UPDATE: Madison Mayor Paul Finley said Monday night that he will announce a date for a special election at the March 13 Madison City Council meeting. He did say it will be set for early May.

The election will decide if Madison voters want the city to adopt a city manager style of government

By Maria Rakoczy (news@themadisonrecord.com)

MADISON – Voters within the city of Madison could know this evening when a special election will be held deciding the fate of a proposed change in government structure.

A petition submitted by citizen’s group, Madison Forward, seeking a special election has officially been approved by Madison County and Limestone County Probate judges. The group is promoting the city’s proposed plan to move to city manager-council form of government instead of the current mayor-council form.

The petition was originally submitted on Jan. 4 with approximately 900 signatures. This first attempt was rejected, however, for failing to provide the minimum required signatures from eligible citizens. Madison Forward then resubmitted the petition with a new set of signatures on Feb. 6.

Probate Judge Frank Barger approved the resubmitted petition on Feb. 17 with a total of 1,108 signatures, meeting the required “10% of the number of qualified voters, or a minimum of 895 qualified voter signatures, who voted in the last general municipal election held in the city of Madison.”

According to the order from Judge Barger’s office, 754 signatures from the Madison County side of the city were approved. In the Limestone County side, 158 were approved by Limestone County Probate Judge Charles C. Woodroof. 196 signatures were deemed unqualified.

The date for the special election will be set by Mayor Paul Finley. An announcement is expected at tonight’s Madison City Council meeting. The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 100 Hughes Road.

This story will be updated online once an announcement by the mayor has been made.

Click here for previous story about the issue.