South Winston Salem News

We’re Hiring!

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR ATTORNEY SERVICES March 2023 The Town of Rural Hall (“Town”) is soliciting proposals from qualified attorneys or law firms to represent the Town as our Town Attorney. The Town will consider proposals for providing standard municipal legal services, and preference will be given to those submittals demonstrating experience in specified areas of municipal law. The successful applicant(s) shall possess sufficient resources to ensure that the demands for the Town’s legal needs will be met on a timely basis. The relationship would be on a consulting or contractual basis, as opposed to a staff position. Included in this RFP are a more detailed description of the services to be provided, an outline of the proposal requirements, a description of the proposal review process, and other pertinent information. In order to ensure a fair review and selection process, firms submitting proposals are specifically requested not to make other contacts with Town staff or Town officials or representatives regarding these proposals. Failure to comply with this request may result in disqualification of the proposal. If there are questions regarding this process, they should be directed as follows prior to the submission deadline; responses will be shared with all interested responders who have requested an RFP: Ron Niland, Interim Town Manager 423 Bethania-Rural Hall Road P.O. Box 549 Rural Hall, NC 27045 (336) 969-6856 manager@ruralhall.com Proposals received after the deadline will not be accepted. It is neither the Town of Rural Hall’s responsibility nor practice to acknowledge receipt of any proposal. It is the responder’s responsibility to assure that a proposal is received in a timely manner. The Town will not reimburse any expenses incurred by the responder including, but not limited to, expenses associated with the preparation and submission of the response and/or attendance at interviews. The Town of Rural Hall reserves the right to reject any and all proposals, to waive irregularities and informalities, to request additional information from all respondents, and further reserves the right to select the proposal which furthers the best interest of the Town. COMMUNITY/POSITION HISTORY Rural Hall is a community with a proud past and a bright future. When settlers began spilling out of nearby Bethania and the frontier economy began to attract new entrepreneurs in the late 1700s, the area surrounding Rural Hall was one of the first places they came. The community’s history actually can be traced to a trapper’s cabin built in the 1740s. Today that small log structure stands as part of a stately 18th century home in southern Rural Hall. With growth of the community immediately after the War Between the States, postal demands of residents and businesses soared. Benjamin L. Bitting, who was appointed postmaster, used his home as the post office. Bitting’s home had a wide hall that extended from the front to the back and “was wide enough to drive a wagon through,” according to reports from that day. Mail coming into Forsyth County post office was marked for “The Hall,” some intended for Salem, some intended for the Bitting Hall. That posed a dilemma for the postmaster at Salem and created the need for the community in northern Forsyth County to have a name. To solve the problem of routing the mail, the Salem postmaster began to mark the mail to “The Rural Hall.” Rural Hall first provided municipal services in 1935 when it formed a sanitary district to provide water and sewer services. On June 1, 1974, the Town of Rural Hall became incorporated as a municipality. The town has grown from a population of just over 1,000 in 1974 to just over 3,000 today. It is well-poised for a future that is expected to bring new opportunities and a continued high quality of life to its residents. 2 The Rural Hall Town Council is comprised of a Mayor and four council members who are elected for staggered four-year terms in a non-partisan election. The Mayor serves as chair of the Council and votes only in the event of a tie. The Town Manager reports to the Town Council and is responsible for managing the operations of the Town and implementing the policies adopted by the Council. The Town employs approximately 22 full-time employees and 36 part-time employees. Police protection is provided through a contract with the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office. Fire protection is provided by a total of 44 fire department personnel including 9 full-time career firefighters and 35 part-time/paid-on-call firefighters. The Public Works Department is staffed by 4 full-time employees, and the Town operates a License Plate Agency which employs 5 full-time employees and 1 part-time employee. The total 2022-2023 budget for the Town of Rural Hall is $4.2 million. In addition to the Council, the Town has an events committee, and various ad-hoc committees established by the Council as necessary. In recent months, the Town has been involved in lawsuits concerning a former employee, as well as other related legal claims and an investigation by the North Carolina State Auditor. During this time, several key staff members resigned or were otherwise transitioned out of their roles, and interim leadership has been appointed to stabilize the Town’s daily operations and fill key positions while the Town Council determines how to best move forward with selecting its next Town Manager. The Town of Rural Hall has been represented on an interim basis since 2021 by the law firm of Randolph M. James, P.C. in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Town of Rural Hall has enjoyed a positive relationship with this firm over the past two years, however, the Rural Hall Town Council deems it prudent to request proposals for attorney services now that Mr. James has guided the Town through a turbulent period and has resolved or nearly resolved all major legal issues facing the Town.

Original source can be found here.