Constitutional amendments up for vote

By Jason King
Information and Communications Specialist

County commissioners will vote on proposed amendments to the Association’s constitution for the first time in nine years at the 99th Annual Conference in September. An ad hoc Constitution and Bylaws Committee, formed by President Kitty Barnes at the 2005 Annual Conference and chaired by Orange County Commissioner Moses Carey, finalized its recommended changes in May. The NCACC Board of Directors at its June 16-17 meeting authorized the revisions for a full vote of the membership.

Amendments include:

• renaming the position of “First Vice President” to “President Elect.” The second and third vice president positions would, respectively, be renamed first and second vice president. The changes would bring the NCACC in line with NACo’s naming of its executive committee.
• clarifying that the chairs of steering committees and the Legislative Goals Committee who are not already members of the Board of Directors are voting members of the Board. These members are currently known as ex-officio, or non-voting, members.
• adding a county commissioner to the Board of Directors as a representative of the Risk Management Pools Board of Trustees. The member will be appointed by the president after consulting with the chairs of the three boards of trustees (Group Benefits, Workers’ Compensation, and Liability and Property).
• officially adding a county managers’ representative to the Board of Directors as a non-voting member. Harnett County Manager Neil Emory has served as the managers’ representative since 2004, when Past President Breeden Blackwell created the seat.
• adding a section that allows the Board to grant an individual or corporation an Associate Membership. The NCACC in January 2004 began an Associate Membership Program for companies wishing to do business with N.C. counties.

The proposed recommendations are the most substantial offered to the constitution since 1988, when members adopted an amendment that allowed the president to appoint up to five at-large directors to the Board.

The Constitution and Bylaws Committee met several times over the past year to discuss changes and draft the constitution’s language. Committee members included Carey, Cabarrus County Commissioner Joni Juba, Guilford County Manager David McNeill, Hertford County Commissioner DuPont Davis, Pamlico County Commissioner Christine Mele, and Pitt County Board of Commissioners Chair Jimmy Garris and Attorney JoAnne Burgdorff. General Counsel Jim Blackburn served as the NCACC’s staff liaison to the committee.

The proposed amendments will be presented to the membership during the Friday, Sept. 8, general session of the Annual Conference and voted on during the Sept. 9 business session. Amendments to the constitution require two-thirds approval of all counties voting.

Since a new document was drafted in 1978, the membership has adopted constitutional revisions in 1983, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995 and 1997. The NCACC, founded in 1908, first adopted a constitution in 1924.