BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES October 6-7, 2017

Transcription

1 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES October 6-7, 2017 The Board of Directors convened at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, October 6, at the Hilton Garden Inn Outer Banks in Kitty Hawk, NC with President Brenda Howerton presiding: OFFICERS PRESENT President Brenda Howerton, Durham County President-Elect Larry Phillips, Surry County 1 st Vice President Kevin Austin, Yadkin County 2 nd Vice President Ronnie Smith, Martin County Past President Fred McClure, Davidson County Executive Director Kevin Leonard DIRECTORS PRESENT District 1 Director Joseph Winslow, Jr., Pasquotank County District 2 Director Ernestine Bazemore, Bertie County District 5 Director Tony Hunt, Hoke County District 6 Director Marshall Faircloth, Cumberland County District 8 Director Dan Brummitt, Vance County District 9 Director Karen Howard, Chatham County District 10 Director Jim Matheny, Montgomery County District 11 Director Nate Hall, Caswell County District 12 Director Tom Keigher, Gaston County District 13 Director Mike LaBrose, CaldwellCounty District 14 Director Keith Elmore, Wilkes County District 15 Director Johnny Hutchins, Cleveland County District 16 Director Larry Chapman, Transylvania County District 17 Director C.B. McKinnon, Cherokee County NACo Director Tracey Johnson, Washington County NCACC Past President Kitty Barnes, Catawba County NCACC Past President Ronnie Beale, Macon County NCACC Past President Darrell Frye, Randolph County At-Large Director Garry Meiggs, Camden County At-Large Director Renee Price, Orange County At-Large Director Sig Hutchinson, Wake County Agriculture Chair Amy Dalrymple, Lee County General Government Chair Ellen Reckhow, Durham County Justice and Public Safety Chair Tare T Davis, Warren County Public Education Chair Mark Richardson, Rockingham County Tax & Finance Chair Johnnie Carswell, Burke County Legislative Goals Co-Chair Trevor Fuller, Mecklenburg County Legislative Goals Co-Chair Gloria Whisenhunt, Forsyth County Presidential Task Force Co-Chair Gary D. Blevins, Wilkes County Presidential Task Force Co-Chair Ed Booth, Beaufort County Trustees Representative Ann Holton, Pamlico County Managers Representative-Nonvoting Craig Honeycutt, Wayne County

2 THOSE ABSENT District 3 Director Jack Bright, Onslow County District 4 Director George Brown, Pender County District 7 Director Viola Harris, Edgecombe County District 18 Director Terry Renegar, Davie County NACo Director Ray Jeffers, Person County NACo Director George Dunlap, Mecklenburg County NCACC Past President Glen Webb II, Pitt County At-Large Director Kay Cashion, Guilford County At-Large Director Connie Orr, Graham County Environment Chair Carol McCall, Scotland County Human Services Chair Bob Byrd, Alamance County GUESTS Lauren Williams, Johnson Lambert & Co. LLP Rob Hamilton, Johnson Lambert & Co. LLP Call to Order: Welcome and Introductions President Howerton called the meeting to order at 2 p.m. and recognized Past President Fred McClure to give the Invocation and lead the Board in the Pledge of Allegiance. Swearing In of Board of Directors Executive Director Kevin Leonard was called upon to issue the oath of office and swear in new members of the NCACC Board of Directors. Board Business: Approve Meeting Minutes President Howerton asked for any discussion or changes to the minutes from the August 9, 2017 meeting. Action Taken: With no changes offered, President Howerton acknowledged first and second motions to approve the minutes. The minutes were unanimously approved. President s Report President Howerton thanked the Board members for serving and expressed her excitement at taking on her new role as president and beginning her presidential initiative, 100 Counties: Helping Our Children Thrive. Executive Officer Reports President-Elect Larry Phillips welcomed and thanked everyone for taking time from their schedules and for their service to North Carolina. First Vice President Kevin Austin remarked on what an honor it is to serve with the members of the Board and welcomed new members. Second Vice President Ronnie Smith welcomed and thanked everyone for their support. Past President McClure welcomed everyone and offered words of encouragement to President Howerton, remarking that she will do a great job. Executive Director Report Executive Director Kevin Leonard thanked Larry Phillips for attending the NC League of Municipalities Annual Conference in Pitt County on behalf of the Association. Executive officers are asked to represent the Association and our counties in a number of meetings, conferences, and events throughout the year. Thank you to our Executive Officers for all you do. Staff announcements: David Baker has been hired as Director of Tax and Revenue Outreach and will be the main point of contact with the new NCPTS Oversight Committee. Risk Management has hired a former chief of police, William Halliburton, who will be working with sheriffs and helping build those relationships across the state. Amber Harris has been promoted to Government Relations

3 Coordinator and will work as a registered advocate who will work on behalf of the Association attending meetings and monitoring the legislative session at the General Assembly. Amber has eight years of experience working at the General Assembly. Patrice Roesler is retiring after 42 years at the Association. While the news is bittersweet, Patrice will begin a new position as Manager of Elected Official Programming at the UNC School of Government s newly created Center for Public Leadership and Governance. President Howerton noted Patrice s ability to build relationships and thanked her for her dedication to counties, local government and North Carolina over the past 42 years. Open Board Discussion Commissioner Mark Richardson remarked on the number of issues surrounding public education, and as chairman of the Association s Public Education Steering Committee asks of those assembled to please reach out to him and apprise him of any issues dealing with public education in your counties. Commissioner Reckhow pointed out that the special session did not address the issue of reducing class size. Also noted was that it is important to highlight the issue of unfunded mandates on counties, both for commissioners and the public at large. Commissioner Dalrymple stated that Lee and Chatham counties are dealing with issue of fracking again, as there appears to be a movement to take away any county moratoriums on oil and gas extraction as well as surface mining along with the right to do any study possibly being taken away by legislature. The deeper issue is about taking away local control. The Mining and Energy Commission rules also address off-shore drilling, so Lee County is open to partnering with coastal counties on that issue as well. NACo Seat 2 Election The vacancy of NACo Seat 2 is to be filled by the Association s Board of Directors, per the NCACC Constitution. President Howerton received letters from five candidates Jonathan Barfield of New Hanover County, Viola Harris of Edgecombe County, Anita McCall of Lincoln County, Gloria Whisenhunt of Forsyth County and Glen Webb II of Pitt County. Board members were asked to mark their selection via ballot and return the completed ballots to 1 st Vice President Kevin Austin or 2 nd Vice President Ronnie Smith who will tabulate vote totals. NCACC Board Orientation The NCACC Board Orientation discussion was led by Amy Bason and Patrice Roesler. After viewing a video overview regarding county government and services, produced by the NCACC Communications department, Board members were presented with a Board of Directors Handbook, which provides an overview of Board member roles and responsibilities. The Board of Directors makeup is laid out in the NCACC Constitution and is comprised of the following: 1 Executive officers and executive director, who are voting members of the Board of Directors; 2 Board member roles: There are 18 district directors, with elections held every year (oddnumbered voting year for odd-numbered districts; even-numbered voting year for even-numbered districts) 3 Steering committee chairs in seven policy areas: Agriculture, Environment, General Government, Health & Human Services, Justice & Public Safety, Public Education and Tax & Finance. 4 At-Large Past Presidents, which are appointed by the President each year; 5 At-Large Directors, which are appointed by the President each year; 6 NACo Board seat #1 all states; seat #2 population based; seat #3 100% county participation. NCACC has always had 100% participation. 7 Board of Trustees Representative 8 NCCCMA representative, who is a non-voting member. 9 Legislative goals committee chair/co-chairs 10 Task force/presidential Initiative chair/co-chairs

4 A part of the Board of Directors roles & responsibilities includes the Reimbursement policy. NCACC asks for detailed, itemized receipts for reimbursements. Please direct any questions about reimbursements and the policy to Elizabeth Floyd, Scott Kauffman or Alisa Cobb Introductions will take place tomorrow. For this weekend, new members of the Board of Directors are wearing green ribbons. Please seek them out and have a conversation with a new member. Tomorrow you ll be asked to introduce your partner. Also, let us know if you re a covered individual under the State Ethics Act, or please see Amy Bason or Alisa Cobb if you have questions. President Howerton thanked both Patrice and Amy for presenting the Board of Directors overview and announced the winner of the NACo seat 2 Election as Forsyth County Commissioner Gloria Whisenhunt. Commissioner Whisenhunt stated she s honored and pleased to be the representative on the NACo Board. The Board took a 15-minute break (3:20-3:35) Legal Update Amy Bason addressed the issue of potential litigation regarding the opioid crisis facing the nation and its impact on North Carolina counties. Deputy Director/General Counsel Bason explained that the Association has been receiving information about the potential for counties to bring lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors. At this time, Buncombe County has passed a resolution on this topic - deciding to pursue litigation, with New Hanover looking at the issue as well. The Association wants to be a resource to provide objective information to counties, and help to maximize any recovery that may be available. Firms approaching counties are working on a contingency basis and typically take 30% of recovery monies received. At this point, there are many questions that the Association is reviewing including potential causes of action, types and amounts of damages, and the differences between local government lawsuits and potential statewide action by the Attorney General. This topic generated a great deal of discussion among board members. In particular, board members want to ensure that counties are considered in any recovery that may result in North Carolina, so this does not mirror the tobacco settlement for local governments. NCACC legal staff will continue to gather information on the questions raised. In addition, the staff will convene a session and working group for County Attorneys, in order to provide them with information to bring back to their counties, as well as identify questions and additional action items. NCACC legal staff will report back to the board as this topic progresses. NCACC Finance Report, Audit Report, Fund Balance Discussion The financial statements for the month ended July 31, 2017, showed the Association is in good financial standing. As normal, some revenues are lagging projections and some expenses are ahead of projections due to the timing of the receipt and payment of funds. The impact of the fire in both the receipt of insurance proceeds and the payout of extra expenses will be reflected on the statement of activity for this year and a few years to come. To date, the excess revenues over expenses are $170,737. The liquidity ratio is over 7 and cash flow is positive. Action Taken: There was a Motion and 2 nd to approve the finance report. Motion approved. NCACC Audit Report Auditors from Johnson Lambert & Co LLP, Lauren Williams and Rob Hamilton, were in attendance to present the June 30, 2017 Audited Financial Statements and the required accompanying communications. The opinion issued by the auditors was a clean or unqualified opinion. There were no matters of significance or internal control deficiencies identified. The audit reflected a couple of adjustments related to the asset impairment as a result of the fire loss. The auditors also made the Board aware of new FASB guidelines that will be effective and will be discussed with staff prior to implementation.

5 Action Taken: After some discussion, there was a motion and second to approve the audit report as presented; the audit report was approved. NCACC Fund Balance Discussion Executive Director Kevin Leonard made the following recommendations to allocate excess revenue of $763,705, are as follows: $100,000 to the Litigation Assistance Reserve Fund; $331,843 to the Contingency Reserve Fund; $165,926 to the Education, Conference and Leadership Training Fund; and the remaining $165,926 to the Undesignated Reserve Fund. Action Taken: After some discussion, there was a motion and second to accept the recommendations as presented. The motion was approved. Membership Services Update Matt Gunnet reviewed Endorsed Services and cost recovery and cost savings programs with the Board. Endorsed Services include Association Services, which is a whole life insurance plan provided to your employees, premiums never increase and it transfers with employment changes and; Community Eye Care, which is portable without COBRA with no rate increase and is a North Carolina-based company, which was not started by an insurance company but by optometrists and ophthalmologists; e-connect Direct, which is fairly new, is an online brokerage that takes the guess work out of investing; GovDeals, an online auction for surplus items in your counties and will get you a better return 99% of the time; Live Healthy US Counties, a free service, for all county residents not just employees, and a number of county nursing homes use these; new with the program is an optional marketing fee that can be returned to counties provided by NACo.; US Communities, which is the largest national government purchasing cooperative in the country average of 10% savings but up to 30% savings; they just got a contract with Amazon so encourage you to look at this program. Cost Recovery Services include EMS Medicaid, which has returned around $266 million to counties since 2000; Debt Setoff has returned around $200 million since 2002 most jurisdictions are only submitting around four types of debt but your county can submit any legal debt through this program. Contact Matt if you have any questions about any of these programs. Les Thompson, Senior Retirement Specialist, with Nationwide discussed the NACo 457 Plan. Nationwide is a mutual company owned by customers so the company is insulated from stockholders and Wall Street. In North Carolina, Nationwide services 84 of 100 counties. With the 457 Plan, there is no age requirement for penalty free distribution upon separation of service. Their fixed fund pays 3.5% and is guaranteed not to go below 3.5%. They have an interactive retirement planner, for members and non-members, which shows your gap and gives you the opportunity to see what can be done to close that gap. The Board recessed at 5:15 p.m. for photos to be followed by the Board reception and dinner at the Pier House. The Board meeting is scheduled to reconvene Saturday, Oct. 7 at 8:30 a.m. in the Pier House. Saturday, Oct. 7 The Board of Directors Meeting Reconvened at 8:30 a.m. NCACC Board Orientation, continued Board orientation continued with Amy and Patrice. Great to identify new commissioners yesterday. Board members were asked to work in pairs for 10 minutes and after 10 minutes, to introduce partner and introduce their partners to the group in one minute. This exercise was a great way to introduce new Board members as well as find out new information about current Board of Directors members. The Board took a break at 10:00, scheduled to return at 10:15. Closed Session Fire Recovery Discussion

6 Staff was asked to leave the room for the Board discussion; the Board went into closed session from 10:15 until 11:10 a.m. Presidential Initiative Report Counties: Helping Our Children Thrive There are so many children in North Carolina who would thrive if they had an opportunity and resources available to them. There are so many who do not reach adulthood as functioning members of society. The Thrive Vision encompasses many different areas, and we would like to integrate our ideas into child welfare reform and see goals that become part of a series of legislation, (The Howerton Act) as something to take to the legislature. We want to make a difference in the lives of both children and their parents. Thrive s mission is to inspire and support county government efforts to grow and maintain an environment that fosters social, economic and physical health of our children. The focus encompasses children ages from birth to 18, is countydriven and centered on problem-solving and finding positive, new resources which could potentially lead to legislative solutions. Three Regional Meetings on Child Welfare are scheduled for December 6 in Buncombe County, January 17 in Edgecombe County and January 22 in Guilford County, along with a Convening on Childhood Poverty scheduled for March. President Howerton thanked Commissioner Blevins, Commissioner Booth and Dr. Millsaps for leading this charge. Education is so important and it takes money. President Howerton will be serving on the Blue Ribbon Commission (IEI), looking for resources for funding for pre-k on. If you have any ideas to share, please get in touch with her or one of the co-chairs, Commissioner Gary D. Blevins (Wilkes) and Commissioner Ed Booth (Bladen). Government Relations Update The Legislature has been busy, which seems to be new normal, and any issue can be taken up at state legislature. HB56 An Act to Amend Various Environmental Laws was vetoed by the Governor but his veto was overridden. The General Assembly added GenX funding into this bill but we were able to incorporate some changes in as well. With these complex issues arising at the legislature, counties need to stay together and remain 100 voices united. Redistricting, scheduled to be taken up in October, appears to be a House driven initiative in which the Senate has shown no interest. All 100 counties were upset with SB16 Business Regulatory Reform Act of 2017, another regulatory reform bill, which was vetoed by the Governor also but his veto was overridden. SB181, a local Guilford County bill regarding legal public notices published online, establishes a pilot program which, if successful, could be expanded to include other counties. January 10, 2018 is the start of the next special session. Constitutional amendments could be taken up in this special session. The January 2018 deadline for voting machine decertification is rapidly approaching. Work is underway to get a committee appointed to discuss the Schoolboard Lawsuit issue and look at alternative options. Work is also taking place to get a School Bond on the ballot. Risk Management Report Ann Holton, the Board of Trustees Board Chair, shared the history and the current status of the Risk Management Pools. The Board of Trustees was established in the early 1980s to assist smaller counties who typically had trouble being insured. Currently, 67 counties are participating in the Association s Liability & Property and Workers Compensation pools. Board of Trustee members are appointed by the Association President for three-year staggered terms. The Risk Management budget is separate, and the Risk pools pay into the Association an institutional value fee and administrative fees. The Pools are sound. The Board of Trustees meets four times per year. One emphasis this year has been on getting some control in the property and liability and law enforcement area and, to that end, have hired Bill Halliburton, who has a law enforcement background and most recently was the police chief in Dunn. To date, Bill has met with almost half of

7 the state s sheriffs to discuss items that cause great exposure to the pool, including discussions about the necessity of high speed chases. The Agenda ran over so the topic of LELA 2.0 Next Steps with Leadership Training will be discussed at the February 7 meeting. Conclusion and Adjournment President Howerton thanked staff and announced the next meeting date of February 7, 2018 in Wake County, exact location to be determined, and remarked that she hopes this has been a productive and enjoyable meeting and that all have made new friends. Please contact President Howerton or Kevin Leonard if you have any questions. A motion and second were made to adjourn the meeting at 12 noon; the motion was approved. Brenda Howerton Kevin Leonard President Executive Director