REGULAR BOARD MEETING
MINUTES
April 16, 2008
The North
Carolina Board of Funeral Service met for a duly scheduled Board Meeting at
9:00 a.m. on April 16, 2008 at the Board’s office,
Present: Mark
Blake, President; Larry Andrews, Vice President; J. T. Willoughby III,
Secretary; Frank McCree, Sr., T. E. White, Sr., Jack Briggs, Windell Daniels,
Rudy Lea, and George Parrott.
Also
Present: Paul Harris, Executive
Director; Stephen N. Dirksen, General Counsel; Fred Jordan and Rob Cornish with
the NC Eye Bank, Betty Stoddard and Herb Reichlin with the Funeral Consumers
Alliance, Patricia Hayes with the North Carolina Funeral Directors Association,
Dorman Caudle Funeral Home with Carolina Donor Services, Jack Nichols with
Allen & Pinnix and Anna Baird Choi with Bailey & Dixon, Funeral
Licensee Antonio Toney, Brett Lisenbee and Lyn Cochrane.
Mr. Blake
called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m., led the Pledge of Allegiance and had
the invocation.
Mr. Blake read
the Ethics Awareness & Conflict of Interest Reminder and no one recused
themselves.
Mr. Blake asked
for public comment. Visitors introduced
themselves.
Mr. Willoughby
presented the minutes for the March 19, 2008 meeting. Mr. Andrews made the motion to accept and Mr.
Daniels seconded. The motion carried.
Exam Committee:
Mr. White stated there was no report and deferred to Mr. Harris to
discuss the computer based Laws & Rules Exam. Discussion ensued.
Mr. White made
the motion to go into closed session to consult with the Board legal counsel
for pending litigation regarding the Crown Memorial matter.
Mr. Briggs made
the motion to return to open session.
Mr. Andrews seconded the motion and it carried.
At this time
Ms. Choi and Mr. Nichols departed the meeting.
Mr. Toney entered the meeting.
Mr. Blake
stated there was no action taken regarding the Crown Memorial matter or any
other pending litigation.
Mr. Harris
continued with the Exam committee report and discussed the Question Writing
Template to be used for the L&R computer based exam. Questions ensued. This report was for information only.
Finance/Personnel:
Mr. Daniels presented and made a motion to accept the Report. Mr. White seconded and the motion
carried. Mr. Daniels stated that the
Ethics Report should have been completed by April 15th.
One proposal
from a bank regarding the refinancing of the Board’s mortgage has been received
and two more are expected.
Preneed
Committee: Mr. Andrews’ deferred the meeting to Mr.
Harris. With regards to funeral home
ownership of insurance funded preneed contracts, the State Medicaid Eligibility
unit’s division head retired and the information was resent to the
successor. A reply or estimate of when a
reply may be forthcoming has not been received.
Williams
Funeral Home in
Mr. Andrews
continued with the Preneed Report. Mr.
Parrott made the motion to accept the report.
Mr. Lea seconded and the motion carried.
At this time
Mr. Blake requested the Old Business item regarding the funeral home ownership
of insurance policies funding preneed contracts be moved under Preneed
Committee Report. Mr. Harris distributed
a draft of an Advisory Memorandum for all preneed establishments. Discussion ensued. Mr. Briggs stated he would not be opposed to
the Memorandum with the addition of the wording “recommendation of this Board
is” be added to the first sentence, last paragraph after “advised that.” Mr. White made the motion to table the
memorandum until the changes are made.
Mr. Andrews seconded and the motion carried.
Mr. Harris stated
three preneed licensees have not filed their 2007 annual report by the deadline
and will be taken to through Disciplinary action.
At this time there was a five-minute recess.
Disciplinary: Mr. Parrott
stated there was one addendum.
Discussion ensued. Mr. White made
the motion to increase change the consent order penalty from $250 to $500 and
issue a letter of caution for Case V08-004.
Mr. Daniels seconded. Mr. Blake,
Mr. Andrews, Mr. Willoughby, Mr. Lea, Mr. Andrews, Mr. White and Mr. McCree voted
yes. Mr. Parrott voted no and the motion
carried. Mr. Briggs made the motion to
accept the Disciplinary Committee Report including the correction to the
recommendation from discuss to issue a notice of hearing for Case V08-003 and
addendum Case M07-020. Mr. Andrews
second and the motion carried.
Laws, Rules and Legislation: Mr. Briggs deferred to Mr. Harris. Mr. Harris presented the most current draft
of the licensed guidelines document and stated the committee will begin
reviewing of the rules draft. Discussion
ensued. Mr. Harris will present the
final draft to Board members when the rules draft is ready. The guidelines document will be mailed to the
“interested parties list.” Mr. Briggs
stated this report was for information only.
Mr. Blake inquired if the 11:00 Hearing would be held. Mr. Dirksen stated the 11:00 hearing and the
9:00 Hearing for Thursday has requested a continuance and had met all the
requirements. Mr. Andrews made the
motion to grant the continuance for the hearings. Mr. Parrot seconded and the motion carried.
Traineeship: Mr. Blake
presented the Trainee Supervisor Certification Program requirements for
review. Mr. Harris will publish this to
the “interested parties list.”
Clinics: Mr. Lea deferred the meeting to
Mr. Harris. The fall clinic is scheduled
for Wednesday, November 19 at
Carolina Donor Services and Jack Adams will conduct procedures that will
be videoed by the Media Services staff of FTCC to be used in a future CE
clinic. Mr. Harris will attend. Discussion ensued.
Other Committee matters: There were
none.
Attorney Report: Mr. Dirksen
presented the report. Mr. Dirksen
attended a CE class and informed the Board that a 2007 decision determined that
a Corporation might appear before a Board without an attorney.
The Board had previously approved a consent order and defendant later
retained an attorney. Mr. Dirksen
requested that he be delegated to modify the terms of the previous consent
agreement except for the scope, present it to the Board president for signature
and then file this with the Court. Mr.
Parrott made the motion and Mr. Lea seconded.
The motion carried.
Executive Director’s Report: Mr. Harris
submitted the Inspectors Monthly Status Reports for review.
Since the February 13 Board Meeting, fifteen reports have been
filed. Establishment Changes: Closed—Williams Funeral Service,
Ethics Report: E-mails and telephone calls with the different
associations, and received an application to attend the FD & MA of NC, Inc,
annual convention.
Mr. Harris did not report at the last meeting while attending the ICFSEB
Annual Conference, the American Achievement winner was FTCC student Amy
Nash. She scored 100% on four out of
seven categories. Mike Landon was there
to support her acceptance of this award.
Mr. Harris has contacted the NC Medical Board and Vital Records with
regards to the difficulty in getting signatures on death certificates and a
joint meeting is scheduled for April 28th to discuss this problem.
Mr. Harris is working on a staff policy for cell phone use while driving
and e-mail retention.
Mr. Harris reported on the number of telephone calls received after 4:30
since the last board meeting.
North Carolina Department of Insurance has issued their advisory memo to
life insurance companies licensed in
The balance of funds from Lawson Mutual Burial Association,
A report to the Secretary of State summarizing the licensing activities
of the Board with a copy to the Attorney General and Joint Legislative
Administration Procedure Oversight Committee for 2007 was submitted for
review. A report to the General Assembly
summarizing the preneed activities of the Board for 2007 was submitted for
review. Discussion ensued. Mr. Harris will submit these reports with the
correction of the spelling of Mr. Blake’s name.
NCFDA has provided a booth space at their 2008 Educational Conference
& Exposition May 4-6 at the Sheraton Imperial. Mr. Blake will present the Board Report on
May 5. The next Board meeting is
scheduled for May 14 with hearings on May 15.
Plans are moving forward on a Board Member Retreat.
New Business: The 2007
Assessment for the Mutual Burial Associations was $100.00 per Association and
$.35 per member. Mr. White made the
motion to set the same amount for 2008.
Mr. Daniels seconded and the motion carried.
Mr. Blake attended the Annual Meeting of the Funeral Consumers Alliance
of the Triangle on April 14 in
Old Business: Discussion
ensued regarding the Advisory Memorandum of funeral establishments being named
owner of life insurance policies that fund preneed contracts. Mr. White made the motion to approve the
Memorandum with the correction. Mr.
Andrews seconded. Mr. Briggs made the
amendment to the motion to continue seeking a reply from the State Division of
Medical Assistance. Mr. White concurred
with the amendment and the motion carried.
Mr. Harris stated there was some leftover business from the March meeting
with regards to the licensee that wants to be issued his deceased father’s
funeral service number. Discussion
ensued. Mr. Parrott made the motion not
to allow the re-issuance of license numbers.
Mr. Lea seconded and the motion carried.
Mr. Parrott commended Mr. Harris on his presence at the ICFSEB Conference
in
Mr. Blake stated he had attended the funeral of former Board president
Dan Shackleford’s mother.
Mr. Dirksen stated the 1:00 Hearing was still scheduled.
Mr. Blake
opened the floor for public comment. Ms.
Stoddard thanked the Board for being such a “working” Board and staff.
Public Comment:
Mr. Jordan introduced Mr. Cornish who made comments on a new procedure
with eye enucleation. Mr. Harris stated
this information would be provided in the next Board newsletter.
Mr. Toney made
comments on trade embalmers not signing the death certificates and the funeral
home personnel actually signing them.
Mr. Harris
stated that Inspector Carolyn Connor will pick up the records from the closed
Williams Funeral Home in Asheville.
Mr. Harris
stated information regarding a consent order was published in a newspaper and
the attorney for the defendant did not like what was printed so he had
contacted Mr. Dirksen. No action needs
to be taken.
Informational Items: Two items
were submitted.
Mr. Blake
recessed the meeting at 12:00 a.m. to reconvene at 1:00 for the Hearing.
Mark
Blake, President
J.T.
Willoughby III, Secretary