On July 11, 2022, Governor Cooper’s office published a press release indicating that the statewide state of emergency will end on August 15, 2022. At that point, Section 166A-19.24, which provides explicit authority for remote meetings, will expire. Many elected … Read more
[UPDATE: Section 4.31 of Session Law 2020-3 enacted new G.S. 166A-19.24, which imposes a variety of procedural requirements on remote meetings held by public bodies during a state of emergency declared by the Governor or General Assembly. As defined by … Read more
Scenario 1: A city council has six members and no vacant seats. Three of the members fail to show up for this month’s regular meeting, leaving only the mayor and the other three members in attendance. Scenario 2: The same … Read more
In my last blog post, I concluded that all members in attendance at a meeting of a local government board should be deemed present for quorum purposes, even those who for whatever reason decline or aren’t permitted to deliberate or vote on … Read more
In accordance with G.S. 160A-364, a city has scheduled a public hearing on a proposed amendment to its zoning ordinance. Notice of the hearing has been provided in accordance with the statute, but it now appears that there will not … Read more
A local government board member will not be able to attend an upcoming meeting. Can she participate by calling in? Regular blog followers may recall that I have written several posts on this topic. With the benefit of your comments … Read more
Sometimes there just aren’t enough board members to have a meeting. Suppose that a clerk for a North Carolina city or county learns in advance of a meeting that several governing board members have conflicts and will not be able … Read more
Three members of a five-member city council are meeting to discuss city business. Is that a majority? You’d think this would be an easy question, but the answer depends on the context for the question. The basic definition of “majority” … Read more