Agenda - 1-29-16 Planning Retreat

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Coates' Canons UNCNC Local Government Law SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT http://canons.sog.unc.edu consolidated human services board. • Counties electing: Five counties have elected this option (Bladen, Brunswick, Mecklenburg, Montgomery, and Yadkin). Mecklenburg adopted Option One many years ago but transitioned to Option Three in 2008. There are lots of nuances, exceptions and additional requirements related to each of these three options but I will not be able to dig into those details now. In the coming months, we will be posting updated legal research and data online so please stay tuned. At this point, I simply wanted to use the description of these three new options to help explain the actions that counties have taken to date and to help with the process discussion below. Process Considerations Before a county elects one of the new options described above, there are some fairly legalistic process issues it should take into consideration. Please note that the list of considerations below is by no means exhaustive. These are just a few of the "hot topics" that have come up over the last few months. • Public hearing: If the board of county commissioners plans to serve as the governing board for the new CHSA, it must hold a public hearing. The law requires "30 days' notice of said public hearing given in a newspaper having general circulation in said county." GS 153A -77(a). The hearing requirement is triggered by the board of commissioners assuming the powers and duties of another board — which could be a local board of health, a county board of social services, or a consolidated human services board. State Personnel Act: As a general rule, employees of county departments of social services and local health departments are county employees but are subject to the State Personnel Act (SPA). When a county creates a new consolidated human services agency by electing either Option Two or Option Three, the employees of the new agency are removed from SPA coverage and placed under county personnel policies, unless the BOCC affirmatively elects to keep them under the SPA. If the employees are not kept under the SPA, the county personnel policies must comply with the federal merit personnel standards. (5 CFR Subpart F). Therefore, prior to taking an action that removes employees from the SPA, a county should conduct a careful review of its policies and make any changes that are necessary to comply with those standards. Advisory committees: If a BOCC decides to assume the powers and duties of either a local board of health or a consolidated human services board, it must appoint an advisory committee for public health. The committee membership must, at a minimum, meet the requirements for a county board of health found in G.S. 130A-35. It may include more members — for example, if a CHSA will include DSS, this advisory committee could have a broader scope and include people with social services expertise or interests. The BOCC also has the option of appointing a separate advisory committee for social services or other issues, but that is not required by law (see G.S. 153A -77(a)). The law does not specify whether the public health advisory committee needs to be appointed before the BOCC assumes the powers and duties of the local board of health or consolidated human services board. Agency leadership: If a BOCC is considering establishing a new CHSA, the county manager will have the authority to appoint the agency director but may do so only with the advice and consent of the governing board (which is the consolidated human services board under Option Two or the BOCC under Option Three). Because of the advice and consent requirement, there is a logical sequence that should be followed for appointing the director: 1. Establish the CHSA. 2. Either appoint a consolidated human services board or have the BOCC assume the powers and duties of the agency governing board. 3. The county manager identifies a candidate for consolidated human services director and seeks the advice and consent of the agency governing board. 4. If the agency governing board consents to the appointment, the county manager appoints the consolidated human services director. In other words, it does not make sense to appoint the director before the agency has been created and the governing board is in place because the governing board must consent to the appointment. These four steps may take place in the same meeting but the order of events matters under the law. Copyright © 2009 to present School of Government at the University of North Carolina. All rights reserved. Page