Staff Senate Meeting
December 10, 2008
The Staff Senate met on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. in Reynolds 205. Senators in attendance were Wendy Burge, Marcela Brunson, Gaye Calhoun, Brenda Garrett, Charles Honza, Keli Honza, Mary Hubbard, Sarah Jennings, Pat King, Essie Moore, Eric Plummer, Shawana Reed, Becki Talley, Houston Taylor, and Shelly Whaley.
Approval of Minutes
The meeting was called to order by President Shelly Whaley. A motion to accept the minutes of November 12 with the following amendment was made by Keli Honza and seconded by Charles Honza. In the November 12 minutes, it was stated that Gaye Calhoun attended the Fringe Benefits Committee meeting. This was incorrect. Another committee member attended the meeting. The motion to approve the minutes passed with the amendment.
Old Business
Staff Senate Committee Assignments
It was decided that the election committee will remain the same with the same committee members. The Constitution Committee will remain the same except for the addition of Keli Honza to the committee.
Committee Reports
Becki Talley reported on the Academic Affairs committee meeting.
Shelly Whaley reported on the Student Affairs committee meeting
New Business
Faculty/Staff Parking Appeals Committee
Shelly Whaley explained that the Faculty Senate president had reported to her that the approval for the faculty and staff parking appeals committee to merge, that was noted in the Staff Senate minutes in November of last year, did not appear in the faculty senate minutes and that the two could not be merged without the faculty senate approval. The faculty parking appeals committee’s new chair has voted to do the hearings online without the staff committee members involved. There was much discussion and the two staff committee members noted that there had even been one hearing in April or May 2007 with both the faculty/staff members present. At this appeal meeting, a hearing was conducted on three tickets- two faculty and one staff – and that decisions were handed down in these hearings. It was questioned if the committee was not a legitimate committee then how could there have been a hearing on these tickets. It was discussed that perhaps there could be a meeting with the faculty senate president, the staff sentate president, and Dr. Rankin to discuss the issue. Shelly Whaley agreed to check with the faculty senate president and get back with the staff senate at the next meeting. Houston Taylor made a motion to table the issue with a second by Pat King.
Other
Resignation
Roger Guevara submitted his letter of resignation from the staff senate due to job responsibilities being reassigned . Houston Taylor will begin the election process to replace him as soon as possible.
Vice President of Finance
Shelly Whaley noted that Darrell Morrison would like to speak to the Staff Senate at the January meeting to discuss the budget and answer any questions about the budget.
Staff Senate January Meeting
Shelly announced that the January meeting had been moved from January 14 to January 21 due to registration.
Questions from the Senate
Charles Honza reminded Shelly Whaley about asking if a staff member has more than the 240 vacation hours or 960 sick hours that can be carried over at the end of the year, could it be converted into a payment for the hours not used instead of losing the hours. Shelly Whaley said she would check with Roger Giles about this and report back.
CLIP Reminder
There has been questions again about the CLIP policy and it was noted that the CLIP policy has been abolished by the legislature and a new policy called the Merit Pay System has been put in its place, but that SAU has decided not to use the Merit Pay System due to lack of funds. It was noted that this has never been communicated to the staff when the decision was made not to do the merit pay system.
Angel Tree
Keli Honza asked if the Staff Senate would like to sponsor a child for the Angel Tree. It was agreed that an e-mail would be sent asking anyone that wanted to participate could contact Shelly Whaley’s office if they wanted to help with the donation. The deadline for getting an angel is Friday, December 12. Keli Honza also made a motion to have the Staff Senate sponsor a child each year from the Angel Tree. Charles Honza seconded the motion. The motion passed.
New Police Officers
Chief Plummer announced that the University Police had hired two new officers, Derek Avery and Seletia Smith. He also announced that reserved parking places are reserved 24/7 and the new signs announce the parking spaces are tow away zones.
Adjournment
The motion to adjourn was made by Pat King and seconded by Eric Plummer. The next scheduled meeting will be January 21, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. in Reynolds 205.
