Section 10-21, of the Town of Miami Lake Code of Ordinances provides that when a vacancy on the Town Council is to be filled by a special election, the qualifying period shall commence on thefirstMondayafter the Town Council schedules the special election.Section 100.141 of the Florida Statues provides that Notice of the Special Election to fill any vacancy in office shall be published two times, at least10 days prior tothe first day set for qualifying for office.

Evidently, the public policy behind section 100.141 is to ensure that sufficient notice is provided to potential candidates of the scheduling of a Special Election and Qualifying Periods. It would seem that our current Code does not provide sufficient notice and contrary to Florida Law. In order to provide uniformity within our code and compliance with Florida Law, the amended ordinance will set qualifying dates for Special Election to coincide with qualifying dates for General Elections as set forth in Section 10-20 of the Town's Code. Namely, qualifying for a Special Election will occur on the last Monday of July and run for seven business days. If, however, the time between the scheduling of a Special Election and Qualifying Period is less then 10 days, qualifying shall begin the following Monday after the expiration of a 10 day period following the scheduling of a Special Election. Also, the amended ordinance provides for flexibility in the event that Miami-Dade County Department of Elections is unwilling or unable to schedule an election in light of our qualifying dates. Finally, in all instances, the Town will publish a notice of special election twice in a news paper of general circulation.