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C.4U'/ OFi~ICES <br />COLEDQAN, GLEDHILL & H.~RGRAVE <br />~ FROF-~ sic~.~L coReGRrrc;~ <br />l79 E. : nYOti STRiET <br />P O DR.4R cR IS'9 <br />HIL'SHCROL'GH. VOFiTFi C1ROLi.'~A ':iS <br />9f9 .i3J219ti <br />FP,X 919-3? 7991 <br />October 4, 1996 <br />Michael Crowell, Esquire <br />Tharringtan Smith <br />Post Office Box 1151 <br />Raleigh, North Carolina 27602 <br />11 <br />FROM TriE DESK OF <br />GEOirFEY E. GLEDHILL <br />RE: Modification in the Structure of Boards of County <br />Commissioners <br />Dear Mike: <br />Thank you very much for taking the time to talk with me <br />recently about changing the structure of boards of county <br />commissioners and for sending me the materials you did on the <br />subject. <br />There is one point made by you during our telephone <br />conversation and previously concluded by you in the article you <br />wrote for Popular Government concerning redistricting for local <br />governments on which I don't yet agree. You stated during our <br />telephone conversation and in the article that there is no <br />constitutional requirement that "residency" districts be equal in <br />population and that North Carolina law does not require them to <br />be equal in population. I concur with your conclusion on the <br />constitutional question because the elections are at large. I <br />reach a different conclusion, however, with respect to North <br />Carolina statutory requirements. It seems to me that when a <br />board of commissioners changes i.ts structure from a totally at <br />large system to one where the members must reside in a district, <br />it must initially create the districts by referendum and based on <br />population. North Carolina General Statutes § 153A-58(3) so <br />states. Contrarily, since G.S. 153A-~22(g) makes the requirements <br />for redefining electoral district boundaries, where theta becomes <br />over time as inequality of population among the districts, not <br />applicable at all in counties where the districts are for <br />residence purposes only, a board of county commissioners could <br />change the district boundaries as it pleased, presumably by <br />resolution. How the district boundary change is made is not <br />altogether clear since G.S. .15.3A-22(g) makes that statute not <br />applicable at all to residency districts. <br />