SPOTLIGHT
HIGHLIGHTS
DHHS New Employee Orientation
SEANC will now be allowed to participate in new employee orientations once a month at DHHS facilities! This opportunity was years in the making, and should allow us to recruit and retain more members. More details will follow on scheduling these meetings in coming months.
Convention Update
The 38th Annual SEANC Convention is just six weeks away! This year’s theme is “Building on a Diamond Foundation” and it will be held Sept. 7-10 in Greensboro.
Registration is complete. There will be 681 delegates this year, 27 of which will attend virtually. Reservations for hospitality rooms, banquet tickets and raffle tickets are also complete.
This year’s agenda can be found in the slide show portion of the Post-BOG E-packet. There will be NO EVENT on Thursday night this year. Breakout trainings will be held on Friday from 1:15-4 p.m.
Upcoming deadlines:
August 1 – Final delegation count will be sent to District Chairs.
August 7 – Districts will be responsible for making any changes to their hotel reservations.
August 8 – Payment for raffle tables and banquet tickets are due to the SEANC Office. Invoices will be sent next week.
Budget passed
Discussion of the 2022-2023 SEANC Operating Budget took much of the time at this board meeting. After much debate, the board passed a budget.
Week of Service planned
The SEANC Week of Service is planned for October 10-15 and is meant to showcase the many good things our members do in their community! We ask that each member consider completing a community service project during this week, snapping a picture and sending it to the SEANC office to be included on our social media! More details of the week’s activities will be available soon.
REPORTS
Treasurer’s Report – Emily Jones
General Treasurer Emily Jones reported that though problems with Impexium persist, she was able provide a financial report based on extrapolated data, thanks to SRS Consulting and Brian Neesby. The report shows that income and spending are on target for this year, and no shortfall is expected.
She also announced that travel for separate committees can now be put on the same expense form. Chief Financial Officer Brenda Williams also introduced Felicia Edwards as the new senior accountant.
STATE EMPLOYEES
ASSOCIATION OF NORTH CAROLINA
BOARD OF GOVERNORS MEETING JULY 22-23, 2022
BUILDING ONA
TH
DIAMOND FOUNDATION
LEADERSHIP REPORTS
President’s Report – Martha Fowler
President Martha Fowler discussed finalizing plans for the upcoming convention and promised to make this year’s event the best ever! She has asked Jacque Chatman to work with district chairs to make sure SEANC has good contact information on file for district officers.
Fowler discussed various meetings she had participated in since May. She and SEANC staff met with OSHR leadership to discuss the state budget and the Mercer job study recently completed with no input form SEANC. The plan will take $400 million to implement. She also attended SEIU meetings in Chicago and met with Commissioner of Labor Josh Dobson.
2nd VP Report – Wendell Powell
Wendell Powell discussed attending annual meetings all over the state and working on the budget for the upcoming year with the Planning Committee. He also talked about his recent meeting with SEIU leadership to discuss moving the two organizations forward together.
1st VP Report – Kirk Montgomery
As chair of the Planning Committee, Kirk Montgomery gave a detailed report of the proposed SEANC Operating Budget. After a long debate, the budget was approved with some changes to the committee’s plan.
Executive Director’s Report – Ardis Watkins
Watkins reviewed the list of new hires and promotions –
Phyllis Byrd has been promoted to Administrative Assistant/Facilities Manager
Jacque Chatman will assume the role of Meetings Planner in addition to her current duties
Jameson Rhodes has been hired as an IT Specialist
Samantha Cline is the new Digital Communications Specialist
Chris Hailey Jr. is our newest Lobbyist
Felicia Edwards has been hired as Senior Accountant
Felicia Powell has been promoted to Lead Member Relations Representative
Watkins thanked the board for passing the SEANC Budget that she called “ambitious but necessary.”
COMMITTEES
Audit – Linda Rouse Sutton
Applications for the Audit Committee are due by Aug 1. Candidates must submit a resume to the Audit Committee in order to qualify.
Awards – Janice Bass
There will be no district of the year award this year. The committee will meet on Aug. 3 for judging.
Benevolence – Jon Owens for Deborah Fleming
A list of members from each district who have died in the last year was given to district chairs. The list will also be included in the Post BOG E-Packet. Members are encouraged to search for photos of these members and send them to jowens@seanc.org for inclusion in the Memorial during convention.
Bylaws – Kim Martin
Eight bylaws amendments will go to the convention floor for a vote this year. Voting will be done on Friday.
SEANC Board of Governors Meeting JULY 22-23, 2022
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COMMITTEE REPORTS
DHHS Study Committee – Sonya Akbar
Akbar asked that members wait until SEANC reached out to DHHS facilities before scheduling their visits to new employee orientations.
Emerging Leaders Council – Carl Elliott
June 4 – Emerging Leaders Council (ELC) members attended the Community Health & Wellness Event in Knightdale sponsored by District 42.
June 7 – ELC members attended a SEANC membership drive on the campus of Fayetteville State University.
June 17 – ELC members attended the North Carolina Probation & Parole Association (NCPPA) conference on behalf of SEANC.
July 9 – ELC held a Community Service Event/Workshop, which consisted of the second Adopt-a-Highway clean up and “Run Ya Race” leadership workshop hosted by Dr. Kendra Davis.
ELC still has coffee mugs available for purchase for $20 each. Tumblers will be available at convention for $35 each. All proceeds will be used towards community service events such as Ronald McDonald House, SECU House, Salvation Army Christmas Tree, etc.
Currently working to revise the Emerging Leaders Council Bylaws.
EMPAC – Mark Dearmon
Dearmon started by expressing his disappointment with recently passed state budget.
There will be no further endorsements in legislative races this year. Instead, EMPAC has decided to invest in the future in preparation for 2024.
An event is planned for EMPAC contributors for Friday at convention.
Insurance Board of Trustees – Janice Smith
The board heard a presentation at its July 13 meeting from Manhattan Life Insurance Company about a Home Health Care program. No decision has been made on whether to offer the program at this time.
The board is reviewing products currently offered by Augeo.
Member Discount – Tim Southard
There’s a contest running through Aug. 26. The member who signs up the most new businesses will receive a $100 gift card.
All new businesses that signed up between October 1, 2021, through Aug. 26, 2022, will be placed in a drawing for $200.
Convention Awards: To be eligible for a prize you have to recruit at least 10 new businesses.
1st place $500
2nd place $400
3rd place $300
Membership – Spillman Grice
A bylaws amendment to increase membership spending by districts to 10% will be considered at convention.
Deborah Harney won the Summer Splash membership drawing.
SEANC Board of Governors Meeting JULY 22-23, 2022
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COMMITTEE REPORTS (CONTINUED)
Policy Platform – Betsey Lee Hodges
No new objectives were submitted for consideration at convention, and only one objection is up for deletion. Since it is automatically deleted, there will be no votes at convention.
State Treasurer Dale Folwell spoke at the committee’s meeting.
Prison Reform – Deborah Harney
House Bill 103 passed. It includes:
$1.8 million recurring for nine Mental Health PPOs, nine re-entry PPOs and a Chief PPO all will help reduce the recidivism rate.
$1 million for digitizing Juvenile health records.
$1.7 million to employ 39 staff and operate the Juvenile Perquimans Detention center, to be open in January 2023.
$4 million to employ 77 staff and 3 key positions to operate the Juvenile Rockingham Center, to open in Jan. 2023.
The state budget includes an extra 2% for DPS employees who are currently on the step-pay plan in addition to the 3.5% given to all employees.
Public Education – Mark Dearmon
SEANC will once again sponsor the UNC Chancellor’s Cup golf tournament. This year’s event will be held on Sept. 27 at Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill.
Dearmon praised the event at Fayetteville State University that resulted in 80 new members!
Retiree Council – Benny Brigman
The Retiree Council plans to start attending the Retirement Board of Trustees meetings to press for a COLA.
Retiree forums are planned throughout the state in August. A list is included in the E-packet.
Scholarship – Mike Bell
All raffle tickets, both sold and unsold, MUST be brought to Convention. All lost/missing tickets must be counted, for auditing purposes, with ticket numbers and to whom issued indicated on the accounting sheet. All tickets and monies must be turned in at the Scholarship Foundation booth no later than Friday, September 9.
Please consider purchasing any unsold tickets for your district. As always, your donations to the Scholarship Foundation are greatly appreciated and help to maintain our award levels in difficult times.
There will be seats on the Scholarship Foundation Board slated for election at Annual Convention, one for each of the five regions. To date, there are no announced candidates from the Eastern, Western, Piedmont, and South Central Regions. We have also had one recent resignation from a board member representing the Western Region. If you have a member who would be interested in filling one of these slots, please have them send me an email: mtwbell@nc.rr.com with a copy to pbyrd@seanc.org
Training – Martha Fowler
District Chair Training is scheduled for Sept 22-23 at the SEANC office.
SEANC Board of Governors Meeting JULY 22-23, 2022
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COMMITTEE REPORTS (CONTINUED) MOTIONS
Passed: To accept and approve the meeting minutes of the Board of Governors for Friday, May 20, 2022 – Saturday, May 21, 2022.
Passed: To appropriate funding costs in the budget for a one-day hybrid convention instead of a three-day hybrid convention for 2023.
Passed: To approve the proposed 2022-2023 budget with modifications and to move $672,431 from reserves to balance the budget. When the Insurance Board of Trustees’ budget is approved and a portion of the insurance funds are transferred to the general budget to cover some employees’ salaries and operating costs, monies equivalent to the insurance fund transfer will be restored back to the reserves.
NEXT BOG MEETING:
SEPT.
7, 2022 at Convention
SEANC Board of Governors Meeting JULY 22-23, 2022
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