Staff Senate Minutes
September 10, 2003
The Staff Senate met on September 10 at 2:00 in the Library. Senate members in attendance included Charles Honza, Tommy Slaughter, Robert Jones, Keli Honza, Gaye Calhoun, Beth Scroggins, Houston Taylor, Mark Trout, Peggy Walters, Vera Camp, Kellye Ogle, Essie Moore, Cledis Stuart, and Kathy Cole. There were several guests as well, including Jamie Dodson, Linda Mullins and Jim McCollum.
The meeting was called to order. There was a motion by Peggy Walters to accept the minutes of the July 9th meeting with a second by Essie Moore. Motion passed.
Roger Giles addressed questions for the administration. The questions and responses are as follows:
Why do staff members have to go through their supervisor to get information on their accrued leave time? Why can’t this information be available directly to the employee like it used to be? Supervisors have more up-to-date and accurate information. Leave forms being processed are usually 2-6 weeks behind and therefore when calling to get the information it would take time to track down the correct information. Leave information is always available on the computer using the budget screen. For more training on using the budget information one can call the Business Office.
What is the status of the staff/faculty tuition waiver for those who do not receive the full tuition waiver? Is the administration planning on increasing the tuition waiver for those who receive a partial waiver? If so, when will this take effect? There has been discussion of increasing the benefits, possibly 10% per year until it reaches 100%. It would be too costly to do 100% all at once (between $75,000 and $100,000). The goal is to include this benefit in the 2005 budget. A question raised to the Senate, and to be considered by all staff, is where do we want the budget monies to go (toward this tuition waiver, for raises or bonuses?).
Why are some staff members allowed to take more than 1 class during the day? In other words, I know there is at least one staff member that is enrolled in more than 1 class during the day. The handbook states we are allowed to take only 1 class. Why are exceptions made for some people? Some staff members are allowed to take classes by appointment. If this is permissible, would the senate please find out what teachers will teach classes by appointment? The policy does state that only one class a day is allowed. If a person is taking more that one class during his/her shift it will be looked in to. However, there are some issues to consider. Is the person taking the class for a degree or at the request of a supervisor, which would then be considered on-the-job-training? It also depends on the time of the class and the shift a person works. Because of different work schedules, a person may take night classes or work a night or early morning shift. Regarding classes by appointment, each college has different rules they must follow for accreditation. For more information on what each college requires would mean contacting each dean on the specifics of their department.
The handbook states that you may smoke in your “personal” space. If this is offensive to faculty, staff and students, which it is, what if anything, can be done to get people to go outside to smoke. In one particular situation, a smoker has been asked repeatedly to smoke outside, but will not do so. The handbook states that smoking in your personal space is permissible unless the building is voted as a non-smoking building. Mr. Giles reported that the policy has not changed in over the ten years since it was implemented. He noted that the Senate could look into changing this policy if desired. It remains unclear on how a building is voted as “non-smoking.”
Facility Requests
In the past you could reserve a conference room in the Bruce Center and it was on the basis of first come, first serve. Now, the student activity office says that if someone had it reserved last semester, they get without any questions or a new facility requests completed. They say it is first come, but if a group had it last semester, they automatically get. This is not fair to other organizations. According to policy it is a first come, first served basis. However if an organization uses the same room at the same time on a consistent basis year after year, they do have a priority because of the history and consistency of use. It was noted by Cledis Stuart that the organization is still required to submit a facility request form and that if two organizations want the same room at the same time an attempt is always made to accommodate both.
Why do some physical plant staff members have to clock in and out on the student worker time clock and others do not? This has a lot to do with shifts worked. A staff member may start work at 4:00am and the supervisor not start until 7 or 7:30am. The supervisor needs a way of knowing if the staff member is present or not in the event he/she needs to call someone in to work.
What is the status of the CLIP program? When will it be implemented? It is hoped that the CLIP program will be implemented this year. At this time there is no money in the budget for bonuses. It was asked if compensation time could be used as a benefit rather than bonuses until money is available. It was noted that the Senate could pass a resolution requesting budget money for the CLIP program to allow for bonuses. Charles Honza asked if SAU was to use their own funds, does anyone outside SAU dictate where the money goes? Mr. Giles stated that SAU gets an amount of money and the Board of Trustees adopts a budget to put an amount into categories. Money is not in the budget now (for CLIP) but the budget could be amended. Trustees have control of where to spend the money in broad categories. Money left over at the end of the year goes into the plant funds, which is used for equipment, construction projects and repairs.
Committee Reports were not given today due to the absences of David Wingfield (Parking Committee) and Jason Goodrich (Hiring Guidelines Committee). Keli Honza mentioned to Mr. Giles that Jason Goodrich was waiting on a list from personnel so that a diverse group of staff members could be selected to serve on the hiring guidelines committee.
In other business, issues regarding the Handbook were discussed. It was noted that even though the handbook has the guidelines written out, there are differences in the way things are handled. An example of this was evaluations and how often they are done in various departments. It is also important to note that some staff are classified and other non-classified and therefore may have different requirements. Regarding evaluations, Mr. Giles wants to develop a more positive evaluation process as well as self-evaluations.
Tommy Slaughter inquired about the progress of changing social security numbers on documents because of the increasing occurrence of identity theft. It was agreed that social security numbers need to taken off all the lists on campus and that will happen as soon as software is available. SAU is currently working with ESP for new numbers for faculty and staff. It was noted that a person’s social security number must remain on his/her payroll check and for purposes of financial aide.
Charles Honza questioned an AHEC form that people were to sign regarding spouse’s medical information. The form had “medical and dental” and he questioned whether or not dental could be available, even at the employee’s expense. Mr. Giles stated that dental plans usually require 100% participation. Jim McCollum added that the State Employees Association had several plans to choose from. It was indicated that the Fringe Benefit Committee is going to look into the dental benefits and that so far cost has been the major factor.
Beth Scroggins expressed the concern of other staff by questioning the types of questions being submitted and if some of the questions would be better answered by the department involved rather than the Senate. It was agreed by Senate members that all questions should be addressed, as they are a concern of our peers. It was pointed out that among the Senate members, we all have knowledge of certain areas. The possibility of the Senate reviewing and discussing the submitted questions, which could lead to more questions, more suitable answers and possibly action, was processed. It was agreed that questions need to be specific so that we can fully understand what is important to staff and how to best answer the question. The purpose of the Senate was then addressed. Cledis Stuart asked about the vision statement and mission statement of the Senate. He noted that the Senate is a great accomplishment and questioned some things that would make it an even stronger and more credible voice for SAU staff. Senate members were in agreement with Mr. Stuart. It was suggested that we contact other schools to see how their Staff Senate ran and there was discussion on how the Staff Senate currently mirrors the Faculty Senate.
After discussion on the variety of ways the Senate could better address the concerns of the SAU staff, Mr. Stuart recommended a motion to have further questions for the administration be reviewed by the Staff Senate, pondered by the Staff Senate and as a body provide possible solutions to issues that face individuals of the University prior to being posed as an issue to the administration. Kathy Cole seconded the motion. All in favor – none opposed. Motion passed.
Also up for discussion was representation of the staff for the meetings concerning CLIP and the evaluation program. Peggy Walters motioned that two members be selected from the Continuing Education for Staff and 2 members be selected from the Staff Senate to be included in the committee for development of CLIP and evaluations. The Continuing Education for Staff is to select their two participants and the Staff Senate is to select their two participants. Kathy Cole seconded. All in favor – none opposed. Motion passed. After further discussion on the timeline involved, the motion was amended. Peggy Walters moved that the Staff Senate recommend the appointment of a committee to be made up of two Staff Senate members and two Continuing Education for Staff members to aide in the immediate development and implementation of CLIP. Gaye Calhoun seconded the motion. Keli will email senate members for a vote.
Meeting was then adjourned. The next meeting will be October 8th at 2:00 in the Library.
