NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1973 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 954

HOUSE BILL 1351

 

AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE TOWN OF EAST ARCADIA.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1. The inhabitants and the area described in Section 2 of this Charter shall be and is hereby constituted a body politic and corporate under the name of the Town of East Arcadia, and shall be vested with all the property which the Town may acquire, and shall be vested with all the powers, authority, functions, rights, privileges and immunities conferred upon municipalities by the Constitution and general laws of the State.

Sec. 2. The corporate boundaries of the Town of East Arcadia shall be as follows until altered in accordance with law:

BEGINNING at a point on East Arcadia Road, said road being Public Road Number 1741, at a point where the road crosses Bladen and Columbus County line and runs with Road Number 1741 to Public Road Number 1743; thence with Road Number 1743 to a point where Horse Pen Branch crosses said road; thence with Horse Pen Branch in a northeasterly direction to Hwy. #87; thence with Hwy. #87 to Columbus and Bladen County line; thence with Columbus and Bladen County line to East Arcadia Road Number 1741, being point of beginning.

Sec. 3. The government and general management of the Town shall be vested in the Town Council.  The mayor shall have the powers and duties conferred upon mayors by law.

Sec. 4. The mayor shall be elected for a term of four years. The Town Council shall be composed of five members who shall be elected for staggered terms of four years.

Sec. 5. The regular municipal elections shall be nonpartisan and decided by simple plurality.  No primary election shall be held. Except as otherwise provided herein, the elections shall be held and conducted in accordance with the applicable provisions of Articles 23 and 24 of Chapter 163 of the General Statutes.  All municipal elections shall be held and conducted by the Bladen County Board of Elections.

Sec. 6. The municipal elections for town officials shall be held on Tuesday after the first Monday in November, beginning in 1975. The candidate for mayor receiving the highest number of votes shall be elected for a term of four years.

The three candidates for membership on the Town Council who receive the highest number of votes shall be elected for a term of four years. The two candidates for membership on the Town Council who receive the next highest number of votes shall be elected for a term of two years. Thereafter as the terms expire, the successors shall be elected for terms of four years. All qualified voters residing in the Town of East Arcadia shall be eligible to office and to vote in the municipal elections.

Sec. 7. Vacancies in the office of mayor and on the Town Council shall be filled as provided by general law.

Sec. 8. The Board of Elections of Bladen County shall conduct a special election in the Town of East Arcadia on Tuesday, April 16, 1974, for the purpose of electing the Mayor and members of the Town Council to serve until their successors are elected and qualified in the regular municipal election to be held in 1975 pursuant to this Charter.  The special election shall be held under the applicable provisions of Articles 23 and 24 of Chapter 163 of the General Statutes, except that notices of candidacy shall be filed not earlier than 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 1, 1974, and not later than 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 22, 1974. The cost of conducting this special election shall be paid by the Bladen County Board of Elections, but shall be refunded to the Board of Elections by the Town of East Arcadia as soon as funds become available to the Town.

Sec. 9. This act shall be effective upon ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 7th day of March, 1974.