Staff Council Executive Committee Meeting with President Coleman
Friday, May 24, 2002, 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Present: Pat Arkema, Ella Born, Charlie Eastham, Jeff Evans, Dave Martin, Bonnie McIntosh,
Janice Simmons-Welburn
Absent: Susan Felker
1. President Coleman’s Comments
President Coleman shared the latest information she had regarding action by state legislative leaders and the university budget for FY 2003. The latest proposal if enacted would be very bad for the university. Not only would the university’s operating budget be reduced 4%, the amount requested to fund salaries would be reduced to only $1.7 million. The university had asked for $8 - $10 million to fund salaries. This would mean that, cumulatively, the university’s budget would be cut $23 million for FY 2003. President Coleman is not sure how the different university units would deal with this kind of a budget decrease. She felt that Governor Vilsack may be ready to sign the new legislation. We need to wait and see what the legislature does when they meet in special session on May 28th, unless an agreement is reached before then.
Charlie Eastham inquired as to the latest news from the revenue-estimating conference. President Coleman said that the conference is predicting a $250 million deficit for Iowa’s 2003 revenue.
2. Staff Council President's Comments
Dave Martin told President Coleman that the Governance Center may be moving. Dave, along with Jeff Cox, President of Faculty Council, Julie Thatcher, Faculty Council office manager, and Heather Weber, Staff Council office manager, looked at some space that may be available in the Jefferson Building. President Coleman asked if the space would be acceptable. Dave felt that we would need to ask for three rooms rather than just two. President Coleman encouraged Dave to ask for whatever space he felt we needed.
3. Staff Celebration Day
Dave announced that Staff Celebration Day seemed to be a great success. President Coleman agreed. There was some discussion about the various booths and demonstrations. And, it was mentioned that there were approximately 950 people who attended the event.
4. Proposal for Charter Budget Committee
Pat Arkema mentioned that Staff Council, at its last meeting, discussed the proposal for the formation of this committee. Sue Buckley said that she has been looking over the proposal
and may have a suggestion for making the charge a little bit clearer. It is important to realize that this will be a joint Staff Council and Faculty Senate committee. Pat clarified that staff members of the committee do not necessarily have to be members of Staff Council. President Coleman and Sue agreed that this is true. Dave Martin inquired about when administration would like to have the committee in place. President Coleman said that she would expect it to be in the fall, perhaps September.
5. Governmental
Relations Committee
Dave Martin discussed the joint meeting of the Governmental Relations Committees from Staff Council and Faculty Senate that met on May 3rd. Mark Braun also was at the meeting. Dave said that we hope to continue to have these joint meetings. Dave also mentioned some ideas that came up during this meeting. One idea would be for Staff Council and Faculty Senate to cosponsor with The League of Women Voters, a Saturday morning legislative meeting in the fall. Another idea would be to invite the two gubernatorial candidates to campus for a visit in the fall.
Dave also mentioned that the Political Action Committee (PAC) survey has been put on hold. He does not believe that the idea is dead, but that it would probably be fall before this issue is again addressed.
6. Capital Campaign
Dave Martin mentioned a meeting that he had with Steve Sanders and Della McGrath regarding the upcoming Campus Capital Campaign. Dave has invited them to come to the July Staff Council meeting. Dave also mentioned that the Executive Committee appreciated seeing that contributors will have the opportunity to consider a gift to support endowment funds for four staff awards.
7. Sue Buckley's Comments
a. Charlotte Westerhaus is the university's new Director of Affirmative Action.
b. The search for a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the hospital is moving along. Two on-campus interviews have been scheduled. The candidates will be having open forums. Sue encouraged Councilors to attend the forums.
c. Central HR approached university deans and vice presidents (vps) with the idea of eliminating the practice of pro-rating Probationary Status. The deans and vps approved the idea. This issue will need to be approved by the Board of Regents (BOR) or the BOR office.
8. Other: There was additional discussion about the university budget situation, including the role of tuition and the pros and cons of temporary furloughs.
|
Future Executive
Committee Meetings: |
Future Meetings
with President Coleman: |
|
Thursday, June 13, 2002, 2:30 – 4:30pm* |
Tuesday, June 18, 2002, 8:00 – 9:00am** |
|
Thursday, July 11, 2002 |
Monday, July 22, 2002 |
|
Thursday, August 15, 2002 |
Monday, August 19, 2002 |
|
Thursday, September 12, 2002 |
Monday, September 23, 2002 |
|
Thursday, October 10, 2002 |
Monday, October 28, 2002 |
|
Thursday, November 14, 2002 |
Monday, November 18, 2002 |
|
Thursday, December 5, 2002 |
Monday, December 9, 2002 |
*All Executive Committee meetings are 2:30 – 4:30 p.m.
**All meetings with President Coleman are 8:00 – 9:00 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,