Minutes
Staff Council Meeting
March 7, 2006
10:00am
Evans Liberal Arts 384
Meeting was called to order by Council Chair, Deborah McDaniel
Attendees: Oscar Barrera, Debbie Chandler, Lisa Chrans, Nicolasa Delgado, Fazia Rizvi, Lloydean Eckley,
Deborah Mathews, Pam Graham, Steve Marlow, James Mathews, Deborah McDaniel, Elizabeth Mendez,
Gilbert Morales, Tina Schultz, Selma Selvera, Trish Sumbera, Carmen Villalpando, Debbie Willis, Beverly
Woodson-Day
Absentees: Bret Adams, Kevin Gilley, Barbara Hurtado, Dean Reading, Brad Smith, Chris Williams
Guests: Harry Gonzales, Evalinda Luera, Christine Gonzalez, Rachel Offineer, Kim Porterfield, Jonathan
Lopez, Mary Alice Gonzales, Michael Blanda
Topic: Approval of February Minutes
The minutes for the February 2006 meeting were approved with only punctuation and spelling
corrections.
Topic: Bobcat Build
Speakers: Kim Porterfield & Rachael Offineer – Office of Community Relations
Bobcat Build is a ‘thank you’ to the San Marcos community from the students, faculty and staff of Texas State
University for their support year round. This year it is on Saturday, April 1, and will consist of about 120 job
sites and 12-1300 students. Job sites have included schools, animal shelter, youth council Youth Fest, hospice,
private homes, Aquarena, Sites and Sounds, public library, habitat for humanity and many others. Bobcat Build
has received some one-time funding to purchase tools, ladders and supplies. Participants will meet in Bobcat
Village Commuter lot for kick-off at 8:00 am where students check-in and are assigned to various sites.
Participants can sign up as an organization, a team or an individual. Bobcat Build provides service learning
opportunities for classes and organizations. Effort is made to match up the best combination of skills with the
nature of the task (i.e. Horticulture club with landscaping). Participation forms are available at the CASO desk
in Community Relations and are currently also on-line. Interested groups or individuals can help at the kickoff, on a job site, or via a financial donation. Bobcat Build is now eligible for University Fund Drive
contributions or a direct donation can be made through Kim.
The Staff Council will consider putting together a representative team for next years Bobcat Build.
Topic: On-line voting
Two staff members have found a university resource that will help implement on-line voting for Staff Council
elections.
An On-Line Resources Committee was established to pursue the on-line voting issue as well as other issues
such as web page maintenance, archiving of historical data, and a Staff Council Exchange email address.
Members of the committee are Trish Sumbera, Fazia Rizvi, Tina Schultz, and Pam Graham.
Concern was expressed regarding staff members who do not have access to computers. James Matthews
volunteered to help with that aspect.
Topic: UPPS Committee
Trish Sumbera stepped down as chair of the UPPS Committee and Steve Marlow has agreed to take on that
duty.
Tina Schultz and Deb McDaniel will also serve on this committee.
Topic: Compensation Committee
The Compensation Committee is still meeting and will continue to pursue the on-call issue. They have already
met with Mr. Fogarty and Mr. Quinn. They have looked at the on-call compensation at Texas Tech which
requires management to carry pagers and they in-turn call the employees so it may be possible to come up with
other options.
Topic: HR Forum Report
 There will be money for a 3% raise but it will all go towards merit raises.
 If an employee is at the top of a pay scale and receives a merit increase, they will not be prevented from
getting the increase.
 The Provost has indicated that the university wants to move toward using national data for determining
staff salaries
 John McBride said a salary survey has not been visited for 6 years.
 Parents identified sexual predators living in dorms resulting in background checks for students. So, we
can expect a similar policy to be extended to staff at some time in the future. There was a suggestion to
look into schools where this is already done to look at how it is implemented and the impact it has made.
Result is that students having a questionable history will be exempted from the on campus residency
requirement.
Comments:
 Merit raise does encourage people doing job well but the performance appraisal process needs to be
straightened out.
 Supervisor Training was re-emphasized
 Concern expressed that ‘cost-of-living’ not even mentioned
 Some job titles do not have counterpart on national level and these have to be reconciled for a national
survey to be used.
 Concern expressed that a 300 performance appraisal score may limit chances of merit increase though
such employees are not explicitly excluded
Topic:
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On campus smoking concerns
‘No Smoking’ signs with ash tray in front
Enforcement is a peer pressure issue
Ash tray should mean put out butt
Suggestion made that pamphlets providing information about second hand smoke and other such issues
be made readily available
Dr. Smith (at the meeting to discuss transportation and parking issues) addressed the smoking issue.
 The Quad tunnel to Old Main and breeze-way between ASB buildings will be targeted with signage –
‘Bobcat pride No smoking Zone’
 Additional effort to encourage compliance was initiated by students
 Put urns at entry to no-smoking zones with the concept that a smoker should put out their butts before
going forward
 Messages on electronic board
 Send out reminders
 Student justice would become involved if there are a lot of violators
Topic: Transportation and Parking
Dr. Smith, Stephen Prentice and University Police Chief Ralph Meyer presented the current draft proposal for
parking permit charges for FY07-09. Parking Services is an auxiliary service and, as such, is required to be
self-supporting. All revenue comes from permit and violation fees and parking meters. All expenses such as
parking lot maintenance and construction (including parking garages) must be paid from this revenue.
A budget estimate/prediction for FY2007, FY2008 and FY2009 was presented to explain how the proposed
permit fees and parking violation fees were calculated. A new category of “Reserved” parking is proposed that
will allow the purchaser to park in special areas very close in to campus. These reserved parking permits will
be much more expensive than a “Restricted” permit. The proposed number of reserved parking spaces will
initially be small (maybe 50) but will increase once the Pleasant Street garage construction project which adds
three more floors to the facility is completed. Faculty and staff may purchase either Perimeter or Restricted
permits and may utilize the shuttle system. The procedure for allocating and purchasing the Reserved permits is
not yet determined. Debt service for the Pleasant Street parking garage and the Wood Street parking garage are
part of the FY2007 expenses with the debt service for the Matthews Street parking garage being an added
expense in FY2008. This means that all permit costs will increase for FY07 and will increase again in FY08.
Proposed permit fees for Restricted, Perimeter, and Reserved permits are divisible by 8 to simplify payroll
deductions. It is also proposed that parking violation fees will increase during both fiscal years.
Q: Will hang-tags for perimeter parking be made available?
A: Under discussion – there has been a problem in the past with students removing tags and posing as visitors
and also purchasing group hang tags.
Q: Custodians don’t make enough money to purchase the restricted permits but need bus service at 6:00am to
use perimeter permits.
A: Will have to be looked at.
Q: Why divisible by 8 and not 12?
A: Originally system set up because payroll wanted only 8 for consistency but things may have changed and if
they have then can do so – originally it was set up how payroll wanted to do it.
Q: What about negotiating with the city and Carts so students, faculty and staff can ride busses from home?
A: Ability to get funding must wait till city grows to qualify for special funding? It might be possible to do
something similar to the student shuttle busses where an up front fee is paid for usage but those conversations
would have to be held.
Comment: Pretax deduction does reduce the cost of the permit so that cost spread over a year is about $5/mo,
even at $240 comes out at about $10/mo more
Comment: Our fees compare well against other universities and out of state
Comment: Will check out 12 month spread and bus issue
Q: Why not more reserved spaces?
A: There are not enough areas where reserved parking should or could be established with adequate control
until construction is completed on the Pleasant Street garage. At that point the entire 2nd floor would be
considered as a possible location for Reserved parking.
Comment: According to the Master Plan 5 minutes is the minimum acceptable distance to walk from parking.
Currently there is always a parking space within that distance.
Q: Concern was expressed about students parking in reserved spaces.
A: After the 5th ticket a car is towed and $150 fine assessed. This in addition to the chronic offender program
where privileges are revoked is proving to be a significant deterrent to students parking in red restricted spaces.
Topic: New Perks for Texas State Staff
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Raise the Bar Wrappers – 15% discount off personalized candy bar wrappers - voted to post
Sprint merged with Nextel – Nextel 10% off phones and accessories
Meeting was adjourned.