Town Council

If you have any questions about meetings, please call 910-692-7021.

Open to Public

The public is invited and urged to attend all council meetings to insure open communications between them and their elected representatives. To better understand council proceedings, citizens may want to familiarize themselves with the types of actions taken by council.

The agenda is usually arranged so that public hearings on matters of general interest are held early in the meeting and citizens' views, comments, and/or inquiries can be heard.

Agendas & Minutes

Agendas and packets with background materials are published to the website, generally by 5pm on the Friday preceding a meeting. 

Agendas for Town Council & Appointed Boards

Minutes are typically approved by the Town Council in the month following the meeting. After approval, they are uploaded to the website. To access recent minutes, visit the Agenda Center and navigate to the meeting date. Click the arrow in the download menu and select minutes.

Minutes that are not available in the Agenda Center can be accessed here.

Responsibilities of the Town Council

The Town Council is most similar to the legislative branch of the federal and state government. The five elected Councilmembers adopt and amend town ordinances, adopt the budget, appoint citizens to various boards and commissions, and hire the town manager and town attorney. Southern Pines is a council-manager form of government, with the Town Council providing policy direction to the Town Manager, who then directs the day-to-day operations and implements Council policies.

Learn more about the Council-Manager form of government.

Ordinances

The Town Council acts in a number of ways to provide the policies by which the town is operated. Adopting ordinances is the most formal and binding type of council legislation and is the equivalent of adopting Town laws that govern activities within the Town of Southern Pines. An affirmative vote by at least three Councilmembers is necessary for any ordinance to pass.

Public Hearings

The Town Council holds public hearings prior to taking action on various business items in order to provide citizens an opportunity to share feedback with the Council. 

General public hearings, sometimes called legislative hearings, are held when the Town Council is acting in a legislative capacity to adopt, amend, or repeal ordinances. The purpose of these hearings is for Councilmembers to solicit and consider concerns from the community at large. As an example, the Council holds a public hearing prior to adopting the annual budget.

The Town Council also conducts more formal hearings, similar to a courtroom proceeding, in a “quasi-judicial” capacity, usually in matters involving land use. In accordance with state statutes, the Council must follow pre-determined standards for admitting evidence that can be used to render a decision. These “evidentiary hearings” are held when considering applications for special use permits and preliminary development plans that are part of planned development projects. 

Learn more about the two types of hearings in Legislative Hearings vs. Evidentiary Hearings:  A Citizen’s Guide. 

Resolutions

Resolutions are written, official actions adopted by the Council, but are less formal than ordinances and may not carry the full weight of Town "laws." Resolutions are used in a variety of ways: to commemorate special actions, occasions, or dates; to express the intent of future actions of the council; to make requests of other agencies; to recognize individuals, organizations, or significant occasions. Like ordinances, resolutions also need an affirmative vote by three Councilmembers to pass.