A&P Council Minutes
March 9, 2010
1.
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m.
2. Approval of Minutes
The minutes from the February meeting were approved.
3. Guest Speaker - Manny Lopez, Director of Parking Services
Mr. Lopez addressed the Council with information concerning several changes in
Parking and Transportation Services. First, there will be a three percent increase in
parking for the upcoming year. He reminded us that five years ago, they’d proposed
an increase of 20% per year for five years. This increase is to cover maintenance
and utilities. The new permit vending machines accept credit cards only, and part of
the increase is also to offset that surcharge. They are also saving towards future
garage construction. The next garage is slated near the Sun Dome. USF Health will
also (at some time in the future) need a new garage because of construction of a
new hospital in the area. There have been no new garages constructed this year. He
noted that there is adequate parking capacity and a decrease in the immediate need
for new garages. The parking increase is the only “bad” news he had to convey.
Mr. Lopez also advised the Council of other related parking news:
 In March/April, some spaces will be lost near the Recreation Center in lot
47.
 The Beard Garage has two floors dedicated to Moffitt employees. They’re
moving from the Laurel Garage into the new Beard Garage, so more spaces
will exist in the Laurel Garage for those individuals displaced from lot 47.
 Engineering and CUTR will move from the Magnolia Garage into the Beard
Garage.
 Lots 32 and 33, which are gold lots (at USF Health), will be consolidated.
About half the gold lot spaces are available. The extra spaces will be used
for students and visitors. These lots are north of Shriner’s. At present
there are no staff parking spaces in those lots and there is no immediate
plan to add those.
 The Marshall Center has had many visitors. The top two floors in the
Crescent Hill Garage were reserved for resident students. In the fall, they
will eliminate the resident parking and open those spaces up to staff and
visitors. There has been an increased demand in lot 17 for resident spaces.
The residents actually prefer parking here and did not like parking in the
garage.
 GMG Transport began this week. See www.gmgtransport.com for additional
information. This is a service from USF to South Florida (i.e. Miami, W. Palm
Beach, and other near locations). You book your reservation online and are
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picked up in lot 43 on Friday and return on Sunday. At present, this is a
student service; next year, it will be available to faculty and staff.
Additional information is also available on the Parking and Transportation
web site. The University of Florida has been offering a similar service and
route for over 10 years. Eventually, the goal is to loop to the other
universities. There is a demand for this form of transportation. At present,
the company’s service is exclusive to USF (i.e. there are not students from
other universities on the bus). The cost of the round trip is $50.00.
Automatic Vehicle Locater (Bull Tracker) – This service began on 3/2/10.
You can monitor (in real time) the locations of the shuttles. Each route is
color coded and the map is updated every 6 seconds. Mr. Lopez
demonstrated some of the features – for example if you place the cursor
over the stop, several show an actual street view of the location. You can use
the application on a smart phone. You can also set alerts on your phone – such
as notifications that your bus is arriving. Eventually, the service will add
passenger counters, so you’ll also know if the bus is full capacity. They have
received excellent feedback about the services and it is very accurate. As a
management tool, it also helps lower congestion on the roads. Shuttles E and
A pass through all Park –n- Ride lots. All go to the Marshall Center, which is
the primary hub. They’re also adding display monitors. On the north entry of
the Marshall Center, one has been installed. One will also be installed in the
Library. They also hope to have “crawler” messages on the 36 shelter stops
that update you on next shuttle ETA, etc… This initiative was a joint
partnership with Student Government. At present there are no capacity
issues with the busses. Three years ago, they reached 1M riders. They will
probably also reach that milestone this year. When capacity issues arise,
that’s the time to think about adding more busses. No major route changes
are planned for this year. They are researching a potential route from USF
to McKinley, as there are two apartment complexes that house many USF
students. It’s all dependent on funding.
Mr. Lopez fielded a question about the potential impact of light rail on the
area. Mr. Lopez is on the city’s steering committee. He stated that the first
phase will begin in downtown Tampa and go to USF. It is likely that the stop
will be on Bruce B. Downs or Livingston. It is possible that there will be stops
at USF Health. Phase II will be from the downtown area to
Westshore/Tampa International Airport. A referendum will be held in
November. Governor Crist signed off on high-speed rail. High speed rail may
use the location of the former Tampa Jail as a station. We do not know
where the station would be for the light rail.
Other issues Mr. Lopez talked about/addressed included the following:
State vehicles can park in all but reserved lots/spaces; Parking information
is sent out annually when you pick up your new permit; Music on the Bull
Runner is sometimes loud and disruptive – depending on the driver; Lot 9 was
lost (near the music building); There are some spaces near the Patel Center,
the new chiller plant, and the health and wellness areas; The USF Health “B”
route was developed specifically for those working at USF Health – the
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route does go to the Laurel parking garage; Speeding is a problem, especially
in the garages. This is a police issue though – Parking and Transportation
Services cannot issue moving violations – only parking violations. One member
asked about the potential for speed bumps to deter speeding in those areas.
4. Council Constitution – Carl Musson
Carl Musson stated that the information was not quite ready for dissemination. It
should be available tomorrow. A meeting will be set for the next two weeks to
discuss the bylaws. A meeting invitation will be sent out. He noted the discussion on
changing the terms from 2 years to 3 years. There is no election committee yet. If
you have suggestions and cannot attend the meeting to discuss the bylaws, please
email Carl with any suggestions and/or concerns. The changes have been vetted by
Human Resources and the General Counsel. They should be fine. Once the changes
are internally approved, they’re sent to the Administrative employees for
ratification. Once the administrative employees approve, the changes are sent to
President Genshaft.
5. Committee Reports
Breakfast Update – Stewart Slayton stated that so far, there have been 86
registrants, and of those 18 are Council Members. They are hoping to have 150 in
attendance. The maximum we can host is 175; attendance last year was 124. Please
speak with your constituents. Perhaps a reminder email could be sent to those
individuals who attended last year. Chris Akin will look at the cabinet. Jim Wilkerson
stated he updates the information every Friday. Stewart Slayton will email Chris
Akin the agenda. Trustee Ramil has asked for a more defined topic. He is the VP of
TECO Energy and a BOT member. In the past, the speaker often spoke about the
community or USF in the community (as this is a “community” breakfast). One topic
suggested was TECO “green” initiatives and how this might tie into the new School
of Global Sustainability.
Jackie Cash and Valeria Garcia are working on updating the Council pamphlet. The
Council reviewed some of the changes. We will incorporate the “Bulls” imagery onto
the pamphlet – vs. the USF seal. The pamphlet will be sent to Stewart Slayton to
print. The Council discussed the budget for the event. We will likely break even. The
tradition has been to present a speaker gift. It was suggested that perhaps we
could make a donation to a fund in Trustee Ramil’s name. At the end of the speech,
President Genshaft would announce to Trustee Ramil that a donation had been made
(in his name) to a scholarship fund. The Council discussed that the funds are being
run through a zero-balance agency account. Chris Akin will check with Gina Lombardi
on the use of the funds and determine if we can use them for the donation to a
scholarship fund.
We have volunteers and should be in good shape. The registration opens at 8:00 a.m.
and breakfast begins at 8:30 a.m. If at all possible, please attend. A motion was
made and approved to use the balance of the agency funds (less $100 for the next
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event) for the scholarship donation. This is pending Gina Lombardi’s approval – i.e.
that we can use the funds in this manner.
University Affairs
Valeria Garcia disseminated information about the Leave Cash-Out proposal. It was
noted that the University of Florida has a similar program. It would allow individuals
to cash out 16 hours of annual leave during November. Employees would be required
to have a minimum annual leave balance of 40 hours after cashing out the leave. The
Council discussed whether or not Staff and Faculty would be able to participate,
since they’re covered by collective bargaining agreements. Perhaps, the best
recommendation would be to offer the option to “out-of-unit” employees. The
Council also discussed if it would be best to do this on a fiscal vs. calendar year
basis, with most members agreeing that it would be best to do it on a calendar year
basis. At the University of Florida, there is a “trigger” mechanism that prevents
individuals from over-deducting or requesting hours that they do not have. UF does
use PeopleSoft, but they also implemented the “time-reporting” module of the
system (which we have not done). The UF system is open to all employees. It may be
possible for us to acquire their participation numbers so we may have a better idea
of how many individuals participate, along with the associated costs. At USF, leave is
not funded in the budget, so there are some questions about how this would be paid
out.
Council members agreed that this is a great way to boost employee morale. People
would welcome the money at that time of year – before the holidays. The University
of Florida has been doing this for about five years – they implemented it when the
budget reductions began. They do have a clause that states that if they cannot
afford the pay out, they are not obligated to continue the program. Employees there
loved the option and participated. It also reduces the leave liability for the
University.
In the context of this conversation it was mentioned that employees need to know
more information about DROP and the amount of leave they can be paid out for. One
individual stated that when he entered the program he was not aware how important
a role leave plays in determining your retirement benefits. Your leave payout is
calculated in your wages/earnings and if you carry a maximum payout amount
(maximum annual leave accrual for Admin employees is 352 hours, or 44 days) it can
easily add an additional $100 per month to your retirement income (for the rest of
your life). It is also best to retire 12/31, so you have a full year’s worth of income to
be counted. Employees need to be more educated about the system. It was noted
that supervisors can require an employee to use leave, thereby reducing the liability.
This is especially common when an individual is paid on soft money.
Todd Marrs (USF Foundation) added that perhaps we might also include an option to
cash-out and make a gift to the Foundation. Tampa General Hospital provides their
employees with this option and perhaps this would encourage management and senior
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leadership to endorse the proposal. This will be included as a “discussion point” in
the proposal.
A motion was made and approved to present the proposal to Human Resources.
Valeria Garcia, Chris Akin, and Rob Liddell will present the information to Sandy
Lovins.
Breakfast Centerpieces
A motion was made and approved to purchase centerpieces for the breakfast, with
the expenditure not to exceed $300.00.
6. President’s Lunch/Sr. V.P. Lunch Meetings
The luncheon today was fairly quiet. As it was Spring Break, sandwiches and chips
were catered at Top of the Palms. Topics discussed included the budget and revenue
estimates (which were due to be published today). The figures for December were
up. Dr. Hyatt stated that USF was “Okay” for this fiscal year, but no one is sure
what will happen in 2010/2011. It’s possible that there will be a 5% budget cut
exercise in the near future to help people plan and prepare, but this is very
preliminary.
7. Committee Vacancies
Chris Akin recently sent out information to Council members about several
University committees that had open Administrative seats. He received three
responses. He will resend the information and asked members to consider serving.
Some of the committees meet only quarterly and several of the groups report
directly to the President or Provost.
8. Heart Walk Update
Chris Akin has some tee shirts for the members. We will have a new representative
this year, as Casey Wells has taken on a new position. We will meet the new
representative next month.
9. Budget Update
Chris Akin will disseminate the budget via email.
10. Issues from the Floor
Basic Life Support Training – Bobby Collins stated that they (USF Health) would be
willing to offer the training to Council members at a reduced amount ($5.00). The
training is 3 ½ hours in length. Chris Akin will email the members with additional
information.
Guardian Public Safety Device – There has been positive press about this service. It
allows the user’s cell phone to become a public safety device. For example, if you are
leaving a building (alone, perhaps at night), you can set a timer on the cell phone, and
enter a PIN number, which signals you are safe. If the PIN number is not entered,
the police will be called and locate you via a GPS tracking mechanism. The service
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can, perhaps be enhanced and expanded and the Council may be asked for feedback.
The service does also have a “panic button” application as well.
FBI working with PI’s on campus – Agents from the FBI have been speaking with
faculty members. In particular, more emphasis is being placed on smart phones and
secure data housed on them. They are recommending that smart phones be
encrypted, especially when one is leaving the country.
Updated Council Profiles – A reminder to all members of the Council – please send
your updated profile to Jim Wilkerson.
11. The meeting was adjourned at 3:32 p.m.
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