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154 Local Government Property Transactions in North Carolina Once a final qualifying offer has been received, that offer is reported to the governing board, which must decide whether to accept or reject it. (If the local government wishes to expedite the final sale of the property, particu- larly if no upset bids are expected, the governing board .could accept the original offer (or any higher, upsetting offer), subject to upset, in the origi- nal resolution. Then, once a ten -day upset period has passed without any new bids, the government's officials could proceed immediately to execute 'the necessary documents and close the sale.) The statute does not set out a maximum time within which the board must decide and act; therefore the board itself should establish (back in that original resolution) that period as one of the terms of sale. Doing so is clearly preferable to doing nothing, from both a legal and a business standpoint. Not doing so would require that the board act within a "reasonable" time, and the uncertainty of what is rea- sonable and the potential inconvenience that delay creates for the offeror ar- gue for establishing the period at the beginning. A. ILeais Leases of real property are governed by G.S. 1601- 272. (If the local government leases its property, with the lessee holding an option to pur- l chase, the transaction amounts to a sale rather than a Iease. The govern- ment should follow the procedures regulating sale of the fee interest rather than the lease procedures.) The lease statute requires, as a condition of any lease entered into pursuant to it, that the governing board determine that the property will not be needed by the local government during the term of the lease. That is, the statute is concerned with leases of temporarily sur- phis property. If a local government wishes to enter into an arrangement with someone who will make a public use of the government's property, I this may not be an appropriate statute, inasmuch as the property in such an 'i 1. 99. G.S. 160A -272.1 provides, in its entirety, that "[ s]ubject to G.S. 160A -321, a city -owned utility or public service enterprise, or part thereof, may be leased." I This section probably should be understood as a cross - reference to G.S.160A -321, which concerns the sale, lease, or abandonment of city -owned enterprises. See supra § 608 -J. As such, the reference to any "part thereof' probably refers to an operat- ing segment of such an enterprise and not to the isolated lease of surplus property of the enterprise. After all, G.S. 160A -321 does not itself refer to disposition of surplus property. Id. Leases of surplus enterprise property should be made pursuant to G.S. 160A -272. Attachment number 6 E -1 Page 68