The seat for the Place 3 position became vacant when Norman Funderburk resigned from it in order to take a shot at the mayoral seat following Mayor Merle Aaron’s retirement announcement. Printing services are often used during campaigns like this.
This means that there will be three positions to vie for in May’s election. These are Places 1 and 2, which are held by Charles Cunningham and Andy Curry, and the mayoral seat as well.
The council went over its options for what to with the Funderburk’s vacant seat in the short-term. They could fill the position by appointing someone to take the seat until May 2022, or leave the seat vacant until next year’s election.
In the end, the council opted to leave the position vacant for now. One of the board members stated that the City Council would probably decide how to fill the vacant seat in the near future. Mayor Aaron Merle also said:
“Whenever we do have an action, we’ll take it publicly here and it’ll probably be in a [special] called meeting.”
Those who wish to run in this year’s May elections have until February 12 to file the necessary paperwork. Funderburk is currently the only applicant running for mayor.