Staff Senate Meeting
UC Cardinal Room
June 11th, 2009
Members Present: Wiley Danner; Colby Deitz; Lisa Frady; Brenda Holcombe; Jeff Hughes;
Akum Jamir; Tom Johnson; Deborah Lovern; Joe McFalls; Donna Welch;
Members Absent: Anne Aldrich; Roseanna Belt; Virginia Fowler; Larry Hammer; Kim
Jamison; Carrie Shuler; Lauren Bishop (excused); Teresa Killian (excused); Dianne Lynch
(excused); Jed Tate (excused); Debbie West (excused)
Visiting FY10 members: Jeff Tatham; Susan Skibbe; Eric Margiotta; Lance Alexis
Ex-Officio Members Present: Kathy Wong
Donna welcomed everyone to today’s meeting.
The agenda for today’s meeting was approved as submitted.
Minutes of the May meeting were approved as submitted though Kathy made mention that while
the minutes reflected the discussion accurately, the discussion about Furloughs and what they
applied to was later clarified by OSBM and was different than last months minutes. If you
would like details about how the furlough will be applied, contact Kathy Wong in Human
Resources.
The next meeting of the Executive Committee is scheduled for August 6, 2009 from 2:00 – 3:00
The next Staff Forum meeting is scheduled August13th from 8:30 – 10:30
Office of Human Resources Report: Kathy reported on the following:
Budget
– House is on floor today. It is the last of three versions. From here, it will go to
conference committee to be hashed out and from that committee, a final version
will go to the governor to be signed.
-WCU is working on a 15% scenario already and have implemented the 8%
scenario (effective July 1) proactively. OSBM’s memo anticipates July 1
restrictions will be lifted. However, we must do business according to the highest
cut of the 3 proposed versions of the spending bills. The only highering
exemption requested thus far is the CIO’s position.
- Retirement statements in the mail 6/10. Orbit is online site to see retirement
details. Very user friendly.
State health plan
- All legislation has passed with higher rates, higher deductibles, higher copays,
etc. 90/10 plan is gone.
- Healthy Lifestyle plan passed. Phasing in smoking July 1, 2010. Weight
phases in July 1, 2011. Not sure how this will be monitored at this time, maybe
self reporting, maybe spot checking. All details must be out by Oct 1.
Flex Furloughs
- hours for the majority of leave earning employees will be taken July 2 -6th.
Registration will be moved from Monday to Tuesday.
- We are expecting more furloughs this next fiscal year, but have not heard of any
more yet.
Budget Reduction
- The cuts that WCU has made will be posted to our website.
Chancellor’s Office Report: Dianne was out of town for this meeting.
Staff Assembly Report: Tom Johnson reported on the following:
- OSBM lifted the freeze as of July 1. However, functionally there is no change
as there is no increase in budget.
- GA is studying a proposed bill to eliminate SPA severance pay -- Looking for
details. Also looking into rumor about elimination of tuition waivers.
- There is wording in a bill to allow for voluntary furloughs for up to 30 days.
- Discussion about how all employees can do their part to save the state money
such as turning off computers, lights, etc when not in use
Akum mentioned that turning off all computers each night could save the
university around $60,000.
Staff Forum Committee Reports:
Human Resources – No Report
Public Relations – No Report
Scholarship – Lisa reported on the state of the scholarship funds. She pointed out that we can
make payroll deductions to the “Obligated Fund” which will go directly towards
paying out a scholarship, rather than to a fund that would gain interest. This will
allow us to make 1 scholarship offer this year. We have one member who has
moved her payroll deduction in this manner, but even with that, our fund will not
reach a size to offer 1 scholarship until Oct. It was mentioned that Leila Tvetd’s
brother’s memorial fund was supposed to be directed towards awarding a
scholarship this year, but has been caught up in ‘red tape’ and may not be
available to us for some time. She encouraged us all to consider making a
contribution in this manner.
Lisa talked about the student who will receive this year’s scholarship
award – Adam Ray. She presented his name for approval and received
unanimous approval.
Governance – Elections are complete. New Staff Senate roster was passed out. New members
were advised to prepare to elect new governing body next month.
Emergency Assistance Fund – Brenda reported:
- May 25th Exec Council, supportive of this fund.
- Interest was expressed by members wanting to donate. Also thought various
Boards might be interested.
- Because wording includes all employees (faculty, staff, etc) the committee needs
to include all types – should be open to faculty also. Consider showing to Faculty
Senate or sending over to UAC. Concern was voiced about it falling apart or
being forgotten in the UAC as that body has not been consistently staffed.
Old Business:
New Business:
Open Comments:
Talked about combining committees. Thought was to combine
scholarship committee with Emergency Assistance Fund. However, if the
Emergency Assistance Fund is going to be joint with the Faculty Senate,
cannot combine.
Meeting adjourned at 9:25.
Respectfully submitted by:
Deborah Lovern
Secretary