City Council President Anna Lopez Brosche announced Monday that candidates interested in replacing outgoing Duval County Tax Collector Michael Corrigan should be prepared to participate in an Aug. 28 election and possibly one in November.
Corrigan steps down June 1 to become the CEO of Visit Jacksonville.
Through a resolution Monday, Brosche set the schedule for the special election as required by the City Charter. Corrigan’s term expires June 30, 2019.
Qualifying is June 18-22 for anyone vying to fill the post.
If no candidate wins a majority of votes in August, the top two will appear on the Nov. 6 ballot.
The winner will serve Corrigan’s unexpired term and would need to qualify and run again in 2019, according to the Supervisor of Elections Office.
Brosche is adding the resolution as an addendum to Tuesday’s council meeting agenda.
The legislation is a one-cycle “emergency,” meaning council committees will review the legislation once before it moves to the full council May 22.
Corrigan announced his resignation in a letter May 3, saying he became interested in the Visit Jacksonville leadership role after being approached by a recruiter.
“As a former chair of the Duval County Tourist Development Council I entered the conversation about the position because I understand the importance of tourism to our state and I knew that my successor as Duval County Tax Collector would be elected in less than a year,” he wrote Duval County Supervisor of Elections Mike Hogan.
Corrigan said during interviews with Visit Jacksonville, “it became apparent that the need for a leader was imminent and would not align with the end of my term as Tax Collector.”
The post became vacant when former CEO Paul Astleford stepped down Oct. 6.
Three Republicans had filed to run in 2019, when Corrigan was term-limited. They are likely candidates to run in August.
They are council member Doyle Carter, former property appraiser Jim Overton and former state representative and council member Lake Ray.
Carter is finishing his second stint on the council representing West Jacksonville in District 12. He previously served from 1999- 2003.
He is term-limited from running again.
Overton also served on the council. He was elected to fill Tillie Fowler’s unexpired term in 1992 and served two complete terms from 1995-2003.
Overton served three terms as Duval County Property Appraiser until 2016.
Ray represented Florida’s 12th House District from 2008-12, covering an area that includes Arlington and the Southside. He spent two terms on council representing Jacksonville’s Arlington neighborhood from 1999-2007.
He mounted an unsuccessful primary challenge in 2016 against former Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford to replace former U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw.
Ray is the president of the First Coast Manufacturers Association, a post he’s held since 2011.
Council members meet at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the council chamber at City Hall at 117 W. Duval St.