Latest / The SEANC View / Atrium’s “Affordability Protection” Exposed, and the State Fair is Coming

Transcript

Atrium’s “Affordability Protection” Exposed, and the State Fair is Coming · The SEANC View

• 0:00
  Hello, everyone. Welcome to another edition of the Scenic View podcast.
• 0:03
  I'm your host, Jonathan Owens, along with Artis Watkins, Suzanne Beasley, and Samantha Klein.
• 0:09
  We have an exciting guest coming up in the second half of the old program.
• 0:14
  But first off, we will start, as we usually do, with news and headlines from the week.
• 0:19
  And I guess the biggest headline for state employees specifically is Atrium's
• 0:25
  announcement of a program where they will make state employees whole.
• 0:30
  Is that what they're calling it, Artis? Oh, no, no.
• 0:33
  We got to get the name right because the name is so incredibly comical.
• 0:38
  Their press release was entitled, New Atrium Health Affordability Protection
• 0:44
  Program launched to ensure North Carolina state health plan members can keep
• 0:48
  the care they know and trust.
• 0:50
  So it's an affordability protection program.
• 0:54
  They're protecting state employees from themselves, right? Yes,
• 0:58
  Atrium is protecting state employees from Atrium, but not the state health plan from Atrium.
• 1:03
  It would still not be protected. So the gist of the Hill program is that they
• 1:07
  will, I guess, reduce the cost to the state employees and retirees on the plan
• 1:13
  to what an access tier person would pay. Is that correct?
• 1:17
  Right. So just to back up, Atrium did not agree to give a competitive enough
• 1:23
  rate and an overall package to be in the preferred tier program.
• 1:28
  In the preferred tier program, your patients have to pay a lot less.
• 1:34
  They did not meet the cut for that.
• 1:37
  Once it was all said and done, apparently Atrium must have offered something
• 1:42
  closer to what they should have in the first place two years ago or whatever.
• 1:46
  But it was too late. I mean, other people had committed, other competitors to
• 1:51
  Atrium had committed to doing the right thing and offering reasonable rates.
• 1:56
  And I guess Atrium just realized they weren't going to win by stomping their
• 2:01
  foot like a toddler and they might have to do something. But it was too little, too late.
• 2:06
  They were leaving their patients out in the cold by not having acted.
• 2:11
  So they decided, well, what we'll do is we'll tell everybody they can pay basically,
• 2:17
  as the patient to Atrium what they would have paid if we were preferred.
• 2:22
  That leaves out a huge aspect of this, which is that they would still build
• 2:26
  a health plan, their incredibly inflated rates.
• 2:31
  And then what would happen to those atrium patients and every other patient
• 2:35
  in the health plan moving forward would have to be much higher premiums,
• 2:39
  according to Treasurer Briner.
• 2:41
  Because, you know, that's the whole point of having the tiered plan the state
• 2:46
  health plan came up with.
• 2:47
  We either have to just jack up premium sky high, have the General Assembly keep
• 2:53
  having to put so much money in this plan to keep it afloat that there's no money for raises.
• 2:58
  Or they had to find a way to do what Dale Falwell tried to do and keep the hospitals
• 3:04
  from just naming their price, holding everybody hostage.
• 3:08
  So I know people still want their provider. I've got a similar situation with
• 3:12
  my insurance and one of my providers, but there's no end.
• 3:17
  You can't give them enough money to make them happy is what we found.
• 3:21
  And so at some point, somebody had to blink.
• 3:25
  And we were in fact, and we've been saying this for years, We're going to lose
• 3:29
  our health plan if we keep overpaying this way.
• 3:32
  Treasurer Briner came up with this tiered program today.
• 3:36
  Resolve that atrium is trying to do this to look good to employees,
• 3:42
  say we care about you but that doesn't ultimately care about them does it suzanne
• 3:46
  at the end of the day because i mean you're we've talked about the sustainability
• 3:51
  of the health plan for years and years and years and i'm still not sure that it ever sinks in,
• 3:56
  i don't think people think it's real you may not have a state health plan and
• 3:59
  if you do you're not gonna get a pay raise because Ever.
• 4:02
  Like, you'll never see another pay raise.
• 4:05
  And retirees, you know, if they want anything out of the General Assembly,
• 4:10
  that we cannot continue to shovel money at hospitals the way we have.
• 4:14
  State employees and retirees are not
• 4:16
  the problem here. Hospitals that are overcharging people are the problem.
• 4:21
  So the treasurer tried to address the problem.
• 4:23
  And, you know, they can, look, when you're paying $26 million a year to your
• 4:28
  CEO as Atrium and your entire executive suite just got 21% raises,
• 4:35
  you can hire an awful lot of PR people.
• 4:39
  And so the PR people came up with something they thought was clever, clearly.
• 4:43
  And make it look like they really love the employees, leaving out the part that
• 4:48
  it'll end up killing the employee's plan.
• 4:50
  And by the way, all the people who did the right thing, the hospitals who said,
• 4:53
  okay, we'll give a reasonable rate, they'll want out of that deal, no doubt. Yeah.
• 4:59
  If little gimmicks like this happen.
• 5:02
  But the question remains, is it legal? So I was going to posit a few questions to you. Okay.
• 5:08
  Yeah, there's so many things that come to mind as you try to hash out this whole program in your mind.
• 5:13
  But first off, really, how is it legal? Because basically, I mean,
• 5:18
  there's several different ways I could think of that it could be illegal.
• 5:21
  What are you thinking? I mean, I'm not a lawyer for the plan or for the atrium.
• 5:26
  But I got to tell you, everybody I've talked to about this who just understands
• 5:31
  general contract law and understands the general tenets of health care law.
• 5:37
  There's two things that are happening. Number one, this definitely seems like
• 5:41
  it is surely violative of the contract that the state health plan has with Atrium.
• 5:47
  If they're violating that contract,
• 5:48
  it is surely because they're trying to control the benefit structure.
• 5:54
  The benefit structure of the plan has to be decided by the plan or else you
• 5:57
  can't make a budget for the plan.
• 6:01
  If individual hospitals can say midstream, we're going to change what the benefits
• 6:07
  for your plan members are, A, that's not their right nor their job.
• 6:12
  Their only right is to decide if they accept the terms that are offered.
• 6:17
  They don't get to set the terms. If they did, again, there would be no way we
• 6:22
  could ever budget for the plan, and it would surely end up bankrupt fast.
• 6:26
  So that's one thing. Is it violative of the contract? But then there's also
• 6:30
  laws around steerage, what they call steerage, where you're trying to kind of circumvent the market.
• 6:38
  Pretty much a smoke and mirrors kind of that you can't allow in health care.
• 6:41
  This is very much like, you know how big pharma gives out coupons?
• 6:46
  Yeah. This is just like couponing in big pharma, except there's laws around
• 6:50
  health care that don't exist in that realm of big pharma.
• 6:55
  And the way it's like couponing, y'all, if you get one of those coupons and
• 6:58
  you take that to the pharmacist, you get a good deal.
• 7:01
  It looks like you get a good deal. You get a good deal in that moment.
• 7:05
  But your insurance company does not get billed at some discounted rate on that.
• 7:11
  Your insurance company gets billed some full freight obscene amount for your
• 7:16
  prescription, which means you end up paying later a whole lot more because your
• 7:21
  insurance rates go up so much.
• 7:22
  And your benefits start looking less good because of that, because it's expensive
• 7:26
  for the insurance company.
• 7:28
  So it's to make, Big Pharma does that to look good to the consumer so they don't
• 7:33
  look like a bad guy, because that's all behind the curtain.
• 7:36
  And this is what Atrium's trying to do. It's also, it's kind of hard to argue
• 7:41
  this, but it's also discriminatory against the people who aren't state employees
• 7:45
  in retirement. Well, I mean, yeah.
• 7:47
  I mean, they're going to pay full rate. I mean, I know that's a small issue
• 7:51
  to us, But, I mean, that, you know, it seems like it would be discriminatory.
• 7:55
  The weird part of this is it's a third party that does the negotiating and the
• 8:00
  contract. The best example I can think of is indeed the Trojan horse.
• 8:06
  It rolls in and it looks like such a gift. And then the door opens,
• 8:10
  it burns down everything you care about. And you had no idea when you accepted
• 8:13
  the gift that your future would get burned down around you. And that's what it is.
• 8:18
  Well, and the outside concern, not just for state health plan members,
• 8:22
  but John, you were talking a little bit about discriminatory to just the rest
• 8:27
  of the people that work in North Carolina.
• 8:29
  This is a taxpayer issue because the state health plan is self-funded.
• 8:33
  It's funded with taxpayer dollars, obviously.
• 8:36
  So not only, I mean, state employees are taxpayers.
• 8:39
  Sometimes people are confused about that. State employees are taxpayers.
• 8:42
  So they're going to get whacked at some point. This is going to come back around in their premiums.
• 8:47
  And regardless of whether you're saving or not, it all comes from the same pot of money.
• 8:52
  So you're not going to get raises and you're not going to get cost of living
• 8:55
  adjustments. And this is going to cause the state to put more money into the plan to pay for it.
• 9:01
  Exactly. If the plan exists at all, because it could just go belly up and you
• 9:06
  not have a health plan at all.
• 9:07
  Which will have a bigger impact on what we're already dealing with was,
• 9:12
  you know, the vacancy crisis and not being able to provide services. So it's just a snowball.
• 9:18
  And someone's got to tackle. Someone's got to tackle that snowball.
• 9:21
  Well, I mean, yeah, or else we just accept defeat. And if Atrium is your provider
• 9:27
  and you're upset about this, I get it. I feel you.
• 9:30
  I mean, you have every right to be upset. You're just upset right now at the
• 9:34
  wrong people. You can be upset at the health plan all day long.
• 9:38
  But when hundreds more dollars are coming out of your check every month.
• 9:43
  For your health care and you get no raise and your retirement starts to get
• 9:47
  underfunded because there's not enough money for a full employer contribution
• 9:51
  because we're shoveling money at hospitals,
• 9:54
  you might regret it at that point. So, you know, atrium is who's putting you
• 9:58
  in this position. Let's be very clear. They could have agreed the whole way
• 10:02
  along to be a preferred provider and a good egg.
• 10:06
  Why did they not care about you at all the entire time they were talking to
• 10:10
  the health plan about this, which is documented that they were,
• 10:14
  and all of a sudden they care about you? I don't understand this.
• 10:17
  And I think that one of the reasons why it's hard to grasp as a consumer, as a health plan member.
• 10:23
  Is that you don't really see the full cost of what your procedures are.
• 10:28
  And if you were charged, you know, you were facing either a $20,000 bill or
• 10:33
  a $40,000 bill for something, you would pick the $20,000 bill no matter if you
• 10:38
  had to go two hours away to buy that car or something, you know?
• 10:42
  Yeah, it's your pocketbook. But when people are just paying their co-pays and
• 10:45
  their premiums, they're not seeing those.
• 10:48
  And I guess that's what Atrium's trying to keep concealed by doing this program. Oh, yeah.
• 10:53
  Yeah. And I am not mad at a single person who got that information from Atrium
• 10:59
  and said, thank God Atrium cares about us.
• 11:02
  I am not mad at them because I do not expect state employees who have such busy
• 11:08
  jobs and then busy lives at home.
• 11:10
  I don't expect them to have read up on every way this could impact their pay,
• 11:15
  their health care, you know, all the dominoes that start falling if you go with this plan.
• 11:21
  That's why we're here. Yeah. And so we're not going to stop talking about it. And, you know.
• 11:26
  So open enrollment is starting next week. Right. And then. Right.
• 11:30
  So the timing, of course. Yeah.
• 11:32
  So there's not much time to hash this out, but we will definitely be watching it, obviously.
• 11:37
  Another health care related thing that happened this week was you artists went
• 11:41
  to the Wake County Commissioners to speak again on the Atrium Wake Med merger,
• 11:46
  to keep it in the air. Yeah.
• 11:49
  I mean, I think a couple things. As an association, we definitely want the county
• 11:53
  commissioners to hear that we nor the other groups who had been involved in
• 11:58
  fighting this fight have dropped this.
• 12:01
  We haven't accepted that their vote is the end of this and that it can't get fixed at this point.
• 12:07
  There are still, there's the FTC review that has to take place to look at whether
• 12:12
  Atrium and WakeMed are violating federal antitrust laws.
• 12:16
  And then there is also an independent review by the attorney general that's been called for.
• 12:20
  And the attorney general's office, to my understanding, doesn't even have the
• 12:24
  documentation from Wake County yet. So they can't start their 30 days to there's
• 12:29
  like two 30 day periods of review.
• 12:31
  But we will be in contact with the attorney general's office,
• 12:34
  as I feel sure half of this county is going to be because the process was so flawed.
• 12:41
  And when they voted, just the thing I'll leave you with and I wanted to remind
• 12:45
  them of, they voted not knowing most of the material details of this thing.
• 12:50
  And I don't know how that vote can stand when they didn't know if it was minor
• 12:55
  things, but material details of a contract.
• 12:58
  And in the face of so much opposition.
• 13:01
  So we're not going anywhere. And we wanted Wake County to know we care about
• 13:05
  the state employees and we care about the county employees.
• 13:08
  Wake County commissioners didn't
• 13:09
  care about their own employees whose care is going to go up in cost.
• 13:13
  Speaking of county meetings, Suzanne, you visited the Wake County School Board
• 13:18
  this week. How was that? Fascinating. Fascinating.
• 13:23
  There was two hours of public comment before they even got to their business.
• 13:27
  And that's just, I honestly haven't been to a school board meeting.
• 13:32
  You know, life was busy raising a family, so I just never went to one.
• 13:36
  So I went to many a school board meeting as a reporter in Lee County.
• 13:40
  And, yeah, that was my beat for like four years.
• 13:43
  And, yeah, they're boring at times, but they get exciting sometimes.
• 13:47
  And what was the issue you were specifically going on? So access,
• 13:51
  you know, for employee associations to be able to, you know,
• 13:55
  be a resource to their employees.
• 13:57
  There are lots of associations that, you know, employees have the right to choose
• 14:01
  to be a member of and access information the way they want to.
• 14:04
  So we went to speak to that importance and make sure that access is available.
• 14:11
  Okay. Yeah. And they did take a vote to allow. They did. They did.
• 14:16
  Employee and associate on campus, right? They did. So we may have more on that
• 14:20
  in a future episode of the podcast. I think we should really look into that
• 14:24
  issue. Yeah, it was interesting. Okay.
• 14:27
  And the big news in statewide news, not just for state employees,
• 14:32
  although it does affect them, I guess, was the big gas tax pause that came out
• 14:37
  this week. What happened at the legislature?
• 14:40
  It was fast. So they passed legislation that will pause the gas tax until the end of November.
• 14:46
  From what I saw, that will cost the highway fund or DOT $362 million.
• 14:53
  Yeah, but I think they were taking that out of reserves. They're going to take
• 14:55
  it out of the inflation something reserve? Yeah, one of those mini pots of money
• 15:00
  that they've got. Yeah, I was going to ask you, is that different than the big
• 15:03
  rainy day fund that they have?
• 15:05
  Or is that the same pot of money? I think it's all part of the same pot of money.
• 15:09
  But, you know, they've got like... Specific pots. Yeah, yeah,
• 15:12
  that they've planned to use for this, that, and the other. So,
• 15:17
  you know, that sounds really great.
• 15:18
  Everybody's looking for, you know, some relief at the pump. But I don't know.
• 15:23
  I think I kind of expected it to be a longer amount of time.
• 15:26
  Yeah. I think a lot of people did yesterday. But they came in really focused,
• 15:31
  and ready to pass that legislation.
• 15:33
  Yeah. And it passed.
• 15:36
  And, you know, what happens in November?
• 15:38
  Yeah. November 3rd. Go vote. Make your plan now. A bunch of other states,
• 15:43
  like four or five other states just did this. Yeah. So...
• 15:48
  It is, clearly. There's no way around this. This is to make things look like
• 15:52
  they're less expensive for an election. It's what anybody in control does, right? Like, so.
• 15:58
  And it's going to come back to you. I mean, you know, everything that state
• 16:03
  government does like that, if they give you a break here somewhere else,
• 16:07
  you're going to feel an increase. So, you know. But, I mean,
• 16:11
  I think it was very clear what's going on.
• 16:13
  The Democrats, it seemed, tried to, at least talked about in their press conference,
• 16:17
  that they wanted to see this relief of prices go beyond gas to affordability
• 16:24
  overall. They even mentioned health care, right?
• 16:27
  Yeah. Well, and state employee pay raises or, you know. So, but that was all
• 16:31
  shot down, right? That it was, that the...
• 16:34
  The idea was that the session would only be about the affordability of the gas tax.
• 16:39
  I was a little surprised they kind of left the flank open for that criticism.
• 16:43
  You know, if you're coming in about affordability, find something else. To add to the...
• 16:48
  Yeah, because grocery stores where people are complaining every bit as much
• 16:52
  as the gas station. Yeah.
• 16:53
  Yeah. Yeah, I saw one of the members of the Senate named... Oh, Senator Chaudhry. Yes.
• 16:59
  He stated that he offered an amendment to ensure that the savings from suspending
• 17:03
  the 41 cent gas tax would actually be passed on to consumers at the pump and not retailers.
• 17:09
  And without that protection, there is no guarantee that drivers will see the
• 17:12
  full savings, but said that Senate Republicans voted it.
• 17:15
  That's right, because technically gas stations don't have to change the price.
• 17:20
  So you may not see as much of a relief at the pump as it sounds like you're going to see.
• 17:26
  It sounds like there's I mean, there's still demand at 41 cents more.
• 17:29
  So why wouldn't they just raise their prices by 20 percent? So I think the Trump
• 17:34
  administration has kind of left our legislature, like many, a bit in the lurch
• 17:39
  where they're thinking, what do we do?
• 17:40
  We have a very high-profile Senate race for grabs this year between Michael
• 17:45
  Watley and Roy Cooper. And so there's no question that these states that are
• 17:50
  making this move are feeling like they've been left in a real bind.
• 17:54
  And I don't know. It just kind of surprised me that the rest of the affordability
• 17:58
  question just kind of got left out there. I felt like that was kind of a gimme.
• 18:02
  It was, and I do feel like everything just ended yesterday like,
• 18:05
  boom, it was done and it was over. Yeah, that's what it felt like.
• 18:09
  And next Thursday, people start voting. Exactly. So, I mean,
• 18:12
  are they going to feel it by then? I don't know. The next month is going to be crazy, y'all.
• 18:17
  It is. And even probably after that. I just hope come January,
• 18:21
  no matter what shakes out of this whole thing, that some sanity can prevail
• 18:25
  and that we can start, you know, have people working together again because
• 18:30
  this is not working. Thanks.
• 18:31
  None of it's working. It's working, you know, in party silos so hard.
• 18:37
  I think that the way our PAC approaches things, and I know y'all talked to Junior
• 18:42
  Hewlin, our PAC chair last week, and Flint Benson, our political strategist.
• 18:46
  I love the way our PAC takes things every race on about the person and what
• 18:51
  they stand for and what they vote for as opposed to— Issue-driven.
• 18:56
  Yeah. Because this whole getting stuck in the party silos is killing all of us. It really is.
• 19:02
  And that generally, we are nonpartisan. Because there ain't a party that is
• 19:06
  for state employees. Well, that's true.
• 19:08
  That's true. But, yeah, still that being said, we are nonpartisan.
• 19:11
  It's usually about down the middle when they finish endorsing. So, I mean, yeah.
• 19:18
  The corporate wahoos are still in charge of everybody, period. Yeah.
• 19:21
  All right. Well, that's pretty much all we have for the news this week.
• 19:25
  Let's go to our interview with Commissioner Steve Troxler about something happy about the fair. Yes.
• 19:32
  That was a great interview, and I hope you enjoy it. Just a quick word about
• 19:35
  the interview before we begin.
• 19:37
  Commissioner Troxler is traveling all over the state. It's a very busy time
• 19:40
  for him, and we were unable to get him into the studio for the interview.
• 19:44
  So we had to do it by phone, and the audio is spotty at times,
• 19:50
  but we hope that you will be able to enjoy it, and we hope to get him into the
• 19:54
  studio soon for another interview. But here's the interview.
• 20:08
  Hello, everyone. Welcome to another edition of the Scenic View podcast.
• 20:11
  Our guest today has a very important event coming up, and we are excited to
• 20:16
  have Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Troxler on the line here to talk to us
• 20:20
  a little bit about the State Fair.
• 20:22
  Welcome, Commissioner Troxler. How are you doing today? Well, I'm good.
• 20:25
  I do appreciate the opportunity to be on here and talk about the State Fair.
• 20:30
  I would say the State Fair is probably the most enjoyable part of my job if
• 20:36
  everything goes smoothly.
• 20:39
  Is that a big if, or is that you, since you've done it so many times?
• 20:43
  You know, we become a kind of a medium-sized city during the state fair,
• 20:48
  averaging almost 100,000 attendees a day, and on the second Saturday, that could be 150,000.
• 20:57
  So anything that can happen in a city that size does happen at the state fair.
• 21:02
  We take great precautions about the safety of the people coming to the fair,
• 21:07
  and most years it goes as smooth as still.
• 21:10
  But, you know, when you've got a hundred yards running and all these people,
• 21:16
  and things could happen, but they normally know when people happen and everybody enjoys it.
• 21:21
  So, as you know, our focus primarily is state employees and retirees,
• 21:26
  so this interview may be a little different than the tens of thousands you're
• 21:29
  doing this week in preparation for the fair. Yeah.
• 21:32
  We want to talk a little bit about the employees that make it happen.
• 21:36
  And I guess our first question is, just overall, what role do state employees
• 21:40
  have in making this fair one of the best in the nation?
• 21:43
  All of the things that you can imagine state employees do is the state fairing.
• 21:49
  We do have a year-round state fair division, and of course, we are looking for
• 21:55
  business about 364 days a year.
• 21:59
  So we do have that division. But when we have the State Fair,
• 22:02
  everybody in the department, each division, has their own thing to do with the State Fair.
• 22:07
  So we blend the whole department together to put the State Fair,
• 22:12
  everything from security to administration work.
• 22:16
  We might have to bring in our own division.
• 22:19
  So it's a very carefully planned ensemble of our state and four.
• 22:25
  Our State Fair in the Green Engine starts, we'll be planning the State Fair the day we open this one.
• 22:31
  Okay. We will be planning the 27th State Fair and looking at the things that
• 22:36
  we need to change, new things.
• 22:38
  So, and then we were open for business.
• 22:42
  We run all of the facilities on the State Fairgrounds all year long.
• 22:46
  So, when they're not in the fair, they're always busy with facilities,
• 22:51
  medical, maintenance, instead of hanging the people that do come to the flea market on the weekends.
• 22:58
  So it's never a dull moment at the state fair line. Thank you for being here,
• 23:02
  Commissioner. We're happy to see you today.
• 23:05
  My question is, what would you want fairgoers to know about the role that state
• 23:09
  employees play in making this event possible?
• 23:12
  You know, it's not just Department of Aid employees that are working at the
• 23:17
  state fair. For example, the State Highway Patrol has managed the roads the
• 23:22
  whole time that we are at the State Center.
• 23:27
  We also have law enforcement from many of the state agencies around the SBI being one of them.
• 23:34
  But, you know, we're pulling a lot of different state employees to help us.
• 23:38
  And I think it's very enjoyable for our employees of other agencies to be able
• 23:45
  to come out and join the team and see the fair from a different view.
• 23:49
  So the fair is a great showcase for agriculture in North Carolina.
• 23:53
  What do you hope visitors take away about your department and especially the
• 23:57
  employees that make it happen?
• 23:59
  Well, you know, the State Fair has kind of flipped.
• 24:02
  In the beginning, in the 1800s, the State Fair was about educating farmers through
• 24:07
  the new research and practices that they could use to be successful.
• 24:12
  But today, what we're trying to do is educate the public as to the importance
• 24:17
  of agriculture and our industry.
• 24:19
  And with millions and millions of new people moving into the state,
• 24:23
  we certainly hope that it will come out and learn about this $117 billion industry
• 24:30
  that we have at North Carolina.
• 24:33
  We are so diverse in what we do in agriculture.
• 24:37
  We raise something for everybody and everything for everybody.
• 24:42
  So I hope they come out and see the exhibits and not only enjoy and have fun, but learn And.
• 24:52
  It sounds like that's becoming even more important with some of the things we've
• 24:56
  seen in the news about processed food becoming a bigger deal than it has been.
• 25:01
  Our food sources are just changing right now. So I think everybody is kind of focused on food.
• 25:06
  By North Carolina, first of all, by local. So, yeah, this is probably a great
• 25:10
  opportunity for people to learn where their food comes from,
• 25:13
  you know, and how to support our farmers in our state.
• 25:16
  And, you know, people normally see a lot of our food in the process ready to
• 25:22
  eat corn. But, you know, we've got to make them understand that no matter what,
• 25:26
  all of that food starts at the farm, starts at the farm somewhere.
• 25:32
  And there's plenty of local products that we grow at North Carolina that they
• 25:36
  can have the freshest, safest food that they want.
• 25:40
  Do you think that's something the public kind of misses about,
• 25:44
  the importance of your department? Maybe they don't think about what all you do.
• 25:47
  The Department of Ag is a well-kept secret to a lot of people.
• 25:52
  While we are focused on agriculture and the marketing of our products and educating
• 25:58
  the people, We also are one of the most, probably one of the biggest regulatory
• 26:04
  agencies in government too.
• 26:06
  And Food Safety in North Carolina, we inspect all of the processed food that
• 26:12
  is manufactured in North Carolina.
• 26:14
  We do all kinds of inspections. And one thing that people really don't think
• 26:19
  about, everything that they buy is sold by way or way.
• 26:23
  And so our standard provision is constantly checking to make sure that if you're
• 26:29
  supposed to get a quart, you get a quart.
• 26:32
  If you're supposed to get a gallon of gas, you get a gallon of gas.
• 26:36
  But we also expect that fuel quality to try to keep water out of the tank and
• 26:42
  make sure the off-chain levels are right.
• 26:45
  So we're out protecting the consumers, even down to the grocery stores,
• 26:50
  the hardware stores, or anywhere there's a digital scanner.
• 26:55
  We make sure that the advertised price on the display is the same price that
• 27:01
  they will charge at the register, and there are a lot of mistakes made, and so we do
• 27:07
  get out there and make sure that people are compliant in business.
• 27:11
  And even if If you go to the airport and you have to have your luggage weighed,
• 27:16
  we've been better and we check those scales to make sure that they're accurate
• 27:21
  to the act. What are some of the biggest challenges in your department?
• 27:24
  What are you guys facing today?
• 27:26
  Well, the biggest challenge I have right now is being able to hire good employees.
• 27:31
  I've been at the legislature for four years preaching to them that we had to get salary levels up.
• 27:38
  And right now, I've got about 250 positions, and I think about how much 250
• 27:46
  people could be doing that we need to have them out there doing.
• 27:50
  But I'm just not solidly competitive with private industry and all across state government.
• 27:56
  We got a little relief this year for the forest servants.
• 28:00
  I'm ashamed of the starting salaries that we offer people to fight fires and do.
• 28:07
  Safety for the public, and we got a little on the leaf there,
• 28:10
  but I've got a long ways to go, and I know other agencies are fighting the same battle.
• 28:17
  But I have been working with our state human director of human relations director,
• 28:23
  Stacey Meyer, and she is a big advocate, and she understands where we are,
• 28:28
  so we're going to keep fighting.
• 28:30
  And trying to get these salary levels up to the place that they need to be.
• 28:35
  You've been a hero on all that. I've got to tell you, because we all kind of lined up behind you,
• 28:40
  a few years ago to do a press conference because you were leading the way.
• 28:44
  You were definitely the most vocal trying to fight for your employees and therefore
• 28:48
  fight for the taxpayers.
• 28:50
  But that's no surprise to me because I don't know how many people know this
• 28:53
  about you, but you're the lead vote getter out of anybody that's on the ticket every time.
• 28:59
  You get more North Carolinians to vote for you.
• 29:01
  So, I mean, I feel like people should understand that means you're in touch
• 29:05
  with what's going on and what we need. So I hope they'll hear your calls.
• 29:09
  Well, you know, that is amazing to me.
• 29:12
  With that itself, it's a great honor.
• 29:15
  But I've never had the finances to do millions and millions of dollars worth
• 29:20
  of advertising. But the one thing I've tried to do is to stay among the people.
• 29:27
  That's just my nature. I love people.
• 29:29
  I love solving problems for people. And I love helping people.
• 29:33
  And I've tried to extend my attitude and everybody that works in the Department of Bank.
• 29:38
  So we come to work every day if we try to figure out, you know,
• 29:42
  what can we do to make lives better for the people in March of July?
• 29:47
  So before we let you go, we do want to ask you a couple of fun fair questions.
• 29:51
  It wouldn't be a fair interview without it.
• 29:54
  If someone has never been to the State Fair, what's one exhibit,
• 29:57
  competition, or tradition they shouldn't miss?
• 30:00
  Well, the one thing that I really love at the State Fair, and I put a lot of
• 30:05
  energy and resources into, is the Heritage Circle area, the Village of Justine
• 30:11
  Deer, the Heritage of North Carolina.
• 30:15
  We have built seven heritage-long structures. And this year is eight.
• 30:21
  This year we built about a 3,500-square-foot-long building that is now the Flower
• 30:27
  Show display area. They can't miss the ploddle show.
• 30:31
  This is something that is probably unique to the North Carolina State Fair,
• 30:37
  and especially at night, that is the most beautiful thing that you can absolutely see.
• 30:42
  So don't miss the heritage area of the fairgrounds and all the gibbous we have
• 30:48
  there. And the village of Yesterbeer in itself is also unique.
• 30:53
  And all the craftsmen that we met under there are very.
• 30:59
  Receptive to the public. So don't miss that area of required biopsy.
• 31:03
  It's easy to see the ferris wheel.
• 31:06
  All Good Wives and the food stands, but business in itself is enjoyable.
• 31:13
  We actually keep music playing. We got seating for people to give them some
• 31:18
  ice cream, give them something to eat, and just come and lay back in the sunshine or at night and enjoy
• 31:25
  the laid-back part of the fair.
• 31:28
  So Artis and I both have said that's one of our favorite parts of the fair in
• 31:33
  previous podcasts. If you just had that, I'd be content.
• 31:36
  So, actually, my two aunts set up in the village of yesteryear with potteries.
• 31:42
  They have for about 35 years now.
• 31:44
  So, the last question is the question everyone always wants to know.
• 31:48
  What's the new food items this year we can be excited about?
• 31:51
  We have 84 new food items at the State Fair this year.
• 31:56
  And on Monday, we will do a preview of all those foods.
• 32:01
  We actually have a contest, and the media comes in, and we present all these
• 32:07
  foods, and we have a tasting, and then everybody votes on what is the best new food at the State Fair.
• 32:14
  You know, we won't get 84 in there, but I think they've already got about 35
• 32:19
  to 40 of the new foods lined up.
• 32:21
  So I don't want to go with the way hungry, and we'd love all the new foods that come in there.
• 32:29
  And that's the one reason that we've done surveys. The one reason people come
• 32:36
  to the state fair is to eat the food.
• 32:40
  84 new varieties or something that we look forward to.
• 32:45
  Well, I have a hard-hitting question. Can't let you go without a really tough,
• 32:49
  hard-hitting political question.
• 32:52
  When are these pig races going to come back? We need the pig races back.
• 32:55
  I know the fellow retired, is my understanding.
• 32:57
  Yeah, the land that we have depended on for all those years for the pig races is retired.
• 33:03
  And I don't know that we have found a vendor yet that we're satisfied with,
• 33:08
  but I agree with you 100%. We do need the pig races. Yes.
• 33:13
  And one thing you can't miss this year, we are going to have the world's tallest,
• 33:18
  doable, fairest wheel and the whole wide world there to stay fair.
• 33:23
  It's still over twice the height of Dorton Arena. I think it comes down to about 230 feet tall.
• 33:31
  And I don't know how far you'll be able to see from the top of it,
• 33:34
  but we have another ridge wheel there that you can see downtown Raleigh,
• 33:39
  but you may be able to see John and Chapel Hill from this fair. Good grief.
• 33:45
  Awesome. I don't know if I'll ride that or not, but I'll definitely look at it.
• 33:50
  We have done something that we have actually mormon out of the water.
• 33:55
  We have built a new vet style food court building and a place that we have.
• 34:02
  And I walked in it last week and I just looked at it and wondered and said,
• 34:07
  wow, this is out of this world.
• 34:10
  When the fair is not operating, we're going to have eight full-time restrooms in this to vet center.
• 34:17
  We've got four outside windows during the fair for food vendors to be data.
• 34:22
  So this is going to add so much to the year-round operations,
• 34:26
  especially of the state fair. But it's worth just going in and looking at it.
• 34:31
  Like I said, we've run this away.
• 34:36
  Definitely be up on my list of things.
• 34:39
  Post-man. Well, it's the best thing that happens all year as far as I'm concerned, honestly.
• 34:43
  Suzanne knows we've worked together
• 34:45
  long enough. It is my favorite thing all year. I just wait for it.
• 34:49
  You know, we have just finished a $3.60 million road budget in the state fairgrounds
• 34:56
  to clean this new building.
• 34:58
  It's going to look brand new to people. And, you know, a lot of these buildings
• 35:02
  are approximately 100 years old where they take a lot of tenderloving care.
• 35:07
  Some of them are actually on the National Historic Register,
• 35:10
  so the commercial end building that is on the register, we have rebuilt the outside.
• 35:18
  With the original looking stucco, the lighting, the wonder, and the only thing
• 35:23
  that you see, all the restrooms have been renovated, the exterior restrooms,
• 35:29
  we've done work through the Bram building.
• 35:32
  The Homes House was building one of the villages yesterday. It was completely
• 35:37
  renovated the bathroom, and it is now here at Air Condition.
• 35:42
  Oh, awesome.
• 35:45
  It will be, I think, just be a joy for people to see the work we've done on the fair.
• 35:51
  Can't wait. Everybody get your tickets now. Well, thank you so much for joining
• 35:55
  us, taking some time, and we will see you at the fair, hopefully.
• 35:58
  All right. Come by and play your load.
• 36:00
  All right. Thank you. Thank you.