GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1997 SESSION

S.L. 1997-117
HOUSE BILL 771

AN ACT TO ALLOW THE BOARD OF A SANITARY DISTRICT WITH FOUR-YEAR TERMS THAT ARE NOT STAGGERED TO PROVIDE FOR STAGGERED TERMS.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 130A-50(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b)	The sanitary district board shall be composed of either three or five members as the county commissioners in their discretion shall determine. The members first appointed shall serve as the governing body of the sanitary district until the next regular election for municipal and special district officers as provided in G.S. 163-279, which occurs more than 90 days after their appointment. At that election, their successors shall be elected. The terms of the members shall be for two years or four years and may be staggered as determined by the county board of commissioners so that some members are elected at each biennial election. The members of the sanitary district board shall be residents of the district. The county board of commissioners shall notify the county board of elections of any decision made under this subsection.
If the sanitary district board consists of three members, the county commissioners may at any time increase the sanitary district board to five members. The increase shall become effective with respect to any election where the filing period for candidacy opens at least 30 days after approval of the expansion to five members. The effective date of the expansion is the organizational meeting of the sanitary district board after the election.
The county commissioners may provide for staggering terms of an existing sanitary district board whose members serve two-year terms by providing for some of the members to be elected at the next election to be for four-year terms. The change shall become effective with respect to any election where the filing period for candidacy opens at least 30 days after approval of the staggering of terms.
The sanitary district board may provide for staggering its terms if its members serve unstaggered four-year terms by providing for some of the members to be elected at the next election for two-year terms. The change shall become effective with respect to any election where the filing period for candidacy opens at least 30 days after approval of the staggering of terms.
The county commissioners may provide for changing a sanitary district board from two-year terms to unstaggered four-year terms. This may be done either by providing that at the next election, all members shall be elected for four-year terms, or by extending the terms of existing members from two years to four years. The change shall become effective with respect to any election where the filing period for candidacy opens at least 30 days after approval of the change of length of terms."
Section 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 19th day of May, 1997.
s/	Dennis A. Wicker
President of the Senate

s/	Harold J. Brubaker
Speaker of the House of Representatives

s/	James B. Hunt, Jr.
Governor

Approved 4:33 p.m. this 29th day of May, 1997