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The Retail Mall Reimagined
My first job in high school was as a lowly “dump girl” at Nordstrom. Hired to work Nordstrom’s Anniversary Sale at the famous South Coast Plaza mall, girls who “ran dump” were tasked with rapidly restocking the sales floor with copious amounts of tried-on clothing so...
Is there a coming crisis in the local government finance function? Or is it already here?
We noticed an article from the Carolina Journal about a discussion at a recent Local Government Commission meeting. Although the discussion centered on the travails of a specific town, it highlighted problems that are widespread and may be getting worse in the local...
Your public-private partnership and the LGC staff
We’ve heard from several clients and Friends of the Firm recently about their discussions with LGC staff about proposed or possible public-private partnerships. Several lessons emerge from those discussions that are worth sharing. Why would you have to go to the LGC...
You Don’t Have a Lawyer on Your CED Team? You Should.
Successful community economic development projects don’t happen by accident. Implementing a dynamic community economic development plan requires a dynamic team. You’ll want a team of qualified professionals and community stakeholders, including local officials,...
Happy New Year! Annual reminders for debt planning and management
Happy New Year! As 2019 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...
Five trends in installment financing from 2018 . . . into 2019
The environment in North Carolina for local government 160A-20 installment financing has changed over the past 12 months. Here are some notable developments -- We have a lot of potential lenders. Lenders come in and out of the market, and sometimes a lender will limit...
The LGC calendar for 2019
We now have the official calendar for meetings of the Local Government Commission for 2019. We thought a table might be handy. Along with the meeting dates, this table shows the dates 28 days prior to the meeting, because generally the Commission staff wants a fairly...
A Public Record Can Still Be Confidential Client Information
A committee of the American Bar Association released Formal Opinion 480 on March 6. The discussion surrounding this opinion reminds us of our earlier blog post, entitled Just because it’s a public record, that doesn’t mean it’s not confidential.If you can set aside...
Alternatives for Municipal Financing for Community Dams
There are over 3200 dams in North Carolina, and many of these are owned and maintained by smaller entities that may not have the resources to take care of the dams the way they need to be taken care of. And so after time, an inspection may show that the dam needs...
The Importance of Fund Balance
What do we need all this fund balance for, anyway? As we move into the height of budget season, this question will ring out across the North Carolina — especially as many local governments re-build fund balance after some years of decline. Why do we keep the...