Oriental Form of Government Update

Mr. Hartwell Wright of the NC League of Municipalities conducted a workshop today with the Town Board. Mr. Wright, who is an expert on human resources matters, not an attorney, nevertheless provided some interesting observations.

1. If the Town has a council-manager form of government, the duties of the manager are spelled out in General Statutes. The Town Board may not take away any of those duties except by charter amendment.

2. In a council-manager system, a member of the Board may not serve as a department head.

3. In event of departure of the manager, the Board shall appoint an interim manager.

4. The relationship between the Board and the manager is pretty much what I described earlier:

"The Council/Manager plan of government promotes the separation of the Town Board's responsibility for political judgments and policy direction from the manager's responsibility for administration in accordance with the council's overall policy guidance and his or her own politically neutral expertise.

I think this is a fair description of how the Town has been governed for many years."
.

5. When Mr. Wright assists towns in changing their form of government it is always from mayor-council to council-manager, not the other way around.

6. Towns in our size category with council-manager forms of government tend to be towns with more infrastructure whose population grows during the summer.

I have not been able to confirm that the Town adopted an ordinance amending the charter to council-manager. Still working on it. August 24 update. The Town has located the amendment to the Charter. The Ordinance amending the charter to provide for a Council-Manager form of government was adopted November 12th, 1997. It is signed by Mayor Sherrill Styron and Town Administrator William Crowe. It cites NCGS 160A-101(9)(b). David Lawrence's data specifically cites GS 160A-101 as basis for one of our charter amendments. A change to council-manager in other towns often cites that provision. Our only amendment on file not only doesn't cite that provision, it was done by petition to the General Assembly, not by ordinance. Curious. It also doesn't report the results of the town's referendum. Maybe we still really have a mayor and three member council?

No telling what you'll find when you start looking.

The search continues.