130A-50. Election and terms of office of sanitary district boards.

(a) The Department shall send a copy of the resolution creating the sanitary district to the board or boards of county commissioners of the county or counties in which all or part of the district is located. The Department shall file or cause to be filed with the county board or boards of elections in the same county or counties a map of the district. With the map it shall include supporting documents. That map and documents shall be filed within 10 business days after the creation of the district and amended within 10 days after any change to the boundaries of the district. The board or boards of commissioners shall hold a meeting or joint meeting for the purpose of electing the members of the sanitary district board.

(b) The sanitary district board shall be composed of either three or five members as the county commissioners in their discretion shall determine. The members first appointed shall serve as the governing body of the sanitary district until the next regular election for municipal and special district officers as provided in G.S. 163A-1585, which occurs more than 90 days after their appointment. At that election, their successors shall be elected. The terms of the members shall be for two years or four years and may be staggered as determined by the county board of commissioners so that some members are elected at each biennial election. The members of the sanitary district board shall be residents of the district. The county board of commissioners shall notify the county board of elections of any decision made under this subsection.

If the sanitary district board consists of three members, the county commissioners may at any time increase the sanitary district board to five members. The increase shall become effective with respect to any election where the filing period for candidacy opens at least 30 days after approval of the expansion to five members. The effective date of the expansion is the organizational meeting of the sanitary district board after the election.

The county commissioners may provide for staggering terms of an existing sanitary district board whose members serve two-year terms by providing for some of the members to be elected at the next election to be for four-year terms. The change shall become effective with respect to any election where the filing period for candidacy opens at least 30 days after approval of the staggering of terms.

The sanitary district board may provide for staggering its terms if its members serve unstaggered four-year terms by providing for some of the members to be elected at the next election for two-year terms. The change shall become effective with respect to any election where the filing period for candidacy opens at least 30 days after approval of the staggering of terms.

The county commissioners may provide for changing a sanitary district board from two-year terms to unstaggered four-year terms. This may be done either by providing that at the next election, all members shall be elected for four-year terms, or by extending the terms of existing members from two years to four years. The change shall become effective with respect to any election where the filing period for candidacy opens at least 30 days after approval of the change of length of terms.

(b1) If a sanitary district:

1. Does not share territory with any city as defined by G.S. 160A-1(2), and

2. The sanitary district is in more than one county,

(b2) If a sanitary district:

(1) Is located entirely within a county which has no incorporated city as defined by G.S. 160A-1(2) located within that county; and

(2) Has a sanitary district board whose members serve four-year terms which are not staggered and which next expire in 1991,

(c) The election shall be nonpartisan and decided by simple plurality as provided in G.S. 163A-1616 and shall be held and conducted by the county board of elections in accordance with the applicable provisions of Article 27 of Chapter 163A of the General Statutes. If the district is in more than one county, then the county board of elections of the county including the largest part of the district shall conduct the election for the entire district with the assistance and full cooperation of the boards of elections in the other counties.

(d) The board of elections shall certify the results of the election to the clerk of superior court. The clerk of superior court shall take and file the oaths of office of the board members elected.

(e) The elected members of the board shall take the oath of office on the first Monday in December following their election and shall serve for the term elected and until their successors are elected and qualified.