Staff Council Executive Committee Meeting

Friday, December 14, 2001

8:30-10:30 a.m.

Present: Pat Arkema, Cathy Colony Bunnell, Dave Martin, Bonnie McIntosh, Janice Simmons-Welburn, Heather Weber

Absent: Ella Born, Pat Kenner, Xian Wu

1. The meeting was called to order at 8:45.

2. Minutes from the 11/16/01 Executive Committee meeting were approved.

Issues/Reports/On-going Concerns:

3. Bylaws. Staff Council will vote on one more Bylaws proposal at the January meeting. One will be a follow-up proposal on the duties of the Past President. The Bylaws Committee is also looking at the duties of the Staff Council Secretary.

4. Budget. Pat Arkema reported on the budget meeting with Doug True. True predicted that it would take the University about two years to reverse the budget problems that have developed this fiscal year. The initial report from the MGT audit will be presented to the Board of Regents (BOR) meeting in January. This report will identify initial areas to evaluate for efficiencies. At the meeting, Sue Buckley reported on Decompression Report issues. Equity issues are currently examined with new hires but not necessarily with continuing employees, although the People Soft application is now capable of analyzing equity issues on the departmental level. A discussion followed on the role of department heads, which are charged with creating equity in their units. Roadblocks to equity mentioned were accountability of the department heads, department budgeting problems (creating equity with limited resources), and lack of education regarding standard salary increases. Sue reported that the University is competitive with its peers in terms of salary levels. She said the University plans to eventually track every faculty and employee’s educational credentials as another part when exploring equity issues. In last year’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) report on the audit of the Office of Affirmative Action, no inappropriate actions were found. The HR web site has been expanded greatly over the last several years. Some of the additions are university-wide tracking mechanisms of performance appraisals, e-forms, and on-line registration capabilities. Approximately 500 IT positions on campus are being evaluated for reclassification.

5. Adoption Leave Recommendation. After some discussion on the benefits/drawbacks of the proposed adoption leave change, the Executive Committee reached a consensus in favor of the proposal that would increase paid adoption leave from an employee’s sick time pool from 5 to 10 days. Pat will draft a proposal for the January Staff Council meeting.

6. Pam Nielsen Resignation

a. Pam Nielsen is resigning from Staff Council. She hopes to be a resource to the Council/stay connected to members in the future.

b. Discussion ensued regarding the vacant Administrative positions left by both Pam Nielsen and Mona Shaw and how these positions would be filled at the coming election. The Executive Committee also discussed the 2002 election with regard to the extended terms of Pat Arkema and Dave Martin.

7. Other

a. Dave Martin suggested eliminating detailed committee descriptions from the Bylaws, and instead, handing out committee descriptions to the Council members at the beginning of the Council’s new year.

b. Pat Arkema and Dave Martin will be participating in a CIC (Center for Institutional Cooperation) teleconference with representatives from other Big Ten Staff Councils.

8. The committee discussed and established agenda items for the 12/17/01 Executive Committee meeting with President Coleman.

9. Adjourned.

Future Executive Committee Meetings:	Future Meetings with President Coleman:
Friday, January 18	Wednesday, January 23
Friday, February 15	Tuesday, February 19
Friday, March 22	Monday, March 25
	Tuesday, April 30
	Tuesday, May 21
	Tuesday, June 18

*All SC Executive Committee meetings are on Fridays from 8:30 – 10:30am

**All meetings with President Coleman are 8-9am.

Submitted by Heather Weber,

Staff Council Office Manager