After the death of Dale Earnhart, I received a phone call from a local government attorney asking whether it was permissible for the local government to fly its American and state flags at half-staff as a tribute to the NASCAR … Read more

When it comes to local government authority in North Carolina, it’s a lot easier to say what we’re not than what we are. North Carolina is not a home rule state. We’re variously described as a “Dillon’s Rule” or “broad … Read more

You’ve just received bids on a construction project costing $50,000, and discovered that the lowest bidder is not a licensed general contractor.  When you bring this to the bidder’s attention, she tells you that she will be licensed by the … Read more

UPDATE September 2013: In December 2012 in the case of Hest Technologies, Inc. v. State ex rel Perdue, the North Carolina Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the statute that makes it a criminal offense to conduct video sweepstakes games … Read more

UPDATE August 2013: For more recent information on this topic click here. Jill Moore recently blogged about the applicability of the federal Red Flag Rules to local health departments and the appropriate responses by those departments to prevent or mitigate … Read more

The mayor is on vacation and therefore the mayor pro tem is presiding at the regular council meeting.  The city is one in which the mayor votes only to break ties.  When a vote comes up, does the pro tem … Read more

A recurring subject of First Amendment case law has to do with monuments in public parks. The latest opinion from the United States Supreme Court on this subject holds (unanimously) that the placement of a permanent monument in a public … Read more

Your local government has just awarded a contract.  Now what are you supposed to do with all of the bids, bid tabulations, paperwork, and email generated by the bidding process?  Can you throw any of it away?  Do you have … Read more

S.L. 2009-564 (SB 468) amends G.S. 153A-93, effective October 1, to permit counties to provide health insurance to retired county commissioners.  The new act takes care of a statutory problem that appeared to prohibit providing such a benefit, but there … Read more

Can a local government attorney use North Carolina legal ethics rules to prevent opposing counsel from contacting government officials in the midst of a legal controversy?  Consider this hypothetical situation: Greta Gunslinger, a renowned litigation attorney, is representing a local developer in a lawsuit against the city over the … Read more