STAFF COUNCIL MEETING
2:00 p.m., October 18, 2001
CHAPPELL 106
Present: Cindy Diaz (presiding), Rose Murner, Alma Hall, Bill Bloodworth, Neil Jones, Terri Pope, Ann Portwood, Barbara Monnett, Ainsley Eubanks, Lindy Ruark, Valerie Smykal-Tieger, and Quintus Sibley. Absent: Robert Ethier, Lynda Grable, and Kenneth Manson. Excused: Kendall Stiles. Guest: Bonnie Sims and Clarice McLin.
Call to order/approval of the minutes. Cindy opened the meeting, and the minutes from the last meeting were approved as written on a Neil Jones motion and a Terri Pope second.
Update from Bonnie Sims. Cindy welcomed Bonnie Sims, Human Resources Director, to the meeting. Bonnie reminded the group of the need for feedback from staff. The accomplishments made for and by staff last year were a direct result of positive requests and feedback presented to President Rosemary DePaolo. Dr. DePaolo is interested in hearing our concerns and suggestions, and Bonnie and Cindy encouraged us to provide feedback for Dr. DePaolo. There were a couple of concerns mentioned at the meeting: lighter weight fabric for Physical Plant uniforms and complete uniform sets for custodians. Staff Feedback forms will be available at various locations during Benefits Days. Once a complete list has been compiled, Bonnie and Cindy will forward to Dr. DePaolo.
Bonnie stated the mini "how-to" training sessions on different issues will begin in November. An "understanding budgets" session would be extremely helpful. In light of the recent budget discussions, the group felt that this type of information would be very useful and maybe relieve some of the questions and concerns arising from these discussions.
On a related budget item, the pay study is proceeding on schedule. The university is not going to stop the study, but budgetary concerns may halt the implementation of the results. Of course, if the results of the study will be detrimental to staff involved, there will be no implementation of the plan. There are two phases to the job study. One is simply the job study itself. The other is that a new performance appraisal plan is included and the process to draft a new one has already been paid for. Even if we are unable to implement the salary portion of the study, we may be able to implement the new appraisal plan portion of the study. The consultant will present the draft of the new performance appraisal plan to the president. She and her executive staff will review it, and then staff will have the opportunity to review the proposal. If the president is agreeable to the idea, Bonnie will ask the consultant to proceed with the draft proposal of the appraisal plan. Quintus Sibley, Director of Legal Affairs, will include this item on the agenda for the next president's staff meeting. If the draft is done and finalized by the end of January, we could use it for this year for performance evaluations.
With the current budget situation, the future implementation of the pay study (if approved and accepted) is in question. If the economy turns around, the finalized pay study may be implemented. Even if it is not implemented, Bonnie has the means by which to update the survey results so that it doesn't get outdated. She will "age" the salary ranges and present them to the president for her approval. Once a pay study has been finalized and implemented, this "aging" process is repeated each year and submitted to the president for her approval. This is simply a part of the review process. (There is also an appeals process built into the pay study plan if it is implemented.)
Benefits day update. Bonnie shared some of the planned activities for the Benefits Day on October 31. If there are any employees who will not be able to leave their areas to attend, they need to let Bonnie or Cindy know. There are numerous informative sessions scheduled for the day, and these can be found in greater detail on the Human Resources web page. There are sessions on the new tax laws and flex spending contributions that could possibly save us some money.
There will also be a health fair in MSU where staff can get numerous tests performed free of charge. Staff Council volunteers will man the apple cider/lemonade table throughout the day. Terri Pope initiated a sign-up sheet for this table, and Cindy will forward the information to Angela Criscoe. Bonnie encouraged all staff that had not already done so to sign up for direct deposit and receive a prize. The more employees who use direct deposit, the more money the university saves because we no longer have to print on special paper with special ink, etc. Clarice McLin will poll the Physical Plant employees to see how many of them are interested in direct deposit and let Bonnie know. If they would like for her to, Bonnie will go down there and talk to the Physical Plant employees about signing up for this service. Bonnie also reminded the group that, once the bookstore renovation is complete, MidSouth Federal Credit Union will have an office on campus.
Door prizes will be available at the end of the Benefits Fair. Alma Hall has worked very hard to solicit door prize donations from area merchants. There will be drawings to win a massage, a Stan Strickland print, gift certificates, a car wash, Applebee's appetizers, clothing from the PawPrints Bookstore, floral arrangements and wreaths, and a host of other prizes. Participants in the Benefits Fair can register at each event they attend (so the more events attend, the greater the chances of winning), and door prize drawings will be held at the end of the fair. You do not have to be present to win.
Staff feedback. Bonnie and Cindy again encouraged us to provide feedback from our respective areas. There are numerous ways to do this: anonymously via the web, an
e-mail to Cindy or any Staff Council delegate, paper copies of feedback forms, and simply in person. Cindy again volunteered to be the mechanism by which the information was forwarded to Dr. DePaolo in the case of employees who wished to remain anonymous. There are still employees here who are afraid to voice their concerns for fear of reprisal from their supervisors and the administration. There will be feedback forms provided throughout the day during the Benefits Fair. With no more questions or suggestions from the group, Cindy thanked Bonnie for coming to the meeting.
Brown bag lunch. Barbara Monnett shared information about the upcoming brown bag lunch series on Tuesday, October 23. The speaker, Nancy Mann, will present on "Living Safely in a Dangerous World" and all interested faculty, students, and staff are invited to attend. The success of future brown bag lunches depends on our participation in them, so we want to have a good audience.
Budget. Cindy asked that we encourage staff to take advantage of the available staff development funds. As far as she knows, our Staff Council budget will remain intact and not be cut the way some budgets are being cut right now and for FY03. She did remind us to send any invoices for events for which Staff Council is paying to Alma Hall for her reporting purposes. If we buy something for a Staff Council event, we are to notate on the receipt the event for which we are buying.
Staff Council Publications/Web site/brochure/corner. Cindy thanked Michele Williams for her work on the web site. Barbara and Cindy are still working on the brochure. The information for the next staff corner is a recap of the state staff conference. We need suggestions for the next staff corner.
Award Ceremony Committee. Kendall Stiles was excused, and Cindy reported for her. Kendall needs three more people to work on the awards ceremony committee, and Barbara, Ann Portwood, and Ainsley Eubanks volunteered to help Kendall. She will be in contact with the volunteers. The awards ceremony is scheduled for December 6 at 9:00 a.m. New staff hired between August 17 and November 15 will be acknowledged at this ceremony. This ceremony usually runs around $300, but it may be more this year because of the extra invitees. There were roughly twenty-eight new employees hired in September and October. It was decided to invite new staff to the ceremony because there was not time to recognize them at the university-wide meeting held at the first of this academic year. Staff hired after November 15 will be recognized at the award ceremony next semester. The committee should also considering having an award ceremony in the summer.
State Staff Conference. Barbara Monnett shared some information about the Excel staff program she learned about at the recent conference. Staff at Kennesaw participated in this weeklong activity, and Barbara will get some more details about it to share with the group. Ainsley shared some information about the paystudy going on at UGA, and she will send the details to Cindy so she can forward them to Dr. DePaolo.
Other business.
The ice cream social that Staff Council sponsored was a big success. We discussed some ideas about possibly having it a little earlier in the year or later in the afternoon because available campus space is limited during the summer months. We also discussed different possibilities for future get-togethers.
Adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 3:35 p.m. The next meeting will be January 10, 2002, at 2:00 p.m. in Chappell 106. The regularly scheduled meetings for the remainder of the fiscal year are: March 7, April 25, May 16, and June 6.