THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA

STAFF SENATE

(NORMAN CAMPUS)

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Chair Joan Koos called the meeting to order at 1:32 p.m. in the Associates 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, Ed Fontaine, Robert Murphy; Informational Staff Association: Sophia Morren, Susan Lauterbach, Kevin Jarnagin, Elaine Bradshaw, Chris Cook, Annette Schwiebert; Organizational Staff Council: Tina Ledgerwood, Matt Berry, Linda McCarty, Jannie Porter; Administrative Staff Council: Sue-Anna Miller

Representatives absent — Hourly Employees Council: Debbie Blevins, David Houck, Cindy Goode, Patsy Montoya; Informational Staff Association: none; Organizational Staff Council: Kristi Wright; Administrative Staff Council: Deborah Marsh, Deborah Wollenberg

Guests present — Julius Hilburn, Human Resources

INFORMATION PERTAINING TO OKLAHOMA TAX COMMISSION AND UNIVERSITY’S COMPLIANCE WITH STATE LAW FROM JULIUS HILBURN, DIRECTOR, HUMAN RESOURCES

Chair Joan Koos said Director of Human Resources Julius Hilburn had informed her of an important issue, and she felt it was important enough that it needed to be added to the agenda after it had gone out. She turned the floor over to Julius. He explained that a State law was passed in 2003, and the University was required to comply with it. The law basically says that State employees have to be in compliance with tax issues in order to continue their employment – if you are paid by the State, you should be current with your taxes. The Oklahoma Tax Commission notifies State agencies and provides a list of employees that have active compliance issues. The law says if a person is not in compliance and has been notified for two consecutive years, their employment should be terminated. Julius said some might wonder why this had not been publicized before. He said the answer is that a person’s tax situation is a private issue. Julius said they had contacted employees on the list directly and confidentially. He said supervisors were not even involved until just recently – until it had come to the point where some employees might have to be terminated if they did not come into compliance. Julius went on to say that the law was passed in 2003, but was amended in 2004, stipulating that you had to be out of compliance and notified three consecutive years. The tax commission started sending out letters of notification in December of 2003. Julius said OU got its first list of employees in August of 2004. The list was managed very tightly, but the employees were contacted by letter and asked to work out their issues with the tax commission. The list got shorter. The next year, the President wrote a letter to the remaining employees on the list telling them that their employment at OU was valued, but that OU must comply with the law. Employees were asked to work with the OTC to resolve their issues. Another letter was sent in April 2006, telling the employee OU was within two months of the deadline, and the issue must be taken care of by the end of June in order to continue employment. At that time a copy of the letter was sent to the organizational unit head. In April, it was so close to the deadline that the confidentiality issue was less important because departments might be losing an employee, and the director or supervisor might need to plan for that possibility. Supervisors were also asked to contact the employee and reiterate the seriousness of the situation and help the employee understand that OU had no choice but to follow the law. Julius said after the final notice goes out from the State, they will try to build in another two or three weeks to allow employees a little additional time to take care of their problem because they want to work with the employee and give them time to respond. They have built in steps to encourage people to deal with the issues, but in the end, OU will have to draw the line. Julius then answered questions from the group.

A member commented that she was aware of employees who were involved in this matter. She pointed out that people didn’t necessarily have to pay off their entire tax obligation, they just needed to start the process or have a plan in place. Julius said they had tried to encourage employees to talk to the OTC because they might reach a settlement agreement. A member wanted to know if an employee was terminated as a result, would the matter need to be resolved in order to be eligible for rehire. Julius said termination under these circumstances would result in a university-wide “no rehire,” unless the individual could present evidence they had been cleared by the State. University policy does not consider termination a break in service if a person is rehired within 90 days; however, they are not requiring departments to hold positions open if someone is terminated for this reason. He said some departments may be flexible if they have an employee trying to resolve the issue. Joan thanked Julius for sharing the information with the Senate.

CHAIR’S COMMUNICATIONS

Joan said she had visited with Vice President for Executive and Administrative Affairs Nick Hathaway. She said the health care issue had not been resolved. She mentioned that the Legislature had come to an agreement over the budget, but there was still uncertainty as to what it would mean for OU concerning raises.

ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES OF MAY 17, 2006

On motion by Robert Murphy, the minutes of the May 17, 2006, meeting were accepted as written.

OTHER COMMUNICATIONS

Hourly Employees Council:  President Pam Shoopman reported that HEC met on June 14th and elected its officers for next year. Diana Fitzpatrick was elected President Designate and Patsy Montoya, Secretary-Treasurer. Pam announced the results of their recent group elections. New group representatives are: Group I, Sherman Brennan; Group II, Jack Shoopman; Group III, Ben Stapp; Group IV, Harolda Gibson; Group V, Christina Jennings; and Group VI, Troy Schmidt. She said the group plans to hold an indoor picnic for their July meeting.

Informational Staff Association:  President Sophia Morren reported that ISA met on June 7. All of their vacancies have been filled except for the position of Vice President/President-Elect which remains open. The group is still doing research on compression of staff salaries. ISA passed a motion that they plan to present to Staff Senate. They would like the Personnel Policies Committee to look at staff promotion funding issues.

Organizational Staff Council: President Tina Ledgerwood reported that OSC met June 1. Nick Hathaway was their guest speaker. Nick spoke about the Graduation Rate Task Force and asked for feedback for reasons students are not graduating. They are looking for federal funds for a bike path and are considering building a hotel and conference center for small conferences. OSC selected a committee to review their constitution. It was their final meeting of the year, and Tina awarded certificates to the members.

Administrative Staff Council: President Sue-Anna Miller reported that ASC met on June 15th and toured Printing Services and Property Control. They discussed the proxy issue and the resulting changes that will need to be made to their constitution.

Ad Hoc Committee for 35^th Anniversary Celebration: Joan announced that Betty Love had volunteered to represent the Hourly Employees Council on the Ad Hoc Committee for Staff Senate’s 35^th Anniversary Celebration. The committee had not yet held its first meeting.

OU Staff Week: Staff Week Committee member Dan Hough gave a report on the Staff Week survey. He said the last Staff Week survey was conducted in 1999. The ISA proposed doing the survey to find out whether people were still enjoying the events and if things could be improved. Dan said members of the survey committee were Grettie Bondy, Debbie Gentis, Tamarra Grayson, Linda McCarty, Connie Smith, Margaret Smith and himself. The survey was anonymous so people would be free with their comments. 377 people responded. He commented on some of the responses. The survey asked if the Staff Week Committee should change T-shirt colors every year or have more OU colors. Responses were split 50/50 on that question. Most were satisfied with the quantity and quality of prizes. Overall, 69% rated Staff Week good or excellent; 11% rated it fair or poor. Dan planned to analyze and prepare a report for each event and send it to the committee or group sponsoring that activity. Joan thanked Dan and his committee for their work.

CORRESPONDENCE

Memorandum to President Boren regarding constitutional revision: The letter was linked to the agenda. Joan said members of Staff Senate had been in contact with Legal Counsel to clear up any question about our use of the term “proxy.” It was determined that it was not a problem. Staff Senate is using the term proxy in an informal manner. [NOTE: According to Legal Counsel, the definition can mean a person who is substituted to act for another.]

REPORTS

The following reports were linked to the June agenda:

Staff Senate Foundation account report.

Minutes of Employee Benefits Committee meeting of April 20, 2006.

Health care survey results: The health care survey was conducted by The Faculty Welfare Commitee of the Faculty Senate. Participants were randomly selected. A member asked if we knew how the administration was reacting to the survey? She said the survey results did not lead one to believe that there is a huge outpouring to provide money for spouse and dependent coverage. Joan said she did not discuss the survey with Nick Hathaway when she met with him. Another member commented that recruitment seemed to be the issue at hand. It was pointed out that if you are being recruited and dependent coverage is an issue, you can increase the bottom line on the salary you will accept to cover that cost. Joan said she welcomed any comments and would forward them to the administration. A member asked if they had asked for our input. Joan said she felt they had asked for input when HR asked to meet with the Executive Committee to share ideas. She added that this was an ongoing issue that had not been resolved.

A member drew attention to Question #3 on the Survey – Do you have dependent children? 69-70% answered no. She said that is one of the first things we should point out. Several members commented that most of their co-workers have plans outside the University to cover their children and thereby save around $300 monthly over the University’s plan. One member remarked that if the cost of the University plan drops from $700 to $500, those co-workers won’t switch and pay $500. She said it would simply cost all of us.

Debbie Copp asked if the members of the Senate felt strongly enough about the issue to consider sending a resolution from the Norman Campus Staff Senate. She said we had taken a stand in the past with parking issues and parking fines and pointed out that parking rates were not going up this year partly as a result of the actions of our group. Joan said she was hearing from the group that charging the employee for a portion of their insurance coverage was not the solution for the ever-increasing cost of insurance.

Tina Ledgerwood then made a motion that the member groups send an email to their constituents requesting information regarding health insurance issues regarding the survey to be due back by June 29. Group presidents will compile a list of resolutions to be added to the final resolution by July 8. The motion was seconded. Members discussed disseminating information from both the survey and the April 20 EBC minutes. Tina amended her motion to state that the member groups send emails requesting responses to the survey and the EBC minutes to get information from their member groups to elicit responses that can be presented to Staff Senate in the form of a resolution at the July meeting. The amended motion was seconded and passed on a show of hands with 14 in favor and 1 abstention. Comments were to be sent to the Staff Senate Office no later than July 12 so preliminary work on the resolution could begin.

Joan encouraged members to be proactive because it was an important issue and people needed to be informed. Members thought it was important for staff to have a voice and hear what was being discussed. Most thought the general population of staff had no idea these insurance changes were under consideration. It was mentioned that there had not been a reporter covering the meetings all semester. A member asked if sending emails out to campus would stir people up. Another member responded that she would rather be accused of stirring things up than doing nothing! “Let people have the information and make comments or not.” Another remarked that the first time HR spoke to the group about possible changes, Staff Senate was told not to get excited about it – don’t stir anybody up. He said, “But now, for three months in a row, there is more and more detail about what’s going to happen.”

Joan said she would like people to have a voice, whether it is heeded or not. She said we have a voice, and we need to make it heard. She said we are a representative body of the University, and we have something to say.

NEW BUSINESS

Election of chair-elect for 2006-2007: Nominating Committee Chair Betty Love put forth the name of Beth Gatewood for Chair-Elect for Staff Senate for 2006-2007. Joan called for nominations from the floor. There were none. Betty then moved to accept Beth’s nomination by acclamation. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously on a show of hands. [NOTE: As stipulated in the constitution, the Nominating Committee consists of the Chair-Elect, and one Senate representative from each member group that is appointed by the member group’s president.]

Election of recording secretary for 2006-2007: Betty said they were recommending Chris McNabb for the position of Recording Secretary for Staff Senate for 2006-2007. Joan called for nominations from the floor. There were none. Betty moved to accept Chris’ nomination by acclamation. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously on a show of hands.

Approval of recommended nominations for University and campus councils, committees and boards for vacancies and terms beginning in 2006: The list of recommended nominees was linked to the agenda. Matt Berry moved for acceptance of the slate of nominees. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously. [NOTE: As stipulated in the Bylaws, the Committee on Committees consists of the Chair-Elect, Recording Secretary and Administrative Coordinator.]

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Regarding a recent email that had gone out announcing season football tickets that were available for sale at a discount, Debbie said that as of June 20^th, a few tickets were still available.

ADJOURNMENT

As there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 2:56 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Perry

Administrative Coordinator

Karla Woodfork

Recording Secretary