Pat Sprat was elected to the town council but just after being sworn in, a sudden illness landed her in the hospital. Pat couldn’t drive for several months, but was able to keep up with town matters by email and … Read more

UPDATE August 2013: A new statute, G.S. 105-380, requires a municipality to release property tax liability for any deannexed property that was within the town limits for six months or less before being deannexed, if no notice has been sent … Read more

Local governments, like many other organizations, place cameras in strategic locations to monitor activities that take place on their property or in public places. Security cameras are used for various purposes, including to apprehend and deter criminal behavior by employees … Read more

North Carolina is often described as a “Dillon’s Rule” state. What does that mean? Is it the opposite of home rule? Does it mean our courts apply Dillon’s Rule in interpreting the scope of local government authority? Or does it … Read more

In a prior blog post I wrote about the patchwork of local and general laws that collectively define local government authority. I noted that it can be difficult to determine when a general law does or does not override an … Read more

North Carolina’s open meetings and public records laws contain the core transparency requirements for local governments. They’re so often considered together that they can be thought of as first cousins, or even siblings. But they’re not twins, and the North … Read more

In 2011, the legislature substantially revised the annexation laws. Among other changes, the 2011 annexation reform law, summarized here, gave property owners in the annexed area the ability to petition to deny the annexation. These changes applied to annexations in … Read more

The county commissioners meetings had been getting really contentious. The board was bitterly divided over almost everything, and it had started to get personal. The board chair tried to encourage civility, but one night she just gave up. With board … Read more

A North Carolina county board of elections, which has three members, is scheduled to meet with representatives of the State Board of Elections in Raleigh. May they legally travel together in one car to the meeting? Three members of a … Read more

It’s happening more and more frequently, in large and small jurisdictions across North Carolina. It may come by email, personal delivery, or even in a good old -fashioned letter, signed, sealed and delivered by snail mail. It’s the massive public … Read more