Springfield voters will choose their next mayor in a special election, scheduled to be held Nov. 6.

Springfield City Council members unanimously accepted the resignation of Jeff Northway as mayor with a 6-0 vote Monday evening. Northway submitted his resignation July 12, less than a month after the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously in his favor against the city.

“I’m glad this is behind us,” said Mayor pro tem Jeff Ambrose, who has been presiding over city council for the last year. “We will move forward as a city. We have nothing but positive to look forward to.”

Council members approved holding a special election and set the qualifying fees at $35, the same amount they were in 2009 when Northway was elected to office. Northway won with 138 of 160 votes cast in 2009, and his term in office would have expired Dec. 31, 2013.

Qualifying for the mayor’s seat will be held Aug. 27-29, from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. each day. Advance voting will take place from Oct. 9-Nov. 2.

Council’s acceptance of Northway’s resignation comes almost exactly one year after Northway last presided over a council meeting. Despite Superior Court Judge William Woodrum’s ruling that upheld council members’ petition to have Northway removed from office, Northway resumed his spot on the council Aug. 9, 2011. Northway appealed Judge Woodrum’s decision, and the state high court upheld his appeal.

Northway’s attorney Charles Herman and Springfield city attorney Rick Rafter defended their positions before the state Supreme Court justices in March, and the court’s ruling was handed down in June.

But less than a month later, the city asked Northway to either resign his post or face declaratory judgment petition after city officials uncovered Northway’s possible criminal past in Texas. Northway had been convicted of three felonies in Texas in the 1980s but attested to never having been convicted of a felony in his notice of candidacy to run for mayor.

Northway originally was asked by council members to resign in November 2010. He refused, and four council members filed for a Superior Court petition to have him removed from office, citing the city’s charter. Three weeks after a three-day court proceeding, Judge Woodrum granted the council members’ request.

Rafter also said the city’s acceptance of Northway’s resignation does not affect the possibility of recovering attorney’s fees from the former mayor. It is not known currently how much the city could recoup from Northway if it was successful in recouping its attorney’s fees.