Locust Grove voters will be electing a new City Council member in about six weeks.

  A seat became vacant when John R. Gardner gave official notice three months ago that he no longer lived in the city effective November 1, 2020. The council voted unanimously at its January 19 regular meeting to approve a resolution calling for a March 16 special election to fill the seat.

  Qualifying for the special election is scheduled for February 15-17 at City Hall, according to the resolution which also praised Gardner for his two-plus years of service.

  In other business, a former city police officer who was killed in the line of duty three years ago is being honored with a special marker. The council voted unanimously to approve the installation of a memorial marker for Chase Maddox on Tanger Boulevard “near the subdivision where Officer Maddox gave the ultimate sacrifice,” according to a city staff report.

  Maddox was shot and killed February 9, 2018 while assisting two Henry County Sheriff’s Office deputies issuing a warrant to a man in a Locust Grove home.

  He served nearly five years with the city’s police department.

  All recent members of the city’s events committee were reappointed for 2021. According to officials, the committee has not met since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic due to a lack of business, but it is anticipated that normal activities will resume with increasing vaccine availability later this year.

  The council also approved the final plat for the Liberty Grove subdivision, also known as Derringstone Manor, on Theberton Trail north of Tanger Blvd. and west of Lear Drive.