EMS administrators' association named NCACC affiliate

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You can never have too many friends – or too much expertise. With those thoughts in mind, the NCACC Board of Directors on Feb. 3 approved a request for affiliate status from the N.C. Association of Emergency Medical Services Administrators. NCAEMSA is the 12th organization to gain NCACC affiliate status.

Cleveland County EMS Director Joe Lord chairs NCAEMSA, the NCACC's newest affiliate member. (Photo by Jason King)

Joe Lord, Cleveland County EMS director and chairman of NCAEMSA, presented the request along with NCACC Legislative Counsel Jim Blackburn and Policy Advocate Anthony Allen.

Among other provisions, the NCACC provides to its affiliate groups membership rights on steering committees and the Legislative Goals Committee. Affiliates are obliged to provide advice, information and education to assist Association members and staff to understand technical and other aspects of the subject matter represented by the affiliate.

"The expertise that these folks bring to the table helps us a lot, especially during the goals development process," Blackburn said.

Each organization will provide support to the other in pursuing legislative objectives.

"There is strength in numbers," said NCACC First Vice President Brian McMahan of Jackson County. "Having another voice to help us advocate on a position in the General Assembly can't hurt us."

NCAEMSA was established in 1988 as a nonprofit to help raise professional standards and improve practices used in emergency medical services management by providing guidance, coordination, a forum for exchange of ideas and an informational network for EMS administrators. For more information on NCAEMSA, visit www.ncaemsa.org.

Association to participate in three county appeals

The NCACC Executive Committee has approved participation in three cases now before appellate courts that involve North Carolina counties and present issues of statewide importance. The NCACC will file Amicus Curiae ("friend of the court") briefs in each case.

Graham County Board of Elections v. Graham County Board of Commissioners involves an appeal by the Board of Commissioners of a grant by a Superior Court judge of a writ of mandamus requiring the county to pay a part-time employee hired by the director of elections after the commissioners had amended the county budget to reduce funding and eliminate the position.

The overriding issue, from the perspective of the county and the Association, is whether the writ of mandamus violated the requirements of the Local Government Budget and Fiscal Control Act, specifically the provisions of NCGS 159-28, which prevents county agencies or employees from incurring obligations for which funds have not been authorized. An adverse decision upholding the validity of the writ could significantly impair counties' ability to control expenditures in the future.

In Union County Landowners Association v. Union County, the Court of Appeals reversed an earlier decision by a trial court upholding the county's Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance, which is designed to assure coordination of development with available school facilities made necessary by the development. Union County has petitioned the Supreme Court seeking discretionary review.

To leave the decision of the Court of Appeals in place would hamper counties' ability to control growth through a tool that coordinates approval of development with the availability of infrastructure (in this case, schools).

The case of IBM Credit Corp. v. Durham County involves a dispute over valuation of computers and related items and has been going on for more than eight years.