STAFF COUNCIL MEETING
Thursday, March 17, 2005
2:00 p.m., Chappell 102
Present: Carol Brown (presiding), Ann Portwood, Neil Jones, Myrna Olsson-Owen, Sheryl Snow, Patrice Reaves, Monica Wood, Paula Jefferson, Gina Peavy, Doris Henderson, Jason Hitchcock, and Julia Jordan. Excused: Mike Augustine and Quintus Sibley. Absent: Randy Gilman, Cindy Potts, and Rose Murner.
Call to Order. Carol Brown called the meeting to order at 2:03 p.m.
Approval of Minutes. A motion was made, seconded, and approved to accept the minutes of the December meeting as written.
Updates.
Master plan. Neil Jones gave updates on the master plan. Information on the master plan can be found at http://info.gcsu.edu/masterplan/. There have been several concerns raised recently about parking, parking problems, and the proposal to increase parking permit fees. Carol said that the proposal to increase the fees is just a proposal at this point. Staff Council has not been asked for input. She will check with Ken Vance to see if he would be willing to hold an open forum for staff, faculty, and students to discuss the parking issues. Neil said that parking is addressed as part of the master plan, and details can be found there. Parking will be an issue no matter where we are on this campus because we are landlocked and simply have no way to expand outward. Our proximity to downtown poses a problem, too. The Irwin Street lot is underutilized, and the shuttle runs there. There were concerns raised during the meeting about staff who leave for work-related errands and have trouble getting back to the office, even if they use the shuttle service.
Statutes and bylaws and committee to work on wording of bylaws. The president asked that the university statutes be “cleaned up” to include just the basic necessities. As a result of that request, Neil has been working on the Statutes and Bylaws Committee, chaired by Dr. J.W. Good, to start the revision process. He presented the idea to Staff Council at our called meeting in January. This has been an evolving process since then. Neil volunteered to co-chair the Staff Council committee to address the statutes and bylaws. Ann Portwood, Doris Henderson, and Gina Peavy volunteered to help him on this committee. He will send us the link for the university statutes and the Staff Council bylaws. We will have e-mail discussions and then meet to draft a proposal to present to the group. The major difference between university statutes and bylaws is that statutes require Board of Regents approval to be changed, and bylaws can be changed at the university level and the president has the final say. If we take ourselves out of the statutes as an advisory committee, we will be included in the bylaws as a standing committee. We have a direct line of communication with the president the way the statutes are written now, but the bylaws will be written with specifics that guarantee these meetings with the President’s Office and other administrative officers. The bylaws will allow us to have increased representation in the University Senate. More information on this process will follow as it develops.
Spring 2005 Staff Excellence Award. Gina Peavy is the chair of the SEA committee, and she said plans are progressing nicely for the spring event. It will be on April 28 at 9:00 in MSU Lounge. Nominations are being accepted through April 15. For more info, please click on http://info.gcsu.edu/intranet/staff_council/award_form.html.
Staff Council website. Gina has volunteered to keep our website updated, and we appreciate her willingness to take on this important task.
Other Business.
Welcome to our new staff representatives from the library, Jason and Julia.
There hasn’t been a final decision made on the name change for the university yet.
Patrice Reaves gave a treasurer’s report. We have $2,028.75 available in our Foundation account and $5,162.55 in our regular account.
The pay study salary equity adjustments will be in our April 1 paychecks. We are so appreciative to President Leland for all her efforts on our behalf to address the salary equity issues, and we sincerely thank her for making this happen.
A note about our Staff Council representatives: there are so many important issues going on on our campus all the time, especially right now. We need to be involved and represent our areas to the best of our abilities. It is extremely important that elected representatives attend meetings, because it is our responsibility to be there! We are a representative body for all staff at this university, and we need to be actively involved. If there are representatives that cannot attend, they need to ask to be excused from the meetings. Our bylaws allow for the removal of delegates for nonperformance of his/her duties and for unavailability of the delegate to the staff he/she represents.
Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 3:10 p.m. Meeting dates for the upcoming year are: May 19 and June 16. All meetings are scheduled for 2:00 p.m. in Chappell 102. Other meetings may be added as needed.