THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA
STAFF SENATE
(NORMAN CAMPUS)
Wednesday September 19,
2012
Chair Chris Cook called the meeting to order at 1:32 p.m. in the Scholars
Room of the Oklahoma Memorial Union.
Officers present – Chris Cook, Chair; Amanda Pai, Chair-Elect; Cathy Trujillo, Recording Secretary
Officers
absent – Fran Stephens, Immediate Past Chair
Staff
present – Melissa Lane, Administrative Coordinator
Representatives present – Hourly Employees Council: Carolyn Taylor, Cecilia
McEwen, Linda Smith, Laura Shoopman, Carmen Eppler, Sena Golden, David Kizer; Informational
Staff Association: Gordan Carrie, Shawn Gralla, Connie
Smith, Priscilla Crawford, Bruce Alcock, Elaine Bradshaw; Organizational Staff
Council: Nancy Matthews, Jackie Downing, Betty Love, Justin Daniels, Chris
McNabb; Administrative Staff Council: Robbie Wahnee
Representatives absent — Hourly Employees Council: David Houck, Cindy
Simpson, Jack Shoopman, John Bishop, Kim Haddad; Organizational Staff Council: Reta Tarver; Administrative
Staff Council: Jennifer Doughty
Guests present — Doug Myers, Lezlie Marsh, Dan Hough, Kye LeBoeuf, Debbie Copp, and Cathy Yeaman
SPEAKER
Ghislain
D’Humieres, Director of Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art: Upcoming events at the
Museum
ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES OF July 18, 2012
On motion by Carolyn Taylor,
the minutes of the July 18, 2012, Staff Senate meeting were accepted.
CHAIR’S COMMUNICATIONS
Chris met with Nick Hathaway, Vice President for Executive and
Administrative Affairs they discussed their observations of the new tobacco
policy. Implementation seems to have gone smoothly. They have both
observed isolated violations of the policy, but expect these isolated events to
decrease over time.
Nick expects a quiet year on the policy front. He doesn't anticipate any
major changes to existing policies or new policies that will relate to staff.
On the budget, Nick is cautiously optimistic that the state will provide
additional funding this year. He does not anticipate any cuts to departmental
budgets. He also mentioned that he would like to have a salary program, but
thinks that it will be really tough to do so at this point.
Chris attended the first meeting of the Faculty Senate. President Boren
normally addresses faculty at this meeting giving the State of the University,
but was not able to attend the meeting. He will probably make up this address
at a future Faculty Senate meeting.
President Boren is scheduled to address staff at our next Staff Senate
meeting in October.
REPORTS FROM MEMBER GROUPS
Administrative
Staff Council: President Jennifer Doughty reported by email that
they reviewed officers and voting procedures, goals for the year, ideas to
generate more participation, and shared new ventures and activities in their
represented departments.
Hourly
Employees Council: President Carolyn Taylor reported that they had
brief introductions of each member, discussed the Holiday Projects that have
been done in previous years. Everyone was
asked to bring ideas for consideration of the 2012 holiday project to the October
meeting. They also discussed the 5 subcommittees that are part of the HEC and
will pass around a signup sheet at the next meeting.
Informational
Staff Association: President Gordan
Carrie reported that Coach Merv Johnson gave an
interesting presentation. Then the group discussed plans for the year.
Organizational
Staff Council: Representative
Betty Love reported that after introductions Jackie Downing gave an update on
the BINGO planning for Staff Week. Santee Lounge will be under construction so
the morning session of BINGO will be moving this year. One possibility is McCasland Fieldhouse, but they are still waiting on the Spring volleyball schedule before they can confirm.
Justin Daniels, the new Website Coordinator, is working on transitioning the
OSC website to the new CMS client so it will be easier to maintain. They will
also be sending out a survey to all OSC members this month to get input on how
to increase meeting attendance. Mary Stephens announced she had accepted
another job at OUHSC so they elected Reta Tarver as
SS Rep and Cindy Clark as OSC Rep to fill the positions that Mary had previously
held. After the meeting they participated in a tour of the Catlett Music
Center.
REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES
Awards
Committee: By email Chair Liz Cooley reported that they began
planning the 50th Awards Ceremony, introduced committee and special
guest, Heather and Beth from Printing Services, appointed a secretary and sub-committee
chairs. The Awards Ceremony has been set
with the President’s office for April 23, 2013.
They also discussed logo, decorations, entertainment, and the food
menu.
Communications
Committee: By email Chair Gina Powell reported that they discussed
the newsletter released in August regarding the letter from Staff Senate Chair,
Chris Cook. The next Newsletter is to highlight the Staff Senate Member
Groups. They will request bios from the member group Presidents.
Staff
Initiatives Committee: Chair Dan Hough reported that they discussed
3 issues: 1. It was suggested that HR set up staff
training on Robert's Rules of Order.
Eric Souri agreed to look into that. 2. A
recommendation to modify the paid leave accrual plan to take into account
previous University service as well as current continuous service in the
calculation of accrual rates. Eric is
checking if there is a limit on how long an employee can leave and come back
without losing previous service counting and the group will survey peer
institutions to see what policies are in place at those institutions. 3. The group would like to look at incentives
for carpooling. They will invite someone
from Parking and Transit to the next meeting to see if there are options to look
at.
Staff
Week Committee: By email Chair Terri Smith reported that they
discussed normal business, fall fundraising ideas and members signed up for
subcommittees. At their next meeting they will discuss in more detail the
fall fundraiser.
REPORTS OF SPECIAL (AD HOC) COMMITTEES
Employee
Benefits Committee: Debbie Copp reported I.
Renewals for Health Insurance: Rates
will increase slightly for 2013 for health insurance on the Norman and OKC
campuses. Dental will also go up slightly with both the basic and the alternate
going up. All other options will remain at the price they were for last year.
Major issue with the HMO for Tulsa-based employees and negotiations continue on
that front (ultimately, the negotiations were not able to reduce the rate
enough so the Community Care HMO option will be dropped in Tulsa). EBC voted
unanimously to approve the proposal and send it on. It is on the September
Board of Regents’ agenda for approval. Enrollment will follow the same schedule
as we have had in the past – late October to early November with effective date
of Jan. 1, 2013. II. Tobacco Free Norman Campus: It went into effect on July 1. There
seems to be a fairly good compliance and progress is being made across campus.
New signage has been posted across campus. This will continue to be a work in
progress. III. Miscellaneous notes: An independent audit will happen in January
2013, added a flat-rate $50,000 life insurance option because of income tax
issues (part of what is being acted on by Regents at September meeting.); should
be receiving full fee disclosure on our defined contribution plans during the
first quarter of 2013 – have always had fees but this is first time we will
receive full disclosure of what they are, with Health Care Reform Act of 2013,
there will be some changes. One of the major ones is that as of 1-1-13, birth
services will be provided at no cost sharing, however providing that option in
our health insurance added some increase to our health insurance (about half a
percent).
OTHER REPORTS
The
following reports were linked to the September agenda:
Staff Senate Foundation account report
Minutes of Employment Benefits Committee meeting
for April and May 2012
OLD BUSINESS
NEW BUSINESS
Change to the Rules of Order: The Executive Committee was presented with a
change to the Rules of Order and would like the Senate to vote to Amend Article
IV, Sections 1 and 2a to read "Staff Initiatives" instead of
"Personnel Policies" effective Sept. 19, 2012. Hereby,
officially changing the Personnel Polices Committee to Staff
Initiatives Committee. Nancy Matthews moved to accept the change to the Rules
of Order. Her motion was seconded and
passed on a voice vote.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Chris Cook announced that the Staff Senate Executive
Committee considered the realignment of the member groups and, after
discussion, decided to leave them as is.
ADJOURNMENT
As there was no further business, the meeting
adjourned at 2:05 p.m.
NEXT REGULAR MEETING: October 17, 2012
Respectfully submitted,
Melissa Lane
Administrative Coordinator
Cathy Trujillo
Recording Secretary