Staff Council Minutes: 12-13-06
Members Present: Joyce Abbott, Robert Berkelman, Connie Bradford, Virginia Brooks, Dean Brumett, Melissa Chambers, Christopher Dew, Melissa Folsom, Kim Frazier, Patty Frisbee, Mindy Limback, Roy Soper, Cindi Vogt, Peggy Wilson.
Members Absent: Rhonda Long, Willie Woolsey
Welcome Guests: Andy Careaga, Lindsay Bagnall
Opening: The meeting was called to order at 10:00 a.m. by Chair, Kim Frazier. The meeting was held in room 302 Library.
Guests were introduced. Andy and Lindsey are part of the Administrative Leadership Development Program. The purpose of the program is to assist mid-level managers and directors learn more about themselves and their leadership characteristics, further their development as a leader, meet other top leaders throughout the UM System and work with others to make a difference on their campus. They are engaging in a project to help bring the campus community together, promote campus pride and staff morale. They have no deadline for the project, but they would like to have an idea by mid April. Some of the ideas/topics that were discussed:
• Incorporate Miner Pride activities in Staff Day
• Have banners, competition between departments
• Get sanction from upper management for more participation
• Take “goodie bags” to department with cookies, Joe Miner pin, etc.
• Ask Chancellor to endorse activities – it is Staff Council’s responsibility to ask
• Make sure there are events at times when Physical Facilities employees can participate
• Add Leadership Classes to Staff Day
• Showcase different departments with an open-house
• Have departmental information tables
• Bring back employee Spotlight. This could be published on Communication’s website
Andy and Lindsey will keep Staff Council updated.
Approval of Minutes: Minutes from the November meeting were read. One correction was noted on the spelling of Melissa Folsom’s name. With that correction the minutes were approved.
Treasurer’s Report:
GO: $8,353.12
Special Events: $2,990.50
Development: $589.18 (Rolla Earth Day funds)
Old Business:
None
New Business:
Staff Day Activities: Chris asked that if there were funds left from Staff Day, if Staff Council could help fund the “Pride Day” project. The Chancellor is looking into paying for lunch, so the profit from the t-shirt sales could go to help fund “Pride Day”. Dean reported that he has had a good group of volunteers for the various committees and they will meet after the holidays. It was suggested to ask Barb Robertson to solicit funds from departments and Marilyn Licklider to help with donations outside the University to help with funding activities. Need to make sure that there are events going on early for Physical Facilities people. It was also discussed that during the week of Staff Day that Staff Council could visit offices and drop off a token of appreciation.
Staff Survey Updates: As a result of comments from last year’s survey, Staff Council sponsored a program on the retirement program on December 6. There were two sessions and only 22 people showed up. Perhaps next time flyers should be sent out so they can be posted as a reminder, or the program could be presented on Staff Day.
The committee met and came up with a draft questionnaire that was distributed. A measurement tool needs to be put in place to see if Staff Council has taken action on the items on the survey.
The following comments were made on survey questions.
When raises are given, do you know how they are determined? Does your supervisor give you an annual Performance Review or informal feedback on your performance? When raises are distributed, do you feel you have been adequately compensated for your work? Is UMR’s staff pay scale comparable with the fair market value? Are you satisfied with the “services” you receive from our health insurance provider? These questions were going to be deleted for this year, but the Chancellor would like to include them so this information can be compared from year to year, even though these are things that Staff Council can not take action on. HR is to conduct a cost of living survey. Kim will talk to Steve Malott about it. There is a new Compensation Committee being appointed and they will be looking at comparator groups.
UMR provides education benefits for its employees and dependants. Are you or your dependants currently taking advantage of this benefit? The term full-time/vs. benefit eligible was questioned.
Do you understand UMR's current retirement policy? An information session was held to help to explain the retirement policy, but the turnout was small.
Would you be in favor of an age + years of service retirement plan? Chancellor said with the budget constraints, that this is not going to happen and suggested that it be taken out, however Staff Council decided that this is still being brought up at UM Intercampus Staff Council meetings and it still an issue. Employees do need to know why this is not going to happen and perhaps it needs to be taken up with the Curators.
Are you satisfied with your current job duties? Leave in for this year.
Are you interested in advancement at UMR? Chancellor thought this question could be deleted. Programs need to be made available so employees can advancement. There may be more training opportunities with the re-structuring. Departments are being charged for IT courses. Since few people have showed an interest in the past,it was not cost effective to hold class for one or two people. It was suggested to poll employees to see if they are allowed to take courses without using vacation time.
Would you be interested in donating sick days to UMR employees with catastrophic illness or injury if the option is available? Staff Council needs to pursue.
Questions concerning the day care; Robert indicated that Bih-Ru Lea is working on a proposal to bring an Early Education program on campus that could provide the daycare services similar to what Mizzou has. Phelps County Partnership is working on a proposal to develop an elderly and a pre-K day care center with discounts to UMR.
Questionnaire will include smoking policy and smoke free campus questions.
Chancellor has specifics for name change questions.
If you have further comments or suggestions on the survey send them to Robert.
Committee Reports
ICSC – Next meeting is December 19. Two items Kim will bring up 1) Eliminating the student health fee for dependants 2) Eliminating the activities fee for employees and dependants.
Academic Council - None
Chancellor’s Cabinet - None
Charitable Awareness- Four trucks of food and toys and $1,252.47 in donations were delivered to GRACE.
Parking - Adding a $10 late fee to tickets not paid within 14 days was main topic. If ticket is appealed $10 will be refunded. Item was tabled for now.
Home Page - None
Personnel - Mid-semester faculty evaluations was the main topic. Dr. Gragg offered the Services of CET to set up a mid-semester evaluation for any faculty who requests. The actual student responses will go to the faculty only.
Welcome – None
Campus Appearance – Things are back to normal after the ice storm. There were many concerns about the snow/ice removal.
Campus Day Care – Their will be a survey distributed through the Provost Office.
Food Service RFP Committee – The food service RFP committee has not met as a group since Oct. 17, 2006, when the committee formed two subcommittees: The Board Plan subcommittee and the Retail/Catering subcommittee. Connie attended the Retail/Catering subcommittee meetings which were held weekly for four weeks. They submitted their final feedback regarding “mandatories & desirables” to the committee chair on November 27, 2006. The RFP was issued & vendors notified on Dec. 4, 2006. A pre-proposal meeting was held on December 11 to provide an opportunity for respondents to ask questions. The deadline to submit a proposal is Jan 10, 2007. The committee is expected to have final proposal submitted to the Chancellor for approval on/around Feb. 15, 2007 and a summary and Chancellor’s recommendation to the Board of Curators for review by Mar. 1, 2007. The proposal will await approval at the April 5-6 Board of Curators Meeting.
Crisis Committee – With regards to the power outage, there needs to be a communication post established with emergency information. The chancellor will be talking to UM system about staff having to take vacation on the day of the power outage.
Library and Learning Resources Committee – None
Dean’s Offices Reorganizations Committees:
Financial Activities Planning Committee – None
Personnel Resources Planning Committee – There will be no service centers, but staff will be added to existing offices. There will be a person in these departments that will be designated for Academics.
Administrative Planning - None
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 11:40.
Minutes submitted by Staff Council Secretary Joyce Abbott