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On Tuesday evening, the LaGrange City Council voted to call for a special election to replace the District 1 council seat vacated by former councilman Jim Arrington, who is running for mayor.

Both Arrington and former councilman Willie Edmondson resigned at the Jan. 24 council meeting to run for mayor on March 21. They would automatically have been considered resigned when they qualified for the election the next day, but both men agreed to step down early for the remaining council to appoint someone.

In order to have a quorum and be able to conduct business in the weeks to come until the election, the remaining council appointed recent District 2 runner-up Quay Boddie to Edmondson’s former seat.

Only Edmondson’s seat was eligible for the appointment because he had less than a year left on his term. Arrington had more than one year left on his term, so the city charter requires that his seam must be filled by a special election, which the council called for on Tuesday.

For odd-numbered years, the state allows elections to be held in March, June, September and November, so the earliest opportunity with time for ballot preparation and qualifying would be in June.

The council voted to call for the election on Tuesday, June 20.

Qualifying for the election will be held the week after the upcoming mayoral election and begin on Monday, March 27 at 8:30 a.m. and the following Friday, March 31 at 4:30 p.m.

Qualifying fees for the race are set at $288, which is 3 percent of the council member’s salary.