STAFF COUNCIL MEETING
Thursday, March 6, 2003
2:00 p.m., Atkinson 202
Present: Barbara Monnett (presiding), Rose Murner, Kathy Hill, Neil Jones, Teri Hollar, Susan Demmon, Jennifer Brooker, Ann Portwood, Kim Ireland, Cindy Potts, Cindy Diaz. Excused: Carol Brown, Valerie Smykal. Absent: Kenneth Manson. Guests: Ruth Braddy, Alma Hall, Bill Bloodworth.
Call to Order. Barbara Monnett called the meeting to order at 2:05.
Approval of the Minutes. The minutes of the January 16 meeting were approved as written.
Relay for Life. Barbara introduced Bill Bloodworth, Captain of the Staff Council Relay for Life Team, to talk about plans for the annual event. Bill reported that the recent DVD raffle raised about $230 for Relay. There are other raffles planned to help raise money for Relay, and more information about them can be found on the Staff Council website. We also have planned “Friday Dress Down Days” beginning March 14 and continuing through April 11 (the Relay for Life event date). Those who wish may purchase a sticker that says “dress down for a good cause” and wear it on one of the special Fridays. They can also purchase a pin for $5 that will allow them to “dress down” on each Friday between now and April 11. All proceeds benefit the American Cancer Society, and pins or stickers can be purchased from any Staff Council delegate or Staff Council Relay for Life Team member. More information about the “dress down” Fridays can be found on the website also. We appreciate Bill’s good work as captain of our Relay team.
Spring Semester Staff Excellence Award Ceremony. The spring ceremony will be held on April 24 at 9:00 in MSU. Ann Portwood, awards committee chair, asked the committee members to meet on Thursday, March 13 at 2:00 in A&S 2-51 to begin planning for the spring event.
Staff Development Funds. Rose Murner reported that staff development funds were once again available, and she was processing requests. There was once again some discussion about whether or not staff development funds could be used for certification required for job performance. A motion was made, seconded, and approved that certification of this type is not considered development and should be funded from a different source. Appeals to this guideline should be made to the Staff Council chair.
Rose also asked for a volunteer to take over the duty of processing staff development requests beginning next year, and Kim Ireland volunteered for the job. We appreciate Kim’s willingness to take on this task.
Foundation Accounts. At an earlier meeting, there was a question about whether or not we could sell items to raise funds and put the money in an account that rolls over from one year to the next. We already have an account we could use for this purpose. We do have a question about charging sales tax, and Susan Demmon will check on this for us before we start doing any fundraisers.
Other Business.
We previously discussed having a Staff Appreciation Day sponsored by Staff Council. Dr. DePaolo was interested in the concept, but she wanted to know more about how we would fund such an event. Barbara will send delegates a list of questions we can use to survey staff to get their input and suggestions about this day.
Barbara also welcomed our new delegate, Cindy Potts. Cindy works in Public Safety.
Teri Hollar and Mike Dailey are now in charge of our website.
Cindy Diaz recently attended the USG Staff Council meeting. She shared the news that the system-wide Staff Council will appeal to the Chancellor not to implement benefit increases this year since there were no pay raises planned. An appeal has been drafted and will be sent forward to Chancellor Meredith soon.
Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 2:55 p.m. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be Thursday, April 17, 2003. (Remaining meeting dates: May 15 and June 5, 2003.)