STAFF COUNCIL MEETING
Thursday, January 16, 2003
2:00 p.m., Chappell 106
Present: Barbara Monnett (presiding), Rose Murner, Kathy Hill, Neil Jones, Kenneth Manson, Teri Hollar, Carol Brown, Jennifer Brooker, Ann Portwood, Kim Ireland, Valerie Smykal. Excused: Susan Demmon. Absent: Lynda Grable.
Call to Order. Barbara Monnett called the meeting to order at 2:05. She shared with the group an appreciation certificate from Colleges Against Cancer thanking us for our help with the Pink Ribbon Week Cancer Walk.
Approval of the Minutes. The minutes of the November 14 meeting were approved as written.
Guidelines for staff development funds. Barbara shared a copy of the proposed guidelines drawn up by our committee. She and Rose Murner have talked to Dr. DePaolo about these guidelines. After getting a little more information from Rose, Dr. DePaolo approved these guidelines. There was a lively discussion among the group about allowing staff funds to be used for job-required certification rather than utilizing them for development activities. A motion was made, seconded, and approved to accept the guidelines as they were written and to consider exceptions to the guidelines as they come up. All "gray areas" will be discussed, and there needs to be some lead time with these requests in order to allow time for the requests to go before the committee if needed. Staff are to go ahead and submit their requests for development funds to Rose, and we will consider them as a group when we get them if the need arises.
Relay for Life. Barbara asked for volunteers to captain our team. Relay for Life will be April 11 and 12, and she will send out more information later.
Pay plan study. Barbara had a request from one staff member who represented about nine or ten others to find out where we are on the pay plan study. These staff understand that there is no money to implement the plan at this time, but they want to make sure to keep the study on the "front burner" and not have it "swept under the rug." Barbara will send an e-mail to Dr. DePaolo about the study and the staff concerns. It may be that Dr. DePaolo needs to send a reminder about the study updating staff on it, because the last message we had about it was last April.
Other Business.
Responses to the parking issues that we raised at a previous meeting have been posted on the web for some time now.
Money for summer hats for Physical Plant employees has been encumbered, and we need to go ahead with purchasing the hats.
Someone had a question about whether or not we could purchase hats (or some other item/s) for resale for a fundraiser for Staff Council. Barbara will check with Susan Demmon about this and ask her about establishing an agency account.
Announcements.
Toi Franks, an employee in OIIT, and her family recently suffered a house fire. An account will be set up for her and her family at MidSouth Federal Credit Union. Cindy Diaz will send out more information about needs for the Franks family.
Adjournment.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:50 p.m. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be Thursday, March 6, 2003. (Remaining meeting dates: April 17, May 15, and June 5, 2003.)