REGULAR BOARD MEETING
MINUTES
April 11, 2007
The North
Carolina Board of Funeral Service met for a duly scheduled Board Meeting at
9:00 a.m. on April 11, 2007 at the Board’s office,
Present: T. E.
White, President; Rudy Lea, William Manson, Frank McCree, Sr., Jack Briggs and
Also
Present: Paul Harris, Executive
Director; Stephen N. Dirksen, General Counsel; Patricia Hayes with the N. C.
Funeral Directors Association, Fred Jordan with the NC Eye Bank, Mary Shuping,
Allen & Pinnix, and Lyn Cochrane.
Mr. White called
the meeting to order at 9:08 a.m. and read the Ethics Awareness & Conflict
of Interest Reminder. No one recused
themselves at this time.
Mr. Briggs had
the invocation.
Mr. White opened
the meeting for public comment and there was none.
Mr. White called
for a motion to go into closed session go to consult with an attorney retained
by the Board in order to preserve the attorney/client privilege between the
attorney and the Board. Mr. Parrott made
the motion and Mr. Lea seconded. The
motion carried. Mr. White asked Ms.
Shuping, Mr. Harris and Mr. Dirksen to remain.
Mr. Briggs made
the motion to return to open session and Mr. Manson seconded. The motion carried.
Mr. Briggs made
the motion to authorize staff and legal counsel to make the appeal the
ESC. Mr. Manson seconded and the motion
carried. At this time Ms. Shuping
departed the meeting.
Mr. Harris, in
the absence of Mr. Andrews, presented the March minutes to the Board as
previously mailed. The March Public
Hearing minutes had not been mailed and followed the regular minutes. Mr. Briggs stated page 2, paragraph 2,
Clinics, “not” should be changed to “now.”
Mr. Harris stated on page 2, paragraph 4, Law, Rules and Legislation,
after the word “drafted” in the last sentence, to add “with the understanding
that it may be amended in the Legislature.”
Mr. Parrott stated page 1, paragraph 8, and sentence 3 of the Public
Hearing needed additional wording to make it clearer. Mr. Parrott stated page 1, paragraph 2,
sentence 4 of the Public Hearing, the word “home” should be added after
funeral. Mr. Briggs made the motion to
accept the minutes with corrections. Mr.
Parrott seconded and the motion carried.
Exam Committee:
Mr. Harris, in Mr. Blake’s absence, presented the Exam Committee
Report. Pearson Vue is still reviewing
the statistics from pathology exam. In
March nine applicants took laws and rules—Seven first time and two
retakes. Three failed (all first
time). Five applicants took pathology,
one first time, four retakes. Two
failed, both were retakes.
Mr. White
commended the efforts to continuously review the exam.
Finance/Personnel Committee: In Mr. Daniels’ absence, Mr. Harris presented
the March financials. He stated the
$60,000 that had been approved in March to transfer to the Wachovia and State
Treasurer accounts had been done.
Referring to the Profit & Loss Budget vs. Actual, Line Item 5065
expenses for January-March were at 52.4% and he would be watching that % in the
months to come. Line item 5105 had been
increased by $4800 for the pathology exam fees as approved at a prior Board
meeting and was reflected on the line item.
Line Item 5160 was at 86.3% due to the newspaper ads for the inspector
position and investigation services. Mr.
White accepted the report for information only.
Mr. Harris stated an offer for the inspector position had
been made and accepted by Brett Lisenbee. Mr. Lisenbee is now with a funeral home in the
western part of the state and will begin May 1 after relocating to the
east. He will work with both inspectors
for a week and will be introduced at the next Board meeting.
Preneed
Committee: In Mr. Andrews’s absence, Mr. Harris
presented the preneed report. Mr. Harris
stated since the preneed committee had not met formally to approve the new
Verification form, it would be submitted at a later date.
Staff has
suggested adding a claimant’s telephone number to the preneed recovery claim
form to enable a quicker contact with claimant if needed. Mr. Lea made the motion to give Staff
authority to add the telephone number to the claim form. Mr. Parrott seconded and the motion carried.
Mr. White asked
Mr. Harris to include in the next newsletter a statement that a funeral home
cannot operate an existing funeral home without a new inspection when they
change locations. Mr. Harris will do so.
Mr. White stated
he would accept the report for information only. Mr. White informed the Board that he was
accepting the Finance/Personnel and Preneed Committee reports for information
only since the chairmen were not present.
Clinics:
Mr. Lea stated the Spring Clinic had 28 attendees. The comments received were all positive
comments. Discussion ensued regarding
the Board’s spring newsletter informing licensees of the clinic. Mr. White thanked Mr. Harris and Mr. Dirksen
for the wording change under the Disciplinary Report in the newsletter making
the report easier to understand. Mr.
Briggs made the motion to accept the Clinics report and Mr. Parrott
seconded. The motion carried.
Disciplinary: Mr. Parrott
stated there was one addendum.
Discussion ensued. Mr. Lea made
the motion to approve the recommendation by the Disciplinary Committee with the
inclusion of the addendum. Mr. Manson
seconded and the motion carried.
Laws, Rules and Legislation: Mr. Briggs
yielded the floor to Mr. Harris. Mr.
Harris stated the bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce,
Small Business and Entrepreneurship but not yet scheduled.
Mr. Harris gave more details about his conversation with the Governor’s
Office, N. C. Medical Board and N. C. Medical Society.
Mr. Harris referred to the letter copy to Mr. Jon P. Carr regarding
H799. Copies had been mailed to Henry
Lancaster, FD&MA of NC, Inc., legislative monitor,
Mr. Harris mentioned corrections to S1435: Use of initial container throughout the
cremation statute, bonding requirements for new applications; preneed renewal
fee not to exceed $250; and typos in the section for exam scores.
Mr. Briggs made the motion to authorize staff to address Senate Bill 1435
with regards to the corrections of wording.
Mr. Lea seconded and the motion carried.
Mr. Harris reminded the Board of the prior teleconference with Tim
Butler, Danny Carroll of Lady’s Funeral Home in
Mr. White called for a ten-minute recess at 10:20 am.
Attorney’s Report: Mr. Dirksen
presented the report. He stated one
consent order had been received and he has received a continuance for a
Thursday hearing as prescribed by law.
Mr. Manson made the motion to accept the report and the request for
continuance. Mr. McCree seconded and the
motion carried.
Executive Director’s Report: Mr. Harris
submitted the Inspectors Monthly Status Reports for review. Mr. Harris re-emphasized that on the
Inspector Monthly Status Reports, he may remove the names of establishments
from the reports and the inspectors are notified of this change. Questions ensued regarding the reports.
Since March 11, 2007, eleven reports have been filed. The following are establishment changes: New funeral homes—Cox-Needham Funeral Home in
New funeral director licenses have been issued to: Dawn Tyson, Jared
Anthony Gelo, Carolyn Hart, Joseph Clay; funeral services licenses—Kay
Friedrich; Embalmer licenses—Anthony Brown.
Trainees registered are Cheryl Ysidron, Jerome McMillian, Sheldon Helfrich,
Tyler Howard, Torrance White, Courtney Holland, April Miller, Bradley Burke,
Christopher Matthews and Millicent Costner.
Mr. Harris has not heard back from the representative from US Air
regarding the death certificate requirement.
With regards to the monthly Ethics reporting, Mr. Harris has been in
contact with the FD & MA of NC, Inc., NCFDA, and the North Carolina Eye
Bank with regards to Board bills and pending legislation.
Mr. Harris stated that at the Monday clinic one attendee mentioned that
there were two funeral homes involved with Mr. Guyette and the tissue
donations. This is being checked on.
Sunrise Funeral Home, Raleigh, is not accepting new business nor
answering their phone but they have not submitted information stating they have
closed.
Mr. Harris will attend the International Conference of State Examining
Boards in
The Board’s audit will be scheduled after the 2006 tax season. S1435 has not been scheduled with Commerce,
Small Business Entrepreneurship committee.
This usually scheduled on Tuesday and Thursday at 11:00 am. Since fees are involved, this will also be
referred to the Finance Committee.
Mr. Briggs asked about the status of the case the Board ruled on that had
appealed in the Sylva area. This is
pending on the merits of the petition.
The Judge had upheld the Board’s revocation of the preneed license.
Mr. Parrott made the motion to accept the Executive Director’s report and
Mr. Manson seconded. The motion carried.
Mr. White stated that he would to like to disclose to the Board with
regards to Ethics reporting that he and Mr. Manson had attended an FD & MA
of NC, Inc. function as former presidents of this association.
New Business: There was
none.
Old Business. There was none.
Informational Items: There was
none.
Mr. Briggs
stated he had attended the funerals of Bobby Lammonds of Rockingham and Rufus
Honeycutt of China Grove. Mr. White
stated he had attended the funeral of Everette Williams, the Cape Fear District
President of the FD & MA of NC, Inc
Mr. Harris
stated that Mr. Blake will need to sign a written statement of recusal for the
minutes of the last meeting as directed by the Ethics Training at the March
meeting.
The May meeting
date is the same week as the NCFDA Educational Conference and the June meeting
date is the same week as the FD & MA of NC, Inc. Annual Conference. Mr. White directed to change the May date to
May 16 and 17 and the June date to June 20 and 21.
Mr. Lea made the
motion to adjourn until the 1:00 pm Hearing of NCBFS vs. McMillan and NCBFS vs
Wujastyk. Mr. Manson seconded and the
motion carried.
T.
E. White, Sr., President