WCU Staff Forum Meeting Minutes
April 12 , 2007
UC Cardinal Room
Members Present: Jed Tate; Mike Stewart; Cale Wilson; Peter Lloyd; Walter Turner; Michaelle
Finch; Ronda Bryant; Nancy Carden; Elizabeth Frazier; Tim Inman; and Donna Welch
Members Absent: Dawne Coward (excused); Tamrick Mull (excused); Bill Studenc (excused);
Lisa Surber (excused); Carolyn Parris (excused); Homer Harris (excused); Kathleen Franks
(excused); Roseanna Belt (excused); William Frady (excused); Sue Grider; Jeff Gunter
Ex-Officio Members Present: Kathy Wong; Dianne Lynch
Welcome: In William’s absence, Mike welcomed everyone to today’s meeting.
Approval of Agenda: The agenda for today’s meeting was approved as given.
Approval of Minutes: The minutes from March were approved as submitted with the exception
of a clarification from the March. Kathy Wong will follow-up with Tom Johnson to allow temporary
employees to receive 30 days free parking, which is the same as permanent employees.
Information Items:
The next Executive Committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 3, 2007, 2:00-3:00,
HFR 453.
The next Staff Forum meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 10, 2007, 8:30-10:30 a.m.,
Cardinal Room, UC.
Office of Human Resources: Kathy reported on the following:
Retiree health insurance: Vesting changes as follows 10/1/06:
Full vesting @ 20 years
50% vesting @ 10 years
Of the 7.14% paid by the state, 3 ½% is for retiree insurance and only a little over 2% is for
current employees
Premium Increase: Prudential Life Insurance premiums will increase effective May 1 st.
UNC Personnel System: Erskine Bowles has determined that now is not the appropriate time to
separate the UNC System from the State Personnel Act. Instead, a task force is being formed to
collect feedback on the State Personnel Act and make recommendations for changes. Anyone
with recommendations for changes should submit these to Kathy Wong.
Chancellor’s Office: Dianne said the SACS review is now complete. We had a great exit
interview and things went very well. In addition, Dianne reported that there are several Dean
searches underway, and staff is encouraged to attend the open presentations if possible. Finally,
she reminded the group that commencement is scheduled for May 5, 2007.
Campus Committee Reports: UAC – No meeting has been held. Kathy is concerned that the
lack of meetings could affect some subcommittees which are required by the state. Mike will
follow-up with the Chair of the UAC regarding meetings.
Staff Forum Committee Reports:
Human Resources
No report.
Resource & Environment
Nothing new to report. This committee will give a more detailed follow-up at the next meeting.
Public Relations
A write-up on the Staff Forum scholarship will be included in the next issue of The Reporter.
Scholarship
Elizabeth said she has not heard back from Brett Woods on an updated balance of the scholarship
fund but will forward this information when she has it. Depending upon Brett’s response, she will
also let us know if we will be able to award a scholarship in the fall. She reported that the
committee is beginning to work on scholarship criteria and hope to have this ready for discussion
at the May meeting.
Governance
Nancy reported that elections are underway. The problems we initially experienced with PIN
numbers now seem to be resolved. Elections are open until April 18, 2007 at 5:00 PM. We do
need another nominee for the “Craftsman” division. At the next Executive Committee meeting,
weneed to discuss what to do when there are not enough nominations to fill a needed category.
Old Business:
Elections – This has already been discussed under “Governance Committee” report.
Campus Safety Focus Group – A focus group will meet at 10:00 this morning in the Rogers Room.
This began as part of a General Administration edict in 2004 as a result of the death of students
at UNC-Chapel Hill. All Staff Forum members are encouraged to participate. The Focus Group
meeting will be recorded and a final report will be shared regarding the state of campus safety.
The above-referenced subject prompted a social security number usage conversation. Everyone
was reminded that those utilizing these numbers should not store them on their hard drives.
Printers with an internal hard drive may also be of concern.
UNC Staff Assembly – This group will meet next week in Chapel Hill.
Walter and Jed will be attending and both have been asked to chair committees -Walter, Policy Committee; Jed – Diversity Committee. At this time the agenda is still tentative.
QEP Update – This was accepted by the SACS visiting team with only a few remarks. No official
recommendations were made, which is very rare. A budget is currently being considered for
implementation, and it does include a new position for implementation. It was mentioned by
SACS committee members that our QEP could be used as a national model.
New Business:
Blood Drive Proposal for Red Cross – Due to current activity, on average four drives a year,
the Forum decided not to recommend another drive at this time but to share contact information
with current Red Cross recruiters with the ones who have contacted us. Dawne Coward will
respond to this group.
MGT Consultants – Presentations on findings will be given on Tuesday, April 17 th at 3:30,
5:30, and 7:30 PM. Presentations will be followed by Q&A.
Videoconference – The videoconference for tomorrow has been cancelled.
Open Comments:
A Catamount Game Day/Tailgating meeting will be held today at 3:30 PM. All are encouraged to
attend and share ideas.
Three Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs candidates will be on campus starting next week. All are
encouraged to attend presentations and are asked to encourage students to attend as well.
Meeting adjourned at 10:25 a.m.
Minutes were recorded by Donna Welch in the absence of Dawne Coward.