THE
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA
STAFF
SENATE
(NORMAN
CAMPUS)
Wednesday,
November 15, 2006
Chair Betty Love called the meeting
to order at 1:30 p.m. in the Presidents Room of the Oklahoma Memorial Union.
Officers present —
Betty Love, Chair; Joan Koos, Immediate Past Chair
Officers absent — Beth
Gatewood, Chair-Elect; 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, Patsy Montoya, Kim Haddad, Ben Stapp, Troy Schmidt, David Kizer, Robert
Murphy; Informational Staff Association: Kevin Jarnagin, Debi Gentis, Lisa
Bowles, Elaine Bradshaw, Annette Schwiebert; Organizational Staff Council:
Linda McCarty, Cathy Brister, Kathy Gross, Jannie Porter, Matt Berry;
Administrative Staff Council: Lezlie Pilkington (proxy)
Representatives absent — Hourly
Employees Council: Cheryl Barton, Cindy Goode; Informational Staff Association:
Brook Barnes-Weber; Organizational Staff Council: Kristi Wright; Administrative
Staff Council: Sue-Anna Miller, Rennie Cook
Guests present
—Susan Grossman, Communications Committee Chair; Dan Hough, OU Staff Week
Committee Chair; Cathy Trujillo, Personnel Policies Committee Co-Chair; Nick
Kelly, Human Resources; Edye Grinter, Human Resources, Debbie Copp, Athletic
Department; Nancy Matthews, Department of Math
UPDATE FROM NICK KELLY, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR,
HUMAN RESOURCES
Assistant Director Nick Kelly introduced
Assistant Administrator for Benefits Edye Grinter. Nick said they were attending to receive feedback from the
recent online annual enrollment.
He said he was encouraged by the fact that approximately 1500 people had
enrolled online – 80% of the individuals who enrolled used online
enrollment. He said they had
received fairly positive feedback so far but would like to hear about the
problems people had encountered so they could make improvements to the
system. He encouraged everyone to
email them if they had come across problems. Several members present told them of problems they had
encountered when enrolling this year.
Edye took note and said those problems would be addressed.
Nick reported that the president was in the progress
of appointing a panel to look at healthcare issues. He said they were looking for a consultant to help with that
project as well. Concerning the
Oklahoma Teachers Retirement System choice question [whether people will be
allowed to opt out at some point], Nick said the IRS had looked at the
UniversityÕs initial filing and had a negative reaction to it. Our attorneys reworded and resubmitted
it. Nick said when the University
knows whether it will be accepted, they will let people know; until then, it is
a waiting game.
COMMUNICATIONS FROM
CHAIR
Chair Betty Love said she would like to thank
everyone who attended the 35th Anniversary of Staff Senate. She said she had heard a lot of
positive comments and said she wanted to personally thank the Anniversary
Committee for putting so much work into the affair. Betty said she visited with Vice President for Executive and
Administrative Affairs Nick Hathaway on the morning of the anniversary, and
that topic had taken up much of the meeting. She has several other items planned for discussion at their
December meeting.
ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES OF
OCTOBER 18, 2006
On a motion by Kevin Jarnagin, the minutes of
the October 18, 2006, minutes were accepted as written.
OTHER
COMMUNICATIONS
Hourly Employees Council: President
Ed Fontaine reported that HEC met on November 8th and discussed
their groupÕs presentation for Staff SenateÕs anniversary celebration. Ed said HECÕs display table was
outstanding. HEC will adopt two
children for the groupÕs holiday project.
At their November meeting, the group discussed insurance matters and
their upcoming holiday luncheon.
They plan to publish another Hourglass newsletter
before the holidays.
Informational Staff Association: President
Kevin Jarnagin reported that ISA met on November 1st. Their guest speaker, Dr. David
Levy, recounted OUÕs spirited history while the group enjoyed Thanksgiving
dinner. ISA will adopt a family
for its holiday project and will coordinate with Angel Food Ministries to buy a
box of groceries to feed a family for a month. They will also have a toy drive.
Organizational
Staff Council:
President Linda McCarty reported that OSC met on November 2nd. The group discussed Staff SenateÕs 35th Anniversary
celebration and bingo. Linda said OSC would be donating $200 each to Big
Brothers/Big Sisters and the Center for Children and Families, Inc. This year OSC plans to adopt an OU
family for their holiday charity.
Their December meeting will be a potluck luncheon. Linda asked if they
would be able to respond to comments regarding the Staff Week survey. She said they would like to provide a
reason to people regarding why the committees try to keep the cost of prizes
below $20 or $25 due to auditing and IRS regulations. Linda said there were several comments they would like to
respond to. Staff Week Committee
Chair Dan Hough said he would bring this up with the committee.
Administrative Staff Council: Serving as the first proxy representing
ASC, Lezlie Pilkington reported that ASC last met on October 10th
and finalized their plans for the anniversary celebration. ASCÕs next meeting will be on December
12th and will be a snack-and-wrap meeting and tour of the Stadium
suites.
STANDING COMMITTEES
Communications Committee: Chair Susan Grossman said the
Communications Committee met earlier that morning. The committee is studying two projects: establishment of a blog and a
university-wide skills-set database. Susan said she would update the group as progress was
made.
OU Staff Week Committee: Chair Dan Hough reported that the Staff
Week Committee had conducted its fall sweatshirt sales campaign. He reminded the groups and committees
that budgets needed to be turned in soon.
He said the Field House would not be available for the spring Staff Week
events. He is trying to locate other venues.
Personnel Policies Committee: Co-Chair Cathy Trujillo said PPC met on
October 23. The PPC has formed two
subcommittees to consider the following issues: (1) using extended sick leave for family and (2) staff promotional raises.
CORRESPONDENCE
Correspondence regarding
constitutional change: A memorandum sent to President Boren from former
Senate Chair Joan Koos regarding the appointment of a proxy to represent a
member group was attached to the agenda.
Betty mentioned that President Boren had approved the revision to the
constitution as presented.
REPORTS
The
following report was linked to the November agenda:
Staff Senate
Foundation account report.
MISCELLANEOUS
A member
asked what to do with the surveys regarding member groups and staff governance
that were collected at the 35th Anniversary celebration. Betty answered that each of the groups
could analyze their surveys and contact the people who did not know which
member group they belonged to, inform them of their member group and give them
more information about the Staff Senate. Betty suggested sending them a personalized letter,
inviting them to the group meetings and encouraging them to become active and
participate.
ADJOURNMENT
As there was
no further business, the meeting adjourned at 2:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara
Perry
Administrative Coordinator
Shanika Bivines
Administrative Assistant