REGULAR BOARD MEETING
MINUTES
December 9, 2009
The North
Carolina Board of Funeral Service met for a duly scheduled Board Meeting at
9:00 a.m. on December 9, 2009 at the Board’s office,
Present: Larry
Andrews, President; J. T. Willoughby III, Vice President; George Parrott,
Secretary: Rudy Lea, Frank McCree,
Tryphina Wiseman, Mark Blake, Elizabeth Webber and Jack Briggs
Also
Present: Paul Harris, Executive
Director; Stephen N. Dirksen, General Counsel; Fred Jordan with the N. C. Eye
Bank, Pat Hayes with North Carolina Funeral Directors Association, Beth Hodges
and Hasten Wall from Elkin and Lyn Cochrane.
Mr. Andrews
called the meeting to order at 9:05 a.m. and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Mr. Blake had the invocation.
Mr. Andrews
read the Ethics Awareness & Conflict of Interest statement and no one
recused themselves at that time. Mr.
Blake stated he was absent at the November meeting but had attended in October
the National Funeral Directors Association convention.
Mr. Andrews
asked the guests to identify themselves.
There were no public comments.
Mr. Parrott
presented the November minutes for approval.
Mr. Dirksen stated there was one error under Exam Committee, first
sentence. The word filed should be
corrected to read failed. Mr. Willoughby
made the motion to approve the minutes with the correction. Mr. Lea seconded and the motion carried.
Exam Committee:
Mr. Parrott stated in November four applicants took laws and rules. Three first time and one retake. The two first time applicants failed.
Finance/Personnel:
Mr. Briggs stated the Committee was presenting a proposal for the 2010
budget and a recommendation to hire a part time employee to assist with
renewals and then yielded to Mr. Harris.
Mr. Harris explained the recommendation to hire a part time employee to
begin Thursday, December 12. Mr. Briggs
made the motion to approve and Mr. Parrott seconded. The motion carried.
Mr. Harris
discussed the 2010 budget revenues and expenditure and returned the meeting
back to Mr. Briggs who presented the financials and made the motion to approve
them. Mr. Blake seconded and the motion
carried. Mr. Briggs stated further
action on the 2010 budget would be deferred until following a closed session at
the end of the meeting to discuss staff performance.
Laws, Rules
& Legislation: Mr. Briggs stated staff continues to work on
rule making matters for licensees on active military deployment, reporting
under the provisions of Chapter 93B of the General Statutes and the preneed
surety bond.
Preneed
Committee: Mr. Andrews presented the report for
information only. Mr. Andrews stated the
Committee had met and yielded to Mr. Harris.
The Committee recommended approval of revocation of irrevocable
contracts for out of state transfer. All
requirements are met. Mr. Willoughby
made the motion to approve the revocation and Ms. Wiseman seconded. The motion carried.
The Committee
recommended that the Preneed Annual Report that is designated as PN-11, use the
following form designations: PN-11 for
the main page and PN-11a, PN-11b and PN-11c for the other pages. Mr. Briggs made the motion to approve and Mr.
Lea seconded. The motion carried.
The Committee
recommended to revise the preneed manual to remove the draft court order
template and references to the draft order that occur in the text. Mr. Willoughby made the motion to
approve. Mr. Parrott seconded and the
motion carried.
Disciplinary
Committee: Mr. Lea presented the report and stated there
was an addendum. Discussion ensued. Mr. Blake made the motion to accept the
recommendations of the Disciplinary Committee with the exception of the
Addendum and Ms. Wiseman seconded.
Discussion ensued. Mr. Andrews
called for the vote and the motion carried.
Discussion ensued regarding the Addendum. Ms. Wiseman made the motion to approve
M09-02. Mr. Lea seconded and the motion
carried. Mr. Willoughby made the motion
to approve M09-030 and Mr. Blake seconded.
The motion carried.
Clinics:
Ms. Wiseman reported fifty people attended the November 20 clinic. Sixteen were present in the funeral directors
session and thirty-four were present for the embalming session. Discussion ensued. Ms. Wiseman stated the report was for
information only.
Traineeship:
Mr. Blake stated staff had issued a suspension letter to a trainee whose
October report was received November 25.
This is the second late report in 2009.
The letter notified the trainee that the suspension was effective
December 1 for a period of at least 30 days and until the trainee meets with
the traineeship committee in January.
This report was for information only.
Mr. Blake asked Mr. Harris about the number of licensees requiring
trainee supervisor certification. Mr.
Harris answered two licensees required a certification and one licensee
requested certification so they would be prepared when and if they were a
trainee supervisor.
Other Committee
Reports: There were none.
Attorney Report: Mr. Dirksen
presented his report for information only.
Executive Director’s Report: Since the
November 4 Board Meeting 26 reports have been filed. New Funeral Homes—Clay-Barnette Funeral Home
of Kings Mountain and Holloway Memorial Funeral Home, Durham.
New funeral director licensees:
Stanley H. McClamb
New trainees: Keith Cox and
Minerva Labrador
Staff Ethics report: The usual
contact with FD&MA of NC, Inc., NCFDA and Crematory Association. Jay Roberts, Chairman of the Crematory
Authority was asked to be president of the Crematory Association. Mr. Harris is going to request a written
opinion from the State Ethics Commission.
Questions and discussion ensued.
Mr. Harris will inform the Board of the Commission’s opinion.
The new law books are scheduled to run next week. They will be mailed by the publisher to the
licensees.
A Preneed Review will be held from 9-12 and an FTC Review from 1-3 on
December 17. The Preneed Review is full
but there is space in the FTC Review.
Judge Michael Morgan has accepted staff’s request to administer Oaths of
Office at the January meeting. At that
meeting the interest rate for recovery funds claims will be set and discussion
of restoring the litigation reserve fund back to $100,000.
New Business: Mr. Andrews
opened the floor for nomination of 2010 Board officers. Mr. Briggs nominated Mr. Willoughby for
President. Mr. Parrott seconded and the
motion carried. Mr. Lea made the motion
to close the nomination. Mr. Parrott
seconded and the motion carried. Mr.
Willoughby was named President.
Mr. Blake nominated Mr. Parrott for Vice President. Mr. Briggs made the motion the nominations be
closed and Mr. Parrott elected by acclimation.
Ms. Wiseman seconded and the motion carried.
Mr. Lea nominated Ms. Wiseman for Secretary. Mr. Willoughby seconded. Mr. Briggs made the motion to close the
nominations and Ms. Wiseman be elected by acclimation. Mr. Parrott seconded and the motion carried.
At this time Mr. Andrews called for a five-minute recess. Upon reconvening Mr. Harris stated the dates
being recommended for the Board to meet for the first two months of the year
were January 13th with hearings on January 14th and
February 10th with hearings on February 11th. Mr. Parrott made the motion to approve the
meeting dates and Mr. Lea seconded. The
motion carried.
Old Business: There was
none.
Informational Items: Mr. Harris
stated the 2010 Committee sheet was included and it should be returned to him
or to Mr. Willoughby. Also included was
a letter from NCFDA Executive Director Larry Stegall.
Public Comment: There was
none.
The meeting was recessed at 10:25. The meeting was reconvened and Mr. Willoughby
made the motion to enter closed session to discuss staff performance and Mr.
Parrott seconded. The motion
carried. Mr. Briggs made the motion to
return to open session and seconded by Mr. Willoughby. The motion carried. Mr. Briggs moved to approve the 2010
Budget. Mr. Willoughby seconded and the
motion carried.
The regular meeting was recessed at 11:01 until the
hearing.
Larry
Andrews, President
George
Parrott, Secretary