Orange County NC Website
2 <br /> 1 BOCC has full authority to appoint the Chair. 2) Change or reduce salaries. Again full authority <br /> 2 to do so rests with the BOCC. 3) Adopt standards of conduct for ABC board members. 4) <br /> 3 Appoint commissioners or senior county employees to the ABC board. Both have been done by <br /> 4 counties in North Carolina. This fourth option is further explored below. <br /> 5 <br /> 6 As authorized by statute the BOCC appoints both the members and the Chair of the ABC Board <br /> 7 and members serve three-year terms. Due to the fact that terms are for three years it may be <br /> 8 administratively best to appoint a commissioner who has at least three years left in office. <br /> 9 However, this is not absolutely necessary because vacancies are filled by the BOCC to <br /> 10 complete the term of the member who created the vacancy and should a commissioner leave <br /> 11 office another could be appointed to fill the ABC role for the duration of the original appointee's <br /> 12 term. <br /> 13 <br /> 14 There may be some concern about the prohibition of dual office holding if a commissioner is <br /> 15 appointed to the ABC board, however, so long as the appointment is ex officio the dual office <br /> 16 holding prohibition is not a concern. Under North Carolina law ex officio appointees have the <br /> 17 same rights and authority as any other appointee. Regarding the dual office non-issue North <br /> 18 Carolina General Statute §128-1.2 reads: <br /> 19 <br /> 20 Ex officio service by county and city representatives and officials. Except when the <br /> 21 resolution of appointment provides otherwise, whenever the governing body of a county <br /> 22 or city appoints one of its own members or officials to another board or commission, the <br /> 23 individual so appointed is considered to be serving on the other board or commission as <br /> 24 a part of the individual's duties of office and shall not be considered to be serving in a <br /> 25 separate office. As used in this section, the ter "official"means (i) in the case of a <br /> 26 county, the county manager, acting county manager, interim county manager, county <br /> 27 attorney, finance officer, or clerk to the board and (ii) in the case of a city, the city <br /> 28 manager, acting city manager, interim city manager, city attorney, finance officer, city <br /> 29 clerk, or deputy clerk. As used in this section, the term "city"has the meaning provided <br /> 30 in G.S. 160A-1. <br /> 31 <br /> 32 One important consideration in appointing a commissioner to the ABC board is the appointment <br /> 33 would create occasional conflicts of interest for the appointed commissioner. That commissioner <br /> 34 could not vote, and would have to be excused from voting, on ABC board members' salaries, <br /> 35 the ABC board travel policy, or other items that could have a financial impact on the <br /> 36 commissioner. <br /> 37 <br /> 38 There are two current ABC board members whose terms expire 6/30/21. According to the <br /> 39 Orange County advisory board webpage Patrick Burns is serving the first of two potential terms <br /> 40 and Jane Cousins is serving the second of two terms. Should the BOCC determine to appoint <br /> 41 one, or more, of its own members to an ABC board position one of these two positions is most <br /> 42 realistic for the appointment because outright removal of ABC members may only be for cause. <br /> 43 Of the remaining members' terms one expires in 2022 and two expire in 2023. <br /> 44 <br /> 45 FINANCIAL- Revenue, Profitability and Funding Capacity <br /> 46 <br /> 47 The Chair requested a financial statement analysis of the ABC Board to determine additional <br /> 48 funding capacity in view of the ABC Board not approving the County's FY 2020-21 funding <br /> 49 request for the Drug Treatment Court program. The Drug Treatment program was funded at <br /> 50 $25,000 and not the requested $32,500. The Vice-Chair requested a listing of distributions to <br /> 51 sub-recipients for FY 2019-20 (Attachment 1). <br />