Civil Service Employees Council
MINUTES
Thursday, May 1, 2014, at 1:15pm
Capitol Room
Present – Connie Upton, Gail Ault, Jane Woerly, Butch Smith, Alison Shook, Holly Fecht,
Karen Trusley, Linda Wade (last meeting), Wendi Mattson, Stacy Dorethy, Kim Sedgwick (last
meeting), Carla Farniok (last meeting), Steve Whan, Charlene Hammond, Christine Staley
Non-voting members: Pam Bowman
Guest: Sara Lytle
Absent – Heather McMeekan Alisha Barnett, Tammy Klinedist, Neal Thurman
Non-voting members: Julie DeWees and Peter Skrypkun
I. Sara Lytle
Sara is in charge of the Building Connections mentor program, and she is
reaching out to interested parties and current mentors to try to solicit additional
mentors. She shares some information about the program: students in the
program take the College Student Inventory, and each student is assigned to an
employee of WIU as a mentor. The goal is to make a connection, and get them
hooked into the campus so that they are successful. The time commitment is
about 10 hours throughout the semester, and they provide about a one hour period
of training. They then ask you to meet with your students within the first week of
school and to follow up with them throughout the semester. Students get points
for their UNIV 100 course for meeting with their mentor for the first time. There
are some exciting new things for the program: there will be a secure link that
shows student’s schedule and allows you to send a text message to your students –
the student’s ID picture will also be on there. Wendi shares that she really enjoys
the program; she does indicate that she feels several students don’t understand
why they meet with her though – she then shares that with them. Jane indicates
she had a UNIV 100 class and several mentees did not meet with their mentors;
Sara said to contact her in the future if she has that issue. Pam indicates she has
also participated in the program and thoroughly enjoys it.
II. Motion to add Neil Thurman and Steve Whan as SCEC members.
a. Motion to approve: Karen Trusley
b. Approved by:
Connie Upton
c. All approved, motion carried.
III. Director of Human Resources (Pam Bowman) – Pam states she doesn’t necessarily
agree with Bill’s statements written in the minutes from the last meeting, which
represents personal opinions rather than opinions of the University. She recognizes he is
definitely entitled to his opinion, but she just wants to point out they are opinion.
The Benefits Choice period is currently in place. There are not a lot of changes;
however, there are some changes in deductibles, so employees should definitely take a
look at the changes.
The Pension reform will be going into effect on July 1st, and, as a result, individuals will
only have 7% withheld rather than 8%. There have been several meetings about options
for employees relating to adding funds to a supplemental retirement plan.
The Employee Service Recognition Reception was held last week, and employees with
up to 40 years of service were recognized.
The following question was posed to Pam: An employee requested to take two classes
during working hours; the supervisor approved the request, but it was denied by Cheryl
McCulley. The individual would like to know if there is a grievance process.
Pam said the University Policy allows up to four clock hours for education (i.e. – up
to four hours of education during work hours). Typically, a class will be 3 credit
hours and employees are allowed time to get to and from class. In all good faith, the
policy was designed to allow an employee to take one class each semester during
working hours. Typically, a class will be 3 credit hours and employees are allowed
time to get to and from class. Below is a link to the form (the policy is found on the
form.)
http://www.wiu.edu/fpas/human_resources/documents/CS%20Tuition%20Waiver%2
0form%2011%2013%20for%20pdf.pdf
If the employee would like to grieve and the employee is not otherwise covered by a
collective bargaining agreement, the employee could grieve using the civil service
grievance procedure found on-line in the Civil Service Handbook.
http://www.wiu.edu/vpas/human_resources/civil_service_handbook/appendix_q.php
Connie said the CSEC allows six credit hours per semester, and Pam said as long as they
are not both during normal work hours, there should not be an issue. Pam said you are
allowed to take only one class during the work day – the lunch hour is part of the work
day.
This additional question was posed to Pam: Is there a policy regarding children at work
during work hours?
There is a policy regarding children at work during work hours.
http://www.wiu.edu/policies/child.php
She indicates the policy is meant to keep children safe.
Allison asks if WIU promotes “Take Your Children to Work Day.” Pam said there was
some organized activity on this when she came here. However, she does not know any
departments that participate in this anymore.
Butch asks if flex time is still allowed. Pam said it is at the discretion of the departments,
and it is still used in many areas.
IV. Minutes (last meeting)
a. Motion to approve: Karen Trusley
b. Approved by:
Connie Upton
c. All approved, motion carried.
V. Treasurer’s Report (Stacy Dorethy) – no report
VI. Vice President for Administrative Services Report (Julie DeWees) – absent
VII. Group Concerns – absent
VIII. President’s Report (Wendi Mattson) – no report
IX. Civil Service Employee of the Month (Alisha Barnett) – Denise Sprinkle in DPS is
May’s Employee of the month. Her presentation is on May 8th at 11 a.m. in DPS.
X. Employee Advisory Committee Representative (Peter Skrypkun) - absent
XI. WIU Quad Cities Campus Report (Alison Shook) – The community apartment
building next to the QC Campus is coming up quickly – they are supposed to be ready in
the fall. The goal is still to move to the new buildings in the summer.
XII. Representative Reports to Council
a. Affirmative Action Internship Committee (Holly Fecht) – There were four
applicants for this year’s Internships. Four employees applied; two made it past
the interview stage after which one withdrew from the Internship due to a conflict.
As a result, one individual is left in the pool and is moving on to do an internship.
b. University Diversity Council (Karen Trusley) – The President’s Diversity
reception is May 8th from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. at the Multicultural Center.
c. Website and IT Issues (Connie Upton) – Connie is going over training with
Scott Lawson so that she can get on there and get things up and going.
d. Training and Development (Carla Farniok) – Carla provides the following
information regarding an upcoming class on the Audit Process:
DATE:
TIME:
LOCATION:
Tuesday, May 13
9:00 - 11:00 am
Facilities Management Large Training Room
TO REGISTER:
Via email: SChenoweth@wiu.eduor by phone: 298-1971 or
online at:
http://www.wiu.edu/vpas/human_resources/employ
ee_development/register.php
Quad Cities Campus: Teleconferencing is available in room QC114 60thSt. Location
Gail Ault volunteers to take over the Training and Development reporting.
XIII. Committee Reports
a. Policy & Appeals (__________) – We need a new volunteer for this committee.
Alison indicates that if a person files an appeal over a decision, it comes to the
Appeal Committee. She indicates she is part of the committee, and there have
only been two appeals since she was on it. Linda indicates the CSEC
representative has been the Committee leader, and has to solicit volunteers for the
committee.
b. Awards and Selection (Alison Shook) –Alison didn’t bring the list of recipients.
They gave out six awards; there were just six applicants. Alison shares that the
committee gives a maximum of nine $1,000 scholarships; the committee gives out
more scholarships than several larger institutions. The Council has indicated
possibly looking at other people than dependents, and the Committee may address
this in the future. The applicants write an essay and go through an interview
process.
c. Constitution/Election (Linda Wade) –
i. Proposed changes to Bylaws:
Article IV
– Membership and Qualifications
Section 1
Membership of the Council shall be composed of persons elected from
each of the recognized employee groups, with group (6) having at
least one elected member but no more than three elected
members. Groups 1-5 shall have 3 members representing their group.
When possible all groups shall be represented on the council by
members from their group. If interest is lacking from group members
someone may be appointed/elected to represent those groups who
did not show interest in being on the council. The council must always
consider with membership the potential of members to be in person
at the CSEC monthly meeting. The Civil Service Employees Council
must have a quorum present at the physical meeting location to be in
compliance with the Open Meetings Act to conduct voting and
business.
ii. Motion to approve as written above: Linda motions to approve change
iii. Seconded by: Charlene Hammond
1. All approved, motion carries
iv. Linda indicates a new person is needed to take her place, since she is
leaving the Council. She indicates this person takes care of annual
elections if they are needed – they are only needed if more people apply
for the Council than there are openings.
1. Butch volunteers to oversee this committee.
d. Education (Alisha Barnett) – absent.
e. Fundraising (Karen Trusley) – Karen thanks everyone for showing up and
helping with the Luncheon.
i. Rough numbers - profit of $979.92 from all sources. However, the
cleaning charges of $368 may still be removed.
ii. Alison asks if an e-mail photo has been sent
1. Connie said there was an issue and we will hopefully get them in
the near future.
iii. There are talks about using Monopoly as the theme for the next luncheon,
and she hopes to get a possible date in the near future.
f. Mentoring (______________) – no report
i. Connie volunteers to take over Kim’s report.
g. Social Events & Development (Wendi Mattson & Stacy Dorethy) – no report
h. Open Meetings Act Requirements (Linda Wade) – New members have 90 days
to complete open meetings act training. A new designee is needed, and this
person has to take annual training and ensure all applicants have completed
training. The person keeps an updated list of who has completed training, how
many members are needed to be present for a quorum, and ensuring there is a
quorum to vote. The new designee has 30 days to complete the new training.
This person must ensure “reply all” is not used on messages, as it could constitute
an illegal meeting.
i. Provost Advisory Council Report (Karen Trusley) - Meeting was rescheduled
for today (during this meeting); she hopes to have meeting minutes to share in the
near future.
XIV. Old Business
i. Election and Acceptance of new members
XV. New Business – Wendi hands Carla and Kim envelopes for “years of service” to the
Council recognition.
XVI. New Members –
a. Stacy volunteers Karen to be Vice President.
i. Wendi seconds.
XVII. Meeting Adjournment –
a. Motion to adjourn:
b. Seconded by:
Holly Fecht
Stacy Dorethy
XVIII. Next Meeting will be Thursday, June 5, 2014, at 1:15pm in the Capitol Room.