WCU Staff Forum Meeting Minutes
July 13, 2006
UC Cardinal Room
Members Present: Dawne Coward, Tamrick Mull, William Frady, Sue Grider, Jeff Gunter, Peter
Lloyd, Cale Wilson, Lisa Surber, Michaelle Finch, Walter Turner, Bill Studenc, Tim Inman, Jed
Tate, Nancy Carden, Homer Harris, Donna Welch, Ronda Bryant, Elizabeth Frazier, Kathleen
Franks, Carolyn Parris, Mike Stewart
Members Absent: Katie Spear
Ex-Officio Members Present: Dianne Lynch, Kathy Wong
Guest: Terry Riouff
Welcome: Mike Stewart welcomed everyone to today’s meeting.
Approval of Agenda: The agenda for the July meeting was approved as given.
Approval of Minutes: The minutes from June were approved as submitted.
Information Items:
The next Executive Committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday, August 3, 2006, 2:00 p.m.,
HFR 453.
The next Staff Forum meeting is scheduled for Thursday, August 10, 2006, 8:30-10:30 a.m.,
Cardinal Room, UC. NOTE: On Monday, 8/7/06, the August SF meeting was
rescheduled to Thursday, August 17, 2006 beginning at 2:30 PM in the UC Cardinal
Room. This was necessary due to the fact that the Chair was out of town on 8/10/06
and we have not yet re-elected the Vice Chair.
Office of Human Resources: Kathy provided the following updates:
1) The governor has signed the budget, and both the Office of State Personnel and Central
Payroll have updated salaries to reflect legislative increases. It is anticipated that adjustments
will be reflected in the July paychecks. All permanent SPA employees who were on the payroll as
of June 30, 2006 received a 5.5% across-the-board increase with proportionate increases for
other non-permanent SPA employees, i.e. (part-time etc). Vice chancellors and deans will
determine increases for EPA faculty and non-faculty. The new employer contribution rate into the
retirement system is 7.14%.
2) Legislation has been passed that suspends career banding for those not already approved as of
June 15, 2006.
3) The tuition waiver program for employees has been increased from two to three classes per
year for the two semesters following summer.
Chancellor’s Office: Dianne reported on the following:
1) President Bowles was very pleased with the amount of money the University system received
as a result of this year’s legislative session. WCU was approved for the Health and Gerontological
Sciences Building on the millennial property.
2) Summer commencement is scheduled for Friday, August 4, 2006.
3) The Chancellor’s Office has learned that the DOT will begin repaving from back street in Sylva
to the State Employees’ Credit Union. They will try to do the majority of this repaving at
nighttime, but inevitably some work will take place during the day.
Therefore, if anyone knows of a large group of folks coming to campus for an event, please
inform Dianne Lynch so that she can contact DOT. Dianne has been told that the DOT is willing
to work around large events and cause as little inconvenience as possible, but they can make no
firm commitments. This project is expected to begin on August 1, 2006.
Campus Committee Reports: Calendar - No report. UAC – No report; however, Mike
Stewart has agreed to serve as the Staff Forum representative to the UAC, since Cory
Causby has now rotated off the Staff Forum.
Staff Forum Committee Reports:
Human Resources
No report.
Resource & Environment
No report.
Public Relations
A story concerning the election of new Staff Forum members was included in the last issue of The
Reporter. Also, this committee is working on an article for the newspaper concerning the plight
of State employees.
Scholarship
It was reported that there is approximately $7,300 in the Staff Forum scholarship account.
Governance
No report.
Old Business: Terry Riouff and Julie Walters-Steele will try to finalize the Staff Forum by-laws
and get those to us as soon as possible for approval.
New Business:
Mike opened the floor for nominations for the position of Staff Forum Chair. William Frady was
the only nomination, and after he agreed to serve in this capacity, Mike called for a motion to
elect William as chair. The motion was offered, seconded, and it carried unanimously.
Next, Mike asked for nominations for the position of Staff Forum Secretary. Dawne Coward was
the only nominee for this position, and after she agreed to serve, Mike called for a motion to elect
Dawne as Secretary. The motion was made, seconded, and it carried unanimously.
New members selected a committee on which to serve, and those are as follows:
Tamrick Mull – Scholarship; Peter Lloyd – Resource and Environment; Cale Wilson – Resource
and Environment; Lisa Surber – Scholarship; Michaelle Finch – Human Resources; Walter Turner
– Resource and Environment; Tim Inman – Public Relations; Donna Welch – Human Resources;
Ronda Bryant – Governance; Kathleen Franks – Governance; and Carolyn Parris – Governance.
The following people were elected to Chair those committees whose current Chair position is
vacant:
Sue Grider – Human Resources
Jed Tate – Public Relations
Nancy Carden – Governance
Elizabeth Frazier – Scholarship
Open Comments:
William challenged the group to talk with their co-workers about ideas for how the Staff Forum
can be of assistance to them.
Terry Riouff told everyone about the newly approved UNC Staff Assembly. He also reminded the
group about videoconferences that are held each Friday following the monthly Staff Forum
meetings, and he encouraged everyone to attend these information-sharing sessions. Finally, he
provided a brief overview of the Forum’s accomplishments over the past year.
Meeting adjourned at 9:30 a.m.