THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA

 

STAFF SENATE

 

(NORMAN CAMPUS)

 

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

 

 

Chair Betty Love called the meeting to order at 1:31 p.m. in the Sooner Room of the Oklahoma Memorial Union.

 

Officers present — Betty Love, Chair; Beth Gatewood, Chair-Elect; Joan Koos, Immediate Past Chair;  Chris McNabb, Recording Secretary

 

Staff present — Barbara Perry, Administrative Coordinator; Shanika Bivines, Administrative Assistant

 

Representatives present — Hourly Employees Council: Ed Fontaine, Diana Fitzpatrick, Karen Stark, David Houck, Cindy Goode, Patsy Montoya, Ben Stapp, David Kizer, Kim Haddad, Troy Schmidt, Robert Murphy; Informational Staff Association: Debi Gentis, Brook Barnes-Weber, Elaine Bradshaw; Organizational Staff Council: Linda McCarty, Cathy Brister, Kathy Gross, Winona Bark, Jannie Porter, Matt Berry; Administrative Staff Council: Sue-Anna Miller, Rennie Cook

 

Representatives absent — Hourly Employees Council: Cheryl Barton; Informational Staff Association: Kevin Jarnagin, Lisa Bowles, one vacancy; Organizational Staff Council: none; Administrative Staff Council: none

 

Guests present — Susan Cates, Awards Committee Chair; Dan Hough, OU Staff Week Committee Chair; Cathy Trujillo, Personnel Policies Committee Chair; Debbie Copp, Employment Benefits Committee; Nancy Matthews, Employment Benefits Committee; Ross McClish, Human Resources; Michelle Boydstun, Human Resources

 

Chair Betty Love called for a moment of silence in memory of the victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy.

 

REPORT ON SHARED LEAVE COMMITTEE BY ADMINISTRATOR ROSS MCCLISH

 

Ross McClish, Administrator of the Norman Campus Shared Leave Committee, said the program was beginning its seventh year of operation. He gave a few additional details as he summarized the annual report which was linked to the April agenda.  He said a recommendation was made last year to have the committee seek medical advice when making its decisions.  The Health Sciences Center already had medical doctors on their committee.  Dr. Rice, from Goddard Health Center agreed to serve in an advisory role for the Norman committee, and the committee found it to be very helpful when it came to making decisions regarding whether an illness should be considered catastrophic or life threatening.  Ross said the committee tries to be very consistent with the type of illness that gets approved or denied.  The illnesses most commonly approved are cancer and open heart surgery and those that may be denied are corrective surgery, broken bones, and maternity leave. 

 

Ross said they had the largest number of hours donated in 2006 since the inception of the program – over 3,000 hours.  He felt having a booth at the Staff Week Health Fair had contributed to this success.  Ross said the program is funded with $35,000 per year from the administration.  So far this year, 11 applications had been received.  More information about the program is available on the Human Resources website.  Betty thanked Ross for providing the annual report and for sharing the information with Senate members.

 

CHAIRÕS COMMUNICATIONS

 

Betty reported on her meeting with Vice President for Executive and Administrative Affairs Nick Hathaway.  The budget was briefly discussed.  No progress had been made and there was no good news to report. Betty encouraged people to use available avenues to voice their opinions to the appropriate people.  If people wanted to contact their legislators, they should not use University resources or time.  A web site exists that will identify an individualÕs district and representatives.  She said there was some relevant information (concerning contribution strategy/insurance) in the March Faculty Senate minutes and encouraged members to take a look at them.

 

ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES OF MARCH 29, 2007

 

On motion by Sue-Anna Miller, the minutes of the March 29, 2007, minutes were accepted as written.

 

REPORTS

 

Awards Committee:  Awards Committee Chair Susan Cates reported that the Awards Ceremony would be held on Wednesday, April 25 at 11:00 a.m. in the Union Ballroom.  Susan said Clarke Stroud would be the Master of Ceremonies, and Cody Dunbar would provide the musical entertainment.  She encouraged everyone to attend the ceremony to support their fellow staff members.

 

OU Staff Week Committee:  Staff Week Committee Chair Dan Hough said Staff Week would take place April 23 through April 27.  He said there had been a press release as well as recent coverage in Campus Connections.  A mass email had been sent out giving information on the events.  He said the grand prize flyer would be going out soon.  Volunteers are needed for taking tickets at all of the events.  Dan said there was a separate flyer for the Athletic Department events, a softball game and baseball game.  Tuesday night, free bowling will be offered by AMF Bowling Center, and the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History is offering free admission on Saturday night.  Dan said the web page would be updated with any changes.  Betty added that at the OU baseball and softball games, an OU staff member would be chosen to throw the opening pitch. 

 

Health Insurance Options Insurance Committee:  Staff representative Joan Koos said they had only met once.  At that meeting they introduced themselves and tried to define the scope of their mission.  They also met with the group that will do analysis for them, Siegel and Sibson.  They focused on communication between the committee and the employees at the University.  Joan said that soon, the President would be sending out a letter to employees to let them know what the committeeÕs scope and ideas are.  All of the committee membersÕ names will be listed in the letter for contact information. 

 

Betty urged members to pay attention to the letter when it comes out, be active and not expect our representative to carry the entire burden.

 

OTHER COMMUNICATIONS

 

Administrative Staff Council:  President Sue-Anna Miller reported that the ASC met on April 10.  She said each ASC member brought a friend to the meeting and said it was one of the largest meetings ASC had had in the past two years, with 18 members attending.  Renda Passek spoke about retirement and investment strategies.

 

Informational Staff Association:  President-Elect Brook Barnes-Weber said ISA met on April 4. The group discussed the art show and vacancies on the council.  Their next meeting will be on May 2nd and the group will honor their merit award winners.

 

Hourly Employees Council:  President Ed Fontaine reported that HEC met April 11. Elections for the group are progressing according to schedule.  Their ice cream social event was finalized. Ed said many of his co-workers were very enthusiastic about the baseball games being offered as part of Staff Week. 

 

Organizational Staff Council:  President Linda McCarty reported that OSC met April 5th and honored their merit award nominees with a light luncheon.  The group discussed changes for the merit award nomination form, bingo, and vacancies on their council. 

 

CORRESPONDENCE

 

Memo to Vice President and General Counsel Joseph Harroz regarding member group names listed in Regents Policy Manual:  This was linked to the April agenda.

 

REPORTS

 

The following reports were linked to the April agenda:

 

Staff Senate Foundation account report.

 

Minutes of Employment Benefits Committee meeting of February 15, 2007.

 

MISCELLANEOUS

 

Betty reminded people that a city-wide vote would take place on curbside recycling on May 8.  She advised people to educate themselves on the issue. 

 

Betty thanked the administration for the recent campus-wide alert and for acting on the side of caution. She said it could have been much worse, and said she thought it was a good test. 

 

Debbie Copp said changes had taken place at the Athletic Department, the North door of the Stadium, by the reflecting pool, is the only door open (all other doors and stairwells are locked) and said a security person is in the foyer.   

 

Betty displayed the Relay for Life Quilt with the coachesÕ signatures.  Raffle tickets are $1 each or 6 tickets for $5 – drawing will be held on May 18.

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

As there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 2:06 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Barbara Perry

Administrative Coordinator

 

Shanika Bivines

Administrative Assistant