In the fall of 2023, Matthew Creech won the mayoral race in Lucama, North Carolina as a write-in candidate. Immediately after new-mayor Creech took office, the town council (called the “board of commissioners”) unanimously adopted a resolution “establishing the powers of the mayor and commissioners” in an “emergency special-called” meeting. The resolution divested certain powers from the mayor and limited the role to primarily “ceremonial” duties. The board adopted an amended resolution, largely to the same effect, four days later. Mayor Creech sued, alleging that the board engaged in a “concerted effort” to “strip the responsibilities, duties, and powers of the mayoral office” and shift them to the board, in violation of the law.

The Complaint asserted that the resolutions improperly “attempt[] to modify duly-enacted ordinances.” (The Complaint, resolutions, meeting minutes, and other case filings are available through the eCourts portal. The records available online do not include a transcript of the hearing on the motion for summary judgment.) Earlier this month, a superior court judge granted the mayor’s motion for summary judgment, declaring both the resolution and amended resolution regarding the power and duties of the mayor “null, void, and without legal effect.” The judge’s ruling was made without prejudice to the board’s authority to act by ordinance pursuant to G.S. 160A-67 or by amendment to the town charter.

The Lucama case presents an opportunity to ask: What powers do mayors have? What authority does a board have to expand or contract those powers? By what action can a board repeal or amend an ordinance? What about a charter amendment? What does it mean, if anything, for a mayor to be labeled a “chief executive officer”? What’s an “emergency special-called” meeting? This post explores each of these questions.

Mayoral Powers

Unlike mayors in many other states, in North Carolina, mayors have been granted by statute very few formal powers and responsibilities. The basic grant is this:

1. Presiding over council meetings (G.S. 160A-69);
2. Generally, voting to break a tie or, where the mayor is elected from the membership of the council and the charter does not confer upon the mayor the right to vote, voting on all matters (G.S. 160A-69);
3. Serving as “official head” of the municipality for purposes of service in a civil proceeding as well as for ceremonial purposes (G.S. 160A-67); and
4. All other powers and duties enumerated by law (G.S. 160A-67).

That last category sounds broad but, in reality, is not. Few other “powers and duties” have been “enumerated” by law. Some are: (1) calling a special meeting (G.S. 160A-71); (2) declaring a state of emergency, if delegated by ordinance (G.S. 166A-19.22(a)); (3) filing annexation maps (G.S. 160A-29); and (4) making appointments to the public housing (G.S. 157-5) and hospital (G.S. 131E-17) authorities.

A blog post authored by School of Government faculty member Frayda Bluestein discusses the powers of mayors in North Carolina in detail. And this chart compares the statutory roles and responsibilities of the mayor, council, and manager.

In addition to these statutory powers and responsibilities, the law authorizes a town council to confer supplemental or discretionary powers and duties on the mayor (not inconsistent with the law). G.S. 160A-67. In Lucama, the board had addressed the mayor’s powers and duties long before Mayor Creech’s election. By ordinance, the board had provided that “The Mayor shall be the chief executive officer of the town” and had prescribed the following supplemental duties to the mayor:

• Keeping himself or herself informed as to the town’s business;
• Presiding over the meetings of the board;
• Signing all contracts, ordinances, resolutions, franchises and all other documents as authorized by the board;
• Appointing all committees and outlining their duties, under the general direction of the board;
• Making recommendations to the board concerning the affairs of the town, as he or she deems necessary;
• Representing the town at ceremonies and other official occasions; and
• Performing other duties as authorized by the general statutes, the town charter and this code.

The resolutions adopted after Mayor Creech’s election purported to “establish” a different set of powers for the mayor. They provided:

• “The Mayor shall serve as ceremonial head for the Town” (whereas the ordinance designated the mayor as CEO);
• “The Mayor and/or Commissioners may only sign documents, including checks, on behalf of the Town where authorized by law and/or the Board of Commissioners” (whereas the ordinance authorized the mayor to sign all contracts and other documents); and
• “The Mayor . . . shall not interfere with, harass, or unduly interrupt Town employees in the daily functions of their work” (whereas the ordinance required the mayor to stay informed of town business and make recommendations to the board).

As noted above, a city council may confer supplemental or discretionary powers upon a mayor in accordance with law. The dispute in this case asks how, exactly, a city council can prescribe these supplemental powers upon the mayor. What process should it follow? What type of board action is required? And may a city council amend or repeal, by resolution, those powers originally codified in an ordinance?

Board Action

G.S. 160A-67 does not specify a particular procedure by which a city council must confer discretionary mayoral powers. Frayda Bluestein opined that a town council might delegate additional powers to the mayor “by resolution or, over time and less explicitly, by practice and habit.” Of course, such delegations are not permanently binding, so the city council may later enlarge or shrink the mayor’s discretionary powers as it sees fit. And yet, as this case demonstrates, a city council should be careful to take the appropriate type of action in so doing. While perhaps a council could informally delegate discretionary powers to the mayor by resolution (or maybe even custom over time), it probably requires an act of “equal dignity” to contract, enlarge, or repeal those powers already established.

No North Carolina appellate court has directly addressed the question of whether a local government could repeal or amend an ordinance by some other type of board action, like a resolution. Typically, a council adopts a resolution to express a policy or make a public statement about an issue, or to take some kind of administrative or legal action, like selling property, approving a contract, or initiating an annexation. An ordinance, on the other hand, prescribes some standard of conduct in the local jurisdiction; essentially, it is a local law. Trey Allen (now a justice on the North Carolina Supreme Court) concluded that “[t]here are solid grounds for thinking that it takes an ordinance to repeal an ordinance.” The trial court in this case seemed to agree.

Lucama’s mayor, in part, argued that the board of commissioners could not act by resolution to repeal or modify an ordinance. Because the mayor’s supplemental powers were enacted by ordinance, only an ordinance or amendment could change those powers. Without access to the hearing transcript in the case, we can only assume that the trial court agreed, at least in part, with the mayor’s argument on this point. While the trial court order in the Lucama case is not binding in other cases, it could forecast how courts will treat board action—in the context of mayoral powers and beyond—in future cases.

Charter Amendment

The minutes from the January 8 meeting of the Lucama board indicate that at least some board members thought the proposed amended resolution conflicted with the town charter, as opposed to the town ordinance. However, the charter of the Town of Lucama (as revised and consolidated in 1977) is silent as to the powers and duties of the mayor. The charter does establish, among other things, that: (1) the governing board shall consist of five board members and the mayor; (2) the mayor shall be elected by qualified voters of the town for a two-year term; and (3) the administration of the town shall operate under a mayor-council plan.   

A city charter is a legislative act of the General Assembly establishing a municipal corporation, setting its boundaries, and determining its form of government. Changes to a town’s charter may be made only by the General Assembly, except that in a limited way, the legislature has delegated authority to amend a charter to the city’s council, voters, or both. That delegation extends to only nine categories of modifications including corporate name and style, style of governing board, terms of office, number of governing board members, mode of election, partisan or non-partisan elections, mayor selection, and form of government. G.S. 160A-101. Establishing the powers, duties, and/or responsibilities is not one of those categories. If a city council or voters desire to make some change not included in the listing, they must request that the General Assembly modify the charter for them.

Within the limited categories, the General Statutes set forth a specific process for local charter amendments. A School of Government microsite summarizes the process for modifying a town charter and includes answers to frequently asked questions.

Chief Executive Officer

The Lucama ordinances in effect when the new mayor took office designated the mayor as “chief executive officer,” consistent with the definition of mayor in Chapter 160A of the General Statutes. G.S. 160A-1(6). Despite the title, as explained above, mayors in North Carolina do not have executive authority, as a CEO might in the private sector. In fact, state law expressly prohibits the mayor (and council members) from serving as an interim or acting manager in a council-manager form of government.

The Town of Lucama, like many other municipalities with council-mayor forms of government, has delegated at least some hiring and supervising authority to a town administrator. No specific statute outlines the powers of an administrator (in contrast to the statute governing managers). However, G.S. 160A-146 gives the city council broad authority to organize city government, and G.S. 160A-155 authorizes the council to delegate hiring and firing authority to administrative officials or department heads.

For more on the role of the mayor and forms of government in North Carolina, see “Chapter 3: County and Municipal Governing Boards,” authored by Kimberly Nelson, in County and Municipal Government in North Carolina (2025 edition). This blog post explains the role of town administrator, in particular.

Meeting Types

That brings us to the final “issue” raised in this litigation. The minutes describe the January 4 meeting of the board as an “emergency special-called” meeting. The Open Meetings Law, though, describes only three, distinct types of local government meetings: (1) regular (G.S. 160A-71(a)); (2) special (G.S. 160A-71(b)); and (3) emergency (G.S. 143-318.12(b)(f)). The type of meeting dictates its notice requirements and, in some cases, limits the items available for discussion. An emergency meeting, for example, may be held only to address “generally unexpected circumstances that require immediate consideration by the public body,” and only matters meeting this standard may be discussed at the meeting. G.S. 143-318.12(b)(3), (f). This article  provides a detailed overview of our open meetings law requirements. It is not clear from the record in the Lucama case whether the January 4 meeting of the board was, in fact, called as a special or emergency meeting or whether it was called or noticed in accordance with the Open Meetings Law.

Conclusion

As of the publication of this post, no notice of appeal has been filed in the Lucama case. Stay tuned to see whether our appellate courts will have the opportunity to weigh in on issues raised by the case: To what extent may a city council act to limit a mayor’s powers after an election? May supplemental powers enacted by ordinance be modified by resolution? What does it mean to designate the mayor as “chief executive officer”? For the Lucama board, time will tell whether it seeks to cement the changes drafted in the resolutions by some other board action or local act of the General Assembly.