THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA

STAFF SENATE

(NORMAN CAMPUS)

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Chair Betty Love called the meeting to order at 1:33 p.m. in the Scholars 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, Patsy Montoya, Troy Schmidt, Robert Murphy; Informational Staff Association: Anna Love, Lisa Bowles Elaine Bradshaw; Organizational Staff Council: Linda McCarty, Cathy Brister, Kathy Gross, Winona Bark, Matt Berry, Jannie Porter; Administrative Staff Council: Sue-Anna Miller, Rennie Cook

Representatives absent — Hourly Employees Council: Cindy Goode, Ben Stapp, Cheryl Barton; David Houck, David Kizer, Kim Haddad; Informational Staff Association: Brook Barnes-Weber, Debi Gentis, one vacancy; Organizational Staff Council: none; Administrative Staff Council: none

Guests present — Debbie Copp, Employment Benefits Committee; Nancy Matthews, Employment Benefits Committee; Barbara Bledsoe, Staff Professional Development Committee Chair; Nick Kelly, Human Resources

CHAIR’S COMMUNICATIONS

Betty reported on her meeting with Vice President for Executive and Administrative Affairs Nick Hathaway. She said that staff should receive a letter from President Boren soon concerning the 3% across-the-board salary increase expected to take effect this October. They also discussed the health care website. Betty said she had learned that some staff were reluctant to submit emails to the website for fear of reprisal for their opinions. She said emails could be sent to her, all names would be removed and she would forward emails on to the committee. Betty encouraged all staff to visit the healthcare website. She said the subject would be covered in more detail later in the meeting. Betty reported that we were still trying to schedule a date for an open forum with President Boren.

ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES OF MAY 16, 2007

Under the Update from Joan Koos on Contribution Strategy and Insurance Option Committee, Joan asked that the word “quality” be added to her report. “To ensure that OU employees have access to affordable, quality healthcare as compared to programs offered by our peer institutions.” On motion by Matt Berry, the minutes of the May 16, 2007, meeting were then accepted as amended.

OTHER COMMUNICATIONS

Hourly Employees Council:  President Ed Fontaine reported that HEC met on June 13. The group did not have a quorum so they had an informal meeting. The July meeting will be the last meeting of the year and will be a picnic at the Sells Swim Complex.

Organizational Staff Council:  President Linda McCarty reported that OSC met on June 7. Nick Hathaway was their guest speaker. He spoke about current topics, including budget, salary increases and healthcare. The group completed the election of officers for next year. Tena Smith volunteered to represent OSC on the Staff Professional Development Committee, and the group discussed doing a donation at the beginning of the school year to help with school supplies.

Administrative Staff Council: President Sue-Anna Miller reported that the ASC met on June 12^th. Joan Koos spoke to the group about the Healthcare Options Committee and received feedback from the group.

Informational Staff Association: President Anna Love said ISA met on June 6^th. The group held elections to fill remaining vacancies, and they collected money so they can continue to provide throughout the summer to the family they adopted through the Angel Food Ministries program.

REPORTS

The following reports were linked to the June agenda:

Staff Senate Foundation account report.

Staff Professional Development Committee: Chair Barbara Bledsoe gave a slightly revised report from that which was linked to the agenda. She reported that from July 2006 to June 2007, there were 52 applicants; 47 were approved, 2 were denied and 3 were cancelled. Barbara said that for the 2 that were denied, the committee felt the trip was for work and not personal development. As of the date of the revised report, the balance in the fund was $10,780. The Chair for next year will be Dan Hough.

Minutes of Employment Benefits Committee meeting of April 19, 2007.

At the last EBC meeting, Staff Senate representative Debbie Copp said that Julius Hilburn had reported on the Contribution Strategy Group. Debbie said they had seen a list of companies that are being used as a benchmark. It is a broad based list, not just other universities, but universities that have medical centers as part of their campuses, commercial entities, Chickasaw Nations, to which they are comparing our benefits. Debbie referred to the letter that went out from the President and said that comments that are forwarded to the committee are forwarded anonymously. She assured everyone that the committee was not going to see names on emails and encouraged everyone to help others know there was no reason for concern. She said if people have specific issues they want to share, now is the time to do it. Waiting until after the plan has changed will be too late to speak up or complain!

Update from Joan Koos on Contribution Strategy and Insurance Option Committee: Joan distributed a handout showing the Insurance Options Committee’s work. She said they are working on a short-term plan. They were trying to develop guidelines that state what the University wants and how to get there. The committee is taking an overall look at what is most important to everyone. They will be looking at OU’s contribution and at OU employees’ health status and management. A healthier lifestyle will have a positive impact on our insurance costs in the future. Joan said they would also be looking at other areas such as medical, prescription drugs, co-pays and out-of-pocket maximum costs. The committee has only few more meetings scheduled. They will not choose who will be the healthcare provider. This committee will forward the guidelines and information and make suggestions on what we want provided with our healthcare.

Debbie remarked that there were some unique aspects of our plan that some people might not be aware of. For instance, an employee can begin work here at the University at age 52 and work for 10 years until age 62, and retire with full medical benefits. Or, if you elect not to take health insurance because you are covered somewhere else, you get a $50 per month credit. Debbie pointed out that the communication process was working very well this time and that a concerted effort was being made to collect as much input as possible. She said there were many places in business where decisions like this would be made behind closed doors.

A member commented that faculty seemed to be the ones complaining about not including dependent care in our insurance package. However, he said, they have the opportunity to negotiate their salary to cover this higher cost as they are being recruited. In addition, in most cases, faculty salaries are much higher than staff salaries. He was concerned that faculty comments would be weighed more heavily than staff comments. There was quite a bit of discussion about comments that could be sent in. Joan said the only discussion of a particular group of people focused on the low-income people. Betty said all of the groups are important - faculty, staff and students. She said the important thing is to make your voice heard. She encouraged people to give an opinion and keep it nice. The email address is: HealthcareOptions@ou.edu.

Report on activities of Communications Committee by Susan Grossman: Betty said Susan Grossman was unable to attend the June meeting, and would attend the July meeting instead.

OLD BUSINESS

Consideration of proposed revisions to staff merit award recommendation form: OSC President Linda McCarty presented this item. She said the Organizational Staff Council would like to revise the original form because they thought the original form was a bit confusing. People were putting the same answers on questions #1 and #2. By revising the form, question #1 makes it clear that the work is related to the department. On question #2, the work is related to the University versus the department. Question #3 involves community service, not related to the department or the University. A line for the supervisor’s name was also being recommended. Ed Fontaine made a motion to approve the revised staff merit award nomination form. The motion was seconded and passed on a voice vote.

NEW BUSINESS

Election of Staff Senate Chair-Elect for 2007-2008: Nominating Committee Chair Beth Gatewood said the Nominating Committee was recommending Linda McCarty for Chair-Elect. Betty asked for nominations from the floor. There were none. Sue-Anna Miller made a motion to elect Linda McCarty by acclamation.

Election of Staff Senate Recording Secretary for 2007-2008: Nominating Committee Chair Beth Gatewood said the Nominating Committee was recommending Patsy Montoya for Recording Secretary. Betty asked for nominations from the floor. There were none. Rennie Cook made a motion to elect Patsy Montoya by acclamation.

Approval of recommended nominations to University and campus councils, committees and boards: Betty said a last minute change had occurred to the council and committee list. Debra Levi-Martinelli had resigned from the Publications Board so the committee made a recommendation to replace her with Janis Paul from the Graduate College to fill the remainder of the 2005-2008 term that Debra vacated. That would be an addition to the list. Rennie Cook made a motion to approve the nominations. The motion was seconded and approved on a voice vote.

Staff Professional Development: Committee Chair Barbara Bledsoe pointed out that on the SPD application form, there is a line for the social security number. She explained that due to heightened awareness for security, she felt that line should be removed from the form. She said the information was not necessary. Employees applying to the fund can be looked up by name. A member asked about replacing the number with the EMPLID number in case there were employees in the same department with the same name. There was discussion regarding whether the EMPLID number was a secure number. Sue-Anna said she had been assured by Human Resources that the EMPLID was not a confidential number. Matt Berry made a motion to replace the social security number with the EMPLID number on the Staff Professional Development form. The motion was seconded and passed on a voice vote.

MISCELLANEOUS

Betty asked Beth to tell the group about the awards Printing, Mailing and Document Production Services had won. Beth said Central Mail had won a total of eleven IPMA awards this year, more than any other member. Among the eleven awards, and of noteworthy distinction, they received the Mail Center of the Year Award. [IPMA is an organization of corporate publishing and distribution professionals.]

Betty announced the “Dump the Pump” campaign that was taking place on June 21. She said CART bus rides were free to all on June 21, not just for OU employees, but for everyone. A flyer with more information was distributed to those in attendance.

ADJOURNMENT

As there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 2:35 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Perry

Administrative Coordinator

Chris McNabb

Recording Secretary