ltlredwagon
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- North Carolina
Hello, looking for legal references. I'm going to be a bit vague intentionally.
Let us suppose that there is the town of "Bluebird". It is a wonderful, quaint, old-fashioned mountain town founded and built from the ground up well over a 100 years ago -- almost entirely residential, an inn, church, a few educational establishments, etc. Bluebird has a Town Council or Board of Commissioners consisting of 5 elected individuals. The town, by survey, and appearing in the town's Comprehensive Plan, made it known that their highest priority, by an overwhelming margin, is to "preserve the character" of the town, its history, heritage, etc.
The Town Council, however, decides that they want to take the town in a different direction. The town needs money so they decide, in this hypothetical, that the town square should be replaced by a "casino" or some other legal establishment which is nevertheless completely at odds with the character and heritage of the town and is opposed by the vast majority of the citizens. The laws of the town contain no statutes for the recall of elected officials. There is an "ethics code" which allows for the Town Council members themselves to sanction one of their own if they see fit. Otherwise, it seems like the only way to remove the 5 bums is to vote them out at the next election. But this is the US, with an understanding that representative government must be by the will of the governed. Is there any law, at any level, which the citizens could apply to remove and replace the Council?
Let us suppose that there is the town of "Bluebird". It is a wonderful, quaint, old-fashioned mountain town founded and built from the ground up well over a 100 years ago -- almost entirely residential, an inn, church, a few educational establishments, etc. Bluebird has a Town Council or Board of Commissioners consisting of 5 elected individuals. The town, by survey, and appearing in the town's Comprehensive Plan, made it known that their highest priority, by an overwhelming margin, is to "preserve the character" of the town, its history, heritage, etc.
The Town Council, however, decides that they want to take the town in a different direction. The town needs money so they decide, in this hypothetical, that the town square should be replaced by a "casino" or some other legal establishment which is nevertheless completely at odds with the character and heritage of the town and is opposed by the vast majority of the citizens. The laws of the town contain no statutes for the recall of elected officials. There is an "ethics code" which allows for the Town Council members themselves to sanction one of their own if they see fit. Otherwise, it seems like the only way to remove the 5 bums is to vote them out at the next election. But this is the US, with an understanding that representative government must be by the will of the governed. Is there any law, at any level, which the citizens could apply to remove and replace the Council?
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