The Daily Southerner, Tarboro, NC

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September 19, 2012

County manager discusses human services consolidation

The Daily Southerner MIRANDA BAINES

TARBORO — County Manager Lorenzo Carmon discussed a proposed human services consolidation with the Edgecombe County Board of Health at the board’s meeting Tuesday night.

House Bill 438, which mandates the consolidation of human services agencies, was ratified by the North Carolina General Assembly on June 21. Carmon said the goal of the consolidation is to promote “efficiency and effectiveness” in human services administration and calls for the county to appoint a director of the consolidated county human services agency.

“The conversation so far has been to appoint the assistant county manager [Eric Evans] to serve as that consolidated human services agency director,” said Carmon. He said the health department and the department of social services (DSS) would each still have an individual director, who will report to the human services agency director, who in turn will report to the county manager.

The agency will also have a policy-making board, consisting of “no less than 15 and no more than 25 members,” according to the consolidation proposal. The county commissioners will appoint the board members, who will reflect the population of the county. Currently, the board of health has 11 members, while the DSS board has five members. A question raised at the meeting was whether or not current DSS and health board members will remain in their roles.

“The boards have done a good job so far of doing the things that they do. Commissioners don’t want to disband either one of the boards that we have in place,” said Carmon.

Leonard Wiggins, chair of the Edgecombe County Board of Commissioners, reassured board of health members that they would still have input on policymaking decisions once the consolidation goes into effect.

“We look forward to keeping all of you on board,” he said.

Under the consolidation, agency employees will be subject to county personnel policies but will not be subject to the State Personnel Act, unless the board of commissioners chooses to make the staff subject to the act. The county health department has 94 employees and the DSS has 148 employees, for a total of 242.

The board of commissioners will have a public hearing before moving forward with the consolidation, said Carmon. The hearing most likely will be held at the commissioners’ November meeting.

At Monday’s meeting, Carmon also gave the board an update on the new building that will house the county health department and DSS, noting that the building is named “Edgecombe County Human Services Building.” The building is located at the corner of St. James and St. Andrews Streets.

“We’re probably looking at mid-to-late October for our move,” said Carmon. He said the contractor already has the occupancy permit from the building inspector.

County Health Director Karen Lachapelle said she is so excited about moving into the new building that she has already had a meeting in her fifth floor office.

Viola Harris, board of health member and county commissioner, asked if a fitness center would be a feature of the new human services building. Carmon responded that having a fitness center either in the basement of the new building or in the old DSS building are feasible options. Future use of the 1912 DSS building has not yet been determined.

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