Blinn College Staff Council – Meeting Minutes
Meeting Held: 08/20/15 8:30 am, Brenham Campus Board Room; Bryan Tejas Center IVC 170
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Welcome from James Reed, President of Staff Council
Roll Call
a. Present: Kris Beckendorf, Christy Berry, Daniel Byars, Leah Coleman, Celia Hayley, Frank
Jaramillo, Tiffany Jenkins, Bob Lovelidge, Jeremie Middleton, James Reed, Garrett Smith,
John Tatum, Shannon Williford
b. Absent: Jeanelle Moreno
c. In a round robin fashion, each attendee gave their name, job title, home campus, # of
years at Blinn, home town, something fun/positive about themselves
Why are we here?
a. A copy of our Mission Statement, Constitution and Bylaws were distributed to the group
for individual review
b. The constitution was approved by EC previously
c. Emphasis was given to Article 2 Section 5, we are here to serve staff and to help
everyone grow and move forward.
d. Ratifications to the constitution can be submitted for discussion at future meetings
What are we going to do?
a. We need to make everyone at all campuses aware of who we are and why we are here
b. Ideas for how to get us known:
i. use the TV screens on campus to publicize
ii. email blast by marketing
iii. have each member of staff council reach out to their campuses, particularly
division representatives
c. Issues discussed:
i. official bullying policy? it is covered in HR policy and annual trainings, do we
need more?
ii. Tiffany talked about a conference she recently went to and will get with the
presenter to see if he can come for convocation
iii. Frank asked how many people voted for staff council, James said he would get
the data
iv. Frank asked if part time employees can participate in staff council, James
indicated they cannot be officers but they can participate, all staff at Blinn can
participate
v. Frank mentioned we needed to work towards longevity or reward for longevity,
stipends to reward staff for working; the Human Capital Task Force from the
past was mentioned
vi. James asked for volunteers to work on the website
1. Christy volunteered to help
vii. Sophia currently checks the staff council email address, who will start managing
this?
viii. Can marketing create an online suggestion form?
ix. Can we have staff/student/faculty tournaments? Intermural?
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V.
x. There needs to be more communication regarding all of the parking changes for
Bryan East
xi. Frank asked if during bad weather days will parking be enforced as students
frequently want to park in staff spaces
xii. James asked if everyone is available to meet the third Tuesday of each month, it
seemed to work with everyone
xiii. We need to find a new meeting space in Brenham, we likely cannot continue
using the board room
xiv. How can we involve Sealy and Schulenburg more?
1. we can have a field trip to each of their respective campuses
xv. Extra Items
1. James will have plaques made for each formation committee member
and we will all sign a thank you letter
xvi. Bob talked to us about the Professional Association and how it is different from
Staff Council
1. mission is professional development based and goal is to raise money
for community organizations
2. they organize retirement luncheons
3. they send out memorial information
4. they recently began discussions to change their constitution to make
them more of a social organization, to organize events and to work with
the foundation
xvii. Bob asked what the Treasurer was going to do since we do not currently have
our own budget
1. at this time we do not have any money to manage
2. in the future we would like to have the opportunity to raise money for
scholarships for staff, staff dependents, book vouchers, etc.
xviii. James will provide each representative with constituents under their umbrella,
possibly an organizational chart
xix. We need to list representatives with their respective division on the webpage
when we update it
Action Item/Responsible Party/Due Date or Status Update
a. Put advertisements on TV screens on campus/James Reed/09-15-15
b. Request Marketing sent out an email blast to Blinn People/James Reed/09-15-15
c. Pull voting data for staff council elections/James Reed/09-15-15
d. Update website to reflect new staff council representatives/Christy Berry/09-15-15
e. Take over email responsibility for staffcouncil@blinn.edu from Sophia Polk/Christy
Berry/09-15-15
f. See if marketing can create an online suggestion/request form/Christy Berry/09-15-15
g. Talk to Bennie Graves about staff, student, faculty tournaments/Garrett Smith/09-15-15
h. Ask marketing to communicate parking changes at Bryan East Campus/Christy Berry/0915-15
i. Write thank you letter for formation committee/James Reed/09-15-15
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VI.
Have each representative and their division listed on the website/Tiffany Jenkins/09-1515
k. Send out meeting invite for 09-15-15/Christy Berry/ASAP
Next Meeting
a. Tuesday, 09-15-15, location TBD
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