News from the Vice Chancellor
Spring 2015
Budget Q&A
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Budget Q&A.................. 1
Waste watchers............ 1
Welcome....................... 2
Role change.................. 2
Classified awards......... 3-6
Good news.................... 8
It’s hard to go a day without
hearing someone speculate
on the impact of the governor’s budget. But the truth is
that we just don’t know how
bad the cuts will be or how we
will deal with them.
Still, to provide transparency
and derail some of the rumors,
Vice Chancellor Lyons decided
to answer real questions from
real ASLS employees:
lots
“There’s
we can do ”
News from the Vice Chancellor
is published for ASLS division
employees.
Publisher: Phil Lyons
Vice Chancellor Administrative &
Student Life Services
lyons@uwstout.edu
(715) 232-1683
Photo: Brett Roseman
Bob Dodge and ASLS employees join the budget discussion
Q: Does the $300M cut begin July 1, 2015?
A: Yes, if the budget is passed on schedule, the cut
goes into effect July 1. The UW-System budget will be
reduced by $150M in FY15-16, and that $150M cut
will carry over into FY16-17. (See Budget, page 2.)
Waste watchers
The budget news may stink, but Stout’s waste management doesn’t. The data
shows that our trash is decreasing, while our compost and recycling are increasing.
From 2011 to 2014, our total waste went down by 361,000 pounds or about 25
percent. More specifically, our trash levels were cut in half, composting increased by
250 percent, and recycling increased by 500 percent.
“We’re very excited to see that
the waste reduction system we
implemented in 2012 is working so well,” said Sustainability
Coordinator Sarah Rykal.
Editor: Tom Dye
Communication Specialist
dyet@uwstout.edu
(715) 232-1681
“Thanks to the efforts of students, faculty, and staff, we’ve
been able to reduce our landfilled waste significantly.” (See
Waste, page 8.)
225 Administration Building
Menomonie, WI 54751
Fax: (715) 232-1527
Data show improvements in all facets of waste management
ASLS VICE CHANCELLOR’S OFFICE • 225 Administration, Menomonie, WI 54751 • 715-232-1683
Welcome
John Arnold the joined University Dining’s Commons dining team as a
service lead on January 16. John has over 15 years of experience in multiple restaurants from fine dining, Fanny Hill and Stella Blues, to corporate
operations, Red Lobster. John has a B.S. in communications from UW-Eau
Claire.
John
Kelly Etlicher joined University Dining’s North Point dining team as a service manager on February 25. Kelly has 10 years of experience in multiple
foodservice areas, including restaurants and institutions. She earned her
culinary management degree from Western Wisconsin Technical College in
La Crosse.
Jamie Klinkhammer joined Business and Financial Services as a shipping
mailing associate. Jamie lives in Colfax and enjoys working on anything
with a motor in it. Depending on the season, Jamie rides snowmobiles
and motorcycles. The recent warm weather has him itching to get his bike
on the road.
Role change
Kelly
On February 16, Jason Horzewski left his position as food production assistant in the MSC to become the service manager at the Commons. Jason
has a B.S. in Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management from UW-Stout
and is in his third year as a permanent employee of University Dining. As a
student, Jason worked for University Dining as a student manager. He also
has experience outside the university in multiple foodservice operations.
Budget (continued from page 1)
Jamie
Q: When will we know the actual extent of the cut?
A: Unfortunately, we won’t know until the budget passes. That may not happen until July 1—or later.
At this point, the governor’s budget is in the hands of the Joint Finance
Committee and the legislature. They are supposed to pass a budget in time
for it to be enacted on July 1. Of course, the legislature might not pass the
budget in time or, if they do, the governor might veto portions of it.
We can’t sit still, though. We have to prepare for the governor’s proposed
cuts, while hoping for the best.
Jason
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Q: What are the exact realities of the UW System fund balances? What is restricted and unrestricted? How much of the unrestricted fund balance was
used in the past two years since the great controversy? How much unrestricted funding is left?
NEWS FROM THE VICE CHANCELLOR
Budget (continued)
A: Let’s focus on the campus balance. At the end of FY14-15, we expect to
have a total balance just under $12M. Half of that balance, though, is
restricted—meaning we already have specific obligations for the money and
can consider it “already spent,” such as to pay off debts for capital projects.
That leaves a balance of roughly $6M.
It’s important to note that the budget cut is permanent, but the $6M balance is one-time money and is not replenished each year. If we spend our
entire balance in FY15-16, it would only postpone the inevitable. In
FY16-17, we would need to cut an additional $6M to balance the budget.
Q: What is our strategy to deal with the cuts?
A: When managing the cuts, the university will adhere to the principles the
Strategic Planning Group endorsed:
1. Protect the integrity and quality of instruction as defined by our accrediting bodies.
2. Make data-informed budget decisions.
3. To the degree possible, ensure that budget decisions complement FOCUS
2020 goals and maintain sufficient flexibility to respond to emergencies.
4. Make budget reductions that are strategic and not across the board.
5. Ensure the process is transparent and considers all possible options,
while seeking input from all campus constituencies.
As the chancellor communicated, the budget managers and unit directors
were asked to complete an exercise where they looked at the impact of 5,
10, and 15 percent reductions in their areas. Those exercises were kept
internal to units and are not being collected anywhere.
The SPG has established a subcommittee to sift through ideas that the
larger community submitted to the website. They will come out with a list of
recommendations for budget cutting within the next couple of weeks. Those
recommendations will be reviewed by the full SPG and deliberated on by
the Chancellor’s Cabinet. Then a combination of divisional approaches and
university-wide approaches will be enacted to reduce the budget.
Classified Employee
Appreciation Award
Tom Vorpahl, Physical Plant
electrician, was named
Classified Employee Appreciation Award Recipient for
November.
Tom, of Wheaton, is based
out of the General Services
Building but his duties are
campus wide.
The individuals nominating
Tom stated:
“Tom is always ready to
take on projects and works
to complete tasks rather
than calling outside contractors.
“Tom solves problems and
excels at all he does. He
has taught his co-workers
things about the equipment
and is patient when they
ask questions.”
“Tom is a huge asset in the
Physical Plant and to UWStout.”
Q: What is 102? Why is it taking the budget
hit? And how would the various budget issues impact PR units?
A: The 102 fund (also known as General Program Revenue or GPR) is state funding.
So, when the governor cuts the budget, he
cuts 102 funding, specifically.
Phil and the chancellor find something
to smile about during a forum
Because most units receive 102 funds,
the impact of a state budget cut is felt
across campus. In units funded primarily with 102 dollars, the hit is particularly
painful.
ADMINISTRATIVE AND STUDENT LIFE SERVICES
3
Budget (continued)
Of course, using funds from other areas to cover 102 shortfalls equates to
making cuts in those other funds, so serious analysis is required before we
make changes.
Q: Do you see 128 budgets being impacted?
Classified Employee
Appreciation Award
Laurie Komro, custodian,
was named Classified Employee Appreciation Award
Recipient for December
Laurie, of Cadott, works in
Jarvis Hall Science Wing.
The individuals nominating
Laurie stated:
“Laurie is an excellent employee and custodian. She
is very accommodating and
plans her scheduled duties
around classroom and office schedules to minimize
disruption.”
“She is full of energy and
has a very positive attitude. Any special requests
for supplies or assistance
are always her top priority;
she will help with anything
asked of her.”
A: Every budget will be impacted.
Q: What freedoms in a Public Authority Model would be welcomed?
A: Being a public authority allows us to have much more control over the regulation of our business.
After 4 years of tuition freezes, the freedom to set tuition rates will probably
prove the most helpful to Stout and the System. We want the ability to set
tuition rates.
Every 2 years, we don’t know what our support will be from the state. So,
there’s no ability to plan. When you can’t plan, you set aside large buckets
of money to deal with shortages. That’s what caused us the problem of having balances. They were set aside because of the continual cuts we’ve been
taking. Becoming a public authority will limit the impact of the state budget
on the UW-System.
Becoming a public authority will provide more flexibility for spending Program Revenue on capital building projects.
Becoming a public authority won’t impact segregated fees.
Q: How might becoming a public authority model impact
how the average employee
does their work at Stout?
A:. I don’t think the change will
impact our work in noticeable ways.
Q: What is potentially the
worst lay-off number after
looking at cuts to programmatic, operational, value-added, application of
Stout reserves, applications of System reserves, etc.?
4
A: Based on modelling (using an average salary of about $40,000), the worstcase scenario shows us losing 95 people. We hope to whittle that down
significantly, though. Hopefully, the legislature will pass a more Systemfriendly budget, and we will have a slight tuition revenue increase. If we’re
lucky, System might even apply some reserves to mitigate our cut this year.
We’ll see.
NEWS FROM THE VICE CHANCELLOR
Budget (continued)
Q: Will the university consider opportunities for efficient restructuring and for
more efficiently applying available resources to meet this budget crisis?
A: Yes, there’s lots we can do.
Q: How does the Huron Report play into this current budget situation? Is it possible some of the recommendations will be implemented?
A: I don’t think it plays into this budget situation, but it will be reviewed by the
budget-cut group. Some of the recommendations, like those involving IT
and space, have already been implemented.
Q: With a freeze on hiring and cuts within Physical Plant Custodial, will the
university look at the custodial organization structure?
A: Yes. As mentioned, we expect to shift some 102-funded custodial positions
to PR funding. If there are other opportunities to improve efficiency and
structure, we will consider those, as well.
Q: I read in the Eau Claire Leader that, for cuts, the custodians would have
larger areas to clean and less often to clean it. Does this mean some are
retiring, or are there going to be some layoffs in the custodial area?
A: What I said in the paper—about faculty teaching more students and custodians cleaning more square footage—was really a metaphor to say that
everyone will have more on their plate. I was using two different job types
to make that point. I didn’t have a plan. I could have substituted other
jobs. I could have said academic advisors will have more advisees, and
admissions recruiters will have more high schools to visit. Essentially, if we
reduce positions, we cover the work by spreading the work around.
Q: Will the university look at some of the state contracts for cost savings?
A: Absolutely. After July 1, 2016, we will no longer be required to use state
contracts. That’s one of the most positive flexibilities proposed in the budget.
Classified Employee
Appreciation Award
Jeff Grundeman, building
maintenance, was named
Classified Employee Appreciation Award Recipient for
January
Jeff, of Menomonie, is
based out of the General
Services Building but works
across campus.
The individuals nominating
Jeff stated:
“Jeff has exceptional work
ethics. He is a dedicated
worker who is willing to help
wherever needed.”
“Jeff is very knowledgeable.
He understands how important it is to have everything
up and running properly.”
“He works quickly and efficiently and goes above
and beyond his daily duties.
He pays attention to every
aspect of his job and takes
pride in his work.”
Plus, we’re also looking at adding
a couple of contracts that might
generate a little revenue.
Q: Could Stout consider funding an
early retirement program?
Forum photos courtesy Brett Roseeman
A: We’re trying to come up with
some small incentive that might
reward people who would like to
retire a little early. It will not be
offered widely. It might only be
ADMINISTRATIVE AND STUDENT LIFE SERVICES
5
Budget (continued)
offered to a specific category of folks (i.e. a subset of people who are 55
years or older and have 30 years or more in the system). It will likely be
paid with some Foundation funds and, therefore, we do not have the resources to offer anything across the board. That is part of the difficulty.
Classified Employee
Appreciation Award
John Walter received the
Classified Employee Appreciation Award for February.
He works as a custodial
lead.
His nomination stated:
“John has been an integral
member of the Harvey Hall
project and has helped in
relocating multiple staff
and departments from
Harvey Hall to JTC and other
areas on campus.”
“John would always be
considerate of the departments’ needs and make
every effort to accommodate as many requests as
he could.”
“John has a desire to always finish what is given to
him.”
Before we roll this out, though, we need to determine how many people are
in that group (maybe around 85), how much it would cost, and whether we
can afford it. Our challenge is that Stout doesn’t have a lot of money to do
this.
Q: Is it true that faculty and academic staff are still eligible for merit pay but
that classified staff are not?
A: Yes, that’s true at the state level, but it’s not the case at UW-Stout. The
state stopped merit awards for some, but Stout suspended merit pay for all.
Q: Is the sick leave conversion (match) likely to continue?
A: Yes. All indications are that it will continue.
On February 26, UW-System Senior Associate Vice President Al Crist wrote,
“Employees of the UW System will have the same employee benefits available under the Governor’s proposed budget as they do now.”
Q: Could a monetary incentive be offered to give up insurance coverage when
coverage is available through a spouse?
A: Yes. The governor’s proposed budget provides a $2,000 annual incentive
for employees who opt out of the state health insurance program.
Q: Could the campus impose mandatory closings during holiday breaks, break
periods when school/classes are not in session, and inclement weather to
save utility dollars?
A: Let’s talk about utilities. Right now, they’re pooled centrally within UW
System. So, the campus has never seen any savings by spending less on
utilities. That’s too bad; we should work on that. But, as things stand, mandatory closings won’t save Stout on utility costs.
Still, some institutions are
looking at furloughs. I’m not
a big fan of furloughs because they negatively impact
our quality indicators, but it’s
possible that the SPG could
recommend furloughs.
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NEWS FROM THE VICE CHANCELLOR
Q: With the possibility of state
employees becoming public
or municipal employees, will
the sick leave multiplier go
away for retirees?
Budget (continued)
Signs of Spring
A: No. As Al Crist wrote on February 26, “There is no language in the biennial
budget bill currently before the Legislature that would change benefits currently available to UW System employees.”
Q: Could we save money if we stopped planting annuals?
A: We will save money by drastically reducing the amount of annuals planted.
Q: If students who live on campus cause lots of the issues requiring responses from University Police, shouldn’t Housing help pay for University Police?
A: Housing does support University Police financially.
- Snow melt and ground thaw Kathy Branch & Jenni Pechmiller
remove the rose cones from the
library garden
Q: Why don’t we look into outsource Dining?
A: With the renovations at Price Commons, the MSC, and North Campus, we
took on a large debt, which University Dining is currently paying off with
dining revenue. If we outsource dining, the dining contractor would have
to pay off that debt. Picking up that cost makes it much less attractive for
vendors to get into our market.
Dining also provides a substantial annual payment to the University to help
support operations. Any external vendor would need to exceed the annual
payment and cover dining’s debt service payments. That would likely not
be a very attractive proposition.
- Laughter Mackenzie Hunter (right) joins in
for some Laughter Yoga during
Wellness Hour
Plus, University Dining is self-supporting. Their costs are covered by revenues generated through the sales of their products and services.
Q: Is it cost effective to have Fleet vehicles?
A: It is cost neutral. It doesn’t cost us anything to maintain Fleet. The amount
departments pay for using the vehicles covers the cost of providing this
service. If we eliminated Fleet, the revenue currently supporting it would
flow out of the university to rental agencies and drivers.
- Playing ball(oons) Laughter Yoga marked the season
opener for balloon ball
Q: What is Phil’s
all-time favorite
SNL skit?
A: Will Farrell and
Christopher
Walken’s “More
Cowbell” sketch.
7
ADMINISTRATIVE AND STUDENT LIFE SERVICES
Good news
T he Qube celebrated its second year Wednesday, March 11, hosting tours
and holding a brief program.
T he second annual
New Name
for
Skylight Market
The “campus has voted...”
The results are in...
We now have a new name
for the old Skylight Market.
From now on, the Blue Devil
Market will be your onestop shop for grab-and-go
and fast food on the lower
lever of the Memorial Student Center.
Qubie Gayla will be held
Thursday, March 26.
The event recognizes
individuals who have
contributed to LGBTQIA+
inclusivity at UW-Stout
and features dining and
dancing. Tickets can be
purchased at the Memorial Student Center Service Center and online.
T he annual campus Wellness Fair takes place April 1 at the Sports and Fit-
ness Center. Employees (and others) may participate in the annual biometric
screening and complete a health risk survey to qualify for a $150 incentive.
A decisive 54 percent of the
1,084 votes cast made Blue
Devil Market the clear winner of the campus vote.
University Dining thanks the
Stout community for participating in the renaming.
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NEWS FROM THE VICE CHANCELLOR
Scenes from last year’s Wellness Fair Enterprises, including
LGBTQ Program Coordinator Julie Miller (lower left)
Good news
I n October, customers at dining operations across campus—including cafete-
rias, mini marts, and express locations—completed over 1,500 surveys, which
were sent to Industry Insights for compilation and benchmarking against 104
other college foodservice operations from across the nation. The results (see
table below) show that University Dining continues to outperform the industry
standard in almost all areas.
Dining Survey Results
Leadership Awards
The nomination deadline for
2015 Leadership Awards is
Friday, March 13.
Faculty and staff may nominate individuals online for
the following awards.
• Volunteer of the Year
• Advocate of the Year
• Student Employee of
the Year
• Student Staff Team of
the Year
1=Very Dissatisfied
5=Most Satisfied
• Adviser of the Year
• Org Event of the Year
• Student Org of the Year
• Student Leader of the
Year
All nominees will be honored at the Leadership
Awards reception Wednesday, May 6.
Photos courtesy
University Dining
And the survey says: University Dining Rocks!
ADMINISTRATIVE AND STUDENT LIFE SERVICES
9
ADMINISTRATIVE AND STUDENT LIFE SERVICES
People working together for service excellence and innovation.
Waste (continued from page 1)
Snapshots
Sarah Rykal stands beside the
user-friendly MSC waste bins
Got plastic?
Recycle it!
Jeremy Janiak, a Custodial Services supervisor who holds a degree in sustainable management, agrees that
Stout’s success is based on engaging
the entire community: “It is a team
effort that starts with the user and
ends at the landfill.”
“We need to stay on top of educating
users and those that are directly involved with the system,” Jeremy said.
“I hope we continue to see improvements as the recycling program gains
more ground with each passing year.”
SLS Custodial Lead Pat Reed has
seen those improvements over the
years he has been involved with the
waste-reduction program. “To maintain and continue to improve on the
success,” Pat said, “it’s important to
keep building on the education and
make that a strong focal point every
year during the orientation process of
the incoming classes.”
Sustainability Office
Education and user-friendlly waste bins take
the stress and guesswork out of recycling
“From my experience,” Pat added,
“if the recycling and composting are
done properly inside the residence halls, everything else seems to fall in place for
my crew of student workers.”
Of course, things haven’t just fallen into place for student workers, they’ve fallen
into place for the entire campus—making Stout a waste-management role model.
“Many other UW campuses, as well as universities and K-12 schools from Connecticut to Florida to California have asked for information about our system,”
Sarah said. “It’s been really wonderful to see.”
Students pull together during
RecycleMania
Clearly, the hard work of custodial staff, dining staff, students, and others has
resulted in an extraordinary achievement that has positive repercussions that
extend well beyond campus.
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ASLS VICE CHANCELLOR’S OFFICE •
225 Administration Building
• (715) 232-1681