GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 1997

SESSION LAW 1998-113
HOUSE BILL 72

AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE TOWN OF OAK RIDGE, SUBJECT TO A REFERENDUM.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  A charter is enacted for the Town of Oak Ridge to read:
"CHARTER OF THE TOWN OF OAK RIDGE.
"CHAPTER 1.
"INCORPORATION AND CORPORATE POWERS.
"Section 1.1.  The inhabitants of the Town of Oak Ridge are a body corporate and politic under the name 'Town of Oak Ridge'.  Under that name they have all the rights, powers, duties, privileges and immunities conferred and imposed upon cities by the general law of North Carolina.
"Section 1.2.  (a)  Article 4A of Chapter 160A of the General Statutes does not apply to the Town of Oak Ridge until July 1, 2018.
(b)	G.S. 160A-58.1(b)(2) does not apply to (i) the City of Greensboro as it relates to the Town of Oak Ridge or (ii) the Town of Kernersville as it relates to the Town of Oak Ridge.
"CHAPTER 2.
"CORPORATE BOUNDARIES.
"Section 2.1.  Until changed in accordance with law, the boundaries of the Town of Oak Ridge are as follows:
From the southwestern boundary of the Stokesdale City Limits, south on the east side of the Haw River Road to Pepper Road, south on the east side of Pepper Road to NC Hwy. 150, east on the north side of N.C. Highway 150 to Beeson Road, south on the east side of Beeson Road to the centerline of Reedy Fork Creek, thence in a generally northeasterly direction along the centerline of Reedy Fork Creek to the Eastern Right-of-Way line of North Carolina Highway 68, thence south along the eastern right-of-way line of North Carolina Highway 68 approximately 3,900 feet to the southern line of the subdivision containing Riding Trail Court, recorded in Plat Book 61, page 146 in the office of the Register of Deeds of Guilford County, thence east along the southern boundary of that subdivision and of Golden Acres subdivision, Phase 2, Section 2, recorded in Plat Book 99, page 98, Guilford County Register of Deeds, approximately 2,400 feet to the proposed western right-of-way line of the US220-NC68 connector as shown on Map No. 4 of the Roadway Corridor Official Maps (State Project 6.499002T (R-2413)) as recorded in the office of the Register of Deeds of Guilford County approximately 4,200 feet to the southern right-of-way line of Alcorn Road as proposed on Map No. 5 of said maps, thence west along the southern proposed right-of-way line and the present southern right-of-way line of Alcorn Road approximately 4,000 feet to the centerline of Reedy Fork Creek, thence northern along Reedy Fork Creek to the Oak Ridge-Bruce Township line, thence north along the Oak Ridge-Bruce Township line to the southern right-of-way line of North Carolina Highway 150, thence southwest along the southern right-of-way line of North Carolina Highway 150 to a point due south of the western right-of-way line of Eversfield Road, thence across North Carolina Highway 150 in a direct line to the closest point of the western right-of-way line of Eversfield Road, thence north along the western right-of-way line of Eversfield Road to its intersection with the Stokesdale City limits, thence west along the Stokesdale City limit, following the Stokesdale City limit to the point and place of beginning.
"CHAPTER 3.
"GOVERNING BODY.
"Section 3.1.  The governing body of the Town of Oak Ridge is the Town Council, which has five members.
"Section 3.2.  The qualified voters of the entire Town elect the members of the Town Council.
"Section 3.3.  From the effective date of this charter until the organizational meeting of the Town Council after the 1999 municipal elections the Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and the other three members of Town Council will be:
Interim Mayor	Bill Parrish
Mayor Pro Tem	Gary Blackburn
Council	Mack Peoples
Council	Greg Bissett
Council	Roger Howerton
The Interim Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem named by this section shall only serve as such if another council member is not chosen for that position as provided by Section 3.5 of this Charter.
"Section 3.4.  At the regular Town election in 1999, five council members shall be elected.  The persons receiving the three highest numbers of votes shall be elected for four-year terms, and the two persons receiving the next highest numbers of votes shall be elected for two-year terms.  In 2001 and quadrennially thereafter, two council members shall be elected for four-year terms. In 2003 and quadrennially thereafter, three council members shall be elected for four-year terms.
"Section 3.5.  At the organizational meeting of the initial council and at the organizational meeting after each election, the council shall elect one of its members to serve at its pleasure as Mayor.
"CHAPTER 4.
"ELECTIONS.
"Section 4.1.  The Town Council shall be elected by the nonpartisan plurality method as provided by G.S. 163-292.  Elections shall be governed by general law except as provided otherwise by this Charter.
"CHAPTER 5.
"ADMINISTRATION.
"Section 5.1.  The Town of Oak Ridge shall operate under the Mayor-Council plan as provided in Part 3 of Article 7 of Chapter 160A of the General Statutes.
"CHAPTER 6.
"TAXATION.
"Section 6.1.  Notwithstanding G.S. 160A-209(d), except with the approval of the qualified voters of the Town in a referendum under G.S. 160A-209, the Town may not levy ad valorem taxes in excess of twenty cents (20¢) on the one hundred dollars ($100.00) valuation.  This section does not limit taxation to pay the debt service on general obligation indebtedness incurred by the Town in accordance with law."
Section 2.  From and after the effective date of the incorporation, the citizens and property in the Town of Oak Ridge shall be subject to municipal taxes levied for the year beginning July 1, 1998, and for that purpose the Town shall obtain from Guilford County a record of property in the area herein incorporate which was listed for taxes as of January 1, 1998, and the businesses in the Town shall be liable for privilege license tax from the effective date of the privilege license tax ordinance.  The Town may adopt a budget ordinance for fiscal year 1998-99, without following the timetable in the local government budget and fiscal control act, but shall follow the sequence of actions in the spirit of the act insofar as is practical.  For fiscal year 1997-98 ad valorem taxes may be paid at par or face amount within 90 days of adoption of the budget ordinance, and thereafter in accordance with the schedule in G.S. 105-36 as if taxes had been due and payable on September 1, 1998.
Section 3.  (a) The Guilford County Board of Elections, shall conduct an election on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November of 1998 for the purpose of submission of the proposed Charter to the qualified voters of the area described in Section 2.1 of the Charter of the Town of Oak Ridge.  Registration for the election shall be conducted in accordance with G.S. 163-288.2.
(b)	In the election, the question on the ballot shall be:
"[ ] FOR     [ ] AGAINST
Incorporation of the Town of Oak Ridge".
Section 4.  In such election if a majority of the votes cast are not cast "For incorporation of the Town of Oak Ridge", then Sections 1 and 2 of this act shall have no force or effect.
Section 5.  In such election, if a majority of the votes cast shall be cast "For incorporation of the Town of Oak Ridge", then Sections 1 and 2 of this act shall become effective on the date that the Guilford County Board of Elections determines the result of the election.
Section 6.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 20th day of August, 1998.
s/	Marc Basnight
President Pro Tempore of the Senate

s/	Harold J. Brubaker
Speaker of the House of Representatives