpired term, which ends Dec. 31, 2013.

Also, early voting will begin Feb. 13.