Meeting Minutes - LANC Board of Directors
September 8, 2006
Site/Location: Crown Plaza Resort,
Asheville, NC
Call to Order and Welcome
Chairman Cal Adams called the public regular business meeting to
order at 10:05 a.m. and welcomed all in attendance.
Members Present
|
Reid C. Adams |
Mary Flowers |
Pearl Nealey |
|
Leo L. Allison
|
Nancy Hannah |
Frank Queen |
|
Glenn Barfield |
Hada Haulsee |
Paul Shepard |
|
Helen Cook |
Nellie Kearney |
Rhonda Shepherd |
|
Leto Copeley |
Phillip Leigh |
Charles Ward |
|
Burton Craige |
Scott Lewis |
Willis Williams |
|
Sarah Davis |
Mary Flowers |
Diana Williams-Cotton |
|
Willie Dawson |
Gregg McDougal |
|
Members Absent With Prior Notification:
|
Richard Fay |
Pender McElroy |
Janet Ward Black |
|
Olga Gomez |
Lisa Morgan |
|
|
James Maxwell |
Saketta Spivey |
|
Administrative Office Staff:
George R. Hausen, Jr., LANC Executive Director
Dock Kornegay, Director, Public Relations & Communications
Chris Marks, Assistant Director of Finance & Administration
Celia Pistolis, Assistant Director of Advocacy and Compliance
Tonya Pruitt-Lyons, Administrative Assistant
LANC Staff Members:
Lynn Chance, Staff, LANC Greensboro Office
Barbara Degen, Regional Manager/Senior Managing Attorney, LANC Morganton
Ted Fillette, Assistant Director/Senior Managing Attorney, LANC
Charlotte
Mary Lee Hall, Senior Managing Attorney, LANC Farmworker Unit
Mary Hedgepeth, Client Council Coordinator
Richard Klein, Regional Manager/Senior Managing Attorney, LANC
Wilmington
Evan Lewis, Senior Managing Attorney, LANC Greenville
Hazel Mack-Hilliard, Senior Managing Attorney, LANC Winston-Salem
Janet McAuley-Blue, Managing Attorney, LANC Greensboro
Lewis Pitts, Project Director, Advocates for Children’s Services
Jim Wall, Senior Managing Attorney, LANC Wilmington
Reynauld Williams, Regional Manager/Senior Managing Attorney, LANC
Ahoskie
LANC Affiliated Attendees:
A.P. Carlton, Esq., Kilpatrick Stockton
Dennis Dorgan, Consultant, LANC Access to Justice Campaign
Elizabeth Fentress, President, NC Community Foundation
Shirley Jones, Clients Council
Evelyn Pursley, Executive Director, IOLTA
Bill Rowe, Esq., NC Justice Center
Willis P. Whichard, Esq., former Dean of Norman A. Wiggins School
of Law, Campbell University
Shirley Williams, Clients Council
Approval of Minutes
Chairman Adams directed the Board’s attention to the Board of
Directors general business meeting minutes of June 16, 2006.
Following review and discussion of the minutes, a motion was made, duly
seconded, and the Board unanimously approved the minutes as written.
Chairman’s Report
Chairman Adams introduced A.P. Carlton, partner with the firm of
Kilpatrick Stockton in Raleigh, NC, who has agreed to head LANC’s Access
to Justice Campaign in the Triangle. The Triangle Committee will
work with the Access to Justice campaign to develop private philanthropy
to fill the gap in the available funding for LANC. Mr. Carlton
spoke passionately about his plans for the campaign that include
establishing an endowment for funds received from campaign
contributions.
Mr. Carlton then introduced Dean Willis Whichard and Ms. Elizabeth
Fentress, President of the NC Community Foundation. The NC
Community Foundation was established as a statewide foundation in 1988
by leading philanthropists who envisioned a pool of dedicated endowment
funds that would provide for the safety and growth of North Carolina
charitable nonprofit institutions and organizations in perpetuity. The
NCCF seeks gifts from individuals, corporations, organizations, and
other foundations to ensure the financial security of our State’s
nonprofits. Ms. Fentress stated that her organization has
maintained endowment funds for many non-profit organizations and that
LANC should consider an endowment as a means of recurring revenue for
future funding.
Mr. Carlton further stated that an organizational meeting would be held
in October to discuss raising funds for LANC after the black out date
has passed for the United Way campaign.
Chairman Adams then recognized Dennis Dorgan, consultant to the
Access to Justice campaign who stated that any organization determined
to endure long-term should have an endowment. He further
stated that corporations and private donors are more willing to make
charitable contributions to organizations with established endowments.
Chairman Adams, with the unanimous support of the Board, charged the
Resource Development Committee to examine establishing an endowment
through the NC Community Foundation.
Mr. Adams then recognized Bill Rowe with the NC Justice Center to give
the Legislative Update. Mr. Rowe reported that the North Carolina
Legislature, amended its Rules of Civil Procedure to provide that
unclaimed residuals in class action litigation (cy pres awards) be
divided equally between the Indigent Defense Services for criminal
representation of indigent defendants and the North Carolina State Bar
for the provision of civil legal services for indigents. The funds
from those awards would be directed to IOLTA. He
further reported that the General Assembly had passed $1,000,000 of
recurring revenue to be divided between Legal Aid of North Carolina and
Pisgah Legal Services. Other good news was that legislation was
passed increasing the minimum wage by $1 per hour to $6.15 per hour
effective January 1, 2007 and positive steps were taken to improve the
state’s mental healthcare delivery system, and lobbying and ethics
reform laws were enacted.
Mr. Adams then recognized Evelyn Pursley, Executive Director of
IOLTA, who reported that revenue from the interest accounts is up, and
that IOLTA is looking at a projected 4 million dollars in the IOLTA
reserves. She stated that IOLTA could possibly generate an
additional $700, 000 dollars in funding for the remainder of this year
and into next year, but that some of this available money would be put
back into IOLTA reserves. Ms. Pursley further reported that IOLTA
rules in four states (Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and Indiana) were
being amended to require mandatory participation for all eligible
attorneys. She went on to state that NC IOLTA participation is
currently at 73% and the program would need participation from 80% of
eligible attorney to become mandatory. To reach this goal, she
projected that NC needs 650 more attorneys to participate in the IOLTA
program.
President’s Report
George Hausen reported that the Mortgage Foreclosure Project is doing
quite well. The project since its inception has saved over 10
million dollars in home equity for our clients. He also reported
that the Centralized Intake Unit is doing extraordinary work and that
the unit has closed over 1,000 cases in the last three months and the
potential to close 3,000 cases in the coming months. The CIU
is staffed by eight to ten attorneys who are working part-time to
provide brief advice and service to North Carolina clients. This unit
has significantly expanded access to our services.
Mr. Hausen asked the Board to review and approve the Memorandum of
Collaboration between Legal Aid of North Carolina and Legal Services of
the Southern Piedmont found on page 17 of the board book.
Following discussion, it was moved, duly seconded and UNANIMOUSLY
RESOLVED to approve the Memorandum of Collaboration.
George Hausen called on Dock Kornegay to give a report on LANC’s
current media activity. Mr. Kornegay reported that LANC has been
recognized by the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys as the
recipient of the 2006 NCAWA Large Firm Balanced Life Workplace Award.
The award is given to recognize the firm’s commitment to employment
policies that assist lawyers in achieving balance between their work and
personal lives. The award will be presented during the NCAWA’s
annual conference on Friday, October 13 at the Renaissance Hotel in
Asheville, NC. He further reported that the Winston-Salem office
of LANC sent out a media release launching its “Justice For All”
volunteer project. The office is looking for volunteers to help
with multiple ongoing projects and to educate the community about the
services we provide.
Committee Reports
Nominating Committee
Burton Craige stated that the Committee had completed its work at the
previous board meeting in June, and had nothing current to report.
Resource Development Committee
Paul Shepard stated that the Committee had nothing current to
report, but that the Committee would begin the process of working with
the NC Community Foundation on establishing an endowment fund for Legal
Aid of North Carolina. The Committee will provide the Board with a
report and its recommendations.
Finance Committee
Leto Copeley reported that the budget was on track for 2007. She
further reported that there is the possibility that LANC will lose the
VOCA and DV funding due to cuts. She also stated that LANC’s
health plan is currently stable and projected to have a “good year” this
year. Chris Marks reported that LANC was able to give out COLA
increases and pay increases to attorneys and support staff this year.
Operations Committee
Willie Dawson directed the board’s attention to the local advisory
reports in the board book from the Raleigh, Morganton, New Bern, and
Durham offices. He reported that the Committee will continue to
meet as needed.
Personnel Committee
Hada Haulsee reported that the committee is still in discussion
with regard to a recommendation that LANC adopt a provision for LANC
employees to borrow against their retirement funds. At the
previous board meeting it was recommended that the Committee consider
this option, as the practice would encourage employees to make more
contributions to the plan. Ms. Haulsee also reported that the
Committee would be working towards drafting a policy that states that an
attorney must give LANC 30 days notice before leaving employment with
LANC.
Grievance Committee
Phillip Leigh reported that there are no grievances pending.
Client Affairs Committee
Willis Williams reported that Client Affairs Committee met with
Ajamu Dillahunt from the NC Justice Center about their work plan.
He stated that the goals of the Clients Council were ambitious: to reach
all eligible clients in all 100 counties across North Carolina.
Mr. Williams also reported that Jim Grant a member of the Clients
Council was a recipient of the NC Justice Center 2006 Grassroots
Empowerment Award to be presented during the 8th Annual Defenders of
Justice award on October 19, 2006. He reported that the
Clients Council is soliciting contributions from its members for the
Access to Justice campaign and hopes to achieve 100% participation.
Mr. Williams further reported that the first edition of the Clients
Council newsletter would be published in the next few weeks as part of
the NC Justice Center’s newspaper, “Community News.” He also
reported that the Clients Council would be seeking to nominate a client
for the Denny Award at the NLADA Annual conference in Charlotte in
November.
Strategic Planning Committee
Glenn Barfield reported that the committee has plans in place to
complete its work on developing a long term approach to address the
organization’s mission. The committee will report on its work at
the next board meeting.
Adjournment
As there was no further business to discuss, Chairman Adams
adjourned the meeting at 12:45 p.m.
____________________________
Mary Flowers, Secretary
LANC Board of Directors
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