Staff Senate Executive Committee Meeting
January 11, 2002
Minutes
I. Call to Order
Linda Beall called the meeting to order at 8:15 a.m. In attendance were: Linda Abresch,
Linda Beall, Mike Burton, Maggie Cohea, Nancy Isaacs, Ross Leisten, Judy Lowe, Mary Luke,
Marylane McGlinchey, Ray Pryor, Alan Selser, Donna Test, Tammy Trivits, and Estella Young.
Absent Senators: Marvin Ames, Michael Elliott, Dave Gutoskey, Kevin Mann, Melanie
Stefursky and Vaughn White.
II. Minutes - December 14, 2001 Meeting - Linda Abresch
There were corrections to the dates of upcoming meetings - February 8th was added and
April 1 was changed to April 12. A motion was made by Judy Lowe to accept the minutes as
corrected. Motion seconded and carried.
III. Chair’s Report - Linda Beall
Linda turned the meeting over to Judy Lowe for discussion on the holiday schedule for
2002. The calendar for 2002 is nearly ready for approval. At the November 2nd Staff Senate
meeting, a request was made to address the use of a floating holiday (President’s Day) for
Monday, December 23, 2002. The campus would normally be closed starting on the 24th, but
classes and final exams will already have ended. A motion was made by Judy Lowe that the
Staff Senate send a letter to the President suggesting that the President’s Day holiday be
used on December 23rd as part of the campus’ holiday break. The motion was seconded and
a vote was taken. There were 10 in favor and 1 opposed. Judy will compose a letter to the
President for Linda Beall’s review and signature.
IV. Standing Committee Reports
A. Compensation and Benefits - Donna Test
The C&B Committee will meet on January 16th to discuss with Charlotte
Ganoe how essential personnel pay has been handled in the past. Donna
mentioned that the Staff picnic keeps coming up as a topic of concern to staff.
Linda Beall related that Dr. Ellen Zinner mentioned that a committee may be
formed to review this concern.
B. Communication and Public Relations - Mike Burton
This committee met in December and distributed copies of minutes, etc. to
committee members to disseminate on campus. At this meeting, members also
began to gather ideas for the big SU News issue. Any Senators who wish to
contribute ideas about Senate news to this special issue, please contact Mike
Burton by January 18th.
C. Staff Development and Training - Marylane McGlinchey
Marylane hoped that everyone received the information on the Staff
Development Days that are being held jointly with UMES this month. All of the
types of training that were requested of the SD&T Committee are being covered
in this event. In addition to computer training, there are offerings on stress
management, conflict resolution, diversity training, and numerous safety training
offerings including blood borne pathogens. Marylane also indicated that this is not
a one-time offering. Plans are being made to offer these different types of
training on a routine basis. She encouraged everyone to attend some of the
trainings. Ray Pryor mentioned that Physical Plant staff were told that some of
the trainings were mandatory. Anthrax training is to be held on January 17th at
the Full Staff Senate Meeting.
As requested, noise levels in both offices of the Copy Center were measured by
Mr. Shelton. He determined that ear protection should be provided to all Copy
Center employees and has ordered the equipment. Mary Luke said that the new
folding machine seemed to be the loudest of the machines.
The only item left on the SD&T’s agenda at the moment was referred to
them at the December meeting - the review and promotion of staff recognitions.
Donna Test mentioned that the Housing and Housekeeping departments already
have staff recognition programs in place, and that the SD&T Committee might
start by contacting those departments for information on their programs.
D. Membership and Elections - Ross Leisten
Ross sent out the information to Staff regarding the requested change to
the University Forum bylaws. According to the Forum bylaws, each group - Staff
Senate, SGA, and Faculty Senate - must vote on Forum bylaws changes. He
distributed hard copies of this referendum vote at the meeting today to be taken to
the Physical Plant and Dining Services.
At the December meeting, there was a motion to proceed with a bylaws
change to the Staff Senate bylaws that would allow the addition of a
representative from Human Resources or Payroll to serve as an ex-officio member
of the C&B Standing Committee. After reviewing the Staff Senate bylaws and
discussing them with some of the Senators, Ross determined that the Staff Senate
bylaws already make allowances for this addition. The Staff Senate bylaws state
in Section VII - Committee Representation:
II.VII.b
Any Standing Committee may also recruit any “expert”
necessary for consulting purposes on an ongoing basis (such as a
Human Resource professional) who shall be a non voting
member.
Senators agreed that this satisfies the request by the C&B Committee.
Ross did some checking regarding the removal of the word “State” from
the Staff Senate bylaws where it refers Salisbury State University or the Salisbury
State University Staff Senate. The Faculty Senate also addressed whether this
would require an actual vote for a bylaws change. Dr. Kathleen Shannon found
the following statement in House Bill 438, which became law:
“SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That in every law,
executive order, rule, regulation, policy, or document created by any official,
employee, or unit of this State, Salisbury State University is renamed Salisbury
University as provided in this Act.”
In accordance with this statement, these changes will be made to the Staff
Senate Bylaws and Constitution without a referendum vote. Ross will make the
changes and will mail the amended bylaws to Linda Abresch so that she can
distribute them electronically to all Senators. The amended bylaws will also be
placed up on the Staff Senate website.
Last year the Senators agreed to work with the bylaws and constitution for
a year before trying to make any changes. Ross is the head of the ad-hoc Bylaws
Committee. He will now begin looking at any bylaws changes that Senators feel
need to be made. Please get in touch with him before the next meeting if you
have any suggestions to make in this regard.
E. CUSS Report - Judy Lowe
The monthly meeting of CUSS was held on December 18, 2001 at the University of Maryland
System Office, Adelphi, Md.
Minutes were approved with minor typographical changes.
REPORT FROM THE USM HR LIAISON
The 4% increase is safe and is in place. We will receive the 4% staring with the Jan. 2
workday.
Military Leave Policy
The Military Leave Policy of the Board of Regents was distributed. Originally the Board of
Regents started the concept on October 5th as to what the State policy would be. Unfortunately,
it never came from the State for the Regents so the USM system got all the memos about military
leave together and came up with a printed policy which the Board of Regents adopted.
Employee Assistance Program
At the last meeting of CUSS each institution was asked to supply CUSS with what they were
currently following at their individual institutions. The following institutions replied:
a. College Park and UMB-has the best program. It is comprehensive and funnels
employees to get additional sources for help. A great program.
b. Towson State-uses their counseling centers on campus and will refer off-campus
facilities if needed.
c. Most other institutions use the State Program by referring to individual counselors,
etc.
State Labor Relations Board
Meets again on Thursday, December 20 @ 5:00 pm in Annapolis, MD. Most institutions have
finished their elections. UMBC election is to be held in February. SU election challenged. A
run-off is to be scheduled later.
State Hiring Freeze
Regular staff employees are affected by the hiring freeze. Faculty and grant employees also are
not affected by the freeze. Contingent I are not in the freeze. Request for hiring replacement
Contingent II employees will go through a review panel (every Thursday). Then they are sent on
to Budget and Finance on Fridays (2 week response to Institution) to determine whether or not
the position can be filled.
CUSS CHAIR’S REPORT
Chancellor’s Council meeting was recently held. The Council is asking what the EAP Program
is and wanted to know who offered what at various campuses across the State.
Board of Regents
Roy Ross, President CUSS, talked to each and every President at the Board of Regents’ meeting
and all were upset over how the elections were run. It seems that rules are being made as they go
along. After elections were done, Roy’s letter was passed out…too late. Elections were already
over on most campuses. A copy of the Proposed Regulations for SHELRB was distributed. It is
long and involved and if anyone wants a copy, I will be glad to get one for them.
We then broke up into Committees.
Benefits & Compensation Committee
Came up with three important goals they wish to work on this year.
a.
EAP Programs at all institutions.
b.
2 l/2% merit pay for Exempt employees at all USM campuses.
c.
Non-exempt evaluation process.
Communications Committee
a.
Plan to come up with a report to go to the Board of Regents with three models of
working, successful staff senates. This should be finalized with a summary to the
Board of Regents.
b.
CUSS Staff Picnic. Come up with some suggestions of places, etc. and the
committee will keep on working on a location. It was agreed the picnic should be
held on 4th Monday in July (July 23).
Legislative Affairs Committee
Waiting to hear about budget. Maryland State economy hopefully back on its feet after
December 2001. Familiarize yourself with your representatives. January legislative session
starts 2nd week of January.
Meeting was then adjourned. Next CUSS meeting is January 22 at UB.
V. Unfinished Business
A. Open Staff Meeting - January 17, 2002; 9:30 - 11:00; GUC, Wicomico Room
The format will be as follows: the Senate will have the time from 9:30 to 10:15
and from 10:45 to 11:00. Anthrax training will be done by Jennifer Berkman and Jim Phillips
from 10:15 to 10:45. We will invite Donna Keener to give an update on the Collective
Bargaining run-off election. We will present information on the BOR Staff Awards. We will
have the Chair of each Standing Committee present a report. Mike Burton will do signs
announcing the meeting. Linda Beall will do an e-mail today that will be sent out today by
Linda Abresch, and re-sent again on Wednesday. Tables will be set up so that Senators sit at the
front of the room and face the staff.
B. Board of Regents’ USM Staff Awards
All Senators will serve on the four committees of the Awards Review. The
committees are: Application Assistance, Exceptional Contribution to Institution and or unit to
which the person belongs, Outstanding Service to Students in an academic or residential
environment, and Extraordinary public service to the university or the greater community. A
memo was distributed at the meeting that showed the membership of each committee. After
discussion, it was decided that the names of the committee members for the 3 awards committees
not be made public. The Application Assistance Committee will be available to provide any
assistance to those wishing to apply for the 3 awards. The 3 awards committees will review the
applications and vote on the applications that will go forward. If a Senator is being nominated
for an award, some shifting of Senators on the committees may be necessary. February 1st is the
deadline for applications to the Application Assistance Committee. February 8th is the deadline
for the applications to move to the awards committees. Information within each committee
should be kept confidential. There was discussion as to whether we should release the names of
those that are sent forward. Donna Test will canvas the other institutions for their views/current
practices about releasing the names at the next CUSS meeting. Several Senators suggested that
those individuals whose packets go forward could be recognized on campus in an in-house
awards ceremony. After all, we are sending them forward as the “best of the best” at this
campus. We will discuss this further at our February 8th meeting.
VI. New Business
A. SU Electronic Mail Services Acceptable Use Policy - Linda Beall
Jerry Waldron sent Linda a draft policy on the acceptable use of e-mail at SU.
Linda Beall will e-mail the Senators this draft and would like them to respond to her with their
comments/suggestions/concerns.
Meeting adjourned at 9:50 a.m.
Next regular meeting of the Executive Committee of the Staff Senate is scheduled for Friday,
February 8th at 8:00 a.m. in FH 259.
Respectfully submitted by Linda Abresch, Corresponding Secretary