Grover Beach council member Phyllis Molnar, who ran for mayor in November, resigned from the City Council on Thursday.

In a letter dated Monday, Molnar explained that she has had “personal changes that have led to my choosing to change my city of residence.” She’ll no longer be a full-time resident of Grover Beach, moving instead to a home in an unincorporated area of San Luis Obispo County.

Molnar wrote she would resign effective Thursday with “deep regret.”

The Grover Beach City Council on Monday will discuss filling Molnar’s seat. Her term runs through December 2014.

The council within 60 days will need to either fill the vacancy by appointment or call a special election. The appointment must be made by April 1, though city staff recommends the council do so at its regularly scheduled meeting of March 18.

When former City Council member Larry Versaw resigned in 2007 to move out of the city, the council decided to appoint someone to fill his seat instead of spending an estimated $28,000 to $30,000 on a special election, city attorney Martin Koczanowicz wrote in a staff report to the council.

Then-planning commissioner Karen Bright was appointed to serve the remainder of Versaw’s term.

Molnar ran unopposed for a council seat in 2010. She ran against fellow council member Debbie Peterson for mayor last year and was defeated in the Nov. 6 election.