During a somber meeting of the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Alderman Monday morning, the late Ward 1 Alderman Michael Mayfield’s seat was officially vacated during a special ceremony held in his honor and paving the way for the city to set a special election to choose his successor.

Mayfield passed away Monday, March 11, after a brief battle with cancer

City Attorney Kimberly Walker-Nailor laid out the process by which the election would be held after the resolution authorizing it was originally tabled at Thursday’s board meeting.

“I just want to kind of express to you why we had to move everything from last Thursday to today,” Walker-Nailor said during Monday’s meeting. “Back in 2022, the board voted to redistrict Ward 1 and Ward 2. We have to work with our circuit clerk and work with our secretary of state to make sure that everyone that was affected by the redistricting is given notice. So, the reason we pushed it from Thursday to today is, once this seat is vacated, we have 45 days to have a special election. We have to have enough time to get the notices out to any affected voters. That way they know where they need to vote; who’s eligible to vote in this election. We want to do things decent in order, because that is what the board wants and that’s what Alderman Mayfield would have wanted.”

Walker-Nailor said, according to section 23-15-857 of the Mississippi Code, it is necessary to call a special election to fill the vacancy, which will be held Thursday, May 9. The statute also dictates each candidate for the vacated seat must qualify by petition filed with the municipal clerk by 5 p.m. at least 20 days before the date of the election, and all candidates will qualify as independents. The petition must contain the names of at least 50 qualified municipal electors.

Walker-Nailor said, should no candidate receive the majority of the votes in the special election, a runoff election will be held Thursday, May 30, between the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes in the special election.

During Thursday’s meeting, a special election commission to oversee the process was named and includes: Alfreda Gibson, Dell Rogers, Trudy James-Brown, Greg Howard, and Oretha Horton.

Following the approval of the resolution, Bertha Mayfield, wife of the late alderman, was asked to remove the black bow from the board chair he occupied during his 19-year tenure with the city.

“There was no one like Michael Mayfield Sr.,” she said. “He loved everybody. The only thing he wanted in life was for everybody to be treated fair. He was loved by many and he always will be loved by many. He lived for that every day. He lived for his family. He lived for the City of Vicksburg.”