CIVIL SERVICE EMPLOYEES COUNCIL
August 7, 2008
Mary Lou Kent Room
Library
Minutes
I.
Roll Call
Present: Suzanne Boussaard, Jim Buffalo, Hilary Churchill, Carla Farniok, Richard Hamilton, Ed Lavin,
Greg Phelps, Dan Rathjen, Lois Retherford, Kim Sedgwick, Jamie Shuda, Martha Youngmeyer, Jackie
Thompson, Stuart Clauson
Excused: Laura Caldwell, Amber Dodds, Cerese Wright, Pam Bowman, Sheila Kirby
II.
Guest – No Guest
III. Minutes (Carla Farniok)
Jamie made a motion to accept the minutes and Richard seconded. The motion carries.
IV. Treasurer’s Report (Jamie Shuda)
There is currently $2,250.19 in the general account and $12,038.71 in the scholarship fund.
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Scholarships will be paid after 10 day so they will come out of the account in early September. An
extra $10.00 was donated to the Red Cross from the council. Greg made a motion to accept the
treasurer’s report and Martha seconded. The motion carries.
V.
President’s Report (Ed Lavin)
Ed nominated Bill Rupert to fill the last vacant position on the council. Martha made motion to accept
and Suzanne seconded. The motion passed.
The budget passed and raises went through.
A letter from Cathy Couza was received. It states that a University Diversity Council will be created.
This council will replace two groups that currently exist which are the Affirmative Action and Equity
Council and the Anti-Harassment Education and Awareness Committee.
VI. Civil Service Employee of the Month (Laura Caldwell)
Christine Juneman from the Physical Plant is employee of the month for August. Her presentation was
held at the Physical Plant on August 7, 2008. Please remember to keep nominating!
VII. Vice President for Administrative Services Report (Jackie Thompson)
Salary increases were approved and were able to make it on the first pay check. Thank you to
everyone that worked on this. It took a lot of hard work and time to get this done.
VIII. Director of Human Resources (Stuart Clauson)
AFSCME is going through negotiations for the state level contract for insurance.
IX.
Employee Advisory Committee Representative (Sheila Kirby) – No Report
X.
WIU Quad Cities Campus Report (Lois Retherford)
Currently we have a civil service position opening for an Admissions/Records Representative LearnerTrainee. Due to some dept. changes we have had some duties/position realignments.
The huge storm on Monday, July 21 closed the QC campus for 4 days due to power outage. There was
lots of tree damage around the campus. A company has been hired and working on to clean up the
worst of the mess along 60th Street and trees in the parking area. That week was the last week of the
summer session so classes were held at the Quad Cities Graduate Center at Augustana. We reopened
for business on Friday, July 25 since power was restored late the day before.
Building improvements continue with the common areas being repainted and office changes being
made to accommodate all the new faculty that will be coming in this fall. This should be the largest
influx of faculty since this building opened in 1997. Repair to the front steps has yet to be done and
there will be more removal of downed and damaged trees later.
I shared the link for the new and improved civil service web page with all the civil service employees up
here at the QC and encouraged them to check it out, read the minutes, etc. I love the new look and
ease of finding things there. Many thanks to whoever is responsible.
XI. Representative Reports to Council
1. Affirmative Action Internship (Amber Dodds) – No Report
2. Affirmative Action & Equity Council (Martha Youngmeyer) - Dissolved
3. Women’s Center (Martha Youngmeyer) – No Report
4. Web Page (Jim Buffalo) – There was a request to have employee of the month pictures posted on
the website. There might be an issue with this because of privacy. Darcy submits the employee of
the month article and then it goes on the webpage. There will be a list of new employees, retirees,
and promotions/transfers on the webpage. Jim would like there to be a different picture on the
home page every time somebody goes to it so it changes and looks different. The classifications
need to be updated for the different voting groups. Jim would like someone to make up a flyer to
ask for volunteers for committees so it can go on the website. There was a request to have a link
to the State University Civil Service System added to the council web page. Email Jim or Scott
Lawson if there is anything you would like added to the website.
XII. Committee Reports
1. Appeals (Greg Phelps) – No Report
2. Award Fund (Amber Dodds) - No Report
3. Award Selection (Dan Rathjen) – No Report
4. Constitution / Election (Jim Buffalo) – No Report
5. Education (Hilary Churchill) – No Report
6. Mentoring (Kim Sedgwick) - Pittman, Carmen, Office Support Specialist, Nursing; Teresa
Koltzenburg, Public Information Specialist, University Relations; Erin Obrien, Physicians Assistant,
Beu Health Center
7. Salary (Suzanne Boussaard) – Pay For Exceptional Performance has a response back. There
will be a meeting with the Salary Committee, Dr. Goldfarb, Andrea Henderson, Jackie Thompson,
and Pam Bowman on August 17.
8. Social Events & Development (Jamie Shuda) – The fall luncheon will be on December 12 this
year. The menu will be grilled cheese on texas toast, tomato soup or chili, chips, assorted pies,
and coffee, tea, water, or lemonade.
9. Committee on Committees (Greg Phelps) – No Report
XIII. New Business:
1. Search and Security Representative – This committee needs a representative from Civil Service
to be on it. Bill Rupert volunteered to do this.
2. Homecoming Parade – There was discussion about whether the council wanted to walk in the
homecoming parade on October 18. The council will discuss this at the next meeting.
3. New Shirts for CSEC – The council and Jackie Thompson are looking into getting new shirts for
the council members and for new employees. Greg made a motion to get the council members
purple polo shirts first and then look into getting new shirts for the new employees that come to
Western. Jim seconded and the motion carried. Suzanne is checking on the prices from different
locations. Thank you Jackie for assisting the council with this.
4. See how the Mentoring Committee is working – The Mentoring Committee needs to set up a
meeting to touch base and see how it has been working. It may need some changes. There are
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some new employees that were never notified by anyone on the committee and never received a
gift. Kim is going to look into this. This committee was set up to give new employees a contact
person at the University.
Golf Outing for Quad Cities – The council is looking into doing a golf outing in the Quad Cities
next year. The council will discuss this at a later date.
Birthday Greeting – This is an email that would go out to Civil Service employees on their
birthday. The council will talk about this at the next meeting.
College of Education and Human Services Search Committee – This search committee needs
a representative and needs to be from this college. An email will go out to the civil service
employees in COEHS to see if anyone would be interested in being on the committee. Rich will get
a hold of Sue to get the email going and all responses will go to Rich.
XIV. Old Business
1. Blood Drive – The blood drive will be held on August 26 and August 27 from 10:00-4:00 each day.
An email will go out asking Civil Service employees to volunteer to work 1 hour as a greeter or to
assist with the snack table and make sure that the donors are getting everything they need after
donating. Ed will make sure the email goes out and Hilary is taking care of the sign up sheet for
workers. Jamie is taking the appointments that call in and you can pick up signs from Ed. Sign up
can be done on the website to donate blood.
2. Pay For Performance – See Salary
3. Golf Tournament – The council made $934.00 from the golf outing.
4. Paw Pails – There was an exceptional turn out to put together the paw pails that were donated to
the flood victims for clean up after the flood. There was $1,760.00 donated with a donation coming
clear from Florida. There were a total of 45 Paw Pails put together and an additional $274.49
donated to the Red Cross. The Paw Pails were handed out in Hancock and Adams Counties.
Thank you for helping make this a great success!
XV.
Group Concerns:
XVI. Announcements: Next meeting: September 4, 2008 in the Mary Lou Kent Room in the Library. Hilary
made a motion to end the meeting and Suzanne seconded. The motion carries.