Does the Butner Planning Council have to submit three new candidate names for Town Manager to the Secretary of Health and Human Services while the position is already filled?
Plain-English summary
Butner (in Granville County) is an unusual community: a state-owned reservation around the former Camp Butner military training site, now home to several state institutions (notably Butner state hospital and several Department of Correction facilities). Until Butner incorporated as a municipality in 2007, the Secretary of Health and Human Services held statutory responsibility for administering the reservation, and a Town Manager was delegated certain duties.
Under § 122C-403(9), the Secretary may (but is not required to) assign duties to a Butner Town Manager. The Town Manager is hired on the recommendation of the Butner Planning Council, which "shall submit the names of three candidates for the position to the Secretary, and the Secretary shall select one of the candidates." The Town Manager then serves at the pleasure of the Secretary.
The Planning Council asked: while a Town Manager is already in office, must the Council still submit three names? The Department's General Counsel relayed the question to the AG.
The AG's answer was no. The statute's "submit three names" language is triggered only when there is a vacancy. Two textual reasons support that conclusion. First, the verb structure of § 122C-403(9) describes how the Town Manager is hired, presupposing an open position. Second, requiring the Council to keep submitting names while a Town Manager is in office would functionally give the Council the power to force out the incumbent (because the Secretary would have to pick from the new list), which contradicts the statute's clear vesting of appointment and tenure decisions in the Secretary.
The AG also drew a contrast with § 122C-412(h), the initial Planning Council statute, which has explicit timetables and instructions for appointing the original Council. The Town Manager statute has no such timetable language. That silence reinforces the reading that the Town Manager nomination process is triggered only by a vacancy.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 1997. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.
Butner was incorporated as a municipality in 2007 and now elects its own Town Council and hires its own Town Manager under standard municipal procedures. The Planning Council framework described in this opinion no longer governs day-to-day Butner municipal operations. Anyone researching modern Butner town governance should look at Butner's municipal charter and § 160A general municipal statutes, not the historical reservation framework in § 122C-403.
Common questions
Q: Why was a state Secretary running a town in 1997?
A: Camp Butner was a federal Army base during World War II. When the federal government turned the reservation over to the State in the late 1940s, NC kept it intact and used it for state hospitals and correctional facilities. There was no separate municipal corporation; the Secretary administered the reservation as state property. The Planning Council and Town Manager structure was a hybrid: limited self-governance through advisory bodies, with final authority resting in Raleigh.
Q: What was the Planning Council trying to accomplish by asking this question?
A: The opinion does not say. Most likely the Council had a candidate or candidates in mind and wanted to know whether it had a procedural lever to push them forward, or whether someone on the Council disagreed with the sitting Town Manager and wanted to test that lever. The Department's general counsel framed the question neutrally to the AG.
Q: What does "serves at the pleasure of the Secretary" mean here?
A: At-pleasure means the official can be dismissed without cause and without notice. It is the opposite of a fixed-term appointment with for-cause removal protection. The Secretary's hiring authority under § 122C-403(9) ran together with at-will removal authority. The Planning Council had nomination input but no ability to remove a sitting Town Manager.
Q: Did anything about this opinion's analysis depend on who the sitting Town Manager was?
A: No. The AG's reading of the statute is general. It would apply regardless of the identity or performance of the Town Manager. The opinion is about statutory mechanics, not the merits of any individual.
Background and statutory framework
§ 122C-403 sat in the Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse chapter because Camp Butner's main mission for decades was the state mental hospital. § 122C-412(h) created the Butner Planning Council and laid out its initial composition with specific deadlines for each appointing authority. Other subsections of § 122C-412 governed the Council's ongoing operations. § 122C-403 set out the Secretary's substantive responsibilities and § 122C-403(9) tied the Town Manager position to a Planning Council nomination.
The opinion's statutory-construction approach is textbook NC: read the statute's words, give them their plain meaning, and avoid readings that produce absurd or self-defeating consequences. The "Planning Council can force out a sitting Town Manager by repeatedly nominating others" outcome would have been one such absurd consequence, and the AG declined to read the statute that way.
Citations
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 122C-403 (Secretary's responsibility for Camp Butner reservation administration)
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 122C-403(9) (Town Manager nomination and appointment)
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 122C-412(h) (initial Planning Council appointments, with timetables)
Source
Original opinion text
November 4, 1997
R. Marcus Lodge
General Counsel
Department of Health and Human Services
Post Office Box 29526
Raleigh, North Carolina 27626-0526
RE: Advisory Opinion: Butner Planning Council; Town Manager; N.C.G.S. §122C-403(9); N.C.G.S. §122C-412; 1995 S.L. (Reg. Sess. 1996), c. 667, s.3; 1997 S.L. 1997-59
Dear Marc:
This letter is in response to your letter dated October 30, 1997, requesting an advisory opinion regarding the interpretation of N.C.G.S. §122C-403(9), which sets out the procedures for selecting the Butner Town Manager.
N.C.G.S. §122C-403 assigns to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services the responsibility for administering the Camp Butner reservation. Subdivision (9) of this section authorizes, but does not require the Secretary to assign his duties to the Butner Town Manager. The Town Manager shall be hired upon the recommendation of the Butner Planning Council, which "shall submit the names of three candidates for the position to the Secretary and the Secretary shall select one of the candidates." The Town Manager serves at the pleasure of the Secretary.
The position of Town Manager is currently filled, and for that reason the Planning Council has asked whether it is nevertheless required to submit three names to the Secretary. It is our opinion that until there is a vacancy in the position, the Planning Council is not required to submit three names to the Secretary. This interpretation is based on the clear and unambiguous language of the statute, which gives the Secretary the discretion to determine whether to delegate his administrative responsibilities for the town to a Town Manager and which provides that the Town Manager will serve at the Secretary's pleasure. As you point out in your letter, if the Planning Council were required to submit names while the position is filled, it would have the de facto power to fire the current Town Manager, a result which is clearly inconsistent with the authority and discretion given to the Secretary.
Furthermore, N.C.G.S. §122C-412(h) contains detailed timetables and implementing instructions regarding the appointment of the initial Planning Council. In contrast, N.C.G.S. §122C-403(9), contains no such timetables or instructions regarding the appointment of the Town Manager. This statute, therefore, provides additional support for our conclusion that N.C.G.S. §122C-403(9) does not require the Planning Council to submit three names to the Secretary for the position of Town Manager until the position becomes vacant.
I trust this fully answers your inquiry. Let me know if you need additional information.
Ann Reed
Senior Deputy Attorney General