GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2009

SESSION LAW 2010-56

SENATE BILL 650

AN ACT to allow a member of the chatham county school board to complete the current term of office despite a mapping error which caused her to be elected in a district where she did not reside, and to validate actions of that board.

Whereas, Chapter 80 of the Session Laws of 1995 sets out the boundaries of the four districts for the Chatham County Board of Education; and

Whereas, when Abeyance Road, Ruby Red Road, and Altadore Crescent were laid out in the 1990s, Chatham County geocoded the addresses to be in District 3 when in fact those addresses are in District 2; and when Kathie Russell and 46 other current voters on those streets registered to vote, they were automatically placed in District 3 when their addresses were entered into the voter registration database; and

Whereas, in 2006 Kathie Russell ran for and was elected to the Chatham County Board of Education District 3 for a four-year term ending in December of 2010; and

Whereas, in late 2009, Chatham County examined its mapping database and discovered the error, and the 47 voters were moved by administrative action from District 3 to District 2; and

Whereas, this error is manifestly unfair to the residents of those three roads and calls into question actions of the Chatham County Board of Education the last three years and the continued eligibility of Kathie Russell to serve the remainder of her term, and the General Assembly desires to let her complete her term and validate actions of the board; Now, therefore,

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  All actions of the Chatham County Board of Education from the beginning of the terms of office in 2006 to the date this act becomes law are not affected by the place of residence of Kathie Russell, who may serve the remainder of her term as long as she continues as a resident at her current address.

SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 7^th day of July, 2010.

                                                                    s/  Walter H. Dalton

                                                                         President of the Senate

                                                                    s/  Joe Hackney

                                                                         Speaker of the House of Representatives