Freeman tells Board that local government will be represented in working groups

• Also see: Freeman strives to build consensus as DENR secretary

By Jason King
Assistant Communications Director

Six months after being appointed secretary of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Dee Freeman woke up July 1 and had nothing but an IOU to run DENR.

So goes the life of a state department head and member of Governor Beverly Perdue's Cabinet during lean economic times, Freeman told the NCACC Board of Directors during its Aug. 26 meeting in Catawba County.

Freeman, who managed four municipalities and served as executive director of the Triangle J Council of Governments during a 36-year local government career, said Charlie Perusse, the governor's budget director, called him and told him "We're sweeping your accounts."

While the state budget crunch has served as a challenge – "We were tasked with reverting monies that have never been reverted before to the general fund," Freeman said – the DENR secretary said the state's citizens are in for a rude awakening if they think the state's water crisis in 2008 is over.

Freeman said he believes that water is going to be one of the most important issues facing the state in the near future and pointed out that several areas of the state came dangerously close to exhausting their water supplies during the drought.

"I don't think the public really realized how close that came," he said.

Part of making sure that crisis doesn't reoccur could be the reestablishment of a strong state-local partnership, which plays into one of Freeman's first initiatives. He said he is creating three working groups – business and industry, environment, and local government and regulatory government – that he and his senior staff will meet with on a quarterly basis. NCACC Executive Director David F. Thompson will serve on the local government working group.

"Somewhere along the way within the last several years we've let [the partnership] drift away," Freeman said. "We need to be working together rather than being at odds with each other."

In other news from the meeting:

• The Board approved a request from Risk Management Director Lester J. Nixon to bring wellness coordination and health network planning services in-house. Under the plan, the half-time wellness coordinator and Carolina Access for Public Entities (CAPE) developer services contracted through CIGNA would be replaced with a full-time coordinator and a full-time provider network planner. Additional costs – the current cost to contract for the two positions is $184,000; the projected in-house cost is $196,100 – are minimal compared with the benefit of increasing the Pools' wellness presence by 100 percent, according to Nixon. The request is still subject to approval of the RMP Board of Trustees.
• The Board was briefed on initial plans to bring Risk Management claims management in-house. Nixon reported this is a significant and large undertaking that will call for hiring a number of new employees and will require physical alterations to the Pools' offices in the Quorum Center. The projected start date for operations is Jan. 1, 2011. An implementation plan was to be presented to the RMP Board of Trustees during its Sept. 10-11 meeting.
• NCACC Executive Director David F. Thompson announced that Kevin Leonard, who joined the Association's staff June 1, has been promoted to director of government relations.