GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2013

S                                                                                                                                                    D

SENATE DRS45156-LM-172B*  (03/10)

Short Title:        Morganton Charter Amendment.		(Local)
Sponsors:	Senator Daniel (Primary Sponsor).
Referred to:

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

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 election and runoff electionplurality method as provided in G.S. 163‑290(a)(4).G.S. 163‑292.

"Sec. 3.14. Time of election. – Elections shall be held biennially on the fourth Tuesday before the Tuesday after the first Monday in November beginning in 1975 and runoff elections, if required, shall be held on Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

…

"Sec. 3.21. Officials subject to recall. – The Mayor or a member 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 subjectpetition to recall during the first year or the last six months of his term of office.an official may be filed within 12 months after the beginning of the official's term of office or within 12 months before the expiration of the official's term of office. No more than one election may be held to recall an official within a single term of office of that official.

"Sec. 3.22. Petition; procedure. – A recall petition shall be filed with the City of Morganton Board of Elections. A petition to recall the Mayor or a council member shall bear the signatures of qualified voters of the City equal in number to at least twenty‑five percent (25%) of the registered voters of the City qualified to vote in the last preceding general municipal election.(a) Any elector of the City may make and file with the Supervisor of Elections of the Board of Elections of Burke County 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 elector 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 and shall be dated and addressed to the Board of Elections of Burke County, indicate the person to whom issued, and state the name of the official whose removal is sought.

(c) A recall petition to be effective must be returned and filed with the Supervisor of Elections within 30 days after the filing of the elector'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 person'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 person believes, and that each signature to the paper appended is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be.

(e) The City of MorgantonWithin 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 City of Morganton Board of Elections shall certify its sufficiency to the Council, andCouncil, 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.The election may be held alone or at the same time as any other general or special election within the period. The City of Morganton Board of Elections shall conduct the recall election.

(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, but if no other election is to be held within the time period, the Council shall call a special recall election to be held within the time period. However, if the provisions of general law prohibit the holding of special elections during the time period provided for in subsection (e) of this section, and no general or special election is otherwise scheduled during the time period, the council shall call the special recall election for some date within 10 days after the last day of the period of time during which special elections are prohibited by general law.

(g) The recall election shall be conducted by the Board of Elections of Burke County. 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 Mayor or a member of the City Council.

"Sec. 3.23. Effect of recall election. ‑ If less than a majority of the votes cast on the question at the recall election are against for the official's recall, he the official shall continue in office. If a majority of the votes cast on the question at the recall election are for the recall of the official, he the official is removed from office on the date the City of MorgantonBurke 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 or the Mayor 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 reelected 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 when it becomes law.