REGULAR BOARD MEETING

MINUTES

November 5, 2003

The North Carolina Board of Funeral Service met for a duly scheduled Board Meeting on November 5, 2003, in the Board’s office located at 2321 Crabtree Boulevard, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Present: Harvey Leavitt, President; Alex Lee, Vice President; Jack Briggs, Secretary; Windell Daniels, George Parrott, Jamie Boles, Nancy Rorie, Paul Harris, and Rudy Lea.

Also Present: Mark E. Henderson, Executive Director; Stephen N. Dirksen, General Counsel; Dan Shackleford, Bill Joyner.

President Harvey Leavitt called the meeting to order at 9:03 a.m.

Mr. Lea gave the invocation.

At this time Mr. Leavitt read the Board of Ethics statement, Governor Easley’s Executive Order #1. No one recused themselves at this time.

Mr. Leavitt received public comments. At this time Mr. Harris arrived. Mr. Shackleford commented on “drop-out” in the funeral profession and offered ways to deter this. Mr. Joyner thanked the Board for their attention to matters that were brought before them.

Mr. Briggs submitted the October 14, 2003 minutes and made the motion to accept them. Mr. Daniels seconded and the motion carried. Mr. Harris abstained from the vote.

Disciplinary: Mr. Lee presented the Disciplinary Committee report. Discussion ensued. Mr. Parrott made the motion to amend V03-054 to include having the licensee repay interest in addition to the principal. Mr. Harris seconded. Mr. Lea recused himself from V03-038. Mr. Parrott amended the motion to include all but V03-038 and the motion carried. Mr. Boles made the motion to approve V03-038. Mr. Daniels seconded and the motion carried. Mr. Lea abstained from the vote.

Mr. Lee requested that the agenda be changed and Items 8 (b), (e), and (g) be considered at this time since he would have to leave the meeting by 11:00 a.m. Mr. Henderson submitted the Preneed Renewal Application for 2004. Discussion ensured regarding the insolvency statement in the application. This matter was referred to the Preneed Committee for study.

At this time Ms. Rorie arrived.

Mr. Parrott made the motion to go into closed session to establish the Board’s position concerning negotiating a real property purchase, option, exchange or lease, and compensation and other material terms of an employment contract. Mr. Lea seconded and the motion carried.

Upon proper motion the Board returned to open session.

Mr. Lee departed at 11:00 a.m.

Mr. Parrott made the motion to authorize Mr. Henderson to negotiate and execute the contract for the property located at 1033 Wade Avenue. Mr. Daniels seconded and the motion carried.

At this time the Board recessed for ten minutes.

Finance/Personnel: Mr. Boles stated applications were still being accepted for the Executive Director’s position. The applications that had been received were under review by the Personnel Committee. Mr. Boles referred the financial report to Mr. Henderson. Mr. Henderson reviewed the October financials.

Preneed: Mr. Lea submitted the Preneed Report.

Attorney’s Report: Mr. Dirksen reported that the status of cases pending was provided to the Board for their review.

Executive Director’s Report: Mr. Henderson stated the newsletters had been mailed out last week. There will be another newsletter mailed in three to four weeks to include the proposed fee increase. The Board’s notice of fees has been filed and published on November 3 in the North Carolina Register. Mr. Henderson will receive public comments by fax, e-mail or letter until January 2, 2004. The public hearing is scheduled for December 10, 2003 at 9:00 a.m. in the Board’s office. Mr. Henderson recommended January 7, 2004 as the date for the Board to make its final decision. The Board’s holiday dinner will be December 9 and responses should be given to him by November 30.

Mr. Harris suggested that Mr. Henderson include an explanation of the Board’s purchase of real estate in the newsletter.

New Business: Mr. Parrott made the motion to nominate Alex Lee as President, Jack Briggs as Vice President and Jamie Boles as Secretary of the Board for the year 2004. Ms. Rorie seconded. Mr. Daniels made the motion to close the nominations and Mr. Lea seconded. The motion to close the nominations was made by acclimation. Mr. Leavitt called for the vote and the motion carried. Mr. Leavitt congratulated the new officers.

Mr. Henderson asked the Committee Assignment sheets be completed and sent to Mr. Lee.

Mr. Harris handed out “CV” sheets for the speakers for the December 9 seminar.

Mr. Henderson asked if the new statutes should be mailed to the licensees now or when the rules had been approved. Discussion ensued. Mr. Henderson was authorized to mail the new statutes out to each licensee as soon as possible.

Mr. Henderson recommended the 2004 401(k) Safe-Harbor Election be approved. Discussion ensued. Mr. Boles made the motion to approve and Mr. Parrott seconded. The motion carried.

Informational Items: Mr. Henderson reviewed the items submitted. Discussion ensued. Mr. Henderson was directed to write a letter to the Sanford newspaper to assure consumers of preneed contracts that their funeral funds were safer than the cemetery funds mentioned in one of the newspaper’s recent articles.

The meeting was recessed at 12:10 p.m..

The meeting reconvened at 2:10 p.m.

The Board went into closed session to deliberate the findings of fact, conclusions of law, and final agency decision in the case of NCBFS v. Hood. The Board returned to open session at 2:45 p.m. and announced its decision in the case of NCBFS v. Hood.

Mr. Harris submitted his resignation from the Board for personal reasons and to avoid any future conflict of interest.

There being no further business, the Board adjourned at 2:45 p.m.

Harvey H. Leavitt III, President

Jack Briggs, Secretary