REGULAR BOARD MEETING

MINUTES

July 16, 2003

The North Carolina Board of Mortuary Science met for a duly scheduled Board Meeting on July 16, 2003, in the Board’s office located at 2321 Crabtree Boulevard, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Present: Harvey Leavitt, President; Alex Lee, Vice President; Windell Daniels, George Parrott, Jamie Boles, Nancy Rorie and Paul Harris.

Also Present: Mark E. Henderson, Executive Director; Steve Dirksen, General Counsel.

President Harvey Leavitt called the meeting to order at 9:10 a.m.

Mr. Leavitt read the Board of Ethics statement, Governor Easley’s Executive Order #1. No one recused themselves at this time.

Mr. Lee gave the invocation.

Mr. Lee submitted the March minutes for approval in the absence of Mr. Briggs. Mr. Daniels made the motion to accept the minutes as submitted and Mr. Parrott seconded. The motion carried.

Disciplinary: Mr. Lee presented the Disciplinary Committee report with the exception of V02-063, which will be presented at the September Board meeting. Discussion ensued. Mr. Harris made the motion to accept the Disciplinary report with the exception as noted by Mr. Lee. Mr. Parrott seconded the motion and the motion carried.

Preneed: Mr. Harris submitted the Preneed Report. He noted the violations mentioned were ones that should be corrected with the aid of the Preneed Manual.

At this time Mr. Leavitt welcomed Mr. Steve Dirksen as the new general counsel for the Board.

Attorney’s Report: Mr. Dirksen reported that the status of cases pending was provided to the Board for their review and all the files had been reviewed by him and that the report reflected a change in the way the files were counted to more accurately report the number of files. Questions and discussion ensued.

Mr. Dirksen presented a matter from the Disciplinary Committee regarding a funeral home that was charging an additional fee that was not on their goods and services sheet. Discussion ensued. Mr. Henderson will write the FTC for clarification regarding this fee being disclosed on the GPL. This matter was tabled until the September meeting.

Financials: Mr. Boles welcomed Mr. Dirksen on behalf of the Personnel committee and the Board and then presented the Financials for May and June. He stated he had met with Mr. Henderson and the auditors regarding the 2002 audit and then turned the meeting over to Mr. Henderson for review. Mr. Henderson discussed the meeting with the auditors and responded the questions. Mr. Lee made the motion to accept the financials and the Management Letter from Boyce, Furr and Co. Mr. Harris seconded and the motion carried.

Mr. Leavitt called for a recess at 10:10 and the meeting reconvened at 10:22 a.m.

Executive Director’s Report: Mr. Henderson gave an update on the status of legislation on the following bills: Senate Bill 550 had passed Senate Finance and the first reading; House Bill 1151 had passed, was signed and is now law; House Bill 859 was unlikely to pass this year but will be presented next year; Senate Bill 540 and House Bill 1041 did not pass; House Bill 1102 did not pass; House Bill 1067 and Senate Bill 924 had not passed either House or Senate.

The office lease modification was not complete and new office copier was in place. The June 7 Board seminar at the Sheraton in Atlantic Beach had 35 attendees. The Laws and Rules Exam reporting results would be e-mailed to “examinees” after the next exam. The disciplinary cases were decreasing due to Mr. Dirksen’s review. The Board will have to conduct more hearings during the next several months. Mr. Henderson will begin the rule making process to increase fees. The Board will also need to initiate additional rule making if the legislation passes. The deadline for filing for the Board election is midnight August 1^st. Mr. Lee is running in Category 1 and no one has filed at this time for Category 2. Questions ensued.

New Business: Mr. Henderson discussed the employee long-term disability coverage. He stated that after the vote at the last Board meeting to change the coverage, additional discussion with the carrier indicated that it was not possible to make the change. Ms. Rorie made the motion to rescind the vote from the May Board meeting and Mr. Daniels seconded. The motion carried and the employee long-term disability coverage will continue to be paid by the Board. Mr. Henderson stated AFLAC representatives had met with the staff and presented benefits for additional personal coverage for the employees and to be paid by the employees at no additional cost to the Board. Mr. Parrott made the motion to allow this additional coverage and Mrs. Rorie seconded. The motion carried. The Board’s December 9, 2003 continuing education seminar date has been confirmed at the McKimmon Center. Mr. Daniels, Mr. Harris and Mr. Boles will meet to discuss the program and speakers.

At this time Mrs. Rorie made the motion to go into closed session to consider the qualifications, competence, performance, character, fitness or conditions of initial employment of an employee or prospective employee, or to hear or investigate a complaint or grievance by or against an employee. Mr. Harris seconded and the motion carried.

Upon proper motion the Board returned to open session.

Informational Items: Mr. Henderson presented these for reading purposes only. Mr. Harris stated Doug Howard with the U. S. Army Mortuary Affairs had contacted him regarding an embalmer position that was available in Korea for any interested licensee.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:15 p.m.

Harvey H. Leavitt III, President

P. Alex Lee, Acting Secretary