AN ACT amending the charter of the city of morganton concerning the procedure for removing the mayor and members of the city council from office and making changes related to the method and time of municipal elections.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  Article III of the Charter of the City of Morganton, being Chapter 180 of the 1975 Session Laws, as amended, reads as rewritten:
"ARTICLE III.
"ELECTIONS.
…
"Sec. 3.13. Method of election. – The Mayor and members of the Council shall be elected by the nonpartisan plurality method as provided in G.S. 163‑292.
"Sec. 3.14. Time of election. – Elections shall be held biennially on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November of odd‑numbered years.
…
"Sec. 3.21. Officials subject to recall. – The Mayor and members of the Council shall be subject to removal pursuant to this Chapter. An official may be removed upon the filing of a sufficient recall petition and the affirmative vote of a majority of those voting on the question of removal at a recall election. No official may be subject to recall during the first 12 months after the beginning of that official's term of office or within the 12 months before the expiration of that official's term of office. Additionally, no official may be subject of a recall election more than once per term of office.
"Sec. 3.22. Petition; procedure. – (a) Any registered voter of the City may make and file with the Board of Elections of Burke County, through delivery to the supervisor of elections, an affidavit containing the name of the official whose removal is sought and a statement of the grounds alleged for the official's removal. The cause for removal must relate to the misfeasance, malfeasance, or nonfeasance of the official or for personal misconduct that brings the office into disrepute.
(b)	The supervisor of elections shall thereupon deliver to the registered voter making the affidavit copies of petition blanks for demanding the removal printed forms of which the supervisor of elections shall keep on hand. The blanks shall be issued by the supervisor of elections with his or her signature thereto attached, shall be dated and addressed to the Board of Elections of Burke County, shall indicate the registered voter to whom issued, and shall state the name of the official whose removal is sought.
(c)	A copy of the petition shall be promptly delivered to the City Manager, who shall enter the copy of the petition in a record book kept for that purpose in the office of the City Manager. A recall petition to be effective must be returned and filed with the supervisor of elections within 30 days after the filing of the registered voter's affidavit and to be sufficient must bear the signature of registered voters of the City equal in number to twenty‑five percent (25%) of the registered voters of the City as shown by the registration records of the last preceding general municipal election.
(d)	The signatures to the petition need not be on one petition paper, but each signer shall add to the signature that signer's residence address. One or more of the signers of the petition shall make oath before an officer competent to administer oaths that the statements therein made are true, as that signer believes, and that each signature to the paper appended is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be.
(e)	Within 20 days after the filing of the petition, the Board of Elections shall verify the petition signatures. If a sufficient recall petition is submitted, the Board of Elections shall certify its sufficiency to the Council, and shall notify the official whose removal is sought of the action. If the official whose removal is sought does not resign within five days after receiving notice from the Board of Elections, the Council shall adopt a resolution calling for a recall election to be held not less than forty‑five (45) days nor more than ninety (90) days after the date the petition has been certified to the Council.
(f)	The recall election may be held at the same time as any other general or special election within the time period provided for in subsection (e) of this section. If no other general or special election is to be held within the time period provided for in subsection (e) of this section, the Council shall call for the special recall election to be held within that time period.
(g)	The proposition submitted to the voters shall be substantially in the following form:
"[ ] FOR	[ ] AGAINST
The recall of [name of official]."
(h)	All registered voters of the City of Morganton are eligible to vote in an election to recall the official subject to the recall petition.
"Sec. 3.23. Effect of recall election. – If less than a majority of the votes cast on the question are for the official's recall, the official shall continue in office. If a majority of the votes cast on the question are for the recall of the official, the official is removed from office on the date the Burke County Board of Elections certifies the results of the recall election. A vacancy created by the removal of the Mayor or a member of the Council shall be filled as provided in Section 2.5 or Section 2.14 of this Charter. An official who was removed by the voters as the result of a recall election, or who resigned after a sufficient petition for the official's recall has been submitted to the Board of Elections, shall not be eligible for appointment to fill the vacancy caused by the official's removal or resignation.
"Sec. 3.24. through 3.30. Reserved."
SECTION 2.  This act is effective July 1, 2014, and applies to affidavits and petitions filed on or after that date.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 19th day of June, 2014.

	s/	 Daniel J. Forest
	 President of the Senate

	s/	 Thom Tillis
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives