REGULAR BOARD MEETING
MINUTES
January 9, 2008
The North
Carolina Board of Funeral Service met for a duly scheduled Board Meeting at
9:00 a.m. on January 9, 2008 at the Board’s office,
Present: Mark
Blake, President; Larry Andrews, Vice President; J. T. Willoughby III,
Secretary; Rudy Lea, Frank McCree, Sr., T. E. White, Sr. and Jack Briggs. Windell Daniels and George Parrott were
absent.
Also
Present: Paul Harris, Executive
Director; Stephen N. Dirksen, General Counsel; Pat Hayes with the North
Carolina Funeral Directors Association, Fred Jordan with the NC Eye Bank, Betty
Stoddard and Herbert Reichlin with the Funeral Consumers Alliance, Elliott
Futrell, funeral service licensee from Goldsboro, Charles McDarris from Bailey
Dixon, Attorneys, and Lyn Cochrane.
Mr. Blake
called the meeting to order at 9:03 a.m. and led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Mr. Blake had
the invocation and read the Ethics Awareness & Conflict of Interest
Reminder. Mr. Blake stated he would
recuse himself from a Continuing Education matter and Mr. Briggs stated he
would recuse himself from one Disciplinary case.
Mr. Blake asked
for public comment and there was none.
Mr. Blake
recognized former Board President T. E. White, Sr. and commended him in the
professionalism he had projected as Board President during 2007. Mr. Blake, on behalf of the Board, presented
him with a token of appreciation for his year of service.
Mr. Blake
presented his list of goals for 2008.
1)
Computer
Based Testing for Laws and Rules
2)
Trainee-Supervisor
Certification
3)
Board
level reviews for insurance CE and re-examination of courses previously
approved for insurance CE
4)
“Do’s
and Don’ts of owners and employees of funeral homes
5)
Complete
revisions of Guideline Documents
6)
Working
towards reducing the disciplinary cases pending hearing
7)
Board
Retreat
Mr. Willoughby
presented the December 12, 2007 minutes.
Mr. White made the motion to approve the minutes. Mr. Andrews seconded
and the motion carried.
Continuing
Education: Mr. Willoughby stated the staff had received
a request from a licensee to waive the CE requirements due to his health
issues. The Disciplinary Committee had
reviewed and approved his request with the directive of sending it to the CE
Committee. At this time Mr. Blake
recused himself from the discussion and vote and yielded the floor to Mr.
Andrews. Mr. Andrews chaired the
discussion. Mr. White made the motion to
accept the recommendation to waive the 2008 requirements for continuing education. Mr. Lea seconded. Discussion ensued. Mr. Andrews called for the vote and the
motion carried.
Exam Committee:
Mr. White stated four individuals took laws and rules (two first timers
and two re-takes) and all passed.
International Conference had also notified the Board that one applicant
had taken and passed the pathology test.
Mr. White commended President Blake on his efforts in getting pathology
online testing. Discussion ensued. This report was submitted for information.
Finance/Personnel: In Mr. Daniels absence, Mr.
Harris presented the December financials.
Mr. Andrews made the motion to accept and Mr. Lea seconded. The motion carried.
At this time
Mr. Blake deferred the meeting to Mr. McDarris, outside counsel for the Board,
to explain open meetings laws that allows closed session under provision
143-318.11(a)(6). Mr. Briggs made the
motion to go into closed session to discuss personnel matters and staff
performance. Mr. Andrews seconded and
the motion carried. Mr. McDarris stated
that minutes should be taken and Mr. Dirksen was asked to stay for that
purpose.
Mr. White made
the motion to return to open session and Mr. Briggs seconded. The motion carried. Mr. Blake stated that no further action would
be taken with regards to the personnel matter.
Preneed
Committee: Mr. Andrews presented the report for
information only. Mr. Andrews stated the
Preneed committee had met prior to the Board meeting and deferred the meeting
to Mr. Harris. Three items were
submitted for discussion.
(1)
Board
policy dictates an interest rate be set for the recovery fund for 2008. The Preneed Committee was recommending 2.5%
be set for 2008. Mr. Andrews made the
motion to accept the recommendation and Mr. Willoughby seconded. The motion carried.
(2)
The
Board has always recommended the funeral not be listed as the owner of preneed
insurance policies because of potential problems this may cause. Discussion ensued. A letter will be sent to interested parties
for comments. No Board action taken at
this time.
(3)
Three
requests for out of state transfer of preneed funds have met the
requirements. Staff was recommended
orders be issued. Mr. Lea made to motion
to approve. Mr. White seconded and the
motion carried.
Disciplinary: In Mr.
Parrott’s absence, Mr. Lea yielded the floor to Mr. Harris. Mr. Harris stated the report was previously
mailed. The last two pages were the
addendum for the hearings that were scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.
Briggs recused himself from item V04-044.
Mr. Willoughby made the motion to separate V07-044 from the report. Mr. Andrews seconded and the motion
carried. At this time Mr. Briggs left
the table. Discussion ensued regarding V07-044.
Mr. White made the motion to approve the recommendation for
V07-044. Mr. Lea seconded and the motion
carried. Mr. Briggs did not vote and
returned to the table. Discussion ensued
regarding the other cases. Mr. Briggs
made the motion to accept V07-045, V07-064, V07-066,M07-020, M08-001 and the
addendum with one correction of deleting the word “not” in the rationale of
M07-018. Mr. Andrews seconded and the
motion carried.
A five-minute break was taken at 10:40 a.m.
Laws, Rules and Legislation: Mr. Briggs
deferred the meeting to Mr. Harris. Mr.
Harris presented the Notice of Text amending 21 NCAC 34B.0407; 21 NCAC 34B
.0409; 21 NCAC 34B.0411; 21 NCAC 34B.0413; 21 NCAC 34B.0414. No one attended the public meeting and no one
had submitted comments regarding these amendments. Mr. Briggs made the motion to accept and
proceed. Mr. White seconded and the
motion carried.
Mr. Harris had tried to contact the State Plumbing Board regarding the
plumbing code for clinical sink in the preparation room but due the holidays
and vacations, no one was available. He
will follow up on this and have a report at the next meeting.
Other Committee Reports: None
Attorney Report: Mr. Dirksen
presented the report for information only.
Executive Director’s Report: Mr. Harris
submitted the Inspectors Monthly Status Reports for review.
Since the December 12 Board Meeting, eighteen reports have been
filed. The following is the report for
2007 inspection and audit activities:
152 Preneed audits conducted; 187 existing establishment inspections; 29
new establishment inspections; 16 Crematories; 11 new crematory inspections
(which includes change of ownership inspections), 4 chapels and 2 new chapels.
New Funeral Service Licensees: Mary Smith, Sonja Parson and Melford
Everett; New Funeral Director License:
Jane Hartsell; New Trainees: Teresa Dafford, Edward Davis, Jr., Robert
Scarboro, Jr., Felecher Williams, Cotina Goddard, Prudence McMichael, Anthony
McGrady, and Chantesh Allen.
Ethics Report: phone calls between the NCFDA and FD & MA of NC, Inc.
and Mr. Harris. Representative Dale
Folwell called regarding Mr. Harris being the Board’s lobbyist. Mr. Harris had informed Rep. Folwell he was
the Board Liaison not a lobbyist.
The 2008 Renewals are as follows:
504 out of 734 funeral homes; 1909 out of 2586 active licensees; 113 out
of 192 inactive licensees; 8 out of 7 chapels; 5 out of 17 unaffiliated; 18
courtesy cards; 23 removal/transport; 68 out of 83 crematories and 479 out of
680 preneed establishments. Discussion
ensued regarding the unaffiliated licensees.
Mr. Blake commended Ms. Cox with regards to her reports.
Mr. Miranda has been given a listing of the funeral firms that have
agreed to the testing of electronic preneed annual reports. Mr. Miranda will provide Mr. Harris with a
quote on offsite backup. Mr. Miranda
will also work and updated website resources for licensees and more consumer
friendly.
There will be a Preneed Review on Monday and an FTC/Cremation law Review
on January 18. Interest percentage on
the Recovery Fund Claims will be discussed at the January meeting.
Mike Landon with Fayetteville Technical Community College had contacted
him with regards to the ABFSE Committee on Accreditation voting on a funeral
arts only curriculum and wanted to know if the Board had an opinion on
this. Discussion ensued. No action required. Board would like for Mr. Landon to report to
the Board after the matter is decided.
There is an FTC/Cremation law Review on Friday, January 18 at the Board
office. ICFSEB Annual Conference is
February 29 in San Antonio, Texas and Mr. Harris will attend.
Questions ensued regarding the publication of new law books. Mr. Blake asked that the Laws and Rules and
the Finance/Personnel Committees meet on this project.
New Business: Mr. Harris
presented the Order of Liquidation for Roanoke-Cashie Mutual Burial Association
in Windsor. Mr. Willoughby made the
motion to adopt the Order. Mr. Andrews
seconded and the motion carried.
Old Business: Discussion
ensued regarding the 2008 Board calendar.
The second Wednesday and Thursday will be the Board Meeting and Hearing
dates unless they conflict with the NCFDA, FD&MA of NC, Inc., NFD&MA,
NFDA and CANC Conventions.
Informational Items: Mr. Blake
presented the 2008 Board Committee Assignments.
Mr. Harris stated the latest NC Ethics Commission newsletter was included
and an e-mail from Perry Newsom, Executive Director of the NC Ethics
Commission.
Mr. Blake
opened the floor for public comment and there was none.
Mr. Blake
adjourned the meeting at 11:50 a.m.
Mark
Blake, President
J.T.
Willoughby III, Secretary