REGULAR BOARD MEETING
MINUTES
March 10, 2010
The North
Carolina Board of Funeral Service met for a duly scheduled Board Meeting at
9:00 a.m. on March 10, 2010 at the Board’s office,
Present: J. T.
Willoughby III, President; George Parrott, Vice President; Tryphina Wiseman,
Secretary: Rudy Lea, Frank McCree, Mark
Blake, Elizabeth Webber, Jack Briggs and Larry Andrews.
Also
Present: Paul Harris, Executive
Director; Stephen N. Dirksen, General Counsel; Fred Jordan with the N. C. Eye
Bank, Pat Hayes with North Carolina Funeral Directors Association, Herb
Reichlin with the Funeral Consumers Alliance, Dan Funchess and Schirra Clark,
funeral service licensees, and Lyn Cochrane.
Mr. Willoughby
called the meeting to order at 9:03 a.m., led the Pledge of Allegiance and had
the invocation.
Mr. Willoughby
read the Ethics Awareness & Conflict of Interest statement. Mr. Andrews stated he had attended the
funeral for the father of NCFDA District Director 4 Duane Howlett. Mr. Lea and Mr. Briggs will recuse themselves
at the proper time during the Disciplinary Committee Report.
Mr. Willoughby
asked the guests to identify themselves.
There were no public comments.
Ms. Wiseman
presented the February minutes for approval.
Ms. Wiseman made the motion to approve the minutes with that correction
and Mr. Andrews seconded. The motion
carried.
Clinics
Committee: Ms. Wiseman stated the committee had met by
teleconference on Monday and have decided on Greensboro for the October clinic
and will narrow the location. Casualty
Affairs at Ft. Bragg agreed to participate in the clinic. The Carson Mortuary Center at Dover
acknowledged staff request for a speaker but has not replied. Vernie Fountain is available and has agreed
to provide all five hours of the embalmers part of the clinic. Due to Mr. Fountain’s prominence and
potential for high attendance, it is the recommendation of the committee to
require pre-registration for the embalming session. This is for information only.
Exam Committee:
Mr. Willoughby reported ten applicants took the exam. Three were retakes. All of those retaking and five of the first
timers passed.
Staff is
scheduled to take the computer based laws and rules exam March 12. There are nine applicants scheduled to take
the computer based exam March 17 or after.
This is for information only.
Finance/Personnel:
Mr. Briggs presented the report for review and made the motion to
receive the report. Mr. Lea seconded and
the motion carried.
The committee
met by teleconference on Monday and was recommending designation of $24,234.27
from the reserves to restore the litigation reserve fund to $100,000. Mr. Briggs made the motion and Mr. Andrews
seconded. The motion carried. Also discussed was establishment of a
business contingency and continuity reserve fund; paying additional principal
on the current mortgage; and staff research into additional and alternative
resources to assist in scheduling hearings and resolving cases in a more
efficient way.
Questions
ensued.
Laws and Rules
Committee: Mr. Briggs stated an individual graduated
from an approved funeral directors program and passed the state funeral
directors and the laws & rules examinations in 2003. This was before the law changed to require
the pathology examination for a funeral directors license. They registered as a trainee in 2007 and were
informed in early 2008 that they would have to obtain a passing grade on the
pathology exam in order to meet licensing requirements. After several attempts they passed the exam
in January. However, the provisions of
21 NCAC 34B. 0213 is affecting the applicant.
The Committee recommends that pursuant to the rule, applicant must take
the funeral directors and laws and rules examination again. Discussion ensued. Mr. Briggs made the motion to accept the
recommendation by the Laws & Rules Committee. Mr. Parrott seconded and the motion carried.
Preneed
Committee: Mr. Andrews presented the Activity Report for
information. Mr. Andrews stated the
preneed committee had met by teleconference.
Staff contact with some insurance agents regarding the surety bonds
reveals some bond companies are under the impression they are liable to cover
all preneed contracts written by their clients until contract fulfillment. This is not the intent of requiring the
bond. The committee recommends staff
send letters to bond companies or insurance agents. Discussion ensued. Mr. Andrews made the motion to accept the
recommendation. Mr. Lea seconded and the
motion carried.
Mr. Andrews
reported a consumer wishes to transfer an irrevocable preneed contract out of
state and have met all the requirements.
Mr. Parrott made the motion to accept the recommendation. Mr. McCree seconded and the motion carried.
Questions ensued
regarding the inspectors’ reports.
Disciplinary
Committee: Mr. Lea
recused himself from V09-073. Mr. Briggs
recused himself from M09-001. Mr.
Parrott made the motion to withhold M09-073 and M09-001 from the report and
vote on them separately. Mr. Blake
seconded and the motion carried. Mr.
Briggs made the motion to approve V10-003 and V09-074. Mr. Blake seconded and the motion
carried. Mr. Parrott made the motion to
approve V09-073 and Mr. Blake seconded.
The motion carried. Mr. Lea did
not participate in the vote and Mr. Harris stated he also did not participate
in the Disciplinary Committee discussion regarding V09-073. Mr. Parrott made the motion to accept
M09-001. Mr. McCree seconded and the
motion carried. Mr. Briggs did not
participate in the vote.
Questions
ensued regarding M09-014. Mr. Blake made
the motion to recess until staff could review file for 2010 renewals. Mr. Parrott seconded and the motion carried. The meeting reconvened at 9:50. Mr. Harris stated the funeral home did renew
the establishment in a timely manner but the preneed was late. Discussion ensued. Mr. Blake made the motion to withdraw M09-014
from the Disciplinary Report and refer it back to committee. Mr. Briggs seconded and the motion carried.
Mr. Lea read for
the record the following cases that were voted upon: V09-073, V10-003, V09-074 and M09-001.
Traineeship:
The committee met this morning with a trainee who had a late work report
for the second time in a registered year.
Mr. Andrews made the motion to lift the suspension effective April
1. Ms. Wiseman seconded and the motion
carried. The trainee was advised that
any reports filed late would result in termination of the traineeship and
require them to start over.
Other Committee
Reports: There were none.
Attorney Report: Mr. Dirksen
presented his report for information only.
Mr. Dirksen stated a licensee was present to request a continuance for
his Thursday hearing at 9:00 am. Mr.
Clark then requested a first continuance for medical reasons. Mr. Parrott made the motion to accept the
request. Ms. Wiseman seconded and the
motion carried. Mr. Clark then departed
the meeting.
Executive Director’s Report: Since the
January Board Meeting 14 inspection/audit reports have been filed.
New Establishments: Miller &
VanEssendelft Funeral & Cremation Providers, Hertford; Powell Funeral &
Cremation Services, LLC, Jamestown; Maitland Funeral Home, Plymouth
Walker Funeral Home-Horner Chapel, Plymouth converted from chapel to an
establishment
New Chapel: Ward Memorial Chapel,
Aurora
New Funeral Service Licensees:
Howard Sherrill, Gordon Ballard, Rafaelina Ford
New Trainees: Karen Jenkins,
Robert Raczynski, Curtis Fullwood, Michael Coffer, Nicole Lund, Atravis Powell,
Michael Davis, Joshua Rich, Thomas Johnson, Jonathan Davis
New Transport/Removal: Valaire
Norman
Staff Ethics report: Mr. Harris
reported telephone and e-mail contact with both associations.
The Ethics Commission has not replied to the request for an opinion
regarding the possible conflict of interest between the Chair of the Crematory
Authority also serving as President of NC Crematory Association.
The complaint to the Medical Board regarding a physician attempting to
impose a fee schedule in order to sign death certificates has been filed as
requested.
Mr. Harris reported on the International Conference of Funeral Service
Examining Boards meeting. The Executive
Committee of Mr. Willoughby, Mr. Parrott and Ms. Wiseman were also in
attendance.
Mr. Harris will participate in a CE program in Greensboro on March 17 at
the CANC meeting. There will be a
Preneed and FTC review in the Board’s office on March 25. A Cremation law review will be at the Board’s
office on March 30. The 2010 MBA
assessments need to be discussed and voted on at the April meeting.
New Business: There was
none.
Old Business: There was
none.
Informational Items: Mr. Harris
presented an updated 2010 Board calendar for review in order to set the future
Board meetings. Mr. Briggs made the
motion to approve the dates as listed.
Mr. Andrews seconded and the motion carried. Included was the reminder from the Ethics
Commission regarding the SEI filing deadline.
Discussion ensued.
Public Comment: There was
none.
Mr. Willoughby recessed the meeting at 10:14 a.m.
J.
T. Willoughby III, President
Tryphina
Wiseman, Secretary