ROWLAND — Town leaders here must hold a special election to the fill a seat that was occupied by Marvin “Buddy” Shooter Jr. for nearly 50 years.

Shooter passed away Sunday of complications caused by COVID-19.

Rowland Mayor Michelle Shooter confirmed the decision to hold the special election after speaking with the Robeson County Board of Elections earlier this week.

“We spoke with the Board of Elections, and they said the process is to hold a special election,” Shooter said Friday.

The board is still working out the details of when the special election is to be held, but it will most likely be held after the general election in November, the mayor said.

“Now is not the right time to do a small election with the big one coming up,” Shooter said. “When the big one comes and goes, the town will be responsible for putting on the election to fill that seat.”

The town’s board will further discuss the special election at the next workshop meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“We’ll be in the same room together, and we can plan and decide on which direction to go,” Shooter said.

It will be bittersweet making plans without “Buddy” Shooter’s assistance, she said.

“Obviously we’re not trying to push out Buddy, but we have to make sure the seat is filled, to make sure we’re having our town represented,” Shooter said.

The Town of Rowland has a mayor-council form of government comprised of four commissioners, all of whom are elected at-large. Commissioners serve staggered four-year terms, with two commissioners elected during the general election in each odd-numbered year, and are sworn in during the first meeting in December. The mayor serves a two-year term, concurrent with each biennial election.

Shooter was reelected to the Board of Commissioners seat in November 2017. He also served as mayor pro tem. His term is to expire November of 2021.