NC NC AG Advisory Opinion (2003-08-19) 2003-08-19

Can someone serve simultaneously on three NC public bodies (Parks and Recreation Authority, community college board of trustees, and town council)?

Short answer: Yes, in this specific combination. The NC AG concluded that N.C.G.S. § 128-1.1 lets an elected official also hold one appointive office, and § 115D-16 then permits the same person to hold a community college trusteeship 'in addition to and concurrently with' the offices that § 128-1.1 already permits. So an elected town official can also serve on a community college board and on an appointive state authority. Pure stacks of appointive offices, by contrast, are not allowed by § 115D-16 alone.

Disclaimer: This is an official North Carolina Attorney General advisory opinion. AG opinions are persuasive authority but not binding precedent like a court ruling. This summary is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Consult a licensed North Carolina attorney for advice on your specific situation.

About this page: The plain-English summary, reader guidance, and Q&A below were written by Ezel based on the official AG opinion. The original opinion (linked at the bottom of this page) is the authoritative source for any reliance.

Plain-English summary

A member of the NC Parks and Recreation Authority (an appointive state office under N.C.G.S. § 143B-313.2) was also serving as a trustee of a community college. He wanted to run for an elective town council seat in Lewisville. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources General Counsel asked the AG whether the combination was permitted under North Carolina's dual-office-holding rules.

Article VI, Section 9 of the NC Constitution starts from a presumption against concentrating public power in one person: no two elective offices, no two appointive offices, and no combinations of elective and appointive except as the General Assembly permits by general law. The General Assembly has written two key permissions:

N.C.G.S. § 128-1.1 — the general dual-office statute. An elected official can hold one appointive office in state or local government. A person holding an appointive office can hold one other appointive office or one elective office. (Different rules apply for federal positions.)
N.C.G.S. § 115D-16 — the community-college-trustee carve-out. Trusteeship of a community college is treated as a special slot that an elected official can hold "in addition to and concurrently with" the offices already permitted under § 128-1.1.

The AG combined the two: an elected town council member can hold one appointive office under § 128-1.1, and § 115D-16 layers a community college trusteeship on top of that. So the three-office stack (Parks and Recreation Authority + community college trustee + town council) is fine for this particular candidate.

The AG was careful to note the limit: § 115D-16 helps only if one of the offices is elective. If all three offices were appointive, you would be back to § 128-1.1's two-appointive-office cap and the community college layer would not save the third position.

The opinion is signed by James C. Gulick, Senior Deputy AG, and William R. Miller, Assistant AG.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2003. 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.

The NC dual-office statutes have been amended over the years. Before stacking offices in 2026, confirm the current text of Article VI § 9, § 128-1.1, and § 115D-16, and look for AG opinions or court decisions on point.

Common questions

Q: What counts as an "office" under the dual-office rules?
A: Generally a public position with statutorily defined duties and an oath. The opinion does not parse "office" but proceeds on the assumption that all three positions named in the request qualify. Edge cases (advisory board memberships, temporary commissions) require their own analysis.

Q: Can a town council member also be a county commissioner?
A: Both are elective offices. Article VI § 9 prohibits holding two elective offices. § 128-1.1 does not relieve that prohibition.

Q: Could a community college trustee also serve as a county commissioner?
A: Trustee is appointive; commissioner is elective. § 128-1.1 generally allows one appointive office alongside one elective office, and § 115D-16 then allows the trustee slot to coexist with that pairing. So in principle yes, though specific incompatibility-of-office rules (separate from the dual-office statutes) might still apply.

Q: Does § 115D-16 apply if none of the offices is elective?
A: The opinion says the trustee carve-out only helps when the holder is an elected official. So three concurrent appointive offices are not authorized just because one of them is a community college trusteeship.

Q: What about federal positions?
A: § 128-1.1 has separate provisions for federal offices that this opinion does not address. The result above is limited to combinations of state and local positions.

Background and statutory framework

The North Carolina Constitution embeds a default rule against concentrating public power: Section 9 of Article VI presumes that "the responsibilities of self-government should be widely shared among the citizens of the State." The General Assembly is the lawmaker that decides where the line is drawn beyond two elective offices (an absolute bar).

Section 128-1.1 was the General Assembly's general permission, allowing carefully described combinations of appointive and elective offices. Section 115D-16 was a separate, later carve-out for community colleges, reflecting the legislature's view that community college trusteeships should not block elected officials from serving on the boards that govern local higher-education access.

Together, the two statutes create a "1 elected + 1 appointed + 1 community college trustee" maximum stack for a single individual. The AG opinion is a precise application of that statutory framework to a real-world combination.

The Institute of Government (cited in the opinion via A. Fleming Bell, II, Ethics, Conflicts, and Offices, A Guide for Local Officials, 1991) reads the statutes the same way, which gives some assurance that the AG's interpretation matched the prevailing scholarly view.

Citations

N.C. Const. art. VI, § 9 (dual office holding default rule)
N.C.G.S. § 128-1.1 (general dual office permissions)
N.C.G.S. § 115D-16 (community college trustee carve-out)
N.C.G.S. § 143B-313.2 (Parks and Recreation Authority)
A. Fleming Bell, II, Ethics, Conflicts, and Offices, A Guide for Local Officials, Appendix B, N.C. Institute of Government (1991)

Source

Landing page: https://ncdoj.gov/legal-services/archived-opinions/

Original opinion text

Reply to: William R. Miller, Environmental Division, Tel: 919-716-6600, Fax: 919-716-6767

August 19, 2003

Daniel C. Oakley, General Counsel
Department of Environment and Natural Resources
1601 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1601

Re: Advisory Opinion: Authority to hold appointed position on Community College Board of Trustees pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115D-16 in addition to dual-offices held pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-1.1

Dear Mr. Oakley:

You have requested our opinion, on behalf of the Department's Parks and Recreation Authority, whether a member of the Parks and Recreation Authority, appointed to that office pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 143B-313.2, who concurrently holds an appointment as trustee of a community college, may also hold a third public office, specifically, an elective office in the local government of the Town of Lewisville. In our opinion, the answer is yes.

Section 9 of Article VI of the North Carolina Constitution provides that the responsibilities of self-government should be widely shared among the citizens of the State and that the potential abuse of authority inherent in the holding of multiple offices by an individual should be avoided. To this end, Section 9 prohibits the concurrent holding of any two elective offices. It also prohibits the concurrent holding of any two appointive offices or any combination of any elective and appointive offices "except as the General Assembly shall provide by general law."

In N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-1.1, the General Assembly provided that any person who holds an appointive office in either State or local government may concurrently hold one other appointive office or an elective office in either State or local government. It also provides that any person who holds an elective office may concurrently hold an appointive office but not another elective office. Different provisions not germane here apply with regard to a person who holds an office or position with the federal government.

The General Assembly has supplemented the provisions of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-1.1 with respect to community college trustees. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115D-16, provides that the office of trustee of any community college is an office which an elected official may hold "in addition to and concurrently with those offices permitted by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-1.1." Since N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-1.1 permits an elected official to hold concurrently an appointive office in State or local government, the effect of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115D-16 is to authorize an elected official who is concurrently a trustee of a community college to hold a third, appointive office concurrently. Consequently, we see no impediment to an appointed member of the Parks and Recreation Authority, who concurrently holds an appointment as trustee of a community college, holding a third, elective office in the local government of the Town of Lewisville. The result would be different if all of the positions were appointive, since N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115D-16 applies only to the holder of an elective office who also is a trustee of a community college. We note that the Institute of Government subscribes to this interpretation. See A. Fleming Bell, II, Ethics, Conflicts, and Offices, A Guide for Local Officials, Appendix B, N.C. Institute of Government (1991).

We trust this Advisory Opinion will be of assistance to you in advising the Parks and Recreation Authority.

Sincerely,

James C. Gulick
Senior Deputy Attorney General

William R. Miller
Assistant Attorney General