The attorney shall be an attorney-at-law who shall have practiced in the State of North Carolina for at least five years. He shall be the chief legal adviser of and attorney for the town and all departments and officers thereof in matters relating to their official powers and duties. It shall be his duty, either personally or by such assistants as he may designate, to perform all services incident to the department of law; to attend all meetings of the board of commissioners; to give advice in writing when so requested to the board of commissioners or the director of any department; to prosecute or defend, as the case may be, all suits or cases to which the town may be a party, to prepare all contracts, bonds and other instruments in writing in which the town is concerned, and to endorse on each his approval of the form and correctness thereof, and to perform such other duties of a legal nature as the board of commissioners may require. In addition to the duties imposed upon the town attorney by this charter or required of him by ordinance or resolution of the board of commissioners, he shall perform any duties imposed upon the chief legal officers of municipalities by law.
(Charter 1989, Sec. 19.)