Updated: 2010-10-27 19:40:53
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” is more than half. (The official Robert’s Rules of Order Website has a discussion about [...]
Updated: 2010-10-20 18:20:03
In my last two posts (here and here), I’ve discussed the efforts of the City Council of Emerald City, North Carolina, to support its local businesses by adopting a local preference policy. Purchasing Officer Scarecrow has just finished reviewing the Council’s goals for the policy: reducing local unemployment, supporting local businesses, increasing Emerald City’s tax [...]
Updated: 2010-10-13 15:51:20
North Carolina cities have a choice of governance structure: the mayor-council form or the council-manager form. According to the School of Government’s Forms of Government database, 300 cities in North Carolina use the mayor-council form, and 67 of them employ a “town administrator” who supervises all departments. What are town administrators and what laws govern [...]
Updated: 2010-10-07 21:58:46
Many local governments across the state provide some form of solid waste services for their citizens. Under the public enterprise statutes, counties and municipalities have largely coextensive authority to provide both collection and disposal services, although counties typically support landfills or other disposal facilities, whereas municipalities usually provide the collection services. But, the all important [...]
