Staff Council Minutes – 10/10/2007
Members Present: Joyce Abbott, Robert Berkelman, Dean Brumett, Christopher Dew, Nina Eickhorst, Cecilia Elmore, Amy Gillman, Wade Jadwin, Mendy Kell, Mindy Limback, Brenda McKinnon, Debbie Middendorf, Peggy Wilson, Letha Young
Members Absent: Melissa Folsom, Roy Snelson
Opening
The meeting was called to order at 10:00 by Chair Christopher Dew. The meeting was held in room 203 Library.
Minutes from the September meeting were read and approved.
Treasurer’s Report:
GO: *$9,726.46
Special Events: (Staff Day) $2,289.52
Earth Day: $510.54
*There is still an issue with credit for duplication of staff awards. SC was credited for $434.98, when it should have been $169.67. Robert will speak with Andy Lamar, Director of Accounting to look over and explain to HR if needed. Earth Day funds will be put in its own chartfield string. Robert will send Melissa Folsom a note to transfer the money out and copy Chris.
Old Business:
HR Director declined to appoint HR staff member as an ex-officio member to SC. The reason was the division of governing bodies. Due to retirement of current HR director this will be tabled till a later date.
SC meetings will be held the second Wednesday of each month.
The new health care administrator is Coventry. With Coventry there was a $1 million increase in premium costs, but a $1.6 million in administrative cost savings.
Staff Day will be June 4, 2008.
Committee Members still need to submit Staff Day checklists.
Chris will meet with Dr. Schwartz to discuss his funding additional staff excellence awards.
Debbie Middendorf will contact Jan Buhlinger’s family about the presentation of the Spirit Award that is presented in Jan’s memory on staff day. She will ask if they want to present the award.
New Business:
Effective next month, the meeting format will change. The meetings will be publicized more and the location will be moved to Havener Center. The agenda will be announced 24 hours in advance. Currently the meetings are open, but attendance and feedback will be encouraged. It was suggested that anyone wishing to address the Council should submit the information 48 hours prior to the meeting and it will be included on the agenda. This is not to be a sounding board for complaints. This will add to SC’s mission by being more accessible. The motion was made and passed to change the format.
Dean will make arrangements for a meeting room in Havener and Joyce will send an update to members in Outlook. Mindy Limback will do a direct mail announcement.
Each member was encouraged to identify two to three things for SC to set as goals for this year, and bring them to next month’s meeting.
Chris will schedule a meeting with the Chancellor to discuss another open forum. The forum will be scheduled after the survey results are compiled. The survey will be out the beginning of February and results compiled by the end of February. Date for forum will be end of April or first of May. This is also a good time and place to promote the upcoming staff day.
The four person team that will oversee the forum are: Mindy Limback, Cecilia Elmore, Robert Berkelman and Wade Jadwin.
Campus Name Change: Mindy reported that 10,000 postcards launching the “Hello” campaign as part of the Missouri S&T promotion are to be sent out in a few weeks. Balloons, t-shirts, cups and other promotional items will be handed out at the holiday parade on December 1.
Chris reported that in a week or so lots of information on technology changes will begin to be disseminated. Most of these updates will take place behind the scenes, but some will be disruptive. Please make your department aware of the importance of reading the announcements and preparing for these changes.
HR’s new application system: With the new applicant system, all applications must be entered through the system and no paper applications will be accepted. HR does supply a computer for applicants. No answer has been supplied if the tele-posting system will remain in place or phased out. There were complaints with the new system that departments now can’t see handwriting samples and how application are prepared which reveals certain traits of the applicant. Departments are encouraged to send feedback to HR with their concerns. This brought up the idea again about having an HR staff member serve as an ex-officio member of SC. Chris will check with the other campuses to see if they have a HR rep on their SC.
Illiteracy on campus needs to be addressed; perhaps through the staff development program. This will be difficult to have employees admit and attend any kind of program. This will be discussed more next moth.
Reports of Liaisons to Campus Committees
ICSC – Ken Hutchinson, VP for Human Resources will be retiring. There was not much time allotted for the top 5 issues concerning each campus.
Academic Council – Academic Council gives the impression they do not want a report from SC which brings up the question should we send a rep to the meeting. Perhaps just attend the meeting, but not give a report. Amy doesn’t want SC to become frustrated and give up. Academic Council needs to be made aware of what SC is doing. Faculty members nominate staff for staff excellence awards. Debbie Middendorf suggested that we prepare information ahead of time to be included in their packet with agenda items.
Chancellor’s Council - gave presentation on enrollment and goals for the future.
Crisis – The notification system will be ready in January. This allows you to choose how you would like to be notified of an emergency. There will be a web site ICE (In Case of an Emergency) created which will give information on various emergencies and direct you to the appropriate department.
Parking – none
Personnel – New chair is Parthakha Neogi. Faculty leave and senate bill on required evaluations were discussed.
Reports of Standing Committees
Home Page – Chris encouraged everyone to sign up for updates. Information is on the home page.
Professional Development – met last week. On the other campuses HR does professional development training. There are more opportunities on campus for development than most employees realize. At this time the committee will compile all of the opportunities that are offered by other departments, campuses and even training in our region and make this information available on SC’s web site. Amy encouraged everyone to reply to her e-mail to give her ideas. SC wants to promote training for everyone. The communications department currently has a link on the calendar for training opportunities. Committee will meet again before next meeting.
Welcome – none
Staff Day Activities – The committee is soliciting ideas for themes for Staff Day. Some ideas are a 60’s or 70’s theme, Mystery Science Theatre 3,000. “Dancing with you Boss” was suggested as an idea for the program and displaying pictures of faculty and staff from the 60’s.
Staff Excellence Awards - none
Special Interest Committees
Campus Appearance – Grounds department is getting the campus ready for homecoming. Mums have been planted across campus. There’s a new look under construction in front of Toomey Hall.
Campus Day Care – None
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 11:10.
Minutes submitted by Staff Council Secretary, Joyce Abbott