Legal Aid of North Carolina

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Meeting Minutes - LANC Board of Directors
September 8, 2005

Site/Location: Clarion State Capitol Hotel, 320 Hillsborough Street
Raleigh, NC

Call to Order and Welcome

Reid “Cal” Adams, Chair of the Board of Directors, called the meeting to order at 10:35 a.m. and welcomed all in attendance.

Members Present

Leo L. Allison	Sarah Davis	Frank Queen
Reid C. Adams	Mary Flowers	Rhonda Shepherd
Glenn Barfield	Nellie Kearney	Saketta Spivey
Leto Copeley	Jim Maxwell	Charles Ward
Burton Craige	Pender McElroy	Willis Williams
David Daggett	Pearl Nealey

Members Absent With Prior Notification:

Willie Dawson	Scott Lewis
Richard Fay	Ray Owens
L. Lynnette Fuller-Andrews	Robert Riddle
Olga Gomez	D. Clark Smith, Jr.
Hada V. Haulsee	John Vernon

 

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
Paula Spence, Office Manager

LANC Staff Members:
Ted Fillette, Assistant Deputy Director
Mary Hedgepeth, Clients Council Coordinator
Richard Klein, LANC Wilmington, Regional Manager and Senior Managing Attorney
Evan Lewis, Senior Managing Attorney, New Bern Office

LANC Affiliated Attendees:
Michelle Cofield, Director of Public Service & Pro Bono Activity, NC Bar Association
Evelyn Pursley, Executive Director, IOLTA
Delsie Williams, Clients Council Member

Executive Session

The Board met in Executive Session held prior to the public meeting. The Board unanimously approved the reappointment of all LANC Board members whose terms expired in June of 2005 to an additional three-year term, with the exception of Allen Johnson, who recently resigned, and Ray Owens, who was reappointed for a one-year term. The list can be found on page 2 in the board book.

Dennis Dorgan, who is consulting with LANC in its fundraising efforts, reported on his progress and activities.  LANC staff, Board members, the private bar and business leaders are all involved with the Access to Justice statewide campaign.

Approval of Minutes

Chairman Adams directed the Board’s attention to the Board of Directors general business meeting minutes of June 17, 2005. 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 reported that he visited the Administrative Office to meet staff and to tour the offices. He spent a large portion of the day there meeting with key staff members.

He further reported that Allen Johnson has submitted his resignation from the LANC Board. Chairman Adams stated that the Board appreciated Mr. Johnson’s hard work while serving on the LANC Board and the Client’s Council, and he will be missed.

Chairman Adams asked the board for input in determining meeting sites from December 2005 through December 2006. The board agreed to the following:

 Friday, December 9, 2005 - Greenville
 March 2006 (date to be determined) to coincide with the
    statewide meeting in March of 2005
 Friday, June 16, 2006 - Atlantic Beach, NC to coincide
    with NCBA Annual Meeting
 Friday, September 8, 2006 - Asheville
 November 2006 to coincide with NLADA Annual Meeting -
     Charlotte

President’s Report

George Hausen, LANC’s Executive Director, reported that Robert Reilly, Board President of Carolina Legal Assistance, sent a thank you note to LANC for its resolution honoring Debbie Greenblatt. This note can be found on page 11 of the board book.

George Hausen further reported that the each field office is developing an office work plan and that advocates are developing individual work plans. Ted Fillette and Celia Pistolis presented an overview of how the office and individual work plans will be developed.

Mr. Hausen reported that LANC has taken an active role in aiding Hurricane Katrina victims and is prepared to assist victims housed in our state during the recovery period. A toll free number is available for clients denied FEMA assistance and/or any other benefits. LANC is working closely with other organizations in North Carolina to coordinate the services and assistance to be provided to these victims.

LANC will soon kick of its Access to Justice Campaign and Dennis Dorgan is acting as a consultant. A fundraising plan has been developed, LANC staff has been targeted to lead this effort, and those chosen staff members will work very closely with Mr. Dorgan in this statewide fundraising effort.

Mr. Hausen spoke with the President-Elect of the North Carolina Bar Association, Mr. D. Clark Smith, Jr., who is an ex officio member of the LANC Board. Mr. Smith expressed regret that he would not be able to attend the September meeting; however, he looks forward to working with the LANC Board in the upcoming year.

Clients’ Council Report

Willis Williams reported that the Council had elected him as Interim Chair for the next three months after accepting Allen Johnson’ resignation as Chair. Sakeeta Spivey will be working closely with Williams in this position.

The Council had a very productive meeting on September 8, 2005. Evelyn Pursley, Executive Director of IOLTA, presented a History of Legal Services in North Carolina that attendees found enlightening and informative. The Client’s Council unanimously endorsed an Equal Justice Works’ proposal to develop a community education project and the Council wants to take an active role in the development of this project. Kira Weiss, former VISTA volunteer for Advocates for Children’s Service, will be submitting this proposal to Equal Justice Works.

Later this month, the Clients Council will host a Region VI Client Council meeting for the client advocates from 10 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Florida. The meeting will be held at the Wyndham Gardens in Durham, North Carolina and client training will be provided by the NC Justice Center, Community Reinvestment Act of North Carolina (CRANC), NC Fair Housing Center and the NC Association of Community Development Corporations.

Committee Reports

Chairman Adams recognized the LANC Board committees to give their reports.

Resource Development Committee:
George Hausen presented the Resource Development Committee Report as John Vernon, III, Acting Chair of that committee, was unable to attend the meeting. He reported that this committee has been actively engaged in the Access to Justice Campaign, which is now getting underway. Details were provided in his President’s Report.

Finance Committee:
Leto Copeley reported that there is no new business from the Finance Committee; however, the budget is on target to date, as projected earlier in the year.

Chris Marks was recognized to report that the Concord office had recently moved into new facilities. The Fayetteville and Sanford offices will be moving in the near future.

Mr. Hausen reported that 40% of LANC attorneys are liable for repaying their school loans and that the loan forgiveness assistance provided by NC LEAF does not provide enough assistance for LANC attorneys. LSC is developing a loan forgiveness program and LANC has submitted an application to be considered as part of a pilot project for this program.

Operations Committee:
Celia Pistolis presented the Operations Committee Report as Willie Dawson, Chair of the Operations Committee, was absent. Ms. Pistolis stated that the Operations Committee will address program priorities, program integrity report and eligibility issues within the next few months. A full report on these issues will be presented at the December meeting.

Personnel Committee:
Celia Pistolis presented the Personnel Committee Report as Hada Haulsee, Chair of the Personnel Committee, was absent. She reported that the Personnel Committee will address health benefits, a proposed personnel policy about staff facing criminal charges, and the EEO Report. A full report on this issues will be presented at the December meeting.

Grievance Committee:
Chairman Adams recognized Celia Pistolis to give the Grievance Committee report. She reported that there are no grievances pending.

Client Affairs Committee:
Willis Williams reported that there was no business to report at this time.

Strategic Planning Committee:
Glenn Barfield reported that progress is being made on developing the templates presented at the last meeting. The model is going to allow the committees to put together a plan that will be beneficial to the organization. Mr. Barfield further reported that assignments have been made and implementation has begun.

Legislative Update

Chairman Adams recognized Elaine Mejia and Bill Rowe from the NC Justice Center to report on activities in the North Carolina Legislature. Ms. Mejia reported that the legislative budget was recently passed and will be in place for the next two years. The budget adversely affects students, teachers, and low-income North Carolinians.

Mr. Rowe reported on specific bills and issues that were addressed recently in the NC Legislature: rights and wages of workers, public safety, health care, housing, consumer protection, immigrants, public education, human services, taxes and incentives, and domestic violence.

IOLTA Report

Chairman Adams recognized Evelyn Pursley, Executive Director of IOLTA, who reported that funding is back on the rise. She further reported that increases have not been specified, however, that data is expected.

RESOLUTION

Chairman Adams recognized Burton Craige, who made a motion to recognize Allen Johnson’s dedicated service to the LANC Board and LANC Client’s Council at the next meeting in December. Following discussion, it was moved, duly seconded and UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED for Mr. Hausen to prepare a resolution honoring the dedicated service of Allen Johnson. This document will be presented at the December meeting.

Adjournment

As there was no further business before the Board, the Chair, Reid “Cal” Adams, adjourned the meeting at 2:10 p.m.

____________________________

Mary Flowers, Secretary

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Mission Statement

Legal Aid of North Carolina is a statewide, nonprofit law firm that provides free legal services in civil matters to low-income people in order to ensure equal access to justice and to remove legal barriers to economic opportunity.