GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2021

S                                                                                                                                                     2

SENATE BILL 51

Redistricting and Elections Committee Substitute Adopted 3/31/21

Short Title:      Even-Year Elect/Trent Woods & River Bend.	(Local)
Sponsors:
Referred to:

February 4, 2021

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT to provide that regular municipal elections in the towns of river bend and trent woods shall be held in even‑numbered years and to extend the terms of town officers elected in 2019 by one year.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.(a)  The Charter of the Town of Trent Woods, being Chapter 718 of the 1959 Session Laws, as amended by Section 1 of Chapter 264 of the 1971 Session Laws and Section 2 of Chapter 947 of the 1989 Session Laws, reads as rewritten:

"Section 1. That certain area of Craven County, North Carolina, described in Section 2 below is hereby incorporated under the name "Trent Woods" and the same is hereby created a body politic and corporate; and shall hereafter possess all of the corporate powers and be subject to all of the provisions contained in Chapter 160 of the General Statutes of North Carolina.

…

"Sec. 3. The officers of said municipality shall consist of a mayor and three commissioners.Regular Municipal Elections. In 2022, regular municipal elections shall be held in each even‑numbered year in accordance with the uniform municipal election laws of North Carolina.

"Sec. 4. Until their successors shall be elected and qualified pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 160, Article 3, of the General Statutes of North Carolina, the following persons shall be and are hereby constituted the officers of said town, to wit: Mayor, George R. Scott; Commissioners, C. Stroud Tilley, George T. Burnette, Jr., and G. C. Honeycutt.Election of Mayor and Commissioners. The officers of the Town shall consist of a mayor and three commissioners elected to serve two‑year terms and until their successors are elected and qualified. In 2022, and biennially thereafter, the Mayor and three commissioners shall be elected to serve two‑year terms.

…."

SECTION 1.(b)  No municipal elections shall be conducted in the Town of Trent Woods in 2021. The two‑year terms of the Mayor and three commissioners elected in 2019 are extended by one year until 2022. Regular municipal elections shall be conducted in the Town of Trent Woods in 2022.

SECTION 2.(a)  Section III of the Charter of the Town of River Bend, being that Charter approved by the Municipal Board of Control and filed with the Secretary of State on January 14, 1981, reads as rewritten:

"Section III – Composition and Mode of Election of City Council.

(1)        The City Council shall consist of 3 three members. Members of the City Council shall serve terms of two years. All candidates shall be nominated and elected by all the qualified voters of the city.

(2)        Non‑partisan, runoff municipal elections shall be held by the County Board of Elections pursuant to Article 23 and 24 of Chapter 163 of the General Statutes of North Carolina and shall be conducted as provided in G.S. 163‑293. in even‑numbered years in accordance with Chapter 163 of the General Statutes.

(3)        The Mayor shall be elected by all of the qualified voters to serve a two year term. The Mayor has the right to vote only where there is a tie vote excluding his the Mayor's vote or where the issue is the appointment of officers. The Mayor has no right to break a tie vote in which he the Mayor participates.

The first municipal election shall be held in conjunction with the incorporation referendum. The members of the City Council, then elected, shall serve until the next regular municipal election which shall be held on the fourth Tuesday before the Tuesday after the Monday in November of 1981, and the runoff election, if required, shall be held on Tuesday after the first Monday in November 1981, as per G.S. 163‑279(4)."

SECTION 2.(b)  No municipal elections shall be conducted in the Town of River Bend in 2021. The terms of office of the Mayor and all City Council members serving on the effective date of this act shall be extended by one year, and regular municipal elections shall be conducted in 2022 and every two years thereafter.

SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies to elections held on or after that date.