Employee Assembly Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, December 4, 2002
12:15 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Day Hall Board Room

I. Call to Order and Introductions

J. DeMarco, chair, called the meeting to order at 12:17 p.m.

T. Johnson introduced Brandi Smith, from the Johnson School as a guest to the EA meeting because she is interested in joining the Employee Assembly.

The EA members introduced themselves.

Attendance:

Present: Deb Billups, Christina Bucko, Joseph DeMarco, Donna Goss, Tammy Johnson, Patricia Mahoney, Gregory Pratt, Thomas Shelley, Mary Smallwood Churchill

Excused: Dawne Martyniak, Leti McNeill, Lisa Rose

Others Present: Dennis Stein, Hope Mandeville, Tammy Bishop, Brandi Smith

II. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

J. DeMarco asked if there were any items.

H. Mandeville said that Staff Report should be put on the agenda.

III. Approval of Minutes

G. Pratt made a motion to accept the minutes as amended.

P. Mahoney seconded it.

The EA unanimously approved the EA minutes.

IV. Report from the Chair

J. DeMarco met with the Employee Family Sports Saturday group which is going to be on February 1 this year. In the past it has been employee night at the court. The event will start off with the ladies gymnastics meet in Bartels Hall, the meal will be served after that in the Ramen Room. The second event will be the men’s wrestling meet and the new wrestling facility.

During the leadership meeting that was held on the 22nd, there was a discussion on the task force committees, there was also a discussion on slope day, the Judicial Administrator’s term limit was approved.

H. Mandeville said that there is a slope day committee, if any of the EA members were interested in expressing their concerns about slope day to the committee.

J. DeMarco said that from the faculty side, there was a concept about publishing books electronically. Once they are put on the web, who has access rights to them, etc. There will be a meeting about open access about electronic publishing on December 11.

J. DeMarco said that the executive board met on the 26th, they discussed the realignment of the EA seats. The committee reports will be discussed at every other meeting.

There was also a discussion on the “Architecture Art and Planning Staff Meeting”.

V. Open Forum

G. Pratt said that if a committee has something to report, please email it to T. Bishop or himself so that it can get attached to the minutes. If there is something to be voted on, send an email to T. Bishop or himself so that committee can be put on the agenda.

D. Billups reminded everybody that the 6th annual Holiday Celebration will take place on Tuesday, December 10 at noon, in the founders room at Anabel Taylor. She encouraged everybody to attend.

VI. Committee Reports

Staff Reports

H. Mandeville asked the EA to write a letter before the end of this semester letting the president know what the EA has been working on, etc.

VII. New Business

EA Seat Realignment

J. DeMarco sent out an email with options for the EA seat realignment, for the EA members to read and give feedback on the 4 different options.

The EA IOC met and collectively recommended the seat realignment the following: change the system to a referendum, that Employee Assembly seats be realigned in a configuration of 1 Geneva seat and 12 seats at-large. There will be no designation regarding exempt or non exempt.

G. Pratt gave a point of clarification, that the thinking behind the idea as he understood it, it was a difficult decision to make because, if you try to change the system, 20% of the population has to vote, so it has to go to the entire voting population.

T. Johnson also mentioned that the exempt and non-exempt was discussed.

J. DeMarco gave Brandi Smith, the new EA member, a brief description of what was being discussed.

M. Smallwood Churchill suggested sending out information on the seat realignment and have the responses go to the EA mailbox.

There was a discussion on the exempt and non-exempt representation on the EA.

H. Mandeville likes the idea of making it more reflecting.

C. Bucko feels that the EA members are there to represent all of the Cornell staff members.

H. Mandeville said that there are 2 statutory representatives on the EA and would like the EA to think about how to not have an uncontested seat this year.

D. Billups feels that the EA needs to move their monthly meetings, to be held in different locations through out campus.

H. Mandeville stated that this issue was brought up last year and it was hard getting the cooperation. A suggestion would be for, in the EA news and views, find out if there is anybody out there that would like to host an EA meeting.

There was more discussion on the statutory and endowment seats on the EA.

VIII. Adjournment

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

Respectfully submitted,
Amy Huizinga