SEANC Executive Director Ardis Watkins sent the following letter to Gov. Roy Cooper and OSHR Director Barbara Gibson for their consideration:

Sept. 30, 2024

The Honorable Roy Cooper
116 W Jones Street
Raleigh, NC 27603

Dear Governor Cooper,

The devastating images from Helene’s aftermath in western North Carolina are beyond comprehension. Thank you so much for your leadership in this time of extreme uncertainty for so many of our state’s citizens.

As you know, state employees are our most valuable resource in times like these. They have a spirit for public service and want to help. We are being inundated with calls from members who want to know what they can do to ease the suffering of their friends in the west.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Fran, Governor Hunt granted a week of “disaster leave” for state employees to use on recovery efforts. The needs in Helene’s wake are already much worse than Fran, of course.

SEANC officially requests that you grant non-essential state employees two weeks' leave time if they work in counties affected by Helene so they can deal with their losses and help in their communities as state employees did during Hurricane Fran. We realize that this cannot be done for our essential state employees. However, the essential employees are being worked to their physical limits. We respectfully request that this leave be something the essential employees can be granted to use when they can in the hopes it will help their recuperation later.

SEANC stands ready to help with recovery efforts in any way we can. We have spoken with many agency heads to convey our willingness to help state employees and our thankfulness as citizens for the agencies' work in saving lives, ensuring safety, and securing property. Please let us know if and where we can assist.

Sincerely,

Ardis Watkins
SEANC Executive Director

Click here for a pdf of the letter