REGULAR BOARD MEETING
MINUTES
June 17, 2009
The North
Carolina Board of Funeral Service met for a duly scheduled Board Meeting at
9:00 a.m. on June 17, 2009 at the Board’s office,
Present: Larry
Andrews, President; J. T. Willoughby III, Vice President; Rudy Lea, Frank
McCree, Tryphina Wiseman, Jack Briggs,
Also
Present: Paul Harris, Executive
Director; Stephen N. Dirksen, General Counsel; Fred Jordan with the N. C. Eye
Bank, Herb Reichlin with the Funeral Consumers Alliance, Pat Hayes with North
Carolina Funeral Directors Association, Dorman Caudle with Carolina Donor
Services and
Mr. Andrews
called the meeting to order at 9:02 a.m. and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Mr. Blake had the invocation.
Mr. Andrews
read the Ethics Awareness & Conflict of Interest statement and Mr. Briggs
and Mr. Lea stated they would recuse themselves from Disciplinary items at the
proper time.
Mr. Andrews
opened the Public Hearing to discuss 21 NCAC 34B.0616, .0706, 21 NCAC 34B.0413,
21 NCAC 34C .0303 and 21 NCAC 34D .0302.
Two comments received noted grammatical errors only. There were no other comments. Mr. Andrews adjourned the hearing.
Mr. Andrews
asked for public comment. There was none
and the visitors in attendance identified themselves.
In Mr.
Parrott’s absence, Mr. Harris presented the May minutes. Mr. Willoughby noted one change on the second
paragraph of the last page, the next to last sentence. Ms. Willoughby should be changed to Mr.
Willoughby. Mr. Harris offered this for
information only.
Exam Committee:
In Mr. Parrott’s absence, Mr. Harris stated four applicants took laws
and rules (one retake) in May. All
passed. Castle notified the staff Monday
of this week that work is finished on the exam template and it is now ready for
testing. Staff will inform board members
when the testing will be done.
Finance/Personnel:
Mr. Briggs stated the year-end journal entries from the auditor have
been made and all 2008 funds moved into 2009.
Mr. Harris stated one item under miscellaneous from 2009 funds needed to
be moved back into 2008 funds and he will contact the auditor for this entry. Mr. Briggs made the motion to accept the Financial
Statements December 31, 2008 and 2007 as audited by Boyce, Furr &
Company. Mr. Willoughby seconded and the
motion carried.
Mr. Briggs made
the motion to accept the May financials and Mr. Lea seconded. The motion carried.
Laws, Rules
& Legislation: Mr. Briggs deferred to Mr. Harris. Mr. Harris presented proposed rulemaking by
OAH related to pandemic events and other disasters; HB221 Oversight of
Licensing Boards was ratified. The
ratified version included changes from the previous version. This is effective October 1, 2009. Proposed legislation sponsored by
Representative Angela Bryant entitled Insurance Burial Benefits Notification
was reviewed by Mr. Harris. Discussion
ensued. Mr. Briggs made the motion for
staff to contact Rep. Bryant and request the fee be assessed annually to only
funeral homes requiring the service. Mr. Willoughby seconded and the motion
carried. The law book quote from
LexisNexis is $18,000 and Westlaw Publishing is $12,500. Staff recommended the decision be deferred
until July to afford staff time to review and seek additional information from
Westlaw. Mr. Briggs made the motion and
Ms. Wiseman seconded. The motion
carried.
Preneed
Committee: Mr. Andrews presented the report for
information only. A request that meets
all requirements to move a preneed contract out of state has been
received. Mr. Andrews made the motion to
allow the move and Mr. Willoughby seconded.
The motion carried.
Mr. Blake
referred to a conversation between he and Mr. Harris regarding the $20 preneed
filing fee and the last time there was an increase in the cost of filing the
contracts. Further discussion ensued
without any action.
Disciplinary
Committee: Mr. Lea presented the report for review and
recused himself from V09-025. Mr. Briggs
recused himself from V08-014; M08-007.
Mr. Harris stated neither cases involved Mr. Briggs or Mr. Lea but they
had knowledge of the cases. Discussion
ensued. Mr. Briggs made the motion to
approve the report with the exception of Addenda Case V09-025. Ms. Wiseman seconded. Discussion ensued. Mr. Briggs withdrew his motion and made a new
motion to approve the report with the exception of V09-025 and V08-014;
M08-007. Ms. Wiseman seconded and the
motion carried. Mr. Briggs made the
motion to approve V09-025. Mr.
Willoughby seconded and the motion carried.
Mr. Lea did not participate in the vote.
Mr. Briggs made the motion to approve M09-001. Mr. Willoughby seconded and the motion
carried. Discussion ensued. Mr.
Mr. Blake began
discussion regarding the Board’s directive to the staff at an earlier meeting
requiring the termination of an insurance agent as a condition of the consent
order agreement. Mr. Dirksen stated he had not received a response from the
funeral home. Mr. Briggs asked about the status of the hearing schedule. Mr. Dirksen replied hearings were scheduled
for 1:00 p.m. today and 9:00 a.m. Thursday but he believed that consent orders
would be signed in those matters. Mr.
Briggs further inquired about the hearing set for 11:00 today. Mr. Dirksen replied that those cases were
part of the Disciplinary Addendum. Mr.
Harris requested a five-minute recess to consult with Mr. Dirksen. Upon return Mr. Harris asked Mr. Dirksen to
clarify his earlier statement in the matter involving the insurance agent. When Mr. Dirksen informed the attorney
representing the respondents of the Board’s directive, the attorney mentioned
alternatives to terminating the insurance agent. Mr. Dirksen has not heard back from the
attorney with the funeral home’s response.
Discussion ensued and Mr. Blake made the motion to give the funeral home
five business days to respond or issue a notice of hearing. Ms. Webber seconded and the motion carried.
Mr. Blake
stated the Committee was concerned with the misappropriation of preneed funds
and creating a standard of action. He
asked Mr. Harris to discuss it further.
Mr. Harris is in touch with other agencies to see how they handle
misappropriations. Discussion ensued.
Traineeship
Committee: Mr. Blake stated the apprentice that was to
meet with the Committee prior to the Board meeting had withdrawn his
apprenticeship and will not pursue the funeral industry.
Clinics:
Ms. Wiseman reported the Committee all preparations for the clinic next
Thursday are in place.
Other Committee
Reports: There were none.
Attorney Report: Mr. Dirksen
presented his report. He reported that
Mr. Howell is in compliance with the order and is sending the funds as
required.
Executive Director’s Report: Mr. Harris
stated the signature cards for the STIF account with the State Treasurer office
have to be renewed. Mr. Briggs made the
motion to authorize Mr. Harris to sign the cards. Ms. Wiseman seconded and the motion carried.
Since the May 20 Board Meeting eight reports have been filed. New Funeral Homes—Unity Funeral Service,
New funeral service licensees: Samuel Booker, Jr., William Lum-Sandlin,
Hedrick Jones.
New funeral director licensees:
Wesley Sluder, James Stepp, Jr., Norman Whitted, Charles Coote, Jr.
New trainees: Jonathan Greene,
Suzanne Evans, LeWanda McLean, Brian Ballard, Kevin Mukosiej.
Mr. Harris presented his ethics report and stated he attended the
FD&MA of NC, Inc. Convention in
Mr. Pollard with the State Auditor office has spoken with Mr. Harris
several weeks ago and believes he is finished with his audit
Mr. Harris has been tracking the legislation he reported in earlier
meetings. Some of the bills made the crossover deadline and he will advise the
Board of the statutes of the bills at a later meeting.
Mr. Harris meets with members of the NC Emergency Management Mass
Fatality on Friday. Mr. Harris will
discontinue the DOL Traineeship co-op and will notify them by letter of the
discontinuance. The SOP’s have been
issued to the Inspectors for establishments and preneed. The Board clinic is scheduled for Thursday,
June 25 at the
Mr. Harris reported on a traineeship issue involving a trainee working
for Ms. Wiseman. Discussion ensued. Ms. Wiseman asked about the clinic schedule
and Mr. Harris gave the information and mentioned the newsletter was mailed
this week which included clinic information.
New Business: Staff
presented a draft of the Petition for Nomination of Candidate for North
Carolina Crematory Authority. This will
be mailed to all crematory operators in the state. Ms. Wiseman made the motion to approve and
Mr. Willoughby seconded. The motion
carried.
Old Business: Mr. Harris
began to introduce Fred Rhyne who was requesting a license reinstatement. Mr. Dirksen asked for a brief recess prior to
hearing Mr. Rhyne’s request. Mr. Andrews
granted the request and the meeting was recessed. After Mr. Andrews reconvened the meeting, Mr.
Dirksen distributed information to Board members and provided a brief summary
of the matter. Mr. Rhyne responded to
questions from Mr. Blake. Mr. Willoughby
made the motion to go into closed session to discuss the matter. Mr. Briggs seconded. Mr. Lea, Mr. McCree, Mr. Willoughby, Mr.
Andrews, Mr. Briggs, Ms. Wiseman and Ms. Webber voted yes. Mr. Blake voted no. The motion carried. Before entering closed session, Mr. Briggs
asked about Mr. Rhyne’s current license and he responded he holds an embalmers
license. The Board then entered closed
session. Mr. Briggs made the motion to
return to open session and Mr. Blake seconded.
The motion carried. Mr. Briggs
made the motion to reinstate the funeral service license for Mr. Rhyne. Mr. Blake seconded and the motion
carried. Mr. Lea did not participate in
the discussion or vote even though he stayed in the room.
Informational Items: Included the
program for the renaming ceremony of
Mr. Blake stated he needed to disclose that he had to testify in a
homicide case in
Public Comment: There was
none
The meeting was recessed at 11:25 a.m. and will be
reconvened for the 1:00 hearing.
Larry
Andrews, President