Staff Council Minutes – 11/07/2007
Members Present: Joyce Abbott, Christopher Dew, Nina Eickhorst, Cecilia Elmore, Melissa Folsom, Amy Gillman, Wade Jadwin, Mendy Kell, Mindy Limback, Debbie Middendorf, Roy Snelson, Peggy Wilson, Letha Young
Members Absent: Robert Berkelman, Dean Brumett, Brenda McKinnon
Opening: The meeting was called to order at 10:05 by Chair, Christopher Dew. The meeting was held in room 203 Library.
Minutes from the October meeting were read. With two changes, the minutes were approved.
Treasurer’s Report:
GO: $ 9726.48
Special Events: $2289.52
Earth Day funds moved from SC to separate chartfield string: $510.54
Old Business
Next month the new format for meetings will begin. Meetings will be heavily advertised as open meeting and held at the Havener Center. Carver Turner Room has been confirmed for December and January meetings.
07-08 goals should come from data gathered on the staff surveys and information from the open forum. Most issues on the survey are things SC can not take action on. Questions concerning professional development need to be included on the survey. In order to take specific issues to the Chancellor, it would be better to have them addressed on the survey to reference. Some goals mentioned:
Address Professional Development for staff
Improve morale
Become more visible as an organization and available for suggestions
Our goals should be the same as the institution (current goal, a smooth transition with name change)
It was suggested to collect data from employees for survey questions. This could be done at our open meeting in December. Division heads and supervisors need to be made aware of the open meetings and that SC wants to hear from them. Mindy Limback will prepare mailers/invitation announcing our next meeting. Several members indicated that their department could donate a door prize.
Wade recommended using recycled paper when possible. Rather than use a full sheet flyer, the mailers will be printed on postcard size paper. There was discussion about sending them out electronically. It was voted on to send out paper mailers and follow-up with electronic reminders a couple of days before the event.
Debbie Middendorf tried to contact Jan Buhlinger’s family about presenting the spirit award given in Jan’s memory on staff day. After several attempts, Debbie has not received a reply. It was suggested to ask Mary Hinze to present the award. They were co-workers for many years.
Flyers announcing the food and toy drive for GRACE were distributed. The cutoff will be December 7 and collection will be December 10. A sign-up sheet was circulated for volunteers to help with pick up and delivery. This year GRACE will be located in the Forum Shopping Center. Most of the building coordinators are in place and information will go out in e-connection. Amy suggested that we take photos to include in our slide show for staff day. Letha volunteered to take the photos and coordinate with Melissa.
Chris encouraged everyone to subscribe to the SC blog to see when updates are posted. This can be done on the SC homepage.
New Business
Copies of the by-laws were handed out for edits concerning the name change and any other issues. They are to be brought back to the December meeting for discussion and approval.
Emergency drills were discussed. Students, especially International students, are unaware of what to do in certain emergency situations.
A concern was brought up with the recycling of trash. Some custodians are mixing the recyclables with the regular trash. Wade will investigate. There is a new plastic recycling program being implemented. Student groups will help with the collection. Receptacles have been purchased.
Environmental “Green” Proposal is being submitted to the Chancellor.
Reports of Liaisons to Campus Committees
ICSC – next meeting December 18. Melissa and Chris will attend. Rolla SC donated $30 for a retirement gift for Ken Hutchinson.
Academic Council – Debbie encouraged members to attend open forum. The new name will be Faculty Senate; this is consistent with the other campuses.
Chancellor’s Council – Director of Institutional Research gave presentation
Crisis – E-mail went out to all employees regarding the notification system informing everyone to update their contact information. The system will go live Nov. 30. The information received from the system will be brief and point you to a web page, etc, to obtain more information. Emergency Action Plan will be distributed to chairs.
Library - none
Name Change – Wade encouraged everyone to recycle their old letterhead and other paper products. The print shop will make scratch pads with old paper. Mindy reported that Publications is taking over the design work that was to be completed by the consultants for the name change.
Parking – Peg attended on Deb’s behalf. Debbie will be a member of the ticket review sub committee.
Reports of Standing Committees
Home Page – Melissa encouraged everyone to subscribe to the blog
Personnel - none
Welcome – Mindy Limback is working on new brochure.
Staff Day Activities - none
Staff Development – Opportunities come and go quickly making it hard to keep information current on the web page. HR needs to back programs, but there is no funding. Employees need to be encouraged to participate in programs. Management training is needed.
Staff Excellence Awards - none
Special Interest Committees
Campus Appearance – none
Campus Day Care – none
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 11:10. After meeting SC photo was taken and members participated in a brief promotion for the name change “We are Missouri S&T”.
Minutes submitted by Staff Council Secretary Joyce Abbott