Earlier this month a panel of three superior court judges held that the General Assembly’s appointment of a majority of members to the new Oil and Gas, Mining and Coal Ash commissions violates the state constitutional provision on separation of … Read more

It doesn’t happen every day, but it does happen regularly: a North Carolina community is affected by a public health problem that requires an urgent response. Perhaps it is an outbreak of a communicable disease, like the H1N1 pandemic that … Read more

Jean Jett has been waiting all month for the regular public comment period at the city council meeting. She signed up to speak, and after waiting her turn, she stands at the podium facing the council members and says, “I … Read more

I hope you were able to join us for our recent board of equalization and review webinar that featured input from experts at the Department of Revenue and local tax offices across the state.  Counties that did not have the chance to … Read more

It’s March, which means in addition to finalizing your NCAA bracket sheets you might also be finalizing your local government’s delinquent property tax advertisement.  These ads must be published between March 1 and June 30 in a newspaper having a … Read more

Ray Kinsella leads the nonprofit economic development corporation (the “EDC”) that was jointly formed by the county and its largest city in the early 2000s, and that is now governed by an independent board of directors. Ray has heard some … Read more

A county’s board of commissioners is required to provide “reasonable and adequate funds necessary” to support the functions of the county board of elections, “including reasonable and just compensation of the director of elections.” G.S. 163-37. In Gilbert v. Guilford … Read more

News about Hillary Clinton’s exclusive use of private emails and a “homebrew” server raised both political and legal issues. I’ll leave the political issues to the pundits, and I’m not an expert in federal records retention requirements. But I thought … Read more

Update February 2017:  In April 2016 the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled on the appeal in this case.  Its decision focused on the portion of the 2013 legislation that provided that teachers who had already achieved tenure at the time … Read more