Meeting Minutes - LANC Board of Directors
December 12, 2008
Site/Location:
Hawthorne
Inn & Conference Center
Winston-Salem,
North Carolina
Call to Order and Welcome
Lisa Morgan, Chair of the LANC Board, called the meeting to order at
2:05 p.m. and welcomed all in attendance.
Chair Morgan acknowledged her gratification to serve as the
Chair of the LANC Board since the resignation of Glenn Barfield as
Chair.
Members
Present
|
Reid C. Adams
|
Samuel
Johnson
|
Paul Shepard
|
|
Thomas Berkau
|
Shirley Jones
|
Ellen
Sheppard
|
|
Helen Cook
|
Nellie Kearney
|
Mary Ann
Tally
|
|
Mary Flowers
|
Phillip Leigh
|
Alice Tejada
|
|
Sharon Greig
|
Lisa Morgan
|
Diana
Williams-Cotton
|
|
Celeste
Harris
|
Dellarene
Myers
|
|
Members Absent With Prior Notification
|
Susan Perry
Cole
|
Ray Owens
|
John Wester
|
|
Lee Crouch
|
Kris Shepard
|
Kyle Woosley
|
|
Greg McDougal
|
Jim Talley
|
|
Approval of Minutes
Chair Morgan directed the Board’s attention to the Board of
Directors general business meeting minutes of September 12, 2008.
Following review and discussion of the minutes, a motion was
made, duly seconded, and the minutes were
UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED,
as written.
President’s Report
Chair Morgan recognized George Hausen, Executive Director of LANC,
who gave the president’s report.
He reported that LANC served 3,000 more clients in 2008,
a 15% increase.
This increase was handled without a significant increase in staff.
Mr. Hausen welcomed the following members of the
Winston-Salem
office: Hazel Mack
Hilliard, Triad Regional Manager; Yvette Stackhouse, managing
attorney; Lisa Brace, Stephanie Goldberg and Kenneth Love, staff
attorneys. The staff attorneys were recognized to share highlights
of their legal work with the Board.
Mr. Hausen welcomed Bill Rowe, the General Counsel for the
NC Justice Center,
who gave a legislative update.
Chairman’s Report
Chair Morgan reported that she recently attended a NLADA conference
along with several members of the LANC staff including its director
George Hausen and LANC Board member Celeste Harris.
She reported that the conference was informative and
energizing as many issues were addressed that Legal Aid offices are
currently confronted with.
Chair Morgan recognized Celeste Harris to give comments
regarding the conference.
Ms. Harris stated that the conference was worthwhile for her
as a member of the Board and was honored for that opportunity.
Mr. Hausen reported that there is no expected increase in funding
from LSC in 2009, however, and announcement is possible in March
2009 increasing funds in early 2009 as well as for fiscal year 2010.
He further reported that discussions are underway to remove
some Legal Aid program restrictions.
Committee Reports
Finance Committee Report
Chair Morgan recognized Celeste Harris to give the Finance Committee
reported. Ms. Harris
reported that the committee met to discuss the proposed 2009 budget.
She asked Chris Marks, Assistant Executive Director in charge
of Finance and Administration, to give the detail regarding the
budget. Mr. Marks
reported that LANC sought a $200,000 increase from IOLTA for 2009,
which is reflected in the proposed budget.
Mr. Marks reported that the
IOLTA Board notified LANC that there will be no increase in IOLTA
funds for the upcoming year.
Therefore, the proposed budget for 2009 found on page 8 in
the board book showing the $200,000 added to that line item for 2009
will be reduced to the same funding as 2008 in the amount of
$230,000 to reflect no increase in 2009.
Mr. Marks stated other grants reflected in the budget, such
as VOCA, VAWA, Z Smith
Reynolds, State DV,
United Way, and miscellaneous grants
totaling $1,100,000 are grants that during the course of the year
may or may not remain in the budget as they are based on renewal
each year.
Mr. Marks further explained that LANC is facing financial
restraints for the upcoming year possibly resulting in a salary and
hiring freeze. He stated
that other options are a reduction of staff and work hours, a
requirement that offices
close one day a month from March to December, training and travel
budget decreases, and providing no retirement contribution to its
employees accounts. All options are to provide additional funding
for operational purposes.
Following discussion, it was moved, duly seconded and
UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED
to approve the proposed budget as presented with the appropriate
adjustment in the IOLTA line item.
Resource Development Committee
Report
Chair Morgan recognized Paul Shepard, Chair of the Resource
Development Committee, to give that committee’s report.
He reported that the committee met by telephone conference
call and discussed the process for hiring a development director.
He stated that this position is necessary to help increase
funding to LANC.
Nominating Committee Report
George Hausen reported that there are currently two attorney member
vacancies. John Bowers
representing the 14th Judicial District Bar and Glenn
Barfield appointed by the NC Bar Association.
New appointments will be recommended by both organizations.
He further noted that the vice-chair
position is vacant and an
appointment is also forthcoming.
Cal Adams, appointed by the NC Association of Defense
Attorneys, is currently
serving his 2nd
term and a new appointment
will be required. Mr.
Hausen reported that the following attorney members are eligible for
re-election after having completed their 1st term:
Lisa Morgan, NC Association of Black Lawyers, Ray Owens, NC
State Bar; and Paul Shepard, 21st Judicial District Bar.
Jim Talley, representing IOLTA, is completing a one-year
term, requiring an appointment for that position.
Mr. Hausen reported that the following client members are
eligible for re-election after having completed their 1st
term of service: Helen
Cook, Southeast Region; Phillip Leigh, Statewide Clients Council;
and Diana Williams-Cotton, Triad Region.
Client Affairs Committee
Report
Chair Morgan recognized Mary Flowers, chair of the Client Affairs
Committee to give the committee report.
She reported that the procedurals manual is expected to be
completed by March 2009.
A uniform policy for an active advisory counsel from each field
office will assist in keeping the counsel connected.
The client’s council recognized Celia Pistolis, Tonya
Pruitt-Lyons, Paula Spence, Chris Marks, Dock Kornegay and George
Hausen for their service to the council.
Operations/Personnel Committee
Report
Chair Lisa Morgan, Chair of the Operations Personnel Committee, gave
the committee report along with Celia Pistolis, LANC’s Assistant
Executive Director for Advocacy and Compliance.
Chair Morgan asked the Board to review the local advisory
council reports from Pittsboro and Boone offices found on page 37 –
39 of the board book.
A revision of the Family Medical Leave Act Policy, FMLA,
revised to provide more leave benefits to military families.
This amendment to the law will go into effect on January 9,
2009. LANC must revise
its personnel policy so that its Family Medical Leave Policy is in
compliance with these amendments to the Act.
The revised policy is in the board book on page 35 and
expands our FMLA policy to provide additional leave for military
families. Following
discussion, it was moved, duly seconded and
UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED, to adopt the FMLA policy, as presented.
Each year, LANC must report and certify to LSC that the program is
in compliance with Regulation 1610 relating to program integrity,
which requires LANC to maintain its autonomy from any other
organization that engages in restricted activity
such as handling class action
and lobbying. The
program integrity report also certifies that LANC has
maintained autonomy and
prohibit the use of any
resources from any other entity and organization, physically and
financially. The
committee reviewed the staff’s report and recommended approval to
authorize the Chair to sign and send the report of Certification of
Program Integrity to
LSC. The reports is
found on pages 9 – 10 in the board book.
Following discussion, it was moved, duly seconded, and
UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED to authorize the submittal of the report of
Program Integrity Certification to LSC, as presented.
LSC requires the Board to review the
Eligibility/Assets Policy every three years.
The Eligibility Policy was last reviewed in 2005 and made
some amendments to that policy .
A separate assets policy was adopted in 2007.
In addition to that change, the policy expands the section on
retainers to require staff to accurately spell out the legal
services to be provided to a client and clearly requires staff to
modify the retainer as needed.
The committee reviewed the proposed policy and recommended
that this policy be consolidated into one document. The consolidated
policy is found on page 17 – 24
of the board book.
Following discussion, it was moved,
UNANINIMOUSLY RESOLVED to
accept the recommendation of the committee and to adopt the
consolidated policy, as presented.
An annual review of program priorities for 2008 was reviewed by the
committee as part of the program priority process.
The Operations/Personnel Committee undertook a thorough
review of the LANC priorities, over the course of the last year.
The committee reviewed the priorities developed by other
legal services programs in the state and also solicited input from
legal services task forces, LANC managing attorneys and practice
group chairs. The
committee recommended that the priorities found on page 25 through
34 in the board book be
adopted.
Ms. Pistolis noted changes in the following areas:
family – custody case priority was changed regarding child
custody, employment, consumer rights eliminated the priority for
effective goods and services which involves cases with unfair and
deception trade practices.
It was inadvertently deleted illegal dept collection and this
should be added in the consumer rights section.
Tax issues (low income tax clinic in the eastern part of the
state to run) handle controversies with low income tax with the IRS.
Eliminated environmental and disaster projects – folding
those in. Added two new
priorities: immigration
and human trafficking.
The priorities were written broadly, but are very specific and some
of the work is restrictive.
The committee reviewed the priorities with great diligence.
Following discussion, it was moved, duly seconded and
UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED to
accept the 2008 priorities, as presented.
Mr. Hausen gave a brief report regarding the Retirement Plan.
He acknowledged that LANC would change its current
trustees moving from Frontier
Trust Company to CDM Retirement Consultants, Inc. effective January
1, 2009. A Resolution
was given to the Board, as a handout, laying out the recommendation
presented by Mr. Hausen, requesting Board approval. Following
discussion, it was moved, duly seconded and
UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED to
approve the Resolution, as presented.
Adjournment
Pending
no further business, Chair Morgan adjourned the meeting at 4:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Phillip Leigh
Secretary
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