XENIA — By a 4-2 vote, Will Urschel was appointed to Xenia City Council Tuesday.

Urschel, who served as a write-in candidate in 2019, will fill the vacancy created when Dr. Edgar Wallace died earlier this month. Urschel will serve until the end of 2021 and the final two years on Wallace’s term will be filled by a vote of the electorate in the November general election.

Urschel attempted to run for council last November, but his petitions were invalidated by the Board of Elections after a challenge by a pair of Xenia citizens. Urschel did not have the required number of signatures per the Xenia city charter. He and former council member Mike Engle said a clerical error in the board of elections office led them to collect fewer signatures than required.

Council members Thomas Scrivens, Levi Dean, Sarah Mays, and Wes Smith voted for Urschel, while Rebekah Dean, and Cody Brannum voted no. Faith Sorice and Dale Louderback — who served 12 years on council — were also nominated but because Urschel was nominated first and received a majority of votes, votes were not taken on the other two, according to Law Director Donnette Fisher.

Levi Dean said picking a replacement was one of the toughest decisions he has had to make while on council as all eight candidates were qualified and had good backgrounds of service.

Urschel will be sworn in at a future meeting.