Recently, the public finance sector of our Firm has examined how bond proceeds affect land use by municipalities. In particular, we have looked at how land once acquired with bond proceeds may be put to a different use or purpose. 160A-11 of the General Statutes gives...

County Water and Sewer Districts were created to allow counties to provide water and sewer service to discrete populations. With encouragement from USDA lending programs, many counties created several of these districts, especially counties in rural areas. Over time,...

We recently served as special counsel to the Town of Rolesville to facilitate a public-private partnership to  redevelop the historic town center. Our team, led by Ashley Anderson, worked with the Town Manager,  Town Economic Developer, Town Attorney, and...

We recently served as special counsel to the Town of Waynesville to facilitate a public-private partnership to redevelop the former BI-LO shopping plaza.  Our team, led by Ashley Anderson, worked with the Town Manager and Town officials to craft an agreement that...

If you haven’t reexamined your community engagement practices during COVID, you should! It’s not too late. When it comes to community engagement practices, finding a balance between practical and effective can be difficult even under the best of circumstances. Throw a...

We’ve posted before (here and here) on the relationship between public records and confidential lawyer information. Though not a novel topic, it does seem to pop up in a different context every so often.  Recently, the State Bar Council of the North Carolina State Bar...

We at Sanford Holshouser LLP are pleased to announce that Sam Smotherman has joined our Firm as an associate attorney. He’ll be working primarily on our local government finance projects, but also contributing to our work on community economic development and...

Happy New Year! As 2021 begins, we offer this list of items to keep in mind as you plan for new capital projects and manage your existing projects. Here are a few things to think about at least once a year: Compliance with financing covenants. If you have any...

Over the last few months, we have worked as bond counsel with two towns that wanted to assemble land for economic development, and that needed to borrow money to pay for the land. The towns took different approaches that illustrate the flexibility available for this...

The LGC’s policy has been to not approve financings in November (or later) for a local government until it has approved that unit’s new audit. The LGC’s refusal to approve new borrowings is one of the few tools the Treasurer’s office has to force local governments to...