REGULAR BOARD MEETING

MINUTES

February 13, 2002

The North Carolina Board of Mortuary Science met for a duly scheduled Board Meeting on February 13, 2002, at 9:00 a.m. in the Board’s office located at 2321 Crabtree Boulevard, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Present: Harvey Leavitt, Vice President; Alex Lee, Secretary; Stuart Cozort, Darryl Hart, Jack Briggs, Bill Groce, Nancy Rorie and Windell Daniels.

Also Present: Mark E. Henderson, Executive Director; Barry Bloch, General Counsel.

Others Present: Patricia Hayes; Dan Shackleford; and Cameron Shearon.

Darryl Hart gave the invocation.

Acting President Harvey Leavitt called the meeting to order and read the Board of Ethics statement, Governor Easley’s Executive Order #1. No one expressed any conflict of interest at this time.

Mr. Lee submitted the minutes for approval. A motion was made and seconded to accept the minutes. The motion carried.

Mr.Leavitt then called for Committee Reports.

Finance: Mr. Cozort presented the Financials for December 2001 calling attention to the Comparative Statement. Mr. Cozort stated he was available for any questions. A motion was made and seconded to accept the report. Motion carried.

Disciplinary: Mr. Lee stated the Disciplinary Committee had met the previous day and were recommending dismissal of all but M01-024(a) and (b) and V01-017. They were recommending a Notice of Hearing be issued in M01-024(a) and (b) and Consent Order be offered in V01-017. A motion was made and seconded to approve the recommendation of the Disciplinary Committee and to take the recommended action. The motion carried.

Preneed: Mr. Briggs reported the Preneed Committee had met prior to the meeting and had received the Preneed Forms. The Preneed Committee would review these forms and provide them to the Board at the next Board meeting. The Preneed Committee was recommending that the Board seek an Opinion from the Attorney General’s Office concerning a licensee’s right to withhold up to ten-percent of funds in an irrevocable preneed contract when the consumer transfers the contract to another funeral home. A draft of the requested opinion was provided to the Board. A motion was made and seconded that the recommendation of the Preneed Committee be approved and the request for opinion be sent. The motion carried.

Crematory Authority: Mr. Briggs noted that the Crematory Authority met on January 29, 2002 and had proposed some amendments to the Crematory Statute. Mr. Briggs noted that a copy of the Crematory Statute that included those changes was provided to the Board members for their review. Mr. Briggs indicated that the Board should discuss the statute at its next meeting.

Executive Director’s Report: Mr. Henderson reported that he had presented continuing education courses at NCFDA District meetings in Concord and Elizabethtown during the prior month. He advised the Board that he had also attended a conference dealing with legal issues concerning the proper management of 401k plans.

Mr. Henderson indicated that the change in software programs was a little more difficult than originally anticipated, but that the transition was going well.

Mr. Henderson stated that he provided the Preneed Committee with the draft preneed forms and that as Mr. Briggs indicate the Board would get them at the next Board meeting. Mr. Henderson indicated that he hope to have a draft of the Preneed Manual to the Preneed Committee by on March 13, 2002.

Mr. Henderson sought to clarify some matter recently published by the NCFDA. He indicated that while he understood that Mr. Breece unhappy with the Board’s handling of a consumer complaint about him, licensees need to understand that the consumer was not happy either. The consumer remains convinced that the funeral home was trying to take advantage of him. Mr. Henderson noted that while the Board deliberated in closed session in reaching its decision to uphold the decision of the Administrative Law Judge, it voted in open session to take that action. The vote was unanimous. Mr. Henderson noted that no member of the staff is a member of a Committee. Only Board members are members of the Board’s committees.

Mr. Henderson indicated that he was still ironing out some details concerning recognition of its training program by the Department of Labor, but anticipated this should be resolved soon.

Mr. Henderson discussed some statutory changes that the Board should consider seeking prior to attempting to revise its rules. Such changes included matters such as requiring graduation from a Funeral Director Program in order to be eligible for licensing as a funeral director, revising statute so that the Federal Bureau of Investigation would continue to conduct background checks for the Board, requiring a licensee to be affiliated with and maintain his or her records at a licensed funeral establishment in order to engage in the practice funeral service, making all license renewals due on or before February 1 as well as the numerous changes to the State’s Crematory Law.

Attorney’s Report: Mr. Bloch reported that the status of cases pending was provided to the Board for their review and he was available to answer any questions they may have.

The Board then went into closed session to consult with an attorney retained by the Board in order to preserve the attorney-client privilege between the attorney and the Board.

Upon proper motion, the Board returned to open session.

Unfinished Business: There was no unfinished business.

New Business: The Board approved a motion to sell the shares of Principal Financial Group that it had received as the result of that company’s demutualization. The Board discussed scheduling its continuing education programs with one being held in Wilmington in May and one being held in Raleigh in December.

Informational Items: Mr. Henderson presented several items for later review.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned.

Harvey Leavitt, III, Acting President

Alex Lee, Secretary