Staff Council Meeting

Wednesday, October 10, 2001, 2:30-4:30 p.m.

W401  PBB

 

Present:   Pat Arkema, Ella Born, Cathy Colony Bunnell, Charlie Eastham, Judy Elleson, David Fitzgerald,

   Pamela Kacena, Pat Kenner, Hazel Kerr, Kathy Klein, Feather Lacy, David Martin, Bonnie McIntosh, Donna Muller, Pamela Lenz Nielsen, Juan Parales, Cheryl Reardon, Sandra Reed, Janice Simmons-Welburn, Rebecca Stamy, Jun Tang, Anne Tanner, Amy Welter, Heather Weber

 

Absent:    Diane Anderson, Vicki Brown, Jenniffer Carpe, Cheryl Carter, Jan Christensen, Milind Deshpande, Susan Felker, Mary Freitag, Donna Hirst, Tina Knutson, Karon Kolek, Joy Kross, Dongwang Liu, Mark Long, Wanda Magruder, Sherry Pech, Christine Remmert, Mona Shaw, Michael Wichman, Jeanette Wigim, Xian Wu

 

Administrative Liaisons:  Sue Buckley, Interim Associate Vice President of Human Resources;

Kevin Ward, Interim Associate Director of Human Resources and Director of Employee and Labor Relations

1.      The meeting was called to order at 2:35 p.m.

2.      Review/approval of minutes.

  1. 9/12/01 Staff Council meeting minutes were reviewed.  Pat Kenner offered a revision to 4b. It reads as follows:

Pat Kenner mentioned that MGT of America, consultants hired by the BOR has met with several groups on campus including PCSI, central administration, and various employee groups.  Pat also advised SC that the Faculty Staff BPAC has been reconvened by chair Jonathan Carlson to complete the charge of formulating recommendations to central administration about the University 's budgeting process.  Kenner also noted that the possibility of reversions in the current budget year will make this a very stressful time. 

No vote for approval was taken due to lack of quorum.

  1. Reviewed minutes from 9/14/01 Executive Committee meeting.
  2. Reviewed minutes from 9/17/01 Executive Committee meeting with President Coleman.

3.      Comments – Interim AVP Sue Buckley.

  1. Health Insurance Rates:

1)      Sue said that the health insurance rates have been finalized.  There will be an average increase in premium rates of 7.1%, with the range of change being 0–25%.  The good news is that flexible benefits dollars for health insurance will also increase by 9%.  Sue strongly suggests taking all factors into consideration—including deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums—when deciding which health insurance plan to sign up for.

2)      Sue said that there would be a letter sent to all participants of the Chip I plan advising that this plan would remain available, but is not considered a good financial choice.

3)      Sue said the flexible benefits packets would be sent out shortly.  The due date for returning these packets will be 11/30/01.  She encourages everyone to use the Human Resources electronic self-service center to enroll, if at all possible.

  1. The Board of Regents (BOR) meeting will be in Ames next week.  Items on the agenda include:

1) Tuition policies and rates.

2)   Annual report on the merit system.  The report will include distribution of merit terminations, appointments, race and gender.

3)   The University of Iowa will report 2001-2002 salaries:  The average increase was 3.8% for faculty and P & S staff, excluding those staff covered by SEIU.

    c.     Governor Vilsack's proposed budget reduction:

1)  Sue said a set of guiding principles for achieving a reduction in the university's budget has been widely distributed.

2)  Sue also said the various deans and vice presidents will use these principles as they plan what each of their units will do to help achieve the budget reduction.

3)  Sue said that even though lay-offs are not now occurring, the possibility does exist.

4)  Staff Councilors raised many questions and discussion followed.

4.      Funded Retirement and Insurance Committee (FRIC) report by Dan Holub.

  1. Dan discussed the increase in flexible benefits credits for health insurance and the average increase in premium rates, as mentioned above.  He handed out two charts:  "Health Insurance Changes for Flex Credits" and "The University of Iowa 2000/01 Experience" for the various health plans.
  2. Dan said that FRIC has agreed to recommend to university administration that the original early retirement program be extended an additional two years for those who meet eligibility requirements as of 6/30/02.  He said that committee members received many emails from Staff Councilors and that they appreciated the input.
  3. Dan also handed out a list of "Iowa State vs. SUI Retirement Incentive Principles" that has been given to our university's administration.  FRIC recommends these be used for future early retirement programs.  The administration will communicate with the BOR office.  A decision regarding any early retirement programs will need to be reached by university administration before the BOR meeting in November.
  4. Dan mentioned that there has been some discussion between FRIC and the hospital administration regarding the UI Care health plan.  Hospital administration is proposing some changes in the plan with regard to participants who seek care from outside the system.

5.      Issues/Reports/On-going Concerns.

  1. Cathy Colony Bunnell discussed the motion that was made at Staff Council's September meeting.  However, a vote was not taken due to a lack of quorum.  She also mentioned two additional proposed changes to the Bylaws.  One change would involve the "Scope of Concern" section of Article XIV, Education Committee.  The other change would be to add a sentence at the end of the first paragraph in Article XIV, Staff Council Committees:  "At the discretion of the chair, committee members may be removed from the committee for non-attendance."   No action was taken with regard to these changes.  It was felt that Staff Council should wait on these changes until a vote can been taken on the previous motion.
  2. Pat Kenner mentioned that the Budget Committee would meet tomorrow morning.  When Pat Arkema asked about the Budgetary Planning and Advisory Committee (BPAC), Pat Kenner said that the committee would meet again to try to finish the original charge.  The BPAC had hoped to submit a final report by December 2000 and now hopes to accomplish this by December 2001.
  3. Pat Arkema discussed the recent joint fund-raising effort by AFSCME, SEIU, and Staff Council to benefit victims of the World Trade Center tragedy.  A total of approximately $4,000 was raised.
  4. Pat Arkema said that in an effort to provide information to President Coleman regarding staff's opinions of the Taser, she would like to know how the Councilors would vote for the proposals brought by the Department of Public Safety.  This would not be an official vote but more a tally of opinions.  Some discussion followed.  Pat then asked that the handouts listing the proposals be turned in to her anonymously.  She also said that she would ask the Councilors in abstentia to submit a "vote" to her by email.
  5. Pat Arkema raised some questions regarding the campus clean-up project that Pat Kenner mentioned at the last Staff Council meeting.  Pat Kenner has not received any response from either the faculty or student groups.  Pat Arkema asked if any Staff Councilors were interested in coordinating this project.  Bonnie McIntosh offered to check with the Facilities Services Group to see if there was any need for a group project like this.
  6. Ella Born relayed a message from Michael Wichman regarding the Governmental Relations Committee:  Michael is hoping to arrange for another committee meeting soon; and he had received an email message from Downing Thomas, Faculty Senate Governmental Relations Committee Chair, saying "I'm sure that joining forces at this time is a good idea.  We have an upcoming meeting (in a little over one week), probably too soon to call a joint meeting.  Perhaps we could meet together in November."
  7. Anne Tanner handed out a flyer entitled "Brief Introduction to Islam,” provided by the University of Iowa Muslim Students Association 2001.  She asked Councilors to share this with other staff members.
  8. Juan Parales said that he is still seeking some suggestions for speakers for the Martin Luther King Celebration week kick off.
  9. Bonnie McIntosh said that there were some flyers provided at the back of the room with information regarding the "Improving Our Workplace Award" and the "Prepare Our Sons for Life" program.
  10. Feather Lacy also mentioned providing some flyers regarding ITS's Mobile Devices project to test hand-held computers.  Feather encouraged Councilors to hand these out to faculty and students; they have already had a good response from staff.

6.      Speakers were:

Maile Sagen from the Ombuds Office mentioned that the annual report is available at their web site; Councilors should feel free to call and request a hard copy.  Hard copies, also, of the University of Iowa's Operations Manual are widely available.  They should be available from deans, vice presidents, and unit human resource offices.  The Dispute Resolution Committee has worked hard on updating "The University of Iowa Policy on Sexual Harassment.”  There has been a good response campus-wide to the issues of civility; Staff Development has offered quite a few courses on this subject.  Maile also said that Laura Reed has reported a total of 85 workplace consults.

 

Lon Moeller, also from the Ombuds Office, discussed the role of the HR Unit Reps, performance appraisals, the need for the training of supervisors; he mentioned that principles are being developed to use in the case that furloughs become necessary due to the budget reduction.

 

Jan Waterhouse from the Office of Affirmative Action came to discuss the changes being made to “The University of Iowa Policy on Sexual Harassment.”  With their Staff Council meeting packets, Councilors received a brief summary of the revisions and an annotated copy of the policy indicating the changes.  Jan briefly discussed some of the changes and then asked for comments and/or suggestions from Councilors.  Jan said the revised policies had been shown to Faculty Council and very likely will be again.  The plan now is to present the changes to Human Resources Unit Reps and vice presidents.  Any additional changes will be made; then it will go to President Coleman.  Jan encouraged Councilors to email her with any comments as soon as possible. 

7.      Other Business:

  1. Pat Arkema discussed sending an email out to all Councilors requesting votes to accept the minutes and the Bylaws motion.  She also wants to ask those Councilors who have not done so to return the queries regarding the Department of Public Safety proposals.
  2. Cathy Colony Bunnell discussed again the Bylaws proposals to be brought for a vote at the next Staff Council meeting.  She made the formal motions and they were seconded.

8.      Meeting adjourned:  4:26 p.m.

9.      Next Meeting:  November 14, 2001, 2:30 – 4:30 p.m., Clasen Board Room, JCP.

 

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Ella Born, Staff Council Secretary