AN ACT amending the charter of the town of atkinson to allow the qualified voters of the entire town to elect the town officers, to change the name of the governing body, and to extend the term of office of the members of the governing body from two to four years and staggering those terms.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  The Charter of the Town of Atkinson, being Chapter 163 of the Private Laws of 1921, reads as rewritten:
"Section 1. That the inhabitants of the Town of Atkinson shall be and continue as they have been heretofore, a body politic and corporate, and the corporation shall bear the name and style of  'The Town of Atkinson," and under such name it may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, vested with the rights of property which may now belong or hereafter belong to the Town or possessed by it under any corporate name, and may acquire, hold for the purpose of its government and the welfare of its people and its improvement or otherwise all such estates as may be devised, bequeathed, conveyed or purchased with the power to contract and be contracted with and to convey or purchase both real and personal property, and shall have all powers and rights appertaining to the municipal welfare.
Sec. 2. That the Town of Atkinson shall have the same Town limits as laid out in its original charter, chapter one hundred and twenty‑five, Private Laws of one thousand nine hundred and nine.
Sec 3. The officers of the Town shall be four Commissioners and the Mayor, who shall be elected according to the nonpartisan plurality method of election, as provided in G.S. 163‑292. The Commissioners shall be elected in a multiseat contest, and the Mayor shall be elected separately. Except as provided in Section 3.1 of this Charter, regular municipal elections shall be held in the Town every two years and shall be conducted in accordance with the uniform municipal elections laws of North Carolina. 
Sec. 3.1. Except as provided otherwise in this section, the Commissioners shall be elected to four‑year terms by the qualified voters of the entire Town, and the Mayor shall be elected to a two‑year term by the qualified voters of the entire Town. In 2011, and biennially thereafter, a Mayor shall be elected separately from the Commissioners to a two‑year term. In 2011, for the position of Commissioner, the two persons receiving the highest numbers of votes in a multiseat contest shall be elected to four‑year terms, and the two persons receiving the next highest number of votes shall be elected to two‑year terms. In 2013, and quadrennially thereafter, two persons shall be elected to four‑year terms. In 2015, and quadrennially thereafter, two persons shall be elected to four‑year terms.
Sec 4. That it shall be the duty of the mayor and commissioners of the Town to make laws and ordinances for the regulation and government of the Town.
Sec 5. It shall be the duty of the officers of the Town to make such laws as necessary that will improve the well‑being of the inhabitants of the  Town and to make laws, and to raise revenue for the necessary expense of the  Town and for the improvement of its streets and sidewalks and public buildings, to call elections when necessary to raise special revenue from the sale of bonds to meet the requirements and expenditures of the Town for any and all purposes.
Sec 6. That the Town of Atkinson shall have the power and authority to own and control, purchase or sell, operate and contract in, all modern utilities such as electric power plants, public play‑grounds, parks, hospitals, water‑works, and to levy special taxes or sell bonds taxable against the property of the inhabitants of the Town, to improve streets, extend streets, condemn land of private persons for the purpose of street and sidewalk improvement, raise revenue for such purposes, to buy, take over and sell any telephone system for the benefit and convenience of the inhabitants of the Town.
Sec 7. That the Town shall have the right to call elections and hold elections at any regular meeting of the mayor and board of commissioners for the purpose of the sale of bonds to raise revenue to purchase electric power plants, telephone systems, water‑works, public play‑grounds and parks when necessary for the welfare and improvement of the Town.
Sec 8. That no part of the former charter of the Town of Atkinson is repealed or destroyed by this act, but the same is by this amendment amended and revised.
Sec 9. That the Town shall have all the rights, privileges and immunities conferred or hereafter to be conferred on towns and cities by chapter seventy‑three of Revisal of North Carolina, and all acts amendatory or supplemental thereto, and by such acts as may hereafter be passed by the General Assembly with reference to towns and cities when the same is not inconsistent with this charter or within its provisions.
Sec 10. That all laws inconsistent or coming in conflict with the provisions of this act be and the same is hereby rescinded and repealed.
Sec 11. This act shall be in force and effect from and after its ratification."
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 20th day of April, 2011.

	s/	 Walter H. Dalton
	 President of the Senate

	s/	 Thom Tillis
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives