S.L. 1973-1270

1973 SESSION

CHAPTER 1270

HOUSE BILL 2164

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE ELECTION OF THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE TOWN OF BLADENBORO.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1. The governing body of the Town of Bladenboro shall consist of six commissioners and a mayor to be elected and appointed as herein provided.

Sec. 2. The Town of Bladenboro shall be divided into two resident districts. District No. 1 shall consist of all territory within the corporate limits which lie north of the centerline of N. C. Highway 1211 (formerly Hy. 211) and District No. 2 shall consist of all the territory within the corporate limits which lie south of the centerline of said highway.

Sec. 3. The commissioners shall be voted upon by the qualified voters of the entire Town. Three commissioners shall be elected from each of the districts and must be residents and qualified voters of the district. The three candidates in each district receiving the highest number of votes shall be declared elected. The commissioners shall be elected for terms of two years. At the first meeting of the commissioners after their election, they shall appoint one of the commissioners as mayor, and he shall serve for a term of two years.

Sec. 4. The municipal elections shall be nonpartisan and decided by simple plurality, and at the time specified in G.S. 163-279(a)(1). The municipal elections shall be held and conducted by the Bladen County Board of Elections in accordance with the applicable provisions of Articles 23 and 24 of Chapter 163 of the General Statutes of North Carolina.

Sec. 5. The mayor shall have the right to vote on all issues as any other commissioner but he shall not be entitled to vote a second time to break a tie.

Sec. 6. Since the November 1973 municipal election has been declared invalid by the Courts, the Bladen County Board of Elections is hereby authorized to call and hold, immediately, a special municipal election in the Town of Bladenboro under the provisions of this act. The persons elected in the special election shall serve until their successors are elected and qualified in the regular municipal election to be held in 1975 as provided in Articles 23 and 24 of Chapter 163 of the General Statutes of North Carolina.

Sec. 7. All prior local acts concerning the election of the governing body of the Town of Bladenboro are hereby repealed.

Sec. 8. This act shall be effective upon ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 11th day of April, 1974.