Employee Assembly Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, May 2, 2001
12:15 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Day Hall Boardroom

I. Call to Order and Introductions

D. Darby, Chair, called the meeting to order at 12:15 PM.

Attendance:

Present: Timothy Anguish, Deb Billups, Dawn Darby, Joseph DeMarco, Brian Goodell, Thomas Hoebbel, Dawne Martyniak, Marlene Reitz

Absent: Francisco Berry

Excused: Sharon Bahringer, Denise Howland, Cindy Monroe, Cheri Woodward

Others Present: Amy Bunce, Dennis Stein, Joe Shultz, Jonathan Ivers, Carol Bader, Gregory Pratt

II. Approval of Minutes

The EA approved the April 4, 2001 minutes as amended.

D. Darby entertained a motion to approve the minutes.

T. Hoebbel made the motion.

M. Reitz seconded it.

The EA approved the April 18, 2001 minutes as amended.

D. Darby entertained a motion to approve the minutes.

M. Reitz made the motion.

B. Goodell seconded it.

III. Old Business

D. Darby entertained a motion to suspend the agenda to make a few announcements that are not on the agenda.

B. Goodell made the motion.

J. DeMarco seconded it.

D. Darby asked if there was any discussion or objections. There were none.

J. Shultz passed around an updated paper on the New Employee Reception. The new employee reception is scheduled for June 14, 2001 from 4:00–6:00 p.m. He asked the EA members to look it over and give feedback. Also, if any EA member would like to join the committee or if they know of anybody who would like to join, please let him know. He then described the details of the event.

M. Reitz asked if it would be possible to extend the reply deadline to June 3rd instead of May 29th because a lot of people take a long Memorial Day weekend and it is around graduation time?

J. Shultz stated that he doesn’t see a problem with extending the date.

T. Hoebbel agreed with M. Reitz. He said that keeping the deadline of May 29th as the soft date and then send out a reminder to employees that haven’t responded to let them know they have to reply by June 3rd.

D. Stein stated that the 1,000 employee figure sounds just about right. He asked about the cost of the event if they plan to have this be an ongoing event?

J. Ivers said that maybe having a couple of smaller events would work.

M. Reitz asked if a letter could be sent to the supervisors letting them know that their new employee has been invited to the reception?

D. Darby asked if we know, out of the 1,000 employees, how many are new employees to Cornell or to a department?

B. Goodell asked if we know how many of the 1,000 new employees are still around?

T. Anguish questioned where the funding is coming from? If it is coming from the EA, then the EA needs to look at the budget this year.

J. Shultz said that they will have to put caps on the event or narrow it down.

D. Darby said that when employees are invited, would it be appropriate to only invite a certain number of people?

D. Stein asked what the purpose is of the reception is ?

B. Goodell asked if the committee was going to come up with an estimation of the cost and present it to the EA for approval?

J. Shultz stated that the EA has already approved the budget for this year’s event.

D. Stein suggested that maybe it should start out at the high end and go low on the second or vise versa.

D. Darby sees this as a University role and not just for the EA to sponsor.

T. Hoebbel suggested that it would be great to sort the transfer employees out and see what number is left.

D. Darby asked if there were any other questions or comments. There were none.

D. Darby entertained a motion to resume the agenda.

T. Hoebbel seconded it.

T. Hoebbel presented the EA with a revised resolution. He asked the members to review it and make any corrections.

The resolution reads as follows:

R. 6
Resolution to Encourage Cornell University to investigate how to best become involved with and further support Ithaca area schools.

WHEREAS: The Mission of the University states in part “Cornell is a research university that aims to serve society�,” and public schools are a large and critical aspect of society, and

WHEREAS: Cornell’s Mission states in part “As the land grant university of the State of New York, we apply the results of our endeavors in service to the community.” and

WHEREAS: It is in Cornell’s own self interest to be helping to improve local schools for staff/faculty recruitment and retention efforts, and

WHEREAS: A great many Cornell employees have children in the local schools, and

WHEREAS: These employees will have more peace of mind and thus workplace efficiency if their children are in good school situations, and

WHEREAS: All employees, being members of our local communities, benefit from having well educated citizens in their community and

WHEREAS:, Ithaca and other local schools are facing significant financial and staffing challenges, and

WHEREAS: There is no central office responsible for coordinating Cornell’s student, staff, and faculty support of or involvement with Ithaca area schools, therefore,

LET IT BE RESOLVED THAT: The University establish a task force to determine how Cornell can best uphold its mission and human resources needs in regard to local schools.

T. Miner asked if the Title and the Whereas clauses have been changed?

T. Hoebbel replied that the title has been changed to make it stronger, but it could be sent without a title.

B. Goodell said that he would rather amend the title to read as “Resolution to Encourage Cornell University to Establish a Taskforce on How to Best Become Involved with and Further Support Ithaca Area Schools.

D. Stein asked if they are trying to establish a taskforce or to have Cornell become a partner with area schools?

T. Hoebbel said Cornell should take it upon themselves to set up some sort of a vehicle for this to happen.

D. Billups recalled that there is a vehicle already set up through the cooperative extension that does just exactly that.

T. Miner said that yes, there is, but that was a specific grant through Human Ecology for one part of Ithaca.

G. Pratt said that the Public Service Center in Barnes also provides this support.

T. Hoebbel stated that he did contact them and was told that there is not sufficient funding or staffed to help out with this project. He would like to re-strike the title because the resolution speaks for itself.

J. DeMarco asked if anybody else would be doing resolutions in support of this resolution?

D. Darby asked if this is an inclusive statement for the employees?

T. Hoebbel said that it is to benefit all employees, because employees come from all over the counties.

T. Anguish questioned the last part of the let it be resolved, we need to be specific about who is running it, who will be on it. The goal is not clear.

T. Hoebbel suggested establishing a task force that is made up of students, staff, and faculty.

G. Pratt asked about students whose families are part of the community, but live in Pennsylvania. How will that affect it?

T. Miner asked if we would get more of an action if it said President or Provost in the resolution?

T. Hoebbel said how about let it be resolved that the president convenes a task force?

B. Goodell said a friendly amendment would be to drop “local schools” to just “schools”.

J. DeMarco called the question as to where we are?

T. Hoebbel said to change the local to area schools.

D. Darby entertained a motion to approve the resolution.

B. Goodell seconded it.

D. Darby asked if there were any discussions or objections. There were none.

D. Darby entertained a motion to go to the Emergency Grant Fund.

B. Goodell seconded it.

IV. Open Forum

D. Darby announced that Brian Goodell was the President Elect of local UAW 2300.

B. Goodell will be sworn in on May 17, 2001 and taking office on June 1, 2001. He will serve a three year term.

T. Hoebbel announced that he is running for a seat on the Ithaca City School District Board. He encouraged everyone to vote on the 15th.

G. Pratt stated that he would be singing with the Cornell Acappella group in Sage Chapel on Thursday, May 3, 2001 at 8:00 p.m.

D. Darby asked if there were any other items for open forum?

D. Stein said that D. Billups chaired this years “Bring Your Child to Work Day” and it was a huge success.

D. Billups stated that she wants to make sure that the Emergency Grant Fund recommendations get looked at today because the committee has worked very hard on them.

D. Darby agreed.

D. Darby asked for any discussion or objections. There were none.

V. Business of the Day

Emergency Grant Fund Recommendations

D. Billups asked if the members have had an opportunity to review the draft of the Emergency Grant Fund Recommendations? Since all members have not had a chance to read the forms, the committee will take any recommendations and present the final recommendations at the May 16th EA meeting. This will be a pilot program to see how it works for the first year.

D. Darby thanked the committee for all of their hard work.

B. Goodell also thanked the committee for their work.

T. Anguish asked about the flow chart. There needs to be verification that the recipient received the check.

B. Goodell asked what the deadline date is from start to finish of the application?

D. Billups stated 10 days.

T. Anguish asked if there is a standard amount of time for the check to be cashed or deposited?

D. Darby stated 90 days.

B. Goodell asked what the committee needs from the EA now?

D. Billups replied that feedback or suggestions are fine.

M. Reitz asked what happened with the income tax on the payments?

D. Billups stated that the grants are going through payroll and they are taxable income.

D. Darby asked if the committee is going to recommend an ad hoc or pilot committee be formed?

D. Billups said that it would be a pilot committee for the first year and then become a standing committee.

VI. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 1:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Amy Bunce