Board focuses on cooperative efforts during final meeting

Kitty Barnes’ final Board of Directors meeting as NCACC president was just like her term as president – action-packed to the last minute.

Executive Director David F. Thompson presented plaques during the Sept. 9 business session to at-large and ex-officio Board of Directors members for 2006-07. Pictured from left to right: At-Large Director Joni Juba of Cabarrus County, Ad Hoc Committee Chair Moses Carey of Orange County, At-Large Director Dumont Clarke of Mecklenburg County, Public Education Steering Committee Chair Mary Accor of Cleveland County, NACo Director Pete Averette of Granville County, At-Large Director Lionell Midgett of Onslow County, and Past President J. Breeden Blackwell of Cumberland County. (Photos by Jason King)

On Sept. 6, prior to the NCACC Annual Conference, Barnes for the final time as president convened the Board of Directors. During the meeting, the Board approved a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between county governments and the Cooperative Extension Service, heard from Dr. Martin Lancaster, president of the North Carolina Community College System, and received an update on the Association’s Risk Management Pools.

Dr. Jon Ort, vice chancellor and assistant dean of the Extension Services Program at N.C. State University, and Sheri Schwab, associate director for personnel, reviewed the history of the Cooperative Extension Services (CES) program and highlighted the proposed revisions to the MOU between the program and county governments.

Schwab said the most significant change would be to shift CES employees to the N.C. State payroll, which allows them to become part of the University of North Carolina system and standardizes their retirement and disability benefits and personnel policies.

The MOU was unveiled to all county managers and county CES directors on Sept. 8. If a county ratifies the agreement on or before Nov. 1, 2006, it will become effective on Jan. 1, 2007. Agreements ratified before Oct. 1, 2007, will have an effective date of Jan. 1, 2008.

New NCACC President Terry Garrison introduced Lancaster. Garrison said one of his presidential initiatives would be to ask state officials to appear before the Board of Directors throughout the year in an effort to continue redefining the state-county relationship, one of the Association’s adopted strategic goals.

The Association thanked its outgoing district directors during the Sept. 9 business session. From left to right, Avery County's Joe Strickland, Pitt County's Jimmy Garris, Brunswick County's Bill Sue, Cumberland County's Kenneth Edge, Person County's Jimmy Clayton, Gaston County's Pearl Burris-Floyd, and Anson County's Jarvis Woodburn completed two-year terms at the conference.

Noting that North Carolina community college faculty salaries rank 46th among the states, Lancaster asked that counties consider providing salary supplements to instructors if they are not already doing so. Community colleges are losing instructors to the public school system, he added, and pointed out that community colleges can play an important role in counties’ economic development.

Lancaster also asked county commissioners to consider helping community colleges in the recruitment of trustees. Tougher ethics rules recently passed by the Legislature require a much higher level of financial disclosure from the trustees and are having a negative impact on potential candidates’ willingness to serve. Lancaster said commissioners could also encourage local hospitals to utilize community colleges to train hospital personnel. As an example, he cited WakeMed Hospital in Raleigh, which is now paying the full salaries of two nursing faculty members at Wake Technical Community College.

Executive Director David F. Thompson updated the Board on the status of the Workers’ Compensation Pool. An actuarial firm recently hired by the Association concluded that the rates for 2006-07 were adequate for the expected claims, but that a long-term deficit of approximately $22 million still existed.

Thompson told the Board that the risk management staff had outlined several strategies to improve the pool’s bottom line so that the Association can continue to offer this valuable service to counties while beginning to reduce the deficit.

Thompson also said the Association is re-examining its space needs in the Quorum Center, the new building under construction near the Albert Coates Local Government Center that will house the NCACC’s risk management and information technology operations beginning in November 2006.