Board Meeting (1/17/2018)

Meeting Minutes and Notes

North Carolina Board for Licensing of Geologists

Minutes

January 17, 2018
Office of Upton Associates, Raleigh, NC

The meeting was called to order at 10:03 am by Board Chair Rick Kolb.  Mr. Kolb read the conflict of interest statement.  Other Board members present included Bill Miller, Kenneth Taylor and Rick Garrett.  Mr. Stevens and Mr. Steve Miller were excused due to bad weather. Executive Director Barbara Geiger and Board Counsel Mary Lucasse were also present. Dr. Taylor noted that, as the State Geologist and employee of the NC Department of Environmental Quality, he would refrain from participating in the deliberation or taking any action by the Board with respect to any matter involving an employee of the Department.

Welcome and Introductions

Approval of Minutes

Motion to approve the minutes of the November 14, 2017 meeting as amended was made by Kenneth Taylor, seconded by Rick Garrett and carried.

Financial Report

The financial report was tabled due to time constraints.

Administrative Report

The administrative report was tabled due to time constraints.

Legal Report

Ms. Lucasse provided an update on SL 2017-209 (an Act to Amend Various Environmental Laws) This was enacted October 4, 2017 and includes changes to G.S. 130A-335(a1) to clarify the roles of geologists and soil scientists in wastewater system site evaluations. DHHS has proposed rule changes as a result of SL 2017-209 for the engineered optioned permit for wastewater. Before the Board January meeting, Chair Kolb, Dr. Taylor, Executive Director Geiger, and Attorney Lucasse met with Nancy Deal and others at DHHS and provided comments on the proposed rule changes. DHHS has taken the position that the Session Law states that all professionals must act within the scope of their license and that soil science is not a sub-discipline of geology. Therefore, it is DHHS’s position that a soil and site evaluation for a septic system does not fall within the specific scope of the LG license. DHHS does not dispute that a LG may play a role in an EOP relative to hydrogeological investigations since these do fall under their purview. This would apply regardless of the design daily flow of the system. DHHS states that it will continue to direct local health districts to deem any NOI that does not list a Soil Scientist among the licensed professionals as “incomplete.” DHHS has acknowledged receipt of the Board’s comments and will respond to each of these along with other comments received.

At the November 2017 meeting, the Board requested the complete investigation report submitted to the Board by Neil Gilbert re the NCDOT Complaints of possible unauthorized practice. This was provided to the Board in advance of the January meeting. However, because of the inclement weather, discussion on the report was deferred to the April meeting.

Ms. Lucasse reported that she spoke with Mr. Boshoff of Cohesion regarding the complaint of unauthorized practice. The Board should continue to monitor the situation to confirm that Cohesion is not offering to provide geological services in North Carolina without a license.

Ms. Lucasse provided training on Articles 31 and 31a of Chapter 143, the State Tort Claims Act and the Defense of State Employees Law.

ASBOG®

Due to time constraints, this item was deferred to the April meeting of the Board.

Continuing Education Committee Report

Mr. Garrett reported that the Committee had reviewed 38 applications for continuing education.  Twenty-three applications were approved; six additional applications were approved, but for a different number of hours than was requested. Five applications were deferred for further information. Four applications were denied because they took place prior to July 1, 2017 or because they were not geological in nature.

The Committee suggested that the full Hazwoper training be allowed 8 hours of PDFs and that the Hazwoper update be allowed 2 hours of PDFs. Following discussion, motion was made by Mr. Garrett and seconded by Dr. Miller to accept the recommendation of the Committee. The motion carried. It was noted that each provider of the Hazwoper training must be approved by the Board.

Mr. Garrett asked that the WRRI and the Groundwater Professionals of NC be added to the list of pre-approved providers as they were approved in January, but were not included on the published list.

Staff was asked to revise the CE application form to include the following:  Explain how this activity is related to the practice of geology as per NC GS § 89E. It was noted that this topic would be an excellent article in the Board’s blog or newsletter.

An email blast regarding CE and renewal will be sent out as soon as the website has been updated to allow for reporting of CE and license renewal for the period July 1, 2018-June 30, 2019.

The appeal process and the audit process were discussed.  Ms. Geiger was asked to contact other State Boards regarding their methods.

The Board reviewed an offer from a licensee to maintain a list of upcoming activities to use as a tool for all licensees to locate continuing education. It was determined that the Board is not required to provide or suggest continuing education opportunities. Ms. Geiger was asked to thank the licensee for the offer, but to inform him that the Board rejected the offer.

Due to time constraints, the appeals for approval of CE and the requests for pre-approval of certain organizations was deferred to the March meeting.

Old Business

Due to time constraints, this item was deferred to the April meeting of the Board.

New Business

Attendance of Drs. Taylor and Miller to the 2018 GSA Southeastern Section 67th Annual Meeting in Knoxville, TN, April 12-13, 2018 was discussed. Staff showed examples of items that could be purchased as giveaways promoting the NCBLG with Board members. Dr. Taylor made the motion to purchase the following promotional items: 1000 koozies; 1000 coasters (using the NC Geological Survey maps) and a limited number of pint glasses with the Board seal. The entire budget for these purchases is no more than $5000. Dr. Miller seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

Per NC GS § 143-318.11(6), motion was made by Dr. Miller to move into closed session.  The motion was seconded by Rick Kolb and carried.

On motion by Dr. Taylor and second by Dr. Miller, the Board resumed the open session.

Dr. Taylor made the motion to approve the applications as acted upon by the Board.  The motion was seconded by Mr. Garrett and carried unanimously.

On motion and second the meeting was adjourned at 12:05 pm.

Respectfully submitted:

Kenneth Taylor, Secretary/Treasurer