THE
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA
STAFF
SENATE
(NORMAN
CAMPUS)
Wednesday,
April 16, 2008
Chair Beth Gatewood called the meeting
to order at 1:30 p.m. in the Scholars Room of the Oklahoma Memorial Union.
Officers present — Beth
Gatewood, Chair; Linda McCarty, Chair-Elect; Betty Love, Immediate Past Chair; Kathy
Gross, Recording Secretary
Staff present —
Barbara Perry, Administrative Coordinator
Staff absent — Ke’Yonna
Wynn, Student Assistant
Representatives present —
Hourly Employees Council: Diana Fitzpatrick, Ed Fontaine, Kim Haddad, Donna
Stephens, Carolyn Irons, Dee Hayes, Melanie Wilburn, Troy Schmidt, David Kizer;
Informational Staff Association: Michael Goodwin, Debbie Copp, Elaine Bradshaw;
Organizational Staff Council: Cathy Brister, Matt Berry, Cathy Trujillo, Jannie Porter; Administrative
Staff Council: Sue-Anna Miller
Representatives absent — Hourly
Employees Council: Robert Murphy, Jack Shoopman; Informational Staff
Association: Anna Love, Debi Gentis, Lisa Bowles; Organizational Staff Council:
Sandi Emond, Tami Kinsey; Administrative Staff Council: Robbie Wahnee
Guests present —
Nick Kelly, Human Resources; Julius Hilburn, Human Resources; Marcy Fleming. Human
Resources; Theta Dempsey, Parking and Transportation
Services; Nancy Matthews, Department of Mathematics; Susan Grossman, College of
Continuing Education; Lezlie Pilkington, Administrative Affairs; Coleen
Whelpley, Journalism and Mass Communication
BENEFITS UPDATE
Nick Kelly, Assistant
Director of Human Resources, said that Julius Hilburn and Marsha Fleming from
the Human Resources Office were there to assist him and help him update the
Senate on the RFP process and the retiree medical program. Nick said they had bids for the medical
and dental programs. Aetna, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and United Health Care had bid on
medical and Medicare. All had bid
on the flexible spending account administration. Humana bid on Medicare. After the second meeting of the Evaluation Committee, the
field was narrowed to Aetna, BCBS and UHC. For dental, bids were received from
Aetna, BCBS, Delta Dental and Met Life. Dental had been narrowed down to Delta,
BCBS and Aetna.
Nick said the RFP
process started in December. The
vendors had a month to submit their proposals. The committee hopes to have their final RFP evaluation
meeting in May and potentially have it presented to the Board of Regents for approval
in June of 2008 rather than waiting until September. This timeline would give more time for transition if we have
a new vendor. In the past, the
presentation was given to the regents in September so comparisons could be made
with the State plan which came out in August. However, the Evaluation Committee and the EBC have both come
to the conclusion that the State plan will not be a viable option and will not
offer a significant price advantage.
Among other factors, Nick said rates for dependents on the State plan have
historically been higher than the rates we’ve had with private insurance
companies, their out-of-state, out-of-network premiums are about 50% above the
normal, and their plan design is inflexible. Nick said the vendors they had looked at all seemed to be
superior to what the State has.
Nick said network was a
big issue. The University would
encounter the least disruption if we stayed with Aetna. BCBS has the largest network but has
significant gaps in the HMO side of the network. One gap is Norman Regional Hospital, but Nick indicated that
could probably be fixed. Nick said most of the vendors matched
the plan design we have now. There
were a few minor differences in the consumer driven health plan, but the major
items are all the same. The committee is still examining wellness
initiatives.
Nick said they are
continuing to look at retiree medical insurance issues. He said the program must be sustainable
so that the University can continue to afford it over a 30 to 40 year
period. He said no recommendations
would be made that would require an employee to retire earlier than they
otherwise would have in order to preserve a retiree medical benefit. Nick said employees hired after January
1, 2008, would have University insurance available to them, but they would not
receive the University contribution; they must pay for it themselves. This recommendation was approved by the
Board of Regents in December, 2007.
Nick said there was no
change in the contribution strategy for current retirees or for employees who
are currently eligible to retire or close to retirement. He said 20% of our employees are
eligible to retire or will retire in the next 5 years. Today it costs about $6 million for
retiree medical insurance, but the retiree population is growing rapidly. Retirees are living longer and we have
a net gain in our retirees.
Virtually everyone who retires is replaced, so the retirees are a net
increase to the system. In five or
six years, retiree medical will cost $12 million and in twelve years, that
dollar figure will reach $24 million.
At today’s costs, the $6 million is about 10% of the $60 million that we
spend on health care each year.
Nick said there are issues of accounting and cash flow. He said they are still studying the
issues and no conclusions have been reached. They are not near a report.
In response to a
question, Nick said there has been discussion of service based
contributions. As it is now, an
employee can retire with ten years of service and get the same coverage as an
employee who has put in twenty-five years of service. Nick asked Theta Dempsey who serves on the Insurance Option
Committee to comment. Theta said
she endorsed what Nick had said.
She said everyone would not be satisfied with the changes that are
made. Changes will need to be made
gradually. Theta said a big issue
was premedicare and postmedicare retirees. When you turn 65 you have to sign up for Medicare and there
is a premium for Medicare. She
wondered if these retirees should be treated differently.
Julius Hilburn commented
that the committee wanted to be sure that there was not a drastic difference
from one group to the other, with the former group having everything and the
new group having nothing. He noted
the importance of gradually modifying the benefits. He said, “Wherever you draw the line, there will be someone
who makes the line by one day and someone who misses it by one, and to have a
drastic difference between those two is something we want to avoid.” Julius said they did not expect any
significant increase in pricing for employee rates this year. He said they had made progress in
getting the cost down for dependents to a competitive level, and they were
working for improvements in dependent rates. He felt the contribution strategy was working. In 2008, more than 100 people switched
from single to family coverage to cover dependents. Julius was asked if a retiring employee keeps their OU
retiree medical insurance, which is paid for, if they have secondary coverage
through their spouse’s employment (with another company). Julius said when an employee retires,
they enroll immediately in retiree medical and can’t leave and then come back
in. He said our rules require them to take it and keep it. Julius said the
committee is looking at whether there should be a change for OU retirees who
have other insurance available to them through their spouse’s insurance or
another job after they leave OU. Such
a change would benefit the University because the University would not be
paying insurance for OU retirees who had other insurance, but he indicated the
retiree would have the ability to come back into the plan if they needed
it.
Beth thanked Nick,
Julius and Theta for updating the group on insurance matters.
CHAIR’S COMMUNICATIONS
Chair Beth Gatewood
reported that she had the opportunity to serve on the President’s Trophy
Selection Committee. She commented
that it was amazing to learn what the students do outside their classes. Beth said she had met with Vice
President for Executive and Administrative Affairs Nick Hathaway on April
10. Budgets and Staff Week were
discussed. Beth reported that Nick
had increased the Shared Leave program’s Budget by $15,000 and that Norman
campus’s budget for that program is now the same as the Health Sciences
Center’s. Cathy Moore, a member of
the Norman campus Shared Leave Committee, made a motion to send a thank you
note to Nick for his generosity.
The motion was seconded and passed on a voice vote.
ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES OF
MARCH 19, 2008
On motion by Matt Berry,
the minutes of the March 19, 2008, meeting were accepted as written.
OTHER
COMMUNICATIONS
Administrative Staff
Council: President Sue-Anna Miller reported that
ASC met on April 14. The group had
a luncheon to honor Linda Patison, merit award winner of the E. Neal Stone
Superior Performance Award.
Officers for next year were held.
Robbie Wahnee was elected president; Terri Sarsyski, vice-president;
Sue-Anna Miller, secretary; and Deb Wollenberg, proxy. The Staff Week picnic was discussed and
details were finalized.
Informational
Staff Association: ISA President-Elect
Michael Goodwin reported that ISA met on April 2. Kim Claxton from CCE spoke to the group about the People
Skills database project. Michael described the program as being similar
to “My Space.” He said it was a
communication tool CCE had developed for their area. Susan Grossman, Chair of the Communications Committee, added
that the Communications Committee had been looking at this project for some
time and would like to see the database shared campus wide, but it does need
some upgrades before it is ready.
The database is an information source, showcasing an employee’s
particular expertise among other things.
Hourly Employees Council: President Diana Fitzpatrick reported that HEC met on April
9. Election ballots had been sent
out and were due back by April 25.
Final preparations were made for the ice cream social.
Organizational
Staff Council: President Cathy
Brister said OSC met on April 3. A
potluck luncheon was held to honor their award winners and nominees. Bingo plans were finalized. Elections will be finalized in May.
STANDING
COMMITTEES
OU Staff Week
Committee: Chair Melanie Wilburn said
there would be a special edition of the Hourglass newsletter going out
containing additional Staff Week information. She said the hopper would be in the Union Bookstore by the
end of the day.
Personnel Policies
Committee: PPC chair Linda Smith
said PPC met on March 26. They
reviewed the carpool survey results.
They had a 25% return. The
subcommittee has met with Theta Dempsey and is exploring options on carpooling. PPC received a draft proposal concerning
Extended Sick Leave. It calls for
an employee who has a surgical procedure to be able to access their ESL
immediately rather than after 56 hours of paid leave have been used. The suggestion was also made to change
the 56 hours to 40 hours where applicable. Linda said PPC had received the request concerning employee
donations to the annual shared leave report. She reported that PPC discussed the issue allowing guns on
campus. The next meeting is April
30.
Communications
Committee: Chair Susan Grossman reported that her
committee met earlier that morning and had general discussion regarding
communication on campus and other ongoing topics.
CORRESPONDENCE
Memo from Staff
Senate Chair Beth Gatewood to Personnel Policies Chair Linda Smith regarding
employee donations to Shared Leave program: The
memo was linked to the agenda.
REPORTS
The
following reports were linked to the April agenda:
Staff Senate
Foundation account report.
Minutes of
the Employment Benefits Committee meeting of February 21, 2008.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Beth announced and
congratulated Debbie Copp for receiving a national award, The Bob Kenworthy
Good Works for Community Service and Civil Involvement from the College Sports
Information Directors Association.
ADJOURNMENT
As there was
no further business, the meeting adjourned at 2:37 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara
Perry
Administrative Coordinator
Kathy Gross
Recording Secretary