On Monday, the Board of Commissioners voted to reappoint two members of The Endowment’s board for additional three-year terms in a 3-2 vote, with Democratic members dissenting.
Commissioners appoint five of The Endowment’s 13 members, with six appointed by Novant Health, and two appointed internally. That structure, which avoids a majority of appointments made by the county, allows The Endowment to remain a private entity that is not covered by the state's open meetings and records laws. The appointment system was part of the creation of The Endowment as part of the sale of the county hospital to Novant.
Both of the county’s appointees whose terms were up applied to serve another term: Woody White and Mary Lyons Rouse. White is an influential conservative, a former county commissioner who helped set up the founding structure of The Endowment, who has also served on numerous public boards, including for UNCW and the UNC system. Rouse is a long-term member of Cape Fear Academy’s administration.
In his application, White cited his long history of professional, public, and volunteer service as his qualifications, and said he was interested in staying on the board because, at the time of his first appointment three years ago, The Endowment “was not fulfilling its full mandate” and was “underserving the public interest.” While many Endowment board members have avoided publicly commenting on the foundation’s work, White has been outspoken about the need to “realign it with its original purpose.” Asked about concerns he’d like to see addressed, he wrote that “stability and experience of board members will be even more important” as The Endowment becomes a private foundation — that will mean IRS requirements on donations of 5% of its assets, meaning $85 million or more a year.
As for her qualifications, Lyons wrote that she was “passionate, a leader, respectful and responsible. She said she was interested in staying on the board because of her long career in the non-profit and education sectors, and wrote that “being on The Endowment has truly made a difference in my life professionally and personally and I feel as if I have a purpose serving on this board.” Lyons wrote that she did not see any areas of concern that needed addressing, adding, “[I] feel any concern is addressed at our monthly meetings if indeed there is a concern to be discussed.”
Two additional people also applied for consideration: Rosalind B. Barker, a retired CPA who worked for Trillium and Eastpointe Human Services and published Encore Magazine in the early 1990s, and Ronald H. Woodruff, a retired attorney who currently serves on the Wilmington Planning Commission and also volunteers with the Harrelson Center’s Help Hub and other local groups.
Woodruff noted he’d lived in the area for 50 years, and that his goals as a volunteer aligned with The Endowment’s overall mission. In terms of concerns, Woodruff wrote, “as a diverse community, we must face all the challenges presented by the community as a whole and still keep a watchful eye on the needs of individuals that comprise this community.”
Barker also noted she was a longtime Wilmington resident and said her work had taught her about the importance of “medical services, behavioral services, and affordable housing for our most fragile citizens.” Her concerns included the “unhoused population,” “access to more plentiful, healthy food,” and “access to the best possible health care.”
Notably, past appointment cycles have seen far more applicants, over a dozen in some cases.
Democratic commissioners Rob Zapple and Stephanie Walker made a motion to appoint Woodruff and Barker, which lost 3-2. Republican commissioners Bill Rivenbark, Vice-Chair Dane Scalise, and Chair LeAnn Pierce voted to reappoint Rouse and White.
While past votes, including White’s original appointment, have been terse party-line votes with little discussion, this time Scalise presented an extended list of grants he felt were beneficial to the community as his rationale for keeping the current appointees on The Endowment board. He also noted The Endowment’s proposed $116 million grant to the county school system, contingent on the passage of the $320-million school bond on the ballot in November.
“So I think that it is important to keep these two individuals that we have currently on the board still on the board so that they will continue to advance the directives that New Hanover County has given to The Endowment,” Scalise said.
Pierce refuted the idea that her votes were political, framing it as a business decision.
"This is not political. I am a very results-oriented person, this is business to me — nothing against the folks that have applied. I'm sure they're great people, and I hope they will continue to apply — but we are looking at a $116 million partnership, and I don't think that is the time that you tell someone that you don't want them anymore in that position. So I'm in favor of continuing with this group, and if for some reason I don't feel like they're delivering results, then we'll replace them too, and we'll replace people until we get the results that we want,” Pierce said.
Debate over application process
During last Thursday’s agenda review meeting, Zapple and Walker both asked for a more structured and possibly public format for vetting potential candidates for some of the county’s more powerful committee appointments. While The Endowment — which is now in charge of roughly $1.7 billion in public funds — was obviously a key example, Zapple also pointed to the airport authority and Cape Fear Public Utility Authority.
On Monday, that conversation continued.
Zapple asked for a recommendation from staff about possible “structural changes” to the way the county makes appointments to over 30 committees and boards. He suggested creating a tier system to look at the committees that make impactful policy decisions. Zapple suggested a panel of commissioners, acknowledging it would be more work, but saying it was important to get a better sense of who was being appointed.
“I'd like to stand and take the measure of the woman or the man in front of us to see that they'll fulfill the county strategic plan and the will of this commission, because that's what we're asking them to do,” Zapple said.
Walker agreed with Zapple, saying she hadn’t been part of some conversations about appointments in the past.
“ I would like to have more of a dimensional discussion on what those appointments look like,” Walker said. “I don't feel like I've been part of some of these discussions, at least the last two Endowment appointments. And I would just like to expand on that. I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to have discussions with these folks, and I would just think if you want to be on a board, especially of that importance, talk to us all.”
Scalise noted that if an applicant refused to talk to Walker, that would be “deeply upsetting,” and worth discussing in public.
He echoed some comments he’d made on Thursday, noting that commissioners have the ability and responsibility to do due diligence on potential appointees.
“I don't know that we need to turn more of this sort of item over to staff whenever it's our responsibility. It's just my—I don't mean this as a criticism—but it is our responsibility as individual elected members of this commission to do our own due diligence and to do our own digging into the people who are applying to be on our boards,” Scalise said, adding, “I'm always hesitant to create more of a bureaucratic structure, and I feel like that's part of what you're calling for here, more of a bureaucratic structure to make a recommendation that still has to come back to this body to be voted on by five people. So, I personally don't see the value. I think that what we do works.”
Scalise also noted that the commissioners were free to discuss appointments at length if necessary, “if we wanted to keep talking about it, we would keep talking about it until eventually we all sort of ran out of steam.”
Zapple pushed back, suggesting that much of the process, including conversations between commissioners and applicants, was done internally. He said he didn’t want to add bureaucracy to the process, but reiterated that he wanted staff to work out a way to create a public forum for residents to hear more about potential appointees.
“I think it would be incredibly interesting, and I think we would find those diamonds in the rough that would make our whole process and our county stronger,” he said.
At the end of the discussion, County Manager Chris Coudriet told Pierce, “Unless I understand there is a consensus, at least a majority consensus that this is something staff should do, I would be hesitant to go and ask our staff to come up with ways to tell you how to govern your appointments.”
Pierce agreed, saying it shouldn’t be a staff priority. She did suggest that commissioners could pair up to interview potential applicants.
“We'll ask them, would they come up to the county office and have an interview with us for a board,” she said. “I don't think every board, but maybe The Endowment, or maybe the airport or, CFPUA, or the planning board, or some of those that really require some depth of knowledge.”
Piece said this was a suggestion, not a requirement. Walker said she appreciated it.
Disclosure notice: Rob Zapple is a member of the WHQR Board of Directors, which has no role in editorial or reporting decisions.
