WHAT HAPPENED: Among other things, Super Tuesday.
WHAT IT MEANS: Voters across North Carolina (and many other states simultaneously, hence the "Super") selected 2020 General Election nominees for offices local to presidential. The statewide 31 percent voter turnout (which includes early voting), was a few percentage points down from the turnout of the 2016 presidential primaries, but that was when both major political parties had loaded ballots. While several states still have presidential primaries ahead, the last of them in June, North Carolina is mostly settled on the primaries specific to its own borders, such as for U.S. Senate, the Council of State and the General Assembly.
ON TAP: Repeat, mostly settled. Tight results for some offices appeared to perk runoff elections. Other primaries, however, were decisive, including the gubernatorial -- Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, and Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, a Republican, will face off for the top state seat in November, having won nominations by massive margins.
THE SKINNY: Read on for the details, and remember that Tuesday's results are considered "unofficial" until the March 13 canvass, in which elections officials are to ensure all valid votes are properly recorded. Also in this bulletin: billboards, broadband, COVID-19 info, local ordinances and more, with a reminder as well about the upcoming CityVision 2020 conference just ahead in Wilmington.
With the way this year is speeding by, it'll be May before we know it. Don't wait to
register for the biggest and best annual conference available to North Carolina's municipal staff and elected officials --
CityVision, May 6-7 in beautiful downtown Wilmington. Mark your calendars for the Wilmington Convention Center overlooking the Cape Fear River.
Register early to avoid late registration fees. Pre-registration ends Friday, April 10.
Brought to you by the League of Municipalities, CityVision always brings future-readying educational opportunities and classic camaraderie among municipal officials from the staff and elected levels across North Carolina.
Expect two days of engaging speakers, educational sessions and one-on-one time that will give you the tools you need to face challenges in your town or city. This year, CityVision will include ethics training for elected officials. This training meets the criteria for ethics training as state law requires. Other educational sessions will focus on employment law, water & wastewater, cyber security, economic development and so much more.
CityVision's newest addition will be a Speed Networking session inside the Riverside Expo exhibit hall. We invite you to take advantage of this one-on-one time with sponsors and exhibitors on May 6. The League’s Shield Services risk control staff will host Law Enforcement Firearm Training preview sessions. These 30-minute sessions will use state-of-the-art technology that trains police officers how to appropriately respond and de-escalate when confronted with an active shooter, combative member of the community, or other, similar scenarios.
Emphasize the role of local control over billboard sign regulations, said comments submitted by the League this week. The comments, offered to the N.C. Department of Transportation in response to proposed changes to the agency’s outdoor advertising rules, focused on ensuring that state rules encompassed local regulatory authority as well. The agency initiated this rulemaking in response to a requirement to review and revise its rules at least once a decade. While most of the proposed changes were ministerial updates, the League asked the agency to reference local billboard ordinances in the rule definitions. The League argued that this change would reiterate local control over outdoor advertising in cities and towns.
Local government officials told members of the state General Statutes Commission on Friday that differences in communities across the state require different approaches to local ordinances and whether or not they carry misdemeanor criminal penalties. The commission was authorized by the General Assembly to study duplication of criminal penalties, including local ordinances that can carry a misdemeanor penalty. The study comes as some advocates have pushed to curb or eliminate criminal penalties as enforcement mechanisms in local ordinances.
Burlington Police Chief Jeff Smythe told commission members that criminal enforcement – though rarely used – is needed to force compliance when civil penalties fail to gain violators’ attention. Raleigh Deputy City Attorney Dottie Kibler said the use of a criminal misdemeanor will often force compliance much quicker than attempting to pursue an injunction in court. “Our goal is to get compliance,” she said.
The message from local officials appeared to be heard, as commission members noted how different local noise and dangerous animal ordinances are from each other, and how a local approach appeared best to address differences in communities and their standards. The commission, facing a deadline of May 1 to issue a report, indicated that they were likely to issue an interim that looked at the issue broadly and did not dive into the merits of individual local ordinances. The commission is expected to hear from advocates favoring streamlining of criminal penalties at their April meeting.
League staff helped to arrange the testimony on Friday and will continue to monitor this important issue involving local authority.
If your municipality has outdoor lighting, then this is an important event. Make sure your town is represented. Join the League and Duke Energy for a discussion on street lighting strategies and rate updates at the NC APWA state conference in April. The session on outdoor lighting will be at 4 p.m. on April 23 and is an opportunity for League members and Duke Energy Outdoor Lighting to discuss outdoor lighting rate updates, process and overview for converting lights to LED, any upcoming projects (including small attachment capabilities), and any questions municipal customers may have.
This session continues discussions that began after the League intervened in the utility’s rate cases before the N.C. Utilities Commission in 2013 and 2017. The League of Municipalities has again intervened on Duke’s current rate cases, and the Utility Commission’s hearings start this month. Read news from this week about the rate cases.
