BOLIVIA—Monday night could be the beginning of the end for the Brunswick County Board of Social Services.
Brunswick County Commissioners are slated to consider the dissolution of the county’s social services and health boards at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 17.
If approved, commissioners could implement a consolidated human services board, which would mirror the makeup of boards of health in North Carolina. The composition of boards of health in North Carolina are established by state law.
The proposed dissolution of the board comes after a history of disarray on the Brunswick County DSS board for several years.
Since 2010, the board has violated the state’s open meetings and public records acts. County commissioners removed former chairman Charles Warren from the board for, among other things, throwing former DSS board member Pat Sykes and a reporter out of a public meeting.
Eventually, commissioners had a hearing to remove Warren from his role on the DSS board.
The board has been through several attorneys during this time, including a year and a half time span in which they were unrepresented. They also tried to rehire Gary Shipman, an attorney who county commissioners fired, but DSS board members still attempted to have work for them.
In August, DSS board members called a special hearing in which they fired DSS Director Patty Connelly. Two days later, they called an emergency meeting to name Neil Walters interim director of the department.
On Friday board members called another emergency meeting, during which they approved all outstanding minutes, including minutes of the meeting while it was being held, assistant county manager Steve Stone said.
