February Meeting Minutes
February 12th, 2014 10:00am-12:00pm
University Center 332/333
Welcome & Call to Order
President Singleton called the meeting to order at 10:01am.
Roll Call
Maggie Linder, Secretary, took attendance.
Attendees: Andi Armstrong, David Crowley, Kristine Csorosz, Matt Filer, Geri Fox, Gary Hagler, Chuck
Harris, Maggie Linder, Michael Mass, Becky Maier, Maria Mangold, Roger McDonald, Jaylene Naylor, Sandi
Nelson, Gloria Phillip, Kathy Reeves, Maryann Robison, Hannah Singleton, Jimmy Stevens, Brandie Terpe,
Kelly Wasson, Jennifer Zellmer-Cuaresma, Judy Wellert (Administrative Associate), Darlene Samson (ExOfficio)
Excused: Molly Fishburn-Matthew, Lisa Marie Hyslop, Denise May, Natalie Hiller-Claridge, Angela
Weisenburger
Approval of January Minutes
President Singleton presented the minutes of January 8th, 2014. There was some concern that not enough time
was allowed to read and review the minutes. Motion to wait until Judy Wellert and other Senators have had time
to read the minutes was approved. Minutes will be approved at February meeting.
Financial Report
Judy Wellert and Officer Hagler met with Geoff Lake from Business Services to set up a credit/debit card system
so that online payments could be accepted. Payments could range from sales for coffee or contributions, to
registration fees. The plan is to have these funds initially deposited into the visibility fund, and then identify and
transfer the funds into the correct Staff Senate funds for the correct purposes. Once the system is set up, testing
will be necessary to verify that the purpose of the funds can be identified and transferred to the correct account.
Judy Wellert noted the credit card application has been submitted, but has not been approved. Judy Wellert will
be the primary contact and the President of Staff Senate will be the secondary contact.
Officer Hagler reported that the transaction was reversed for the incorrect transaction for Gary Taylor’s retirement
that posted in January.
As was the case last semester, Staff Senate had two students that did not qualify for the scholarships. Thus, the
scholarship fund is very healthy. It was noted that 9/10th of 1%, so about $1.10 in interest is being collected on
the scholarship fund balance.
Officer Hagler provided clarification about the coffee sales revenue, explaining that revenue for coffee sales has
been spread across multiple months. The revenue for January is $301.40 and deposited to MAF009. The detailed
sheet Officer Hagler sent for the coffee sales shows the total revenue and expenses.
UM Minute
Senator Csorosz shared the Kaimin article from 2/11/14 that discussed facility services and their work to clear
snow from campus. Senator Csorosz shared how she did the interview with a Journalism student, who popped out
of the bushes on campus at 4:00am to ask her a few questions. She noted specifically how proud she was of the
student interviewer’s professional demeanor and how well the article was written. Senator Hagler acknowledged
the excellent work that the grounds crew has done keeping the University sidewalks and areas cleared of snow
and ice, and offered to purchase the last bag of coffee for the crew’s break room.
Ex-Officio Samson shared that TRIO normally gives out grants for books, but a group called the “Grizzly Riders”
is working with TRIO to give more loans for books. Basically, the Grizzly Riders worked with the UM
Foundation 5 years ago to identify how they might help students who had financial need. The foundation
suggested contacting TRIO SSS recognizing students were struggling with the cost of textbooks. The Grizzly
Riders wanted to help students who had financial need to help pay for textbooks. Thus, for the past 5 years, they
have donated $5,000 a year to allow TRiO SSS to purchase textbooks. TRiO SSS purchases the books and then
“loan” them out to students to use during the course of the semester. Students return them and TRiO SSS is able
to help more students. Students apply for the book loan, usually around 80 students a semester, and with the
funds it allows us to purchase at least two books per student. Grizzly Riders have encouraged us to find matching
donors as they did not want to make it a long term investment (but they have!) TRiO is trying to identify other
ways the department can get donations, mostly working with the foundation as a start.
Guest Speakers
Mike Reid, Vice President for Administration
Reid visited Staff Senate to discuss the budget allocation model. He explained that the budget is independent of
the allocation model. Looking in to 2015, it looks like the University is short 9 million dollars, however, his
visit’s purpose was not to talk about budget problems. The budget model started with a subgroup, the resource
allocation group, and is still being developed to duplicate and represent how the university currently operates.
That way the University has an understanding of revenue and expenses, and then can run scenarios of “what if
enrollment goes up, or goes down, or hire more police officers”. The model is a tool to look at how things are
functioning and, when we make changes, how does that impact our functions. UM has a lot of data, but it isn’t in
an easy to read and manipulate format so that one can run scenarios for the budget. Mike Reid explained that
facilities and non-facilities are handled differently.
Facilities is managed entirely different from other staff and departments. This covers maintenance, repair,
custodial and grounds. To calculate their budget, one looks at how many square feet the University has that is
funded by the general fund, and then gives “x” money per square foot for how much it costs to maintain the
facilities.
For non-facility areas, it funds based on personnel. The assumption (even if a false assumption) is that every
person is essential within that department. At a VP level, it is allocated by the numbers for personnel under that
VP plus a small operating budget. So, if you have “x” number of people, you get “x” funds to cover that person,
travel, and other operating costs. The model is set to give a base fund which allows for people and basic functions.
The model shows what it costs to operate the institutions core base functions. Then, strategic initiatives across
campus will be presented, and the highest priority initiatives will go forward for the year. The intention is to use
the model as an aid for 2015. We are budgeting 2015 just as we have always budgeted, however, the model will
show data and will help build confidence in the budget they set. It will then be used for 2016, 17, etc. going
forward.
A question was raised regarding the fact that base budget applies for general state allocated funds (what is tuition
and state appropriation), and that designated and auxiliary funds are not in the model. Reid said as once we have a
base model for how we spend, then we can setup a model to show revenue and what makes revenue. Also, they
would like to build a model for enrollment services.
Senator Phillip noted that the Planning and Budget Analysis office provided a pay plan, but when she ran numbers
for her office, it determined that not enough funding has been provided to cover employee rates for hours for the
rest of the year. Reid recommended Senator Phillip talk to Ed who can go through and verify the pay plan
document.
Mike Reid continued to explain that once the base budget is established, to add expenses (and this would be once
it is mature, so a few years down the road), with any expenses going to help recruitment and retention, an
employee would go to their supervisor/director to write a proposal for the expense and how they would measure
the effectiveness and results of the expense. The supervisor/director would rank each proposal based on the 4-5
strategic initiatives, and then send it to the budget committee to assess and decide which proposal to fund. After a
year of funding a proposal, it goes to assessment committee to show if it was a good investment or not, and if
support from assessment is positive, it is submitted to the budget committee for future funding.
Mike Reid noted that the budget committee is a shared governance committee that includes staff senate, faculty
senate, various union representations (Planning and Assessment Continuum committees). President Singleton
represents staff senate on those committees.
Performance based funding goes into the general fund. Institutional factors like retention, graduation, etc. go into
performance funding, so at this point it wouldn’t be at an academic program level as far as Reid knows.
Questions and conversation ensued about the new governor and lieutenant governor, as they are so academically
focused, and whether or not there are any strategies for the next legislative session.
Discussion ensued about how staff morale might be sagging or dragging. However, it was noted that there is
tremendous loyalty to the University and it is important to remember that there is a lot of negative news, but how
much of that is just discussion or is it really impacting us. The University won’t know the true impact for a few
more months, but we need to have conversations and plan for the future now.
Discussion ensued about staff sometimes not trusting the “hiring chill” as they aren’t sure if there job will be
eliminated, restructured, or if they are okay. Reid shared that for the most part, they are still hiring positions, but
they have been able to eliminate or restructure to not fill a position. The University doesn’t want to hire someone
and then later lay them off. Assessment to re-fill the position or eliminate the position only happens if it is an
open position. Multiple senators noted that they perceive that positions are eliminated and/or not re-filled because
communication with “higher ups” doesn’t happen, which leads staff to feel unstable in their positions.
Reid noted there are a lot of cost savings that have been identified, but assessment on whether or not they are
actually saving and how much they are saving needs to happen. Those with more interest can review the Budget
and Planning Committee meeting minutes to see the rankings for cost savings. Communication for getting the
budget model out there is in planning once it is approved.
Motion and approved to get someone on the Assessment Committee was made. President Singleton will find out
if it is possible and Senator Harris and Crowley nominated themselves to be on the subcommittee.
Lucy France, UM Legal Counsel, & Janet Sedgley from IT
In May 2012, students filed a complaint, and the Office of Civil Rights provided the complaint in August 2012.
UM has been working since that point to address this complaint. A policy is being written and the University is
setting a schedule to reach towards being fully accessible. The University has done a self -study, will implement
policies and procedures, will be providing training, and will report on those to OCR. With the resolution
agreement, once that goes in, the University will have a policy agreement that goes in to place that will cover 6
areas: website, instructional materials, instructional facilities, software, hardware, documents, media/audio, and
procurement. The self-study will be over by the 1st part of June, but the committee has determined that they are
already starting this assessment.
Discussion ensued. There was comment about the plan and the fact that it is good that training is written into the
resolution agreement. A question arose about who will be assessing accessibility for existing software. Janet
Sedgley responded that there is a committee and they are currently trying to determine how they will assess and
go about tackling this. Janet said they will start with the “easy” and work their way up, understanding there will
be big topics.
As part of the resolution, the University has set a deadline of August 29, 2014 to have identified a solution (not
necessarily provided that solution). The resolution has written in time for the University to meet deadlines and
accommodate issues if they arise. Lucy and Janet encouraged senators to contact Janet or their IT contact if one
finds something is inaccessible, if one is unsure if it is accessible, or if a senator has any questions. Also, IT is
willing to do an IT Shortcourse about anything if you’d like a short training to make your documents accessible.
Committee Reports
Staff Senate Committees
CVC Officer Co-Chair Armstrong reported Ice skating is this Saturday, 1/11/14, from 2:30-4:00pm. CVC Spring
and summer events have not been determined. Officer Armstrong shared that movie night did not have good
attendance, but CVC speculates that it may be due to it being on a three-day weekend or because it was not well
known movie.
Fundraising Committee Officer Mangold reported on the upcoming Tamarack night on March 4th, sharing that
Tamarack has great food, and beer and root beer proceeds go toward fundraising efforts. The Fundraising
Committee has yet to meet this past month.
Senator May was absent, but Judy Wellert reported about upcoming elections for staff senators. A list of senators
that are ending terms in June was read off. Senators were asked to notify Senator May by March 15th if one will or
will not run for re-election. A list of senator nominees will be presented to senate in April, with voting by staff
occurring in April, and announced at the end of April. Officers are elected in June and nominations are submitted
in May.
Senator Filer reported nothing new for bylaws.
Senator Nelson reported that the Scholarship Committee has not received any applications, which are due on the
28th of February. However, this is not a surprise based on last year’s schedule, explaining that applications didn’t
come in until last minute. Senator Nelson handed out a few posters announcing the scholarship, promising to send
out the poster electronically, and encouraged senators to encourage people to apply.
Senator Fox reported that the Staff Awards committee is accepting nominations and encouraged senators to
nominate their co-workers. The deadline for nominations is February 21, 2014.
Senator Naylor reported on the Technology Solutions committee, noting that she will send a link for the OnCampus Craigslist to Judy Wellert so that senators can check out the website.
Senator Terpe reported that the School of Journalism Dean search committee started this fall after a failed search
last year, and will bring candidates to campus this month and next month.
New Business
Senators Csorosz noted that if anyone identifies any area that is hazardous, they should contact the grounds crew.
She also recommended wearing yak-traks, lightening your load, and shared that facilities is trying to keep up but
people should “walk defensively”.
Discussion ensued about the lockdown. Senator Linder shared that a directors meeting was happening on
Thursday 2/13 to discuss how things went and look at policies. There was comment about student confusion from
the text saying classes were cancelled and then un-cancelled. Training, that was 8 hours long, was noted for active
shooter training and those that attended shared how valuable it was. Officer Hagler suggested that every
department on campus should have a meeting with the officers to discuss the training. Officer Linder shared that
she had attended a mini-training from Public Safety and recommended that as an alternative to all day training.
Closing
Meeting adjourned at 12:00pm.
Next meeting: March 12th, 2014 10:00am-12:00pm, UC 332/333.