BOLIVIA—Brunswick County commissioners on Monday abolished the county’s boards of health and social services.
With the move, which was a 3-2 split vote, county commissioners now oversee a consolidated human services department. Commissioners will appoint an 11-member human services advisory committee to oversee the new human services department.
County commissioners Bill Sue, Phil Norris and Scott Phillips voted for consolidation, while Marty Cooke and Charles Warren voted against the move.
Cooke currently serves on the board of health; Warren was removed as chairman of the DSS board earlier this year.
“There is basically no change, other than we have not had the authority, but we’ve had the responsibility. And the county has had to put out some big bucks because of it,” Sue said.
Cooke said he lobbied for House Bill 438, which paved the way for Monday’s consolidation.
“I recognize the need for this as an option. I understand that,” Cooke said.
But Cooke urged commissioners to consider alternatives before making “a radical change.”
“And in one strike of the pen we’re going to administratively do away with that board,” Cooke said about the board of health.
“It bothers me that we’re making a decision about this that will be incumbent upon the new commission. For the sake of really vetting this like we really should, let’s wait three months,” Cooke said.
Cooke moved to table the matter until December when the new board is seated, but his motion failed.
“It’s been stated that we’re rushing to judgment. We’re not rushing anything. We’ve been elected to be leaders. That’s what I intend to do,” Norris said.
Norris said the commissioners’ decision was not a referendum on the health department, DSS or its respective boards.
“This has nothing to do with the way they’re currently being run, or not being run,” Norris said.
Warren said commissioners should not rush to make this change.
“I just feel that we have not really give (sic) this enough study to determine what the outcome would be,” Warren.
Human services department
Assistant County Manager Steve Stone will assume duties of a hybrid position in which he will serve as assistant county manager and human services director. David Stanley, who currently serves as the county’s health director, will adopt a slightly different role as health services director under the consolidated human services director.
Human services consolidation has been a legislative goal for the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners “to give counties the flexibility to organize human services,” Brunswick County Manager Marty Lawing said.
Until this year, Wake and Mecklenburg counties were the only two counties statewide to operate a human services agency, which Lawing said allows counties to “be able to gain some synergy and promote efficiency.”
The advisory board will be made up of 11 members and mirror the makeup of the state-mandated health boards. The advisory committee must meet at least quarterly.
All employees in the human services department would be county employees rather than state employees.
Public comments
County commissioner-elect Pat Sykes, who previously served on the DSS board, told commissioners she disagreed with Monday’s consolidation.
“Why rush? There will be a new board in December, and since this will be going back to that board…they should be part of the decision that’s being made,” Sykes said.
DSS board member Bernest Hewett also spoke out against the consolidation.
“The idea of Wake County, Mecklenburg County, they established this. And they’re still working out the bugs,” Hewett said.
“The people of this county don’t need control; they need guidance. They need a board that’s going to work, be dedicated at it, for the needs of the people of Brunswick County. Not for the needs of one party. Not for the needs of one person; for the needs of the county,” Hewett said.
DSS Board Chairman Tina Jackson also spoke out against consolidation, saying she was concerned for DSS employees and their jobs.
DSS disarray
Monday’s dissolution of the DSS board comes after a history of disarray on the Brunswick County DSS board that spans several years.
Since 2010, the board has violated the state’s open meetings and public records acts. County commissioners removed Warren from the board for, among other things, throwing 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.
