THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA

STAFF SENATE

(NORMAN CAMPUS)

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Chair Joan Koos called the meeting to order at 1:35 p.m. in the Scholars Room of the Oklahoma Memorial Union.

Officers present — Joan Koos, Chair; Betty Love, Chair-Elect; Debbie Copp, Immediate Past Chair; Karla Woodfork, Recording Secretary

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

Representatives present — Hourly Employees Council: Pam Shoopman, Cheryl Barton, Carolyn Irons, Karen Stark, David Houck, Cindy Goode, Ed Fontaine, Patsy Montoya, Robert Murphy; Informational Staff Association: Sophia Morren, Susan Lauterbach, Kevin Jarnagin, Chris Cook; Organizational Staff Council: Tina Ledgerwood, Matt Berry, Linda McCarty, Jannie Porter, Kristi Wright; Administrative Staff Council: Sue-Anna Miller, Deb Wollenberg

Representatives absent — Hourly Employees Council: Debbie Blevins; Informational Staff Association: Elaine Bradshaw, Annette Schwiebert; Organizational Staff Council: none; Administrative Staff Council: Deborah Marsh

Guests present — Brian Burrough, 2006-07 HSC Staff Senate Chair; Don Clothier, Past HSC Staff Senate Chair; Nancy Matthews, Department of Mathematics; Lezlie Pilkington, Administrative Affairs; Rennie Cook, Center for Student Life

CHAIR’S COMMUNICATIONS

Chair Joan Koos said she had visited with Vice President for Executive and Administrative Affairs Nick Hathaway. She told him staff was very pleased about the raises. Joan informed Nick that Staff Senate planned to discuss the health care issue. She said he was not surprised to hear that and thought our voice should be heard.

ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES OF JUNE 21, 2006

Joan informed the group that Dan Hough needed to be added to the guest list. With that correction, the minutes of the June 21, 2006, minutes were accepted.

OTHER COMMUNICATIONS

Administrative Staff Council: President Sue-Anna Miller reported that ASC had not held an actual meeting but had communicated via e-mail during the month and collected input on health care. They also discussed possible upcoming constitutional changes.

Hourly Employees Council:  President Pam Shoopman reported that HEC held an indoor picnic in July and invited its new members to attend. Cheryl Barton volunteered to serve as the HEC representative on the Staff Professional Development Committee.

Informational Staff Association:  President Sophia Morren reported that ISA did not meet in July, but they did collect feedback on health care via e-mail.

Organizational Staff Council:  President Tina Ledgerwood reported that OSC did not meet in July either, but collected responses on health care through e-mail.

REPORTS

The following reports were linked to the July agenda:

Staff Senate Foundation account report.

Minutes of Employee Benefits Committee meeting of May 18, 2006.

OLD BUSINESS

Consideration of resolution from staff concerning health insurance issues: A handout containing the proposed resolution was distributed to those in attendance and is linked for those unable to attend the meeting. Joan thanked Debbie Copp, Barbara Perry and several others for their collaboration in putting the letter and resolution together. Joan said the plan was to present the document to President Boren, Employment Benefits Committee Chair Darryl McCullough, Vice President Nick Hathaway and Human Resources Director Julius Hilburn. Joan said it was Staff Senate’s desire to present our comments before EBC’s next meeting so they would know of our support or non-support of their proposals. She said, “From reading this, I think you will see that we really don’t support the extra costs coming from the employee. That perhaps they [should] find other means of supporting this issue.” Joan then opened the floor for discussion.

Robert Murphy commented that he understood from the last meeting that there were several different proposals being outlined, but was not aware there was a hard proposal. He asked if there was a set proposal for a $35 contribution. He said he remembered Director Hilburn speaking about a $70 fee as well. EBC representative Nancy Matthews said the $35 fee might have to happen more than once in order to bring dependent coverage in line with the national average for university health plans. To come in line with the national average, it would require a $70 change. Debbie replied that nothing was set yet; the $35 proposed fee was a straw man proposal. She said everything was under discussion for the time being. She went on to explain that at the last Senate meeting, members decided they needed to take a stand and let the University administration know what we are hearing from our constituents. Referring to the member group comments, she remarked that she had never read more unanimous comments against a proposal. Debbie said she was concerned about the number of staff who didn’t know anything was happening with their health care plan. Joan said she had heard from several people who were very happy that we brought this to their attention. Joan thanked everyone for helping get the information out. Robert Murphy moved for passage of the resolution. The motion was seconded. Discussion followed.

Nancy said she would like to see part of the accompanying letter rewritten. She said the sentence in the second paragraph that says, “…employees begin paying a portion of their health care premiums” caught her attention because that is not a requirement under the straw man. Debbie said that sentence was saying that people are opposed to the possibility of having to start paying health care premiums. She said people were voicing concern about having to pay monthly premiums after having read the EBC minutes. The comments reflect the sentiment that staff do not want EBC to consider the possibility of having out-of-pocket premiums for any employee. Nancy said she wanted Senators to realize that EBC was providing an option that does not require payment of a premium. Debbie replied that it is fully paid until you visit the doctor and realize your deductible and out-of-pocket expenses are a lot higher. After a bit more discussion, the motion passed unanimously on a show of hands with 20 in favor.

NEW BUSINESS

Approval of volunteers to Staff Senate standing Committees for 2006-2007: The list of volunteers for Staff Senate standing committees for the upcoming year was linked to the July agenda. Sophia Morren moved for approval of the list of volunteers. The motion was seconded and passed on a voice vote.

Consideration of motion from Informational Staff Association concerning funding for staff promotions: The motion was linked to the agenda. Joan referred to a letter from President Boren and said this issue was addressed at the town hall meeting as well. She said President Boren’s first concern was to make sure that we received a salary increase, and he had, of course, recommended the 2% across-the-board and 2% merit increase. She said the administration was also looking at making some funds available to address compression and inequities in some faculty and staff areas. Joan said it would be wonderful if we could have more money available, but she had questions about how the funds would be administered. She explained that funding for salaries and wages comes from various sources, not just State funds. Some areas like Auxiliary and Service units have to raise their own funds to operate, including funds for salaries and raises. In addition, you have grant accounts with money earmarked for positions. If a pool of money were developed for staff promotions, she asked if it would be available to all of these units. Joan remarked that they had never been given money before. She pointed out some of the problems that could be encountered.

ISA President Sophia Morren said that in ISA’s discussion of these issues, the group decided to separate the issues of promotion and compression and deal with them separately. They plan to bring something forward on compression in the future. A member commented that the proposal was to investigate the concept, but she reminded the group that there are always checks and balances, and the dollars to pay for the program would have to come from somewhere. Joan said it would be best to decide how such a program would be administered as well. She suggested if Staff Senate were to make a proposal, we should propose how to resolve the problem.

A member commented that if a policy is in place for faculty so that each year they have a good idea who will be promoted, perhaps an investigation should be undertaken to see if such a policy could work for staff. Another remarked that faculty have to “publish or perish.” If they don’t publish enough to go from assistant to professor, they are unemployed. The same does not apply to staff. She commented that this could be what turns up from the investigation. Another member informed the group that the money for these set faculty promotions and raises came off the top of our appropriation before allotting for the general salary and wage program. She commented that if this kind of program were put in place, it would cut into the entire pool because there is only so much to go around. Susan Lauterbach then made a motion to ask that the Personnel Policies Committee investigate developing a fund for staff promotions based on service or the addition of extra responsibility. The motion was seconded and passed on a voice vote. There were two abstentions.

MISCELLANEOUS

Brian Burrough, 2006-07 Chair of the HSC Staff Senate, and Don Clothier, Past Chair, attended the meeting to discuss representation from the Tulsa campus. Brian said the HSC Staff Senate has representatives from the Tulsa campus, but there are problems getting involvement from the Tulsa campus although Tulsa’s committees are fully staffed. A good distance separates the campuses making it difficult for them to attend HSC’s meetings. Brian said he realized that Norman is also somewhat involved because it has staff members who work on the Tulsa campus so he wanted to keep Norman informed of HSC’s actions. HSC has gotten approval from their Vice President for Administrative Affairs Ken Rowe and Dr. Clancy, the new President at the Tulsa campus, to put together a research committee to look at the feasibility of Tulsa forming their own Staff Senate. Brian asked if the Norman campus would be interested in attending these meetings. He said it might affect our constitution. Debbie said the College of Continuing Education would probably be the area most affected. She gave Brian the name of a staff member from CCE who might be interested in attending the meetings. Brian said he would make contact. Joan said it might cause a shift in the number of staff in some of the member groups, but she did not anticipate Norman losing a great number of employees. She expected it would probably be less than fifty employees. Brian said he wanted to be sure we were aware of this possible change because it would require a change in their constitution and the creation of a new constitution for Tulsa.

Sophia Morren made a motion that each member group president explore the impact losing Tulsa staff would have on their constitution and report back to the Staff Senate and that Staff Senate consider preparing a statement of support for the concept of a Tulsa Staff Senate for the September Staff Senate meeting. The motion was seconded and passed on a voice vote. Joan thanked Brian and Don for bringing the issue to the attention of the Norman Senate.

As this was the final meeting of the Senate year, Barbara Perry presented outgoing Chair Joan Koos a plaque for her service as Chair of Staff Senate during 2005-2006. Joan thanked Barbara, Administrative Assistant Shanika Bivines and Past Chair Debbie Copp for their support during the year as well as all of the Senate members for attending and voicing their concerns. She said she valued their opinions. She said she had enjoyed her year as Chair of Staff Senate.

ADJOURNMENT

As there was no further business, the final meeting of the 2005-2006 Senate year adjourned at 2:38 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Perry

Administrative Coordinator

Karla Woodfork

Recording Secretary