Some Council of State leaders urge Cooper to reopen NC

The telephonic meeting was largely congenial, but tensions surfaced over the need to restart the economy as well as the state's overwhelmed unemployment system.

State Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey said that, when he's out in the community, people are telling him they're more concerned about the economy than the pandemic and about small businesses bearing the brunt more than large ones.

"People will say, 'My cousin owns a small furniture store. They hardly ever get more than eight or 10 customers a day,'" Causey relayed. "'Yet, they had to shut down while the big stores can stay open.'

"I think there's a lot of people, as you know, that would like to see things safety reopen up as soon as we can," he said.

State Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry said she's also heard complaints about rules being applied inconsistently to businesses in different areas.

"We're all in this working together, but we're not all in the same boat," Berry said. "Every business is important."

She also said her department is getting many calls from people asking about their unemployment benefits.

"I'd also just like to remind people, if the media or anybody's listening, that in North Carolina, the Department of Labor is not the Employment Security Commission," Berry said, adding, "At least when they call us, they get a human being on the phone."

Lt. Gov. Dan Forest defended the work of the employees at the overwhelmed DES, noting that many are working overtime and double shifts to process the unprecedented number of claims pouring in.

"While we are thanking ourselves for the work we do, I just want to state the obvious – that everybody on this call is still getting a paycheck and still able to work," Forest said. "It is tragic out there."

Forest urged the council members to help small businesses survive the shutdown. He said a lot of bigger businesses will get through it because "they know how to navigate the system, but the small folks always don't."

"These business owners want to be trusted, especially the small-business owners," Forest said. "We feel like, somehow, we can trust the big folks to be essential and do the things they need to do when they may have thousands of people in their store, but somehow we can’t trust the small-business owner who may have one or two at any given time in their stores."

Gov. Roy Cooper didn't comment on the issue during the meeting. He's expected to offer more details about his proposal to reopen at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.