Staff Senate
Full Senate Meeting
October 13, 2010
Senate Chambers
The meeting was called to order at 1:15 p.m. by President Lane. A quorum was present.
Roll Call
Guests: Doug Vinzant, Vice-President of Administration, Laura Alexander, Associate Vice
President of Human Resources, Eric Goldenstein, Manager, Human Resources, Milton
Ontiveroz, University Public Relations
Senators Present: Aimee Appelhans, Ginny Becker, Beverly Bell, Bonnie Botello,
Christi Byers, Cyndi Cowardin, Mark Davidson, Lori Dockter, Cheri Frank, Tonya
Gerharter, Farrell Graf, Carolyn Herman, Stacy Lane, Jamie LeJambre, James Logue,
Rachel Martin, Kelly McMichael, Heather Patterson, Tod Scott, Linda Waggener,
Maureena Walker, Kathi Zubrod
Senators Absent: Rebecca Ashley, Al Emmons, Winter Hansen, David McCoy, Christy
Nordmann, Katie Ogden, Jauque Schuman
Proxies: Sherry Johnson (Thyra Page)
Approval of Minutes and Agenda
A motion to approve the September minutes was made and seconded by Senators Martin and
Walker. Motion passed. A motion was made by Senator McMichael to approve the October
agenda. Second by Senator Appelhans. Motion passed.
Administrative Reports
Vice President Vinzant was caught in a meeting, message to Staff Senate he would be running
a little late and would arrive as quickly as possible. Senator Martin made a motion to move
ahead to Human Resources report and allow VP Vinzant to complete his report when he
arrives. Second by Senator Waggener.
Associate Vice President Alexander stated that she and Eric Goldenstein would be presenting
information on the insurance increase. She also passed out a flyer promoting the Human
Resources Benefits Fair being held November 10th 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. in the Union Ballroom.
Senator LeJambre mentioned that we bring this up to the President during our brown bag and
approach the topic for release time to increase awareness and attendance by UW employees.
Associate VP Alexander indicated that she would support and endorse a request from Staff
Senate if we would like to approach the subject.
Eric Goldenstein moved into the power point presentation highlighting the insurance changes for
the upcoming calendar year. President Lane will send the electronic presentation out to the
Outreach Senators.
Cigna will replace Great West as of January 1st. Technically we do not use their plan we are
self inured, Cigna administers our plan. Power Point slides show the breakout of insurance
premiums. State contributes 85%, 15% paid by employees. We will see an increase of
approximately 20% total. HR has the breakout per deductable. Insurance increase will be in
effect for the December paycheck.
Associate VPHR and Eric currently sit on the State Insurance Plan board. They are exploring
cost saving from quality control aspects of the policy. Also would like more doctor consultation
than testing.
Senator Zubrod raised a concern that patients putting off healthcare could actually end up with a
more serious condition, many times it is cheaper today than postponing to tomorrow.
Eric reaffirmed benefit to Wellness service. They are not sure how that will be discounted in the
future due to Healthcare reform they are no longer able to assign a dollar amount.
VP Vinzant arrived for the VP Administration report. He stated that the Healthcare presentation
was the most important portion of the Administration reports.
Budget is holding revenue not deteriorating. Outgoing governor will have the opportunity to put
his opinion on the state supplemental budget. VP Vinzant will continue to update Staff Senate
on the biennium budget information as it comes forward.
Senator McMichael asked a question from the plumbers regarding comp time vs. overtime. VP
Vinzant indicated that has come up again and he will need to discuss this topic with the
president. There is a meeting scheduled with Doug, Physical Plant, RLDS and IT to further
discuss the comp/overtime issues at a department level.
Mark Collins introduced the new Risk Mangement Director; Laura Peterson. Laura comes to us
from Nebraska where she was the Risk and Insurance Manager for the State of Nebraska.
Laura has an MPA from the University of Nebraska and a JD from Creighton University. Laura
present that she sees the Risk Management role as one of a partner not a police organization.
Officer reports
President: President Lane has created a new task sheet which will be the responsibility of the
Vice President to record what each Senator is working for Staff Senate. The VP will then
generate a letter for supervisors signed by the President and Vice President.
Brown Bag lunch up to 14 Senator’s may attend. Hot topics and RSVP need to be turned into
President Lane the week before. President Buchanan has reserved the right to invite an
Administrator of his choice.
New Rules and Procedures have been sent and should be in each Senator’s inbox today. Final
version distributed via e-mail regarding new operations and procedures effective today
10/13/2010.
Vice President: Senator Frank Volunteers will be needed to design and decorate the float. We
will meet in the carpenter shop Friday the 15th at 3:30 to begin decorating Tod Scott’s truck.
Line-up will be Saturday morning on Ivinson Ave. around 9:30 a.m. President Lane will bring
breakfast burritos, Vice President Frank will bring coffee and donuts. Theme: UW Pride is Poke
Pride, vintage cowboy. See Senator Frank if interested.
Vice President Frank turned the floor to Milton Ontiveroz to report on Holiday Baskets. This is
the 13th year for the Holiday Food Basket project. Each year Milton and Staff Senate work
together setting out collection boxes for the holidays. Food items collected include nonperishable food items, turkeys and cash. Nominations are due in before November 18th. Milton
and President Lane will review the nominations and select families to receive the donated
goods. Staff Senators and constituents may nominate a family by contacting Milton at
MiltonO@uwyo.edu or 766-6709. In the past Milton has divided up the donations and
distributed with his family. In the past different families have been selected for the two holiday
seasons. Milton asked to come back in December to update on the project.
Old business
Senator LeJambre reminded senate that President Lane needs to yield the floor prior to
questions and comments.
New business
Senate Resolution #195 first reading to Senate. Senator LeJambre moved to suspend the rules
and move on to debate and make a motion Senator Martin 2nd. Senator Applehans asked for
clarification regarding if we needed 2/3 vs. 4/5. HR has reviewed the resolution.
Vote 20/1 to discuss resolution
Senator Davidson had a question regarding the wording “administered by the most effective
means available.” Currently HR is in the process of updating tracking for training. HR will be we
writing the presidential directive. New software administration process and procedures tracking
will be available next year. Once new system is implemented that will be used to track a
supervisor that submits an evaluation.
Any additional discussion
Stacy yield the floor to Senator LeJambre, friendly amendment in the 5th Whereas statement
capitalize Tool for consistency.
First Therefore, in the second line in place of Evaluation Tool use the words Staff Performance
Evaluation and Planning Tool.
Senator Logue moved to approve the amendments Senator Byers second call for vote
amendment passed
Senator Appelhans inquired why the Second Therefore clause why included now. HR asked to
include and it serves as a precursor to the importance of training to Staff Senate. Senator
Appelhans suggested that we remove the second Therefore senate. President Lane explained
that the backing to adding the Therefore clause was to bring attention. Senator LeJambre
would be ok as an author of the bill to accept Senator Applehans amendment.
Senator Appelhans made the motion to discuss removal of second therefore clause. Senator
McMichael seconded. President Lane is ok with the statement either way. Senator Zubrod
asked if HR is asking us to take on a task that is there responsibility. President Lane sees this
as an overall benefit to Staff if Supervisory is trained.
Senator LeJambre stated that the second Therefore clause is not supported by the Whereas
clauses and would like that to be the focus of the discussion and agrees.
Call to vote on removal of the last Therefore clause. Upon vote to Senate the majority in favor
of removing the second Therefore clause.
President Lane asked for vote on Staff Senate Resolution #195 with amendments passed with
majority Senate vote.
Liaison reports
ASUW Representative: Senator LeJambre reported Ron White performing tonight.
Current legislation is on students making the commitment to attend. Safe Ride
volunteers Senator LeJambre would like to see Staff Senate be more involved and riding
along on occasion. Tod Scott attended AASHE sustainability conference and the UW
SafeRide program received nationwide Kudos. Senator LeJambre followed up with the
comment that UW’s SafeRide is top rated in the country.
Faculty Senate: President Lane missed the September 27th meeting. Current item that
will come before both senates is the Conflict of Interest packet from Carol Frost. Each
Senate will be presenting resolutions on the form.
Committee Reports
Communications Committee: Senator Appelhans reported that the committee met on
September 21st. She has not had an opportunity to complete the report. The next
meeting will be October 19th in the Skylight Lounge.
Compensation Committee: Senator Byers reported she will present Exec’s ideas to the
committee. Comp time discussion referred to in Administrative report relevant to
Compensation Committee topics, President Lane will inquire to possibly be included on
the invitation. View full report: Attachment 1.
Credentials and Elections Committee: Senator Nordmann received a current list of
employees as of September 1st from HR. President Lane will distribute a list of
constituents to each senator.
Finances Committee: Senator Dockter has accepted the positions as Finances
Committee Chair. Holiday Market approaching, December 2-3, 2010 worked well last
year with each Senator donating an item to the Market. Most items were donated by
staff there were a couple of exceptions provided by First Interstate and UniWyo.
Recognition Committee: Senator Gerharter called first meeting since accepting the chair.
Beginning stages are in process planning thread has been started on WyoWeb. EOQ
has been decided, the presentation date has not been scheduled. The next deadline for
EOQ is December 10th, 2010.
Open Forum
A brief open forum followed the regular business of the Senate.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:57 p.m. by President Lane.
Respectfully submitted by Cheri Frank, Staff Senate Vice President, and Lou Ann Chakmakian
Attachment 1
Return to Minutes