Employee Assembly
December 17, 1997
Day Hall Board Room
12:15 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

I. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 12:30 p.m. by M.Overstrom.

II. Open Forum

a. Letter to Ithaca Journal -

M.Overstrom stated that William Wendt, Director of Transportation Services, wrote a letter to the Ithaca Journal in response to a letter complaining about a lack of parking on campus in the evening. There has been no response to W.Wendt’s letter to date. M.Overstrom asked for members’ opinions on the letter.

Members were concerned that there was not enough information to make a response. If possible, a copy of the original letter should be obtained. Also, it might be better to send the letter to W.Wendt instead of the newspaper, and send copies of the letter to other people on campus.

b. New Seats -

C.J.Lance-Duboscq asked which seat she is filling. M.Purvis stated that C.J.Lance-Duboscq will fill D.Walter’s seat and will have to run this spring for re-election. T.Hoebbel will fill D.Poland’s seat for a term ending in June 1999 and will not have to run for re-election.

c. EA Budget -

G.Brandt stated that he has written a proposal requesting that the EA have a member on the Budget Advisory Group. Also, the EA had previously discussed having a budget. There are approximately four meetings before the deadline for budgets. It would be helpful if each committee forms a few goals, determines the amount of money needed to accomplish those goals, and then forwards this to be placed on the budget.

d. EA Retreat -

The EA Retreat will be held on January 7, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Rita’s Bed and Breakfast. There will be one session with Susan Overton in the morning, and in the afternoon, there will be goal-setting activities with Jill Haselman.

III. Approval of Minutes

The minutes of December 3, 1997 were amended as follows: under Open Forum, it was noted that an employee had expressed the concerns about the Cornell Review, on page four, paragraph two, “in areas such as time” was deleted, and under CRC, “picnic” was changed to “Christmas.”

IV. Old Business

a. Open Forum -

M.Overstrom stated that there was a meeting yesterday with F.Rogers. F.Rogers stated that he would try to confirm that the President will attend the EA Open Forum. The tone of the forum will be preparing for change and the theme being discussed is “How Employees are Making Cornell Change for the Future?” Various topics will be discussed at this forum. F.Rogers suggested that there be a video throughout the first hour to show the items that are being discussed. For example, when the DSA is mentioned, the tape should show an actual award ceremony.

b. Frontline Feedback -

On January 28, the kickoff will be held for Frontline Feedback. The alumni from the Office Professionals Program will be invited. The location has not been set yet, but the committee is trying to get the Memorial Room. Afterwards, there should be meetings once a month between M.Opperman and office professionals, throughout campus.

V. Committee Reports

a. University Benefits Committee -

L.Clougherty reported that there was a meeting last week which went over the reasoning of health insurance policies. Employee contributions for single plans have been going up while employer contributions have either been increasing at a slower rate or decreasing. This is because the employer is suppose to pay 90% and the employee is to pay 10%. It had been that employees have been paying 9%.

Members expressed concerns that employees were not informed of these increases in time to make an informed change. C.Gardner stated that these changes are statewide, and that it might be useful to get in touch with others in the same situation in order to work together on this problem.

b. Faculty Senate -

M.Overstrom said that there was a long discussion over the Research Futures Task Force, but due to the snowstorm, they did not have quorum. Also, there are two candidates for the Dean of Faculty. However, a vote cannot be taken until there are three candidates.

c. Communications -

On last Monday, the DSA was held. There will be a reception held for all the nominees who did not win, along with those who nominated them. The committee is now working on the publicity for the Open Forum and maybe the hockey tournament. The committee is also working on the Employee Handbook.

d. Employee Education -

C.J.Lance-Duboscq has joined this committee.

e. PPC -

M.Overstrom has joined this committee. In January, there will be a meeting with M.Opperman.

f. CRC

T.Fraboni stated that there will be a meeting on Thursday, January 18 to discuss reimbursing people who went to the Buffalo game. The Park Development Committee has adjourned for the winter. There were goals set to refurbish the main building. The Campaign Development Committee is still working and is trying to see if there is a way to assess people a fee.

VI. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 1:31 p.m following a holiday dish-to-pass luncheon.