Present: Ella Born, Charlie Eastham, Jeff Evans, David Martin, Bonnie McIntosh, Donna Muller, Janice Simmons-Welburn

1. Called to order at 2:41 p.m.

2. Approval of Minutes:

9/12/02 Executive Committee Meeting minutes approved as presented.
9/25/02 Executive Committee Meeting with Interim President Boyd minutes approved as amended.

3. Visit with Governor Vilsack.
Dave Martin mentioned that members of both the Staff and Faculty Governmental Relations Committees along with officers of both councils met recently with Governor Vilsack. Governor Vilsack expressed the need to restore money to higher education. He also listed his top four priorities for the state as: human services (helping people), higher education, the environment, and corrections.

4. University Relations Committee (also known as Governmental Relations Committee).
This committee has met once with the Faculty's Governmental Relations Committee. Interim President Boyd also attended the meeting. He stressed the importance of knowing who is going out to different parts of the state and where they are going. And President Boyd is asking those who travel to share a common message.

5. Staff Celebration Day.
Nancy Noyer came as a guest to discuss plans for the 2003 Staff Celebration event. Nancy brought and handed out flyers and nomination forms for the Improving Our Workplace Award (IOWA). She also handed out a list of "Staff Celebration Day musings . . .". This list included ideas for location, date, theme, activities, and food. Nancy said that she has had some discussions with Alice Mathis who worked with the "Weeks of Welcome" for students and Laura McLeran at the IMU. Nancy encouraged us to let her know of any other ideas we might have.

6. Web page update.
Dave Martin mentioned that he sent an email recently to Executive Committee (EC) members with the password to access the new web page in design. He asked committee members to take a look at it and then to let him know of any comments or questions with regard to the content and layout. It is hoped that the page will be ready for production by December 1st.
7. Goals Committee.
The Goals Committee met last week. Dave felt that it was beneficial to have the mid-term meeting. Chairs of most of the internal committees attended the meeting and offered comments about the activities of their respective committees.

8. New Staff Council member.
The EC discussed the two nominations received at the recent Staff Council meeting for filling the vacancy that occurred when Cheryl Carter left the university. It was suggested to have each candidate submit a short paragraph stating why they would like to be on Staff Council. Then the EC will vote by email.

9. Peer Support Group.
Dave Martin said that we still need two members for this group. Donna Muller and Janice Simmons-Welburn both said they would be willing to serve.

10. Executive Committee vacancies.
Dave Martin reminded the EC that we need to determine how vacancies should be filled for this committee. Donna Muller said that she would draft a proposal for the committee's consideration.

11. Ideas for presenters.
Dave Martin asked the committee for suggestions of guests to invite to speak at upcoming Staff Council meetings. The committee offered several ideas.

12. Budget Committee.
Dave Martin said that the proposal for a joint budget committee remains at the Faculty Council. Apparently there are some concerns on the part of the faculty including the fact that we are in a state of transition with the resignation of President Mary Sue Coleman. Dave and others felt that this should not deter us.

13. Dean's Review.
Dave said that he had a discussion with Maile Sagan after the regular Staff Council meeting yesterday afternoon. Maile feels strongly that staff should be included in the review process and feels that the issue lies in the interpretation of the University of Iowa Operations Manual. At issue also is whether staff should receive reports from the review and if so, whose responsibility should it be to do the reporting. Should it be the Dean or the person being reviewed?
Dave and the EC set two goals: First we need to be diligent about getting staff on review committees and this should be part of the university's operations manual; and second we should ask that reports of reviews be available to staff as well as faculty.

14. Directory of Services.
Dave said that he has been asked recently whether Staff Council wants to be involved with an update of this directory. Some questions asked included: What funds were used to pay for the directory in the past, how much would it cost, should it be added as an item for the Coke Funds budget, and what about cost-sharing?

15. Staff Council Meeting Attendance.
Ella Born shared a chart showing attendance at regular Staff Council meetings for the first few months of this Council year. There was a brief discussion and it was agreed that Dave Martin would send letters to those Councilors who have missed three or more regular meetings, as mandated in the Bylaws.

16. Pending Items.
Ella and Dave quickly reviewed the Action Items and noted a few changes.

17. Adjourned at 4:30 p.m.

Future Executive Committee Meetings: Executive Committee Meetings with (Interim) President Boyd:
Monday, October 28, 2002**
Thursday, November 14, 2002* Tuesday, November 19, 2002
Thursday, December 5, 2002 Monday, December 9, 2002

*All Executive Committee meetings are 2:30 – 4:30 p.m.
**All meetings with President Boyd are 8:00 – 9:00 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Ella Born, Staff Council Secretary