The University of Oklahoma

Hourly Employees Council

MINUTES

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Craddock Hall, Room 200

Officers:

Linda Smith President

David Kizer President Designate

Cecilia McEwen Secretary/Treasurer

David Houck Past President

Members:

Group I Carolyn Irons Group IV Judy Walker

Brian Shults Melanie Wilburn

Karen Stark Gail Crawford

Group II Connie Hall Group V Tim Winkelman

Cindy Simpson Brandie Wright

Amy Shoopman Etta Walden

Group III Mary Peters Group VI Crystal Noah

Ruthann Shaffer Ed Fontaine

Mary Thomas Neil Shock

Meeting was called to order by President Linda Smith.

Motion to approve and accept the Minutes from September 15, 2009 meeting was made and seconded. The Minutes were approved without objection.

Presidents Communications: Linda Smith commented on health insurance and retirement report – final draft has not been submitted for President Boren’s signature as yet, it is still in draft form. She suggested it would be at end of year and we should use website to keep up with progress of report.

President Designate Communications: David Kizer reported that the staff meeting was too long. We had several speakers, Nick Key (IT) spoke of OZONE, and Cynthia Timmons of NCLC spoke of services her program offers departments at OU, Director of Fred Jones Museum of Art, Ghislain D’Humieres, he spoke of bringing faculty & staff as well as community to the museum and making them aware of the many free family nights they offer at the museum. He stated admission is free. Julius Hilburn of Human Resources spoke of Retiree issues, health insurance and escalating costs, said we can expect to pay more in the future and get less for our money. The University is presently seeking all information possible to get us lower costs. He stated November 13-22 will be the enrollment for Benefit packets and there will be a PPO 10% increase. Nothing will be decided on health care decisions until federal government health care bill is complete.

Linda Smith stated the Hardship W/D stays the same. (Paid leave & extended sick leave to care for family member). $1.5 million - $50 M to fund program for leave – is only to be used for terminally ill. She said things were not going to change for the next 3 years. It was suggested a committee should be formed to discuss and get input – this needs a lot of research. It was suggested that we look at wording and email any thoughts we might have regarding this policy. David Kizer said we should decide as a group on this policy – discuss the basic principle of the policy. We should look it over, break it down and see what we think and report back to staff senate.

New Business:

David Kizer said an Ad-Hoc committee had been formed regarding the Constitutional Format.

David asked for a sub-committee to work on the By-laws. Motion to approve was passed & seconded.

President Linda Smith spoke on University budget problems. She stated we all need to work on saving money in our departments where ever possible. Try to come up with ideas on saving money for our departments and share the ideas with HEC and we can pass them on to our various departments. She asked us all to give this serious thought. President Smith also mentioned that the University is looking at defined contributions and there may be a change in vested time. She also thanked the group and asked us to go back to our departments and discuss items with our units. Linda stated next meeting would be November 11^th.

Committee Reports:

Staff Week: Ice Cream Social Budget committee stated they were working on it.

Employee Benefits: No report

Credit Union Report: $85.12

Old Business: No report

Unforeseen Matters: David Kizer stated he was unhappy with the Retiree Medical Plan and the ESL plan.

Motion was made to adjourn and seconded, meeting was adjourned.