Employee Assembly Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, May 16, 2001
12:15 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
163 Day Hall

I. Call to Order and Introductions

D. Darby, Chair, called the meeting to order at 12:20 p.m.

Attendance:

Present: Timothy Anguish, Sharon Bahringer, Francisco Berry, Deb Billups, Dawn Darby, Joseph DeMarco, Thomas Hoebbel, Dawne Martyniak, Cindy Monroe, Marlene Reitz (1/2)

Absent: Brian Goodell

Excused: Denise Howland, Cheri Woodward

Others Present: Carol Bader, Gregory Pratt, Patricia Mahoney, Dennis Stein, Michael Barry, Hope Mandeville, and Bonnie Bailey

D. Darby asked members to go around the table and let everyone know who they were and say a little about themselves.

D. Darby told members she has been at Cornell for 5 years and a member of the EA for 3 years. She said she works in Campus Life.

C. Bader told members she is new to the EA and works in Horticulture.

G. Pratt told members he is also a new EA member and he works for University Relations.

T. Anguish told members he works for Microbiology.

H. Mandeville told members she is the Director of the Office of the Assemblies.

S. Bahringer told members she has been with Cornell for 5 years and is with PDC, Mechanical Design.

B. Bailey told members she worked with the Office of the Assemblies.

F. Berry told members he worked with Human Resources.

P. Mahoney said she works in Geneva in the department of Horticulture.

D. Martyniak told members she works as an accounts representative in the Registrar’s Office.

D. Billups told members she works in Human Resources.

J. DeMarco told members he works in Environmental Health and Safety.

M. Barry told members he was a meeting observer and that he works in Campus Life, Community Development.

D. Darby interjected that she had told M. Berry about the EA vacancies and he has submitted an application to join the EA.

T. Hoebbel said he has been with the EA for 4 years and works in University Photography.

D. Darby thanked everyone for being at the meeting. She expressed special thanks to P. Mahoney for making it to campus for this EA meeting all the way from Geneva.

II. Approval of Minutes

D. Darby entertained a motion to approve the May 2, 2001 EA minutes.

T. Anguish made the motion to approve the minutes and D. Martyniak seconded it.

The May 2, 2001 EA minutes were approved as submitted.

III. Open Forum

J. DeMarco said he would like the EA to do something special for Amy Bunce, Office of the Assemblies, for the support she has provided to the EA. He told members that A. Bunce has just gotten married and was currently on her honeymoon. He suggested getting her a gift certificate.

S. Bahringer suggested getting a gift certificate from Pyramid Mall.

T. Hoebbel asked where the money would come from.

J. DeMarco replied that it could be taken from the EA Budget.

D. Martyniak said that Cornell restrictions are such that money for this type of thing should not be taken from the EA budget. Instead, a collection would be more appropriate. She agreed to be responsible for collecting money from the EA members and would get a gift certificate from Pyramid Mall.

T. Hoebbel remarked there was really no room on the agenda to discuss the e-mails that EA members have been sending recently.

G. Pratt commented that he felt it appropriate to discuss e-mail traffic.

D. Darby suggested that this topic not be discussed under open forum, but instead to address it in the Report to the Chair portion of the meeting.

IV. Report from Chair

D. Darby distributed a statement to those assembled and then read it aloud. It read:

The highest level of respect that we can give each other as volunteers is to be prepared, responsible for our actions, and to bimonthly, increase our awareness of the issues brought before us. We should also be aware that a vote of abstention is neither a vote against nor is it a vote in favor of a motion. The only individual voice and/or power we have within the EA, is via exercising our single vote, this is our only individual way to state, for the record, our position on what ultimately becomes a collective EA decision.

It is human to make mistakes, it is with personal accountability that we can acknowledge and proactively learn from them. The EA has procedures which allow each person, one vote and each person an opportunity to be effective in shaping that vote. When disagreements or mistakes happen, we should try to use the established procedures to move forward, this is our duty as elected representatives. To express our opinions with out applicable solutions or without using the EA process hurts us all.

D. Darby told members she wanted to say this officially. She doesn’t want personal attacks and she hopes the EA can work on this at their June Retreat. She repeated that she felt it the duty of each EA member to be prepared. It is their duty to be informed and they should be prepared to vote. She would like proactive use of procedures. She noted that if the EA minutes do not state that something happened or what was said, that it is not on the official record.

D. Darby said she would entertain comments and suggestions from the group about this. At the same time, she distributed a second handout to those assembled. She noted that this had been given to members at an earlier time, however she accidentally left something off the document and this was the revision. The document read:

What the Employee Assembly Did Together This Year:

√ We finalized our budget, which is actually a first.
√ We made the unprecedented step to invite an internationally known scholar to address Cornell staff during staff celebration week, which garnered financial support and interest of students, faculty and administrators.
√ We magically pulled off an amazing President’s address.
√ We have, through the relentless efforts of Frontline Feedback, managed to reach out and engage in face to face, meaningful dialogue with over 750 Office professionals.
√ We were given seed money $25,000 for an emergency grant fund and are ready to launch.
√ We now have a Geneva representative filling the Geneva seat thanks to FF and the president’s address!
√ We have successfully passed 3 Resolutions!
√ We have brought employees to the honorable status of being mentioned in the President’s speeches to non-staff audiences.
√ We have overall raised the standards and expectations of the university on behalf of employees in the areas of orientation for new employees, peer appreciation and participated through committee and through personal appearances in the Welcome to Cornell Video which was also premiered at our sponsored President’s address.

H. Mandeville mentioned that she had forgotten to bring an item up during open forum regarding the Tuesday lunch with Hank Dullea and Mary Opperman and would quickly like to hear from the EA on this topic. She said that H. Dullea had asked for the agenda.

D. Darby replied that she wished to discuss the documents she just handed out and that she would not entertain a change of topic. She told members this was their opportunity to openly discuss their concerns as a follow-up to the recent e-mails.

G. Pratt began by saying that he sees that this topic, the Coalition for a Living Wage, is near to everyone’s heart. He expressed concern with how the e-mail discussions have evolved and felt they were getting personal. He wished to make two points:

1. He felt it very important that all meetings remain open to everyone. This helps ensure visible accountability to the constituents, especially when voting.
2. He felt it important that business conducted by the EA be respectful in nature.

T. Hoebbel complimented G. Pratt on his remarks. T. Hoebbel wished to defend criticisms brought to his attention from the e-mails. He noted that he respects the issue some members have raised about feeling rushed or uncomfortable with the voting process used when the EA joined the Coalition for a Living Wage. However, he stated he does not understand those feelings. He said members were told in advance that extra guests would be invited to address the topic of a living wage. He didn’t feel the EA members should have been worried that those guests were present when voting took place. He said, addressing the concern some expressed about feeling rushed to vote, that he took a straw poll at the meeting specifically asking members if they should vote on the issue that day and the majority said yes. He said that this topic has been in the background for quite awhile and that D. Stein, Pawprint Editor, had asked him to postpone this and it was postponed. T. Hoebbel said he does not feel this issue was any attempt to sneak anything past administrators. He felt that the EA joining the Coalition need not be a divisive issue with administrators and hoped they could work collaboratively. He concluded that he thinks all of the concerns EA members brought forth address the process used for joining the Coalition, however he believes the real issue people have may actually be in response to concerns they have about how administration views this.

D. Darby informed members that she had met with M. Opperman. She summarized much of what T. Hoebbel had said, saying that T. Hoebbel did take a straw poll asking if members wished to vote. She repeated that a clear majority indicated their willingness to vote on the topic that day. She wondered how much of the belated concern expressed by EA members was in response to their constituents concerns versus administrators concerns.

G. Pratt stated that he agreed with T. Hoebbel and it is the job of the EA to represent Cornell staff. He felt that those who voted did not have any malice or intent to needle Human Resources. He believes the intent was good. He said he read M. Opperman’s letter and it stated that this vote would not hurt relations between the EA and Human Resources. He felt this would be a good opportunity to clarify the intent and clarify what the EA would like relations between the EA and Human Resources to be. He thought they could work things out collectively.

D. Martyniak explained that this decision affects all the staff. She reported she did talk with constituents and they did not feel that joining the Coalition was the best direction for the EA to take.

F. Berry told members he thinks he is the person who started the e-mails. He didn’t think the vote was rushed maliciously, however he does not believe EA members fully considered the possible negative impact joining the Coalition might have. He said, for example, if the University sees itself forced to raise wages too quickly that it may result in layoffs or the hiring of more temporary workers. He repeated that he thought the vote wasn’t thought through. He suggested to the group that M. Opperman might have been able to provide valuable information and that wasn’t tapped. He also apologized if his e-mails hurt any feelings.

D. Stein told the group he has been with the EA for almost 8 years. He wished to clarify that his role as an ex-officio member is to help raise awareness, not to steer the EA in any particular direction. He said he has seen a lot in that time and his observation has been that the EA has done best when it works with the administration. He noted that this vote might be the first that could possibly damage those relations as there might be a perception that the EA and administration are working at cross-purposes. He said he respects each member to dissect issues brought before them and consider ramifications. He ended by saying that his role is to bring a different perspective for the group to consider and not to browbeat members to agree to a different point. He felt this decision may not have been collaborative.

D. Darby told members that when she spoke with M. Opperman after the last meeting that M. Opperman acknowledged that she felt personally upset about the vote. She felt it was a vote of no confidence in administration by the EA. However, M. Opperman stated that she thought about it and realized that the EA did not mean it that way. The EA acted on the information it was given at that time. D. Darby reminded members that they do have the power to table issues if they do not feel ready to act on them. She also stated that the EA has not yet done anything with the Coalition. She asked members to work within the EA’s structure and stated they need to figure out a way to bring concerns to the EA table. She said the EA acted in good faith on the information made available to them. She remarked that this one decision should not overshadow all the other good work done by the EA this year. She stated that she does value the EA relationship with the administration. She concluded that if EA members bring concerns to her that she could act on them.

J. DeMarco stated that they need to figure out a better method to communicate. This was not a black and white issue. He stated that the Coalition is asking for a faster timetable for wage increases than Cornell has committed to. However, he felt that if one isn’t part of an organization that it is harder to affect how they act. By joining the coalition, they are on the inside. If they’d stayed outside it would be harder to influence the Coalition.

T. Hoebbel agreed. He reiterated that the EA joining the Coalition would hopefully allow them to shape the direction the Coalition takes. He stated he didn’t understand why the EA disassociating itself from the Coalition would be helpful.

D. Darby stated that she would prefer that the discussion not focus on the for or against aspects of joining the Coalition. Instead, she would like members to focus on communications and responsibilities.

G. Pratt stated that he agreed with J. DeMarco. He felt this was a good exercise in clarity and an opportunity for the EA to take a position. He commented that there could also have been negative political perceptions if the EA had voted against the Coalition because staff would wonder why the EA would not support a livable wage.

H. Mandeville asked T. Hoebbel what he felt should be done about the e-mails.

T. Hoebbel replied that he felt it appropriate to discuss things that occur on the EA by using e-mail, especially if it was an agenda item. He commented that the agendas are packed with items to cover and there wasn’t enough time to get into everything in depth during the allotted meeting times.

D. Darby proposed a solution to the EA. She stated that she would like the EA to look into having an electronic bulletin board or newsgroup. She elaborated that they both work to allow people to post messages that other people could easily access. Individual messages would not go to people and would therefore eliminate the problem of too much e-mail. People could check the posted subject lines and choose to read or not read the messages they were interested in.

T. Anguish stated he did not perceive the e-mails as personal. He felt they were an extension of the meeting. He said he was uncomfortable with the general policy of voting on issues the very day the issue is brought to the EA. He suggested holding a private conversation or meeting at a later time when the EA is faced with this type of thing.

T. Hoebbel stated that he believed it in the rules that the EA must hold public meetings.

T. Anguish repeated that he would like to think about an issue before having to vote on it.

M. Reitz interjected that the EA does have to have open meetings.

T. Hoebbel repeated that he did take a straw poll the day of the vote asking members if they wanted to vote. The majority said they did.

M. Reitz mentioned that she thought one problem might be that the EA agendas are so packed. She thought the Coalition had appeared on previous agendas, but thought the EA didn’t actually get to discuss the issue because they ran out of time.

D. Stein wished to make three points.

1. He wanted to make his role at these meetings clear to the EA. He stated he is not present as M. Opperman’s representative; he is here as the Pawprint Editor. He acknowledged he does relay information to M. Opperman, but he is a clear employee advocate.
2. He suggested that the EA move on in their agenda due to the time.
3. He said that the EA meets twice per month and suggested that perhaps they’d find it helpful to designate one meeting each month a non-voting, information gathering meeting, and designate the other meeting as the voting meeting. He proposed this idea to the EA as a way of addressing some of the concerns mentioned earlier.

D. Darby said she would to go around the table and have members indicate if they felt this issue has reached closure. She suggested using a thumbs-up sign for “yes”, thumbs-down sign for “no” and a so-so response if they had mixed feelings.

Timothy Anguish	mixed feelings
Sharon Bahringer	mixed feelings
Francisco Berry	mixed feelings
Deb Billups	mixed feelings
Dawn Darby	thumbs-up
Joseph DeMarco	thumbs-up
Brian Goodell	not present
Thomas Hoebbel	mixed feelings
Denise Howland	not present
Dawne Martyniak	mixed feelings
Cindy Monroe	thumbs-up
Marlene Reitz	not present
Cheri Woodward	not present

D. Darby expressed that she was glad they discussed this issue today.

V. Business of the Day

Emergency Grant Fund Recommendations

D. Billups told members she had e-mailed them with the final application procedures for the Employee Assembly Grant Fund. She distributed revised handouts related to this and also provided a flowchart to members. She wanted to publicly thank D. Martyniak, C. Monroe, S. Bahringer, D. Stein, T. Hoebbel, and C. Woodward who have been working so hard on this since January. She also thanked D. Darby, S. Johnson, and M. Esposito as having done work early on the process and she expressed appreciation to them all. She summarized that the committee met last week and made the recommended changes to the documents.

D. Billups made a motion for the EA to accept the EA Emergency Grant Fund and establish a permanent review committee.

T. Hoebbel seconded the motion.

D. Darby asked if there were any objections. No objections were raised. The motion to accept the EA Emergency Grant Fund and establish a permanent review committee was approved by acclamation.

EA Retreat

D. Darby drew attention to the EA Retreat Agenda that was distributed to members at the beginning of the meeting. She asked S. Bahringer, a member of the retreat planning committee, if there was anything the group should be made aware of.

S. Bahringer told members that they were renting a van and B. Goodell would be driving members to George Peter’s house for the retreat.

A member asked what the Community Service Project was about.

D. Stein told members that he has made contact with several non-profit agencies. He estimated that members would spend between 45 minutes to an hour doing community service work. He said feedback he’d received indicated people preferred to do outside work. He’s checking to see what types of work might be needed.

T. Hoebbel asked if D.Stein had already contacted places. He suggested contacting the Drop-In Children’s Agency.

D. Stein was in favor of that suggestion.

VI. Old Business

Outreach Committee-Receptions

D. Darby made a motion to table the “Outreach Committee-Receptions” and the “EA Letter in Response to President’s Letter concerning participation” topics.

J. DeMarco seconded the motion.

H. Mandeville asked to speak about the new employee reception.

D. Darby replied that they would next discuss the EA Budget.

J. D. Marco asked when the next EA meeting was scheduled.

D. Darby wondered if the EA should hold a special meeting. She asked H. Mandeville if the Office of the Assemblies has been inviting people to the New Employee Reception.

H. Mandeville replied there were still questions related to the funding that needed to be addressed before things could move forward.

D. Darby responded that the question was who would be invited.

D. Stein said he was told that 539 employees would be targeted.

D. Darby said there was a thought to take the first 150 people to pilot the reception and then make recommendations to the EA. She acknowledged there wasn’t enough money in the budget to pay for a reception for 500 people.

H. Mandeville suggested that somebody from the EA attend one of the reception planning meetings.

T. Hoebbel made a motion to authorize the EA members attending the Outreach Committee meeting to make a final decision with the reception planning committee so this reception could happen by June.

No one seconded the motion.

T. Hoebbel made a motion to have all the EA members attend the next reception planning committee.

No one seconded the motion.

T. Hoebbel made a motion to table this topic.

No one seconded the motion.

D. Darby stated they would discuss this topic.

D. Stein stated it was critical to have EA members present at the planning meetings.

D. Martyniak asserted that the funds for the reception were not approved for the 2000–01 year. Therefore, holding the reception this year would put the account negative since it wasn’t budgeted.

H. Mandeville felt it important for the EA to decide at what level they would participate.

D. Darby wanted to know how much money was left in the budget.

Various members spoke at once adding comments and correcting one another regarding what would be left in the budget.

D. Stein spoke during a lull and mentioned that the employee graduate reception was pending and he felt the EA should contribute money for this. He elaborated that the Office of the Assemblies used to contribute money toward the bill, but that was before the EA had their own budget. He felt it appropriate for the EA to assume responsibility for this now.

D. Darby asked what was allocated from the EA budget for the employee graduate reception.

D. Stein answered that he didn’t think any money had been allocated.

D. Billups said that she thought $500.00 was allocated for the employee graduate reception.

D. Darby stated that she felt that was reasonable.

EA Budget

This topic blended into the Outreach Committee-Receptions portion of the meeting and SEED event portion of the meeting.

EA Letter in Response to President’s Letter Concerning Participation

This topic was tabled for this meeting.

VII. New Business

SEED Event

D. Darby told members that D. Howland had requested money for the SEED event. She added that the timing was a bit difficult as the Office of the Assemblies is closed over the summer and preparations must be done before that happens if the EA chooses to fund it.

J. DeMarco asked what was requested.

D. Darby replied that a booth has been requested. She wanted to know if the EA wanted to do this. If yes, volunteers are needed to work the booth and decision needed to be made before the Office of the Assemblies closes.

H. Mandeville asked when the SEED event would take place.

D. Stein answered July 18, 2001.

D. Darby stated this was a good outreach opportunity for the EA. Money would be used for bottled water and something like candy. Printing costs would be added as well. They are asking for $200.00 to do this.

T. Hoebbel asked if this was already included with next year’s budget.

A member replied that it was.

D. Darby asked for volunteers to help man the booth.

D. Martyniak volunteered.

H. Mandeville suggested asking D. Howland to query the EA for additional volunteers.

EA Vacancies

D. Darby announced that D. Howland and F. Berry would be resigning their seats on the EA, effective June 1, 2001.

Election of Officers

It was noticed that this item belonged on the agenda for the EA organizational meeting that was scheduled to take place immediately following this meeting. New members and members who would be continuing their term into next year were asked to stay for this next meeting for officer elections.

VIII. Committee Reports

Committee reporting was not discussed.

IX. Adjournment

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

Respectfully submitted,
Bonnie Bailey, Office of the Assemblies