THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA
STAFF SENATE
(NORMAN CAMPUS)
Wednesday October 17,
2012
There was a modest crowd that gathered in Beaird
Lounge of the Oklahoma Memorial Union to listen to President David L. Boren
speak. President Boren spoke about the
University’s current and past budget situation, plans for the future, and his
appreciation for all of the staff on campus, and then answered a few questions
from staff.
The rest of the reports were provided via email.
CHAIR’S COMMUNICATIONS
Chris met with Nick Hathaway, Vice President for Executive and
Administrative Affairs on Tuesday, October 9, 2012, where they discussed the
logistics of the October 17, 2012 meeting with President Boren.
Human Resources provided the following enrollment update: Annual Benefits Enrollment will be held
October 29 through November 9. Benefits
Fairs are scheduled on the three campuses: Norman, October 22 from 9 a.m. to 3
p.m. in Zarrow Hall Community Room
REPORTS FROM MEMBER GROUPS
Administrative
Staff Council: President Jennifer Doughty reported that they
did not meet.
Hourly
Employees Council: President Carolyn Taylor reported that a
short byte of information was submitted to the Staff Communications Committee
to be used in their next newsletter. Also, the new HEC membership information
will be sent to Dan Hough to update the Website. A sign-up sheet was passed around for the
committees for the Staff Week Ice Cream Social, HEC Elections and Staff Merit
Awards. The remainder of the time was
spent sharing ideas about their annual Holiday Project.
Informational
Staff Association: President Gordan
Carrie reported that they discussed ways to boost participation. Chris Cook
told them about what goes on at Regents' meetings. There was not a quorum.
Organizational
Staff Council: President
Amanda Pai reported they decided to look into doing a raffle fundraiser to
support local charities this holiday season. They also decided to continue with
the tradition of soliciting donations for OU families. 66 responses were received to the survey that
was distributed to all of OSC. They will consider these responses when planning
future meetings. There were a lot of great ideas, one
suggestion was to allow employees to donate blood without having to use their
paid leave. They decided to do some research and report back on what they found
at the next meeting. Then they discussed their budget proposal for the 2013
Bingo session. It was decided to request the same amount as last year, but
instead of asking for funds to buy OneCards they will
buy more prizes for the afternoon session.
REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES
Awards
Committee: Chair Liz Cooley reported that they discussed
food menus and options, Clarke Stroud, Provost Office, Faculty Senate, UOSA and
Interpreter were contacted to let them know the date of the ceremony and discussed
decorations, gift and entertainment. The budget was reviewed and will be
finalized soon.
Communications
Committee: Member Tamarra Grayson reported that they reviewed
and edited member group descriptions. Three of the four edits were
completed.
Staff
Initiatives Committee: Chair Dan Hough reported that they discussed
two items: 1. Roberts Rules of Order Training – HR does not currently have
anyone on staff who can teach the class.
They are looking for someone who would do so at an affordable rate. They would like to schedule at least two
sessions of about 25 persons. Committee
members agreed to see if they can find someone interested in teaching the
class. 2. Leave accrual rates for interrupted service –
Committee members reported results of a survey of 12 peer institutions. No institutions were found to allow counting
previous service with a break of more than three years; most were much
less. The OU policy is 90 days. The committee recognizes the incentive to
award continuous employment by the current system and does not recommend
changing the policy at this time.
Staff
Week Committee: Chair Terri Smith reported that they discussed
the fall fundraiser and the amount of money they have been making from the sale
of shirts/jackets etc. in previous years versus other means of
fundraising. They voted to raise funds
by working concession stands during basketball games. The timeline for the theme contest was set
and they are currently accepting themes through the website. They will choose the winning theme at the
November meeting, and then begin the logo contest.
REPORTS OF SPECIAL (AD HOC) COMMITTEES
Employee
Benefits Committee: Debbie Copp reported I.
Wellness Program Update – The
results have been positive and the thought is that some of the results from
these efforts helped keep our 2013 health care increases lower than national
average. Program will be going through some changes over the next few months
with the expectation that it will make things more user-friendly. II. OU
Contribution Strategy – Faculty
Senate had asked for an update on the contribution strategy for health
insurance and we got the same presentation. OU spends a similar percentage on
health care costs as other organizations but the way it is spent is very
different. OU’s contribution strategy is employee centered with a significantly
higher percentage going toward employee costs. OU pays around 94% for employee
while employee pays around 6% and around 58% for dependents while employee pays
around 42%. The overall average is about 75% and that is very close for most
places for overall costs. The difference is that most organizations pay around
75% for employees and 60-65% for dependents. There is NO discussion at this
time to change this because of the issues with salary increases and the lack of
a pay plan. This information was provided as an update only. III. Fee disclosure reminder – Asked all of us to spread the word
that, with our September quarterly statements from Fidelity, we will begin to
see a fee for our investments and that in January we will see a more detailed
fee breakdown. The important part of this for people to understand is that we
have always had fees – we just haven’t been given that information before. If
you are concerned about this or have people you work with who are concerned,
please contact the HR department so that the folks can explain what the fees
are. IV. Voluntary Retirement
Incentive Plan – Passed by the OU
Regents at the September meeting, this is merely a mechanism that allows
department administrators to present a plan to offer voluntary retirement in
their departments to address very rare and strictly defined circumstances. The
plan would have to be approved by the OU President before it could be offered
in a department-by-department way (no campus-wide blanket program) and it must
be an economically viable option. If a plan is submitted and approved, it would
have to be offered to any retirement-eligible employee in the department and
then the department administrator would approve or deny the requests. The
anticipation is that this will be used very rarely and that the Regents’ action
merely set up a process for future needs. V. Benefit Fair/Enrollment – For the Norman campus, the Benefit
Fair will be Monday, Oct. 22, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Community Room at Zarrow Hall (corner of Brooks and Elm). Enrollment for 2013 will be
held Oct. 29 through Nov. 9. Rates for 2013 can be found at:
http://hr.ou.edu/Documents/Files/2013RateSheet.pdf
OTHER REPORTS
The
following reports were linked to the October agenda:
Staff Senate Foundation account report
Minutes of Employment Benefits Committee meeting
for May 2012
NEXT REGULAR MEETING: November 21, 2012
Respectfully submitted,
Melissa Lane
Administrative Coordinator
Cathy Trujillo
Recording Secretary