THE
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA
STAFF
SENATE
(NORMAN
CAMPUS)
Wednesday
September 17, 2008
D
R A F T
Chair Linda McCarty called the meeting
to order at 1:30 p.m. in the Sooner Room of the Oklahoma Memorial Union.
Officers present — Linda
McCarty, Chair; Diana Fitzpatrick, Chair-Elect; Beth Gatewood, Immediate Past
Chair; Elaine Bradshaw, Recording Secretary
Staff present —
Barbara Perry, Administrative Coordinator; KeYonna Wynn, Student Assistant
Representatives present —
Hourly Employees Council: David Houck, Linda Smith, Tim Winkelman, Bobby
Hardcastle, Carolyn Irons, Mary Peters, Cindy Simpson, Troy Schmidt, David
Kizer; Informational Staff Association: Michael Goodwin, Chris Cook, Dick Trim,
Dan Hough, Debi Gentis, Debbie Copp; Organizational Staff Council: Sandi Emond, Fran Stephens, Cathy Trujillo, Debbie Hubbard, Tami
Kinsey; Administrative Staff Council: Robbie Wahnee, Terri Sarsycki
Representatives absent — Hourly
Employees Council:, Connie Hall, Kim Haddad, Donna Stephens; Informational Staff
Association: None; Organizational Staff Council:, Nancy Matthews;
Administrative Staff Council: None
Guests present —
Nick Kelly, Human Resources; Josh Maxey, Stephenson Research Center
REMARKS FROM JOSH MAXEY REGARDING
hOUR NORMAN PROJECT
Chair Linda McCarty introduced Josh
Maxey, Project Manager for hOUR Norman.
Josh explained that hOUR Norman was part of a larger project named Earth
Hour which became official in 2006 in Sydney, Australia. It began with the city shutting down as
many lights as possible in government, business and residential buildings to
show that by doing things a little differently, we can redistribute the way we
use energy; thereby using it when it is really necessary and saving
energy. The first time the lights
were shut down for an hour, emission output was decreased by an amount
equivalent to taking 48,000 cars off the road for an hour. It gained so much popularity, that last
year over 50 million people participated and 370 cities took part. Norman was the only official supporter
in the State of Oklahoma. Josh
invited everyone to participate in the event which was being held on Sunday,
September 21 from 9 to 10:00 p.m.
He said several area restaurants and businesses, including the Mile of
Cars, were participating in the event.
INSURANCE UPDATE BY NICK KELLY
Assistant Director of Human Resources Nick Kelly
updated the group on health insurance and retirement issues. He said effective January 1, 2009, the
University would be covered by Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Delta Dental for
their health coverage. Rates will be virtually identical to last year’s, but
there will be some improved benefits.
Delta Dental will offer a new orthodontia benefit for children and
employees. They will also cover
implants. BC/BS will roll out
several new wellness benefits, including a $1,500 lifetime smoking cessation
benefit covering drugs, behavioral therapy and hypnosis as aids to quit
smoking. Annual physicals will be
covered. Nick said a program
called Blue Points will be offered.
Points can be earned by engaging in healthy behavior and can be redeemed
for merchandise, etc. The program
is available to anyone enrolled in BC/BS, including dependents. BC/BS will be allowing the University
$500,000 over the course of its three-year contract to fund biometric
screening. Nick said he expected
that would allow every employee to have their vital health factors checked (such
as cholesterol, glucose, body mass index and blood pressure). He said Blue Cross would come to the
University and set up, much like a health fair, and people could get results
while they wait. There are
improvements to the flexible spending accounts. A new company called Payflex has improved the debit cards
that can be used to buy over-the-counter medications or used for payment at the
doctor’s office. The charge comes
right off your account, basically eliminating the need to file claims. Nick said it would not be necessary to
medically qualify for long term care insurance and the rates for LTC this year
will be going down by about 20% across the board, including for those already
enrolled in the plans. A new high
option vision plan will be added.
It will allow people to get contacts or glasses more frequently. Enrollment will begin November 4 and
run through midnight November 16.
Most of it will be conducted online. The benefits fair will be in the Armory on November 5. They plan to have Blue Cross/Blue
Shield and Delta come to campus two or three times for question and answer
sessions. The dates will be posted
on HR’s web site soon.
Nick talked briefly about federal regulations for
the supplemental retirement plans, the 403b, 457 and 401a plans. He said there are about 30 companies
that are vendors. Today, people
are tied to company brand loyalty, Vanguard, Fidelity, TIAA-CREF, etc. They are looking at offering
investment options in a different way so people can combine funds from
different companies and have one company be the record keeper. A person would get one consolidated
statement and need not declare their loyalty to one of 3 or 4 different companies. This is in the works and is about a
year off.
Nick said the report on retiree medical should
be out in about a month. He emphasized
that the committee would not make any recommendations that would cause people
to retire earlier than they otherwise would have. The committee is looking at the date people are eligible to
retire, not the date they retire.
He said there was a broad consensus that those who are already retired
or eligible to retire will be held harmless to any changes that will be
made. He said there were only a
couple of things that could be changed - the premium contribution or the plan
design. With premium contribution,
the committee is concerned that we not have a line that gets drawn so that a
person on one side of the line gets nothing and a person on the other side gets
everything. It should be gradual
steps. Nick said in 15 years, 50%
of OU’s employees will be eligible to retire. The University’s liability for retiree medical will have to
be put on the books for the first time this year. It is a huge number, over half a billion dollars. Nick said we are paying over $6 million
a year now for retiree medical and that is projected to double every 6 years
over the next 20 to 30 years. He
said it had been a difficult discussion. The preliminary report is in progress
and preliminary recommendations are still being worked over. The report, when finished, will be
released simultaneously to all employees and groups, and feedback will be
sought from Faculty and Staff Senates. At some point a
final report will go to the President.
He said ultimately, the President will deal with the final
recommendations as he did last year with the dependent recommendations.
CHAIR’S COMMUNICATIONS
Linda reported that
Staff Senate held its luncheon on September 5. About 30 people attended and two bags of canned food for the
United Way Day of Caring were collected.
Linda said she had attended the Hourly Employees Council meeting
recently and would like to attend each of the group and committee meetings as
her schedule permits to meet everyone this year. She reported that she and Chair-Elect Diana Fitzpatrick
attended the Faculty Senate meeting at which President Boren gave his State of
the University address. He spoke
about enrollment, lack of funding from the State, the hiring freeze, the
committee addressing retiree insurance, and broadening interaction with our
international students. She
attended the President’s press conference on energy on September 10th,
and a Meet and Greet session with
UOSA on September 11th to foster cooperation and interaction with
the student organization. Linda
reported that an appointment was made to the Shared Leave Committee to replace
Judy Stockdale who retired recently.
Cathy Brister was appointed to fill the remainder of Judy’s term on that
committee. Linda said she had
received a letter from President Boren regarding Extended Sick Leave. The request to change the time frame to
access ESL will be submitted to the Board of Regents. (The letter was linked to the agenda.) Linda noted that an article had
appeared in the paper that indicated that some people received additional
funding for raises above the 2%.
She asked Nick Hathaway about it and he clarified that if departments
had additional funding available and they chose to do so, they could give
additional increases at their own discretion.
ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES OF
JULY 16, 2008
On motion by Sandi Emond, the minutes of the July
16, 2008, Staff Senate meeting were accepted as written.
OTHER
COMMUNICATIONS
Hourly Employees Council: President David Houck said HEC met on September 10. He reported that 90% of their committee
appointments are complete. They
confirmed their Staff Senate representatives and discussed the revised Physical
Plant drug policy that was proposed last June. HEC passed a motion formally opposing the new proposal and
formed an ad hoc committee to look into it. The committee met with the Ombudsperson Gloria White on July
16, and as a result of that meeting, the policy was postponed. David said there had been no official
announcement, but Bill Henwood, the new director of the Physical Plant, favors
the original policy and doesn’t intend to pursue any random drug testing. David said the committee will meet
again to discuss if any further action is necessary.
Organizational Staff Council: President Sandi Emond said OSC met on September 4. They had a tour of the K20 Center at
Two Partners Place. Future meeting
topics and meetings as well as places for bingo for next spring’s Staff Week
were discussed.
Informational Staff Association: President Michael Goodwin said ISA met
on September 3. Debbie Copp, a
member of ISA, was their guest speaker and spoke on Employee Benefits. They recapped last spring’s activities
and decided to continue participation in the Angel Food Ministries
program. ISA is preparing for a
logo contest for their group. The
group also decided to participate in Lee National Denim Day.
CORRESPONDENCE
Staff
Senate’s letter to president Boren concerning changes to extended sick leave
policy and President Boren’s response. These letters were linked to the September agenda.
REPORTS
The
following reports were linked to the September agenda:
Staff Senate
Foundation account report.
Minutes of
Employment Benefits Committee meeting for June 19, 2008.
STANDING COMMITTEES
Awards Committee: Chair Dan Hough said the committee met on September
9. Volunteers signed up for all of
the subcommittees. The groups discussed
the possibility of moving the Awards Ceremony. The committee recommended not to change it this year because
the ceremony is two weeks before graduation. They recommend to always keep it before graduation so
faculty and students can come to the ceremony. Dan said not all of the awards come from staff. Faculty and students also give staff
awards and they want to be sure faculty and students are on campus for the
ceremony. Dan said he had obtained
the graduation schedule through 2018.
The Awards Committee recommends that if Staff Week is moved, to make
sure it is always two weeks ahead of graduation.
MISCELLANEOUS
Linda said
she had been asked by the IT Store to tell everyone that their new store is
located on the corner of Jenkins and Lindsey. OSC has scheduled a tour. The store invites everyone to stop by or would love any of
the groups to take a tour.
ADJOURNMENT
As there was
no further business, the meeting adjourned at 2:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara
Perry
Administrative Coordinator
Elaine Bradshaw
Recording Secretary