From the Burlington Times-News (5/21/10): A local bill submitted to the General Assembly wasn't meant to make real-estate deals secret or skirt public records laws -- and it mimics a rule already in effect in another North Carolina city -- Burlington leaders said this week.
The bill would allow the Burlington City Council to name the terms and conditions under which city property is sold or leased and eliminates the upset-bid process and the advertising of those bids. Alamance County’s state delegates, Rep. Alice Bordsen, Sen. Tony Foriest and Rep. Dan Ingle, agreed to submit the bill after a meeting with the council and Burlington’s Downtown Corporation leaders last month.
Those delegates will meet with John Bussian, an attorney based in Raleigh who is representing the North Carolina Press Association. Bussian is also an attorney for the Times-News and its parent company Freedom Communications, Inc. The meeting is scheduled to discuss the possibility that the bill’s language could allow the city sell and lease land in secret.
City leaders seemed surprised by Bussian’s concerns this week, especially because its wording was taken from a local bill passed for Salisbury.