FERRIDAY — Ferriday Town Attorney Myisha Davis said the town would be required to both appoint a qualifying person and have a special election to replace sitting alderman Johnnie L. Brown Sr., who died Thursday.

Brown, 68, who died at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, represented District D for the Ferriday Board of Aldermen.

Within 20 days, the board would be required to appoint a qualifying person who lives within District D.

Also within 20 days, the board would have to issue a proclamation ordering a special election to fill the vacancy.

Davis said the board would appoint someone to fill the vacancy until a time when the special election could be held. Davis said because more than a year is left on Brown’s term, the board is required to have a special election.

Brown was reelected to the board in 2016, so a little more than three years remains on his term.

To qualify for alderman, a candidate has to have been an elector of the town for at least one year and the person also has to be a resident of the district they will represent at the time of qualification.

District D is within the southwest portion of Ferriday.