CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It sounds like the set-up to a joke: A county manager, a commissioner and an architect buy a cabin together. But it's no joke. And critics say the punch line is a real zinger, a deal that's too cozy and should have been publicly disclosed.

In October 2006 three couples bought a cabin and attached land near Floyd, Va.: Cabarrus County Manager John Day and his wife, Cabarrus County Commissioner Joni Juba and her husband, and architect Todd Berg and his wife.

The house and land aren't far from the Blue Ridge Parkway -- about two and a half hours drive from Charlotte. It makes for a peaceful weekend getaway.

The three couples immediately subdivided the land, each owning one lot. The county manager got the land with the cabin. He wouldn't say how often the other two couples stay there. In a phone interview he said, "I think that's a rather personal question."      

But since the land deal -- in a rather public question -- Commissioner Juba voted to raise John Day's salary twice to almost $172,000 a year.

"It just doesn't pass the smell test," says Jane Pinsky of the N.C. Coalition for Government and Lobbying Reform. "There's the sense there are too many good old boys, whether they're men or women, who take care of themselves and their friends in this state."

When asked about the land deal at a public meeting of the Cabarrus County Commission, Commissioner Juba responded, "Let me interrupt you right there. Our chairman will be glad to answer any questions you have. The records on the property is public knowledge. If you go online you can get any information you want. I have no comment and I'm not answering any questions. Our chairman will."

Cabarrus County Commission Chairman Jay White said, "I don't think it's a conflict of interest."

White said he asked the county attorney about the land deal and was told it violated no rules or laws. White concedes, however, that, "In hindsight some things should have been done differently."

White and others, including some members of the Cabarrus County School Board, would have liked to have at least known about the land deal before it happened.

The school board has an interest because Todd Berg, the architect and third partner in the land purchase, is a partner in the architectural firm of Morris-Berg, which has been paid $3.5 million in the last five years to design schools in Cabarrus County.

Berg says he knew both Day and Juba as friends and called any questions of a conflict of interest "absurd."

And Commissioner White says there's no conflict with the architect since the county commission and county manager have no direct business dealings with Morris-Berg.

White said, "At no point in time do we have a say as to who's going to be the architect for the school system."

School board members agree they choose architects in a process entirely independent of the county commission and administration, but some say they still would have liked to have known about the land deal.

Cabarrus School Board Chair Holly Blackwelder said, "I think that would be information we would like to have had at our disposal to decide whether it is pertinent or not."

Jane Pinsky of the NC Coalition for Government and Lobbying reform says, "I think I'd feel less concerned about the money being paid to the architect if they'd been public about it (the private land purchase), but if they're not it gives the sense they're sneaking around."

But Cabarrus County Commission Chair Jay White says no one was sneaking around, saying, "If they wanted to get away with something they could have purchased this (property) as an LLC."

In an LLC -- or limited liability corporation -- names of owners are not disclosed.

But Jane Pinsky says there's a big difference between filing a deed in another state and filing a public disclosure statement back home. Pinsky said, "Obviously if it's on a record in Virginia unless you're really looking for it nobody finds out about it."

Pinsky and the Coalition would like to see North Carolina require public disclosure statements from local officials to clear up questions just like this one.

So far there's no legislation to do so, and local officials can keep from disclosing private land deals and business interests and still be perfectly legal in North Carolina.