STATE OF MAINE
STATE BOARD OF FUNERAL SERVICE
Minutes of October 14, 2004 Board Meeting
Members
Present: Robert Barnes, Chair; Hervey Clay, Complaint Officer; John Dunn,
Paul Fredette and Normand Lambert
Others
Present: Penny
Vaillancourt, Administrator and Diane Bradstreet, Board Clerk
Members Absent: Bethel Shields, Jennifer Minkowitz and Ernest
Marriner
CALL TO
ORDER
Robert Barnes, Chair, called
the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
In a
motion by Hervey Clay, seconded by Normand
Lambert, the minutes from the August 12, 2004 meeting were unanimously approved
as written.
DISCUSSION REGARDING WILES
FUNERAL HOME
The Board
discussed the matter of Wiles Funeral Home and the fact that in January of this
year, the owners of this funeral establishment chose to renew only the license
of their Farmington location as they felt that this was their only full-service
funeral home and that the other three branches, which have been licensed in the
past as funeral establishments, are simply gathering areas. They further state that they consider these three
branches to be community resource centers and remembrance centers and therefore,
they are not required to be licensed under Maine Law.
In a motion
by Paul Fredette, seconded by John Dunn, the Board voted to file a complaint
against Wiles Funeral Home for unlicensed practice and also for failure to
notify the Board of a name change. All
in favor with Hervey Clay recused.
FUNERAL BOARD INSPECTOR
POSITION
Penny
Vaillancourt informed the Board of the resignation of the Funeral Board
Inspector, Matthew Cyr. Kevin Cookson,
Health Board Investigator, has been
assigned to assist in completing the pending funeral complaints and as well as
any pending establishment inspections.
The Office of Licensing and Registration will be advertising for a new
inspector in the near future.
PROPOSED RULEMAKING DISCUSSION
Penny
Vaillancourt prepared a memo to identify the major areas of concern that the
Board has articulated regarding current board rules. Ms. Vaillancourt requested that the Board
review this memo and add, delete or amend its contents accordingly. A final list of the required changes will
need to be submitted to Director Anne Head for her assignment to the staff
attorney.
State Board
of Funeral Service
Minutes of
October 14, 2004
Page 2
CONTINUING
EDUCATION APPROVAL
In a motion by Normand Lambert,
seconded by John Dunn, the Board voted unanimously to approve the list of
continuing education programs as reviewed by the Continuing Education Committee
on August 12, 2004.
In a motion by Paul Fredette,
seconded by Normand Lambert, the Board voted unanimously to approve the attached
list of continuing education programs as reviewed today by the Continuing
Education Committee.
ADMINISTRATOR’S
REPORT – PENNY VAILLANCOURT
Ms. Vaillancourt informed the
Board of the necessity to change the day of the board meetings each month from
the second Thursday to the second Tuesday.
Ms. Vaillancourt requested
clarification from the board regarding whose responsibility it was to report interest
earned from a mortuary trust to the Internal Revenue Service, should it be the
funeral home or the consumer? It was determined
that the Board does not have any regulations regarding notification of interest
earned prior to 1999. However, the
board’s current sample mortuary trust agreements do require that either the
interest be identified as personal income to the payor, or the trust can be
identified as a “qualified funeral trust” under federal tax law, to which the
trust would pay the interest.
ADJOURN
There being
no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:30 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Diane
J. Bradstreet
Board Clerk
