Board lacks quorum

T. J. ROYAL
Staff Writer

May 21, 2008 10:58 am

— Lacking a quorom, the Edgecombe County Health Department Board discussed the renewal of several contracts at Tuesday night's meeting.
A vote on the contracts took place, but not enough board members were present Tuesday to grant consent for any of the items.
One item that did go into effect, however, was a hiring freeze imposed by County Manager Lorenzo Carmon.
"Only essential personnel" within the Health Department would be hired during the freeze, Edgecombe County Health Department Director Karen Lachapelle said. She knocked on wood when she announced that there had been no resignations since April's board meeting.
After that announcement, Health Department official Clancy Pullen presented two items before the board. His first item was a $50 fee that will be applied on "temporary food establishments;" the fee would go into effect July 1.
It will apply to temporary food stands that set up at events like this past weekend's Happening on the Common. In Pullen's words, the fee applies to stands that sell "potentially hazardous foods" that would required inspection by the Health Department before being sold to the public.
Non-profit organizations, like churches, would be exempt from the fee; however, they would have to prove their non-profit status in order to set up fee-free.
Board member Dr. Tom Knox asked Pullen questions about the $50 fee; was it a one-time fee, what would be considered a hazardous food and would the state collect the fees.
Pullen responded that it was a recurring fee, applied each time the stand set up. He said a hazardous food would include barbecue, hot dogs, hamburgers; items that are "high in protein" and that require a lot of "manual preparation" to be served to the public.
Pullen also said that the money from the fee would go to the county's Health Department, not to Raleigh.
Knox also asked Pullen if a person selling boiled peanuts on a street corner in Princeville would be assessed the $50 fee.
He responded that food like boiled peanuts or pork skins are not something the Health Department would have to inspect, so a fee would not be collected on stands selling those food items.
That motion was approved without the quorom, but is not effective until Board members who were not present vote on the matter.
The second item Pullen presented was a "Sunset Provision" issued by the state that sets new guidelines for wells.
Effective July 1, Pullen said that counties with well ordinances would have to consider "adopting more stringent rules" that follow the new guidelines set by the state.
Lachapelle said she discussed adopting the state's guidelines with the County Commissioners Monday, and that their approval would be needed in order to adopt them.
She said the commissioners agreed to make the new well guidelines effective June 30. Without the quorom, the Health Department Board also agreed to adopt the guidelines.
Specific information about the state's new guidelines was not presented by Pullen on Tuesday, and no questions were asked by board members about them.
The item that drew the longest discussion was a pending Health Department contract to be awarded to a dentist, Dr. Rick Daniel. Lachapelle said he has worked for the Health Department for roughly one year, and that he commutes back and forth to Edgecombe County from Wilmington.
Lachapelle also said that Daniel has ably filled a two-year vacancy within the Health Department. Prior to his arrival, the Health Department went two years without a dentist who accepted Medicaid patients.
The terms up for renewal for Daniel include; a minimum $400/day salary, a $500 housing allowance as well as a guaranteed reimbursement of 45 percent of the services for which his clinic bills Medicaid.
Lachapelle explained that the 45 percent will be paid to Daniel regardless of whether Medicaid pays the complete bill or not.
Knox questioned Lachapelle about those terms, which were awarded to Daniels last year.
Knox was more curious than he was critical in his questioning; he said he had never heard of a dentist being guaranteed 45 percent of a bill that might not be fully covered by the federal government.
While Knox was researching the precedent of the terms, he said he told a dental school friend about them. The friend, who lives in New Jersey, joked that he would quit his practice and move to Edgecombe County because the terms were so favorable.
Lachapelle explained that the Health Department made a $70,000 profit from Daniels' services last year, while also providing quality care the county lacked for a long time.
Knox said that if those were the terms needed "to keep this person, let's take it."
In the other contracts, Board Chairwoman Robin Webb-Corbett expressed minor concern about awarding a $750 contract to board member the Rev. Ed Conner.
The only reason she was concerned, Webb-Corbett said, was because previously, an Edgecombe County pharmacist had refused to sit on the Health Department board because he had a contract with them.
Board member George Eason said that nothing "stood out" in his mind that would be legally troublesome with the arrangement.
Still, Webb-Corbett felt that she was "attackin' the preacher" over the contract.
"I'm going down the tubes here."