Employee Assembly Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, January 17, 2001
11:45 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
163 Day Hall

I. Call to Order and Introductions

D. Darby, Chair, called the meeting to order at 11:55 am.

Attendance:

Present: Timothy Anguish, Sharon Bahringer, Francisco Berry, Deb Billups, Dawn Darby, Joseph DeMarco, Thomas Hoebbel, Dawne Martyniak, Cindy Monroe, Cheri Woodward

Excused: Brian Goodell, Denise Howland, Marlene Reitz

Others Present: Greg Pratt, Hope Mandeville, and Amy Bunce

II. Approval of Minutes

J. DeMarco stated that on the last page of the December 6th, 2000 minutes, the last sentence that says, “D. Howland updated the assembly that Trudie is retiring and has been coming to PawPrint board meetings�She’s doing well” should read “J. DeMarco updated the assembly….”

D. Darby stated that she needed clarification on the first page under approval of minutes; it should say, “D. Darby made a motion to entertain a motion.”

D. Darby stated that under business of the day, the last sentence that says, “there were no objections and it passed” should delete the ending phrase of “and it passed”.

D. Darby entertained a motion to approve the December 6th minutes as amended.

J. DeMarco made a motion and C. Woodward seconded it.

The motion passed and the December 6th, 2000 Employee Assembly minutes were approved as amended.

D. Darby stated that the December 20th minutes under business of the day, the sixth sentence that says, “D. Darby said that Hank Dullea has a committee that could help out”, is inaccurate. It should say, “D. Darby said that this is something that could be talked about at the leadership meeting”.

D. Darby stated that under Resolution on EA Participation, the seventh paragraph that says, “ D. Darby feels that interference with their supervisor, is deed in certain cases”, does not make any sense and should be deleted. Also, on page 5 it says “D. Darby will write a letter and sent it to President Rawlings”, should be corrected to say “send”.

D. Darby stated that on page 6 under old business, under employee relief fund, it says, “this committee will need recommendations”. It should say, “this committee will need to make recommendations”.

D. Darby stated that on page 8, under report from chair, the second paragraph says, “D. Darby stated that 3 of the standing committees are under staffed, 1 seat on the PPC, 2 seats on EEC and 2 seats on the EASC according to the minutes”. It should read “EAFC”.

D. Darby entertained a motion to approve the December 20th minutes as amended.

J. DeMarco made a motion and D. Martyniak seconded it.

The motion passed and the December 20, 2000 Employee Assembly minutes were approved as amended.

D. Darby stated that on page 4 under EA Budget of the January 3rd minutes, it says “ T. Hoebbel stated that the EA has to formally give”, but should read “T. Hoebbel asked if the EA has to formally give”.

D. Darby entertained a motion to approve the January 3 minutes as amended.

T. Anguish made a motion and D. Billups seconded it.

The motion passed and the January 3, 2001 Employee Assembly minutes were approved as amended.

III. Open Forum

J. DeMarco reminded everyone that Saturday is Employee Night at the Court. More EA members are needed to volunteer. Dinner will be served from 4:30 pm — 7:00 pm. There will be a special drawing at half-time for volunteers to win 2 nights at a bed and breakfast.

H. Mandeville spoke with Mike Kimberly in reference to Article 2 of the June 2000 EA Charter. He sees no problems with it as written.

IV. Business of the Day

Employee Relief Fund

T. Hoebbel stated that no resolution is necessary. He is recommending that the EA think about establishing a committee.

D. Darby asked for questions or comments.

T. Anguish asked if this is the final copy. He stated that after reading the document a couple of times, on the catastrophe/disaster examples, “include but are not limited to” should be added.

D. Darby stated that she thought the EA would vote today to accept the recommendations. This would mean that a committee would need to be formed and would work to develop language that would go into the Charter.

D. Billups agreed that she thought that the EA was going to vote to accept the recommendations and form a committee.

T. Hoebbel said that there are a couple of ways to look at it; the EA can vote on the whole piece or just the recommendations.

Greg Pratt said that under committee responsibilities, he questions if the applications are for regional use? Are there other agencies or help-group organizations that also compile the same information?

D. Darby has the same questions.

D. Billups stated that D. Stein has met with Linda Starr, Senior Consultant and Coordinator of EAP, and she is very enthusiastic about the proposal. One of her concerns is whether or not there will be an appeals process.

H. Mandeville said that an appeal could be on the basis of new information or discrimination.

G. Pratt mentioned maintaining a file with information on other resources.

D. Darby asked what is this committee’s main recommendation today? What would they like the EA to approve today?

T. Hoebbel said that there is an article that is going into PawPrint. He asked the EA to read the article and make any recommendations.

T. Hoebbel made a motion that the EA approve page two of the recommendations (under responsibilities) today.

J DeMarco seconded it.

T. Hoebbel asked if there are any EA members that would be willing to work on this?

A committee was formed that includes D. Billups, C. Woodward, D. Martyniak, and B. Goodell.

The motion passed.

T. Hoebbel made a motion to establish a one time ad-hoc committee to approve the $1,000 application that they have already received from an employee.

C. Woodward seconded it.

G. Pratt questioned the confidentiality and doesn’t agree with printing the specific information about the case in the PawPrint article.

T. Anguish said that we shouldn’t rush through and approve the case before everything is set up and ready to go.

G. Pratt asked if the recipient could wait until April 1st?

T. Anguish asked if we can accept applications and proceed after April 1st?

J. DeMarco stated that the money is there and this case should not wait until April 1st.

D. Darby stated that this fund is not the only source of money. The case needs to be looked into.

F. Berry said that if a committee is going to be made to review this application, then the committee should review all of the applications up until April 1 for consistency.

T. Hoebbel said that insurance companies take awhile to fund money, so this is an even better reason to act now for this individual.

D. Darby said that cases do need to be looked at carefully.

T, Anguish’s biggest concern is that the EA shouldn’t rush through things. The cases can’t be approved until everything is in place and ready to go.

J. DeMarco said that the ad-hoc committee has spent a lot of time putting this together.

T. Hoebbel made a motion to have the ad-hoc committee approve this specific case and receive and review applications from now until April 1st.

J. DeMarco seconded it.

The motion passed unanimously.

F. Berry made a motion to suspend the agenda.

T. Hoebbel seconded it.

F. Berry passed out a memorandum from Lynette Chappell-Williams on the University Staff Diversity Project asking the EA members for help. Any interested EA member should contact him if they would like to help out.

T. Hoebbel made a motion to assume the agenda.

D. Martyniak seconded it.

Revised Resolution on EA Participation

T. Hoebbel made a motion for the EA to strike R. 1 because the resolution has been revised.

C. Woodward seconded it.

T. Hoebbel made a motion to pass R. 3.

C. Woodward seconded it.

As unanimously approved by the EA on January 17, 2001, the resolution reads as follows:

R. 3 Resolution for Employees to be Allowed to Participate When Elected to the Employee Assembly.

WHEREAS: Employees are elected through an authorized University election, to serve on official University Committees and Assemblies, and

WHEREAS: The Office of Human Resources Policy 6.10.8 states as it’s purpose: Release time provides time off with pay during an employee’s regularly scheduled working hours to serve on official University Committees and the University encourages employees to serve on University committees whenever possible, and

WHEREAS: The University recognizes that certain activities can take place only during working hours even though Policy 6.10.8 states that: Participating Employees are encouraged to schedule non-job-related committee activities during non-working hours when participation is not restricted by job responsibilities, and

WHEREAS: It is mandatory that an employee who is elected to serve on the Employee Assembly, and any committees that come with this responsibility, consistently attend and participate during regularly scheduled Employee Assembly and Committee meetings, and

WHEREAS: Release time from work is vital to the successful contribution on the part of the elected and/or appointed Employee Assembly member, and

LET IT BE RESOLVED THAT: Any employee elected and/or appointed to serve on the Employee Assembly be allowed to do so.

LET IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED THAT: The University may designate an employee as exempt from this provision if the nature of the employee’s absence could create hazard or unduly disrupt University business, and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED THAT: The Supervisor of any employee elected to serve on the Employee Assembly, fully support and enforce The Release Time For Work Policy and grant time off without any retaliation.

Respectfully Submitted,

Brian Goodell
Employee Assembly

V. Old Business

EA Budget and Proposal

F. Berry stated that at the last meeting he asked if there was a limit?

D. Darby stated that yes, there is a reasonable limit.

D. Martyniak explained that the expenses have been reviewed, and that the expenses have been itemized for better explanation. She asked for any comments or questions. There were none. The proposed expense was less than the budget amount to leave enough of a cushion to cover any unexpected expenses.

D. Darby said that a Finance Committee needs to be formed. The EA members need to go back to their committees and encourage some non-EA members to join the Finance Committee.

T. Hoebbel made a motion to adjourn the meeting.

J. DeMarco said that EA elections are coming up. Six of the current EA members’ terms are ending. There are 2 information sessions set up before the next 2 EA meetings for members to answer questions that employees might have regarding joining the EA.

H. Mandeville reminded EA members about the EA luncheon on January 23. She said that A. Bunce would be sending an email asking for RSVP’s.

J. DeMarco suggested that the EA call a special meeting for January 31 because the EA isn’t scheduled to meet again until February 7 and there are issues to discuss.

T. Hoebbel made a motion to have a one-hour EA meeting on January 31.

T. Hoebbel asked for members to be on the ad-hoc committee to consider approving the $1,000 request. Members who agreed to be part of the ad-hoc committee will include Tom, Deb, Cheri, Cindy, Sharon, and Dawne.

T. Anguish spoke to D. Stein about the election articles that are going into PawPrint. Any ideas or contributions should be directed to D. Stein.

T. Hoebbel made a motion to adjourn the meeting and it was seconded.

VI. New Business

VII. Report from Chair

No report was submitted.

VIII. The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Amy Bunce