Employee Assembly
Minutes
Board Room, Day Hall
October 1, 2003
12:15p.m. — 1:30p.m.

Attendance

Present: Deb Billups, Donna Goss, Joseph DeMarco, Pamela Dusseau, Patricia Haugen, Patricia Mahoney, Stephanie McConnell, Mary Smallwood Churchill, Brandi Smith

Excused: Tammy Johnson, Dawne Martyniak, Lisa Rose

Unexcused:

Others present: T. Bishop, M. Esposito

I) CALL TO ORDER

D. Goss called the meeting to order at 12:15p.m.

A. Call for late additions to the agenda
J. DeMarco read a letter from President Lehmann in regards to the year end summary and proposed charter changes.

S. McConnell recommended keeping discussion to things on the agenda because last time the group kept running over on time.

II) APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Due to technical difficulties, T. Bishop wasn’t able to distribute the minutes out to everybody on time. D. Goss asked people to make changes to the minutes and then email changes to T. Bishop.

III) UNFINISHED BUSINESS

A. Discussion of how EA members bring concerns of constituents to the EA
M. Smallwood Churchill asked the group how were they receiving information from their constituents. She said the question is how to meet with constituents in order to fully represent them. She hasn’t noticed many problems being brought to meetings from the constituents and wants to have more contact with them. She gave suggestions on how to solve this problem: 1) having meetings with constituents i.e. an open lunch once a month 2) print a synopsis of meetings in the Paw Print 3) Talk about what to do with information/concerns brought to the meetings.

B. Smith said we’re not representative so we don’t know how to address the problem.

D. Goss talked about the luncheon idea.

P. Dusseau suggested maybe emailing constituents to introduce ourselves and invite them to the meeting.

S. McConnell expressed concern about the size of her constituency, because it is enormous.

P. Dusseau said we shouldn’t ignore their constituency just because it is too large.

S. McConnell said we need to be creative in how to reach them.

D. Goss said perhaps its possible to have an ad hoc committee to look at how to address this issue.

P. Haugen suggested discussing this at the re-grouping meeting.

M. Smallwood Churchill said maybe they can use the Paw Print flash.

D. Billups said they should use other avenues, i.e. columns in the paper.

B. Smith said when she attended her first EA meeting, she was lost and she can’t imagine people knowing what the EA is talking about simply by sitting in on one meeting.

J. DeMarco said they need to look for other ways to reach out. We need to reach out to casual visitors. The directory needs to be updated. He asked how much would it cost to send the directory to everybody?

S. McConnell said we need to spend money to reach people.

T. Bishop reminded them that the website will be redone this year.

P. Mahoney said that Geneva has a printing center and we could probably get a discount rate. We could probably find people to stuff and fold as well.

P. Haugen motioned to create a committee to present at the re-grouping meeting a plan to do this.

The motion was unanimously approved.

D. Goss recommended M. Smallwood Churchill be the head of the committee.

B. Education Committee Status D. Goss said she was thinking about education in a different way and thinking of it being more in the direction of what the EA does.

P. Dusseau asked how is the education committee different from the communications committee?

P. Haugen said the difference would be the content versus implementation.

D. Billups said the people on the education committee won’t be interested in a new focus.

S. McConnell said nothing is being accomplished by that committee.

P. Dusseau said she is still trying to figure out what the EA does and we need to send out a message about what we do. Maybe they can educate employees and use that as a focus.

It was determined by the group that this conversation was moot because it was “putting the cart before the horse.”

C. Partnering with other organizations - CRC

D. ComCom expenditure
P. Haugen said they had a very productive meeting. They discussed creating an introduction packet instead of handing out mugs. In the packet would be fliers about all the assemblies. They would also include coupons from the plantations, dairy store, and the Statler club. They would also include a Paw Print, a schedule of EA meetings, and then contact the constituents with a follow up email from the Office of Assemblies. At the meeting they also discussed talking to HR reps about a mentoring program. They also discussed re-doing the GPAD nomination form. There will be an award in November and in December. There will be a limited expenditure, but she’s not sure how much.

IV) REPORT FROM THE CHAIR

A. Schedule EA “re-grouping” meeting
D. Goss said the re-grouping meeting would be all the committee chairs and executive officers meeting to re-organize and talk about committee charges and membership. Letters need to be signed by her and T. Johnson to go out to the new members also.

P. Haugen said she thought the meeting would be for the entire assembly to talk about goals.

S. McConnell said the EA needs to meet before going to the meeting.

D. Goss said she thought they could be 2 separate meetings.

M. Smallwood Churchill said there needs to be an addendum here since it’s not really re-grouping, it is more like a retreat since the EA did not hold its organizational meeting or its post-election meeting to set up the 2003/2004 calendar, by-laws and goals.

D. Goss clarified that the 2 meetings would then be a regrouping meeting and an organizational meeting?

P. Haugen suggested they combine the 2.

T. Bishop said one chair isn’t on the EA and probably wouldn’t want to sit in on the EA meeting.

P. Haugen said she is concerned with the number of meetings they have to attend.

M. Smallwood Churchill said the EA retreat occurred last year but it is crucial to determine now what the EA will do. They need an EA meeting just with EA members and possibly on the same day as the retreat.

D. Goss asked the group if they want 2 small meetings or 1 large meeting? She is thinking about taking the luncheon time to have the meeting.

There was a general agreement to do that. The group also decided for the executive group to meet first, and then the rest of the EA members would join later.

P. Dusseau suggested they flip flop that suggestion, and have the EA meet before the executives.

P. Haugen motioned to take the EA or luncheon meeting and have it soon, extend the meeting time to 3 hours, and have the EA meet with the rest of the committees joining later.

The motion was 2nded.

D. Goss suggested the meeting be on October 22, whereas the EA will meet from 11:00–1:00, and then the chairs and executive officers will meet 1:00–2:00.

B. Ad Hoc Committees

C. HR meetings with EA
D. Goss said that in regards to inviting HR reps, M. Smallwood Churchill said at the last meeting that she is talking to HR reps on outreach, and maybe apply that campus wide. She asked M. Smallwood Churchill to incorporate that into the charges of her committee.

P. Mahoney asked why did we pick HR people?

D. Goss said that HR people are attuned to the climate of their environment.

P. Mahoney said she’s not sure how much of a voice HR can be for some departments because they are not aware as much anymore due to streamlining.

S. McConnell said using HR is a good place to start because they can identify who has a finger on the pulse.

D. Goss proposed for M. Smallwood Churchill’s team to come back on October 22 with a plan/suggestions on how to reach out.

D. Rotating EA meetings
D. Goss said she wanted to hear feedback about this.

J. DeMarco said it really hasn’t drawn people to meetings.

B. Smith said their meetings aren’t structured for outsiders to participate.

D. Billuips said it is important for outreach. We need to do a better job at marketing and making a connection. She suggested opening a section designed to hear from constituents central to the location of the meeting.

J. DeMarco said the most successful meetings are ones dealing with specific issues, i.e. AA&P dissolution.

P. Haugen said we should do research to design meetings around issues that need addressing.

P. Mahoney said we should put open mic first in meetings.

P. Haugen said we can create an ad hoc committee to develop a plan for rotating meetings.

D. Billups said this all goes back to outreach.

S. McConnell said it is important to have a meeting to get a clear idea of goals and needs.

P. Haugen said smaller groups meet and report at the meeting on October 22. If everything overlaps, that’s a good thing. There is lots of redundancy but bringing information is the intent to meetings.

D. Goss said she wants to clarify the roles on the EA.

E. Strategy to increase participation with EA member ideas J. DeMarco encouraged the EA to try to work Employee Day into their schedule and said we should make a presence and figure out how to increase visibility. He showed a t-shirt that he found that advertised the EA. October 11th is Employee Day.

T. Bishop reminded the group that President Lehman’s inauguration is on the 16th and it is important for employees to be there.

F. Charter Review

G. Tom Shelley
J. DeMarco said that an email was sent out informing that Tom had been diagnosed with a form of lymphoma. A card was sent around the group to be signed for Tom.

V) COMMITTEE REPORTS

A. Review of EA committee obligations
S. McConnell asked if we could get a list of committee members before the meeting? T. Bishop asked the group to not contact people yet.

D. Goss said she will distribute the papers amongst the chairs. There are vacancies that need to be filled, should we wait until the regroup meeting?

T. Bishop said some vacancies need to be filled now.

P. Haugen motioned to find someone to nominate and then forward it to T. Bishop.

M. Smallwood Churchill 2nded the motion.

P. Dusseau asked if we could nominate ourselves?

D. Goss said yes.

T. Bishop said she will email everybody a list of vacancies that need to be filled.

VI) OPEN FORUM

D. Goss said that T. Johnson has received an application from Tim Anderson in Campus Life to become an EA member.

M. Smallwood Churchill stated that Kelly Kerfoot from CU Wellness is also interested in joining the EA.

J. DeMarco read a letter from President Lehman, saying he received and approved the charter.

VII) NEW BUSINESS

A. Communication and action between meetings
S. McConnell motioned to place this at the top of next week’s agenda since we never seem to get a chance to get to it.

P. Mahoney said she needs a proposed budget from all chairs of committees.

VIII) ADJOURNMENT

Donna adjourned the meeting at 1:30pm.