REGULAR BOARD MEETING
MINUTES
May 10, 2006
The
North Carolina Board of Funeral Service met for a duly scheduled Board Meeting
on May 10, 2006, at the Shell Island Resort,
Present: Jack Briggs, President; T. E. White, Sr.,
Vice President; Mark Blake, Secretary; Jody Tyson, William Manson, Rudy Lea,
Windell Daniels, Larry Andrews and George Parrott.
Also
Present: Paul Harris, Executive
Director; Stephen N. Dirksen, General Counsel; Fred Jordan, Dee Copeland and
Lyn Cochrane.
Mr.
Briggs called the meeting to order at 3:15 p.m.
Mr.
Briggs read Governor Easley’s Executive Order #1. Mr. Blake requested that he be excused from
Disciplinary Case M06-006 and Mr. White from V06-002.
Mr.
Briggs gave the invocation and then opened the floor for public comment. There was none.
Mr.
Blake stated the minutes for the March meeting had been previously mailed to
the Board. Mr. Briggs stated there was a
correction in the last paragraph, last sentence. Mr. Briggs did not attend the funeral of
Chalmers Biggs and Mr. Andrews made the comments regarding the legacy of Mr.
Biggs. Mr. Daniels made the motion to
approve the minutes as corrected and Mr. Lea seconded. The motion carried.
Exam
Committee: Mr. Blake stated seven applicants sat for the
April exams. Six took laws and rules and
five passed (three were retakes). Two
first time passed and one first time failed. Five took pathology and all failed. (Three were retakes and two were first
time.) Mr. Blake re-iterated the
importance of moving to Conference testing.
Disciplinary
Committee: Mr. Parrott stated that it is the
recommendation of the disciplinary committee that the Board consider documents
to be filed within the statutory deadline if the postmark or other date
indications shows the original item was sent the by statutory deadline even if
the documents were mailed to an incorrect Board address. This will be effective until October 31,
2006. After that date all items sent to
an incorrect Board mailing address shall be considered late. This information will be sent to all
licensees of the Board in a newsletter to be mailed no later than September 1,
2006. Mr. Parrott made the motion to
accept this recommendation and Mr. White seconded. Discussion ensued. Mr. Briggs called for the vote and the motion
carried.
Mr.
Lea made the motion to remove from the disciplinary report M-06-006, V06-002
and V06-023 and vote on each of these separately. Mr. Daniels seconded and the motion
carried. Discussion ensued regarding the
remaining cases. Mr. Daniels made the
motion to approve the report with the exception of M06-006, V06-002 and
V06-023. Mr. Blake seconded and the
motion carried.
Discussion
ensued regarding V06-023 and the late filing of a death certificate as
prescribed by law. Mr. Tyson made the
motion to send it back to staff for more investigation. Mr. Daniels seconded. Mr. Blake, Mr. Tyson, Mr. Manson, Mr. Lea,
Mr. Daniels, Mr. Andrews and Mr. Parrott voted yes. Mr. White voted no and the motion carried.
At
this time Mr. White was excused and he left the room. Discussion ensued regarding V06-002. Mr. Blake stated for the record that this
case was a good reason to have a strong law in place for the supervision of
trainees. Mr. Daniels made the motion to
send it back to staff for more investigation.
Mr. Tyson seconded. Mr. Briggs
called for the vote. Mr. Tyson, Mr.
Manson, Mr. Lee, Mr. Daniels, Mr. Andrews and Mr. Parrott voted yes. Mr. Blake voted no and the motion
carried. Mr. White then re-entered the
meeting.
At
this time Mr. Blake was excused and he left the room. Discussion ensued regarding M06-006. Mr. White made the motion to adopt the
consent order and Mr. Andrews seconded.
The motion carried. At this time
Mr. Blake re-entered the meeting.
Mr.
Briggs thanked Mr. Daniels for making the arrangement of accommodations for
Board to hold their continuing education seminar and board meeting.
Finance
and Personnel: Mr. Daniels presented the April financials
and then turned the meeting over to Mr. Harris to discuss refinance of the
mortgage fixed rate. Mr. Harris stated
three institutions had submitted quotes for refinancing. Mr. Harris made his recommendation which was
included a 6.35% fixed rate guaranteed for five years with a negotiated closing
fee. Discussion ensued. Mr. White made the motion to accept the
recommendation and Mr. Manson seconded.
The motion carried and the Board will refinance their mortgage with
First Citizens Bank.
Mr.
Harris stated that health benefit renewal information had been received and all
increases were taken care of in the 2006 budget.
Preneed
Report: Mr. Andrews submitted the preneed
report. Mr. Daniels made the motion to
accept the report and Mr. Manson seconded.
The motion carried.
Attorney’s
Report: Mr. Dirksen presented the report. He stated the board would begin to sue
licensees and funeral homes to have funds paid out of the recovery fund
reimbursed as prescribed by statute.
Executive
Director’s Report: Mr. Harris stated the individual Inspector
Reports were submitted for review.
Twenty-eight reports have been filed since April 12, 2006. One funeral home was cited for incorrect
vault pricing and one with a GPL not in compliance. Ms. Cox reported some sloppy record keeping
for some crematories and Ms. Culbreth commended one preneed establishment for
improved record keeping.
The
following establishment changes were made:
Lea & Pope in
McLeod-Purcell
has opened in the former Boles Funeral Home, Laurinburg location.
Since
April 12, 2006, funeral director licenses have been issued to Judie Michelle
Moore, Lynwood Earl Tucker, Michael C. Tucker and Delbra Ann McIntyre. A new embalmer license has been issued to
Alex L. Maness. Trainees registered
include Samuel S. James, Katrina W. Ingle, Michelle C. Walker, Carolyn W. Hart
and Teresa Bee McCoy-Thompson, Alex Maness converted
his license from embalmer to funeral service.
The
parking deck construction will begin later this month and a permanent dumpster
location will be included in the construction.
Mr.
Harris demonstrated the editable forms that are now available on the Board’s
website. They can be completed from the
website and printed or saved on the funeral home’s hard drive and completed.
Eleven
attendees were at the Preneed Review on April 26, which included support staff.
The
Board’s audit is scheduled for May 15, 16, and 17.
Discussion
ensued regarding a June Board meeting and hearings. There will not be a June meeting but hearings
will be held during the third week in June.
All
three examiners will be attending the CLEAR conference in
Due
to the continued high cost of gasoline, Mr. Harris recommended another a
one-time payment of $100 to each inspector to help offset the high cost of
gasoline. Discussion ensued. Mr. Daniels made the motion to approve this
payment. Andrews seconded. Discussion ensued with Mr. Tyson suggesting
they take another look at this at the July meeting and a possible retroactive
payment. Mr. Briggs called for the vote
and the motion carried.
At
this time Mr. White made the motion to go into closed session to discuss
acquired names of unaffiliated licenses.
Mr. Tyson seconded and the motion carried.
Mr.
Parrott made the motion to return to open session and Mr. Manson seconded. The motion carried. Mr. Tyson made the motion to have staff inform
Gaskin Service the Board intends to enforce the terms of consent order
regarding the name.
New
Business: There was none.
Old Business: There was none.
Information
items: Included for information only--Updated Board
member information with the correction of Mr. Lea’s e-mail address and
newspaper articles. Mr. Tyson stated
that the YB News had an excellent article on funeral service licensees and
funeral homes in
Mr.
Harris stated since the newsletter did not reach the licensees as anticipated,
he wanted to thank Mr. Daniels and Mr. Andrews who had taken it upon themselves
to call local funeral homes informing them of the seminar.
The
meeting adjourned at 5:16 p.m.
Jack
D. Briggs, President
Mark
Blake, Secretary