Employee Assembly
Minutes
Board Room, Day Hall
May 5 2004
12:15p.m. — 1:30p.m.

Attendance

Present: Donna Goss, Joseph DeMarco, Pamela Dusseau, Tammy Johnson, Patricia Mahoney, Stephanie McConnell, Mary Smallwood Churchill

Excused: Deb Billups, Dawne Martyniak, Janice Miles, Brandi Smith

Unexcused:

Others present: T. Bishop, D. Stein, H. Mandeville, M. Esposito, B. Burlew, C. Williams

I) CALL TO ORDER

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

II) CALL FOR LATE ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA

S. McConnell asked to have the Mentor Program under new business.

H. Mandeville asked to have Elections under Committee Reports for the finance Committee.

III) APPROVAL OF MINUTES

April 29, 2004
Minutes were approved as amended.

IV) REPORT FROM THE CHAIR

P. Dusseau and D. Goss met with Mary Opperman and Hope Mandeville regarding the Trustee Report that will be finalized by Friday and turned in to the Trustee Office. The meeting is on Friday, May 28 in the afternoon. If members would like a ticket, please let T. Bishop know by 1 week before.

The luncheon with Mary Opperman is tomorrow in B12. The agenda will be made as the EA meets today.

V) UNFINISHED BUSINESS

A. Resolution #3 to Amend the Responsibilities of the EVC and the Membership Requirements for the Communication Committee
S. McConnell said that she made some structural changes.

M. Esposito said that he had some concerns. He understands that the committee has had 4 chairs in the past 2 years, but that is not a problem with the committee, it’s a problem with the EA. The Vice Chair of the EA as Chair of the Communication Committee was done for a reason.

S. McConnell said that she agrees that there is a larger problem but the EVC is elected every year and that gives the Communications Committee a new chair each year.

M. Esposito said that the approach should be what would work and not what’s not working.

P. Dusseau said that the EVC has a lot of responsibilities and what is the real root cause of the leadership turnover.

J. DeMarco said that he is in favor of the resolution. The EVC is still a part of the committee, but someone else is the facilitator.

M. Smallwood Churchill asked M. Esposito to say something positive about keeping the committee the way it is.

M. Esposito said that the main idea for having it that way was that an executive member of the EA be on the committee.

T. Johnson said that the resolution sounds negative although it is a change for the good of the committee. She suggested striking the 3 and 4 “Whereas” or reword in a more positive manner.

M. Smallwood Churchill agreed.

D. Goss said that the 4 and 6 “Whereas” seem similar.

H. Mandeville proposed a change to 4.2.3 in the charter to read: The EVC shall as a member of the Communications Committee oversee the exchange of information and opinions between the EA and the community at large.

P. Dusseau said that she doesn’t agree with that change.

P. Mahoney said that she is concerned that the EA is going in the direction that it is. Instead of going forward in a positive way, the EA is just making charter changes to a charter that has worked for years. It’s the right problem but the wrong solution and she does not support this resolution.

T. Johnson said that if the committee chair is not the EVC, the EVC must know what is going on because that is the person who reports out to the leadership group. This resolution must be worded in a way to give the EVC some leadership power.

H. Mandeville said that 4.2.4 (arranging for advertising, postering, email campaigns and EA outreach programs.) has not been an easy thing to do this year. She said that OA fills a role here and would want to know who the OA would see. If it is the chair of the communications committee and something happens where there is a gap with the EA, she prefers that it is the EA Exec group to see and get direction from.

M. Smallwood Churchill said that they need to define the role and purpose of the chair of communications committee and the EVC. She suggests reconsidering and discussing later.

S. McConnell said that this does not alleviate the duties of the EVC. She agrees that there is a larger issue at hand. Maybe the EA needs to table this resolution and table this resolution in the meantime. The also need to look at the balance of responsibilities of the executive group.

P. Mahoney said that they keep talking about continuity, leadership and the executive committee. As a member of the executive committee, she takes her role very seriously. Your role will be as successful as you make it be. If you can dedicate yourself and make sure that you are successful in your role, anything that follows you is going to be successful. She realizes that the expectations of the chair and the vice chair are great, but they are also very serious commitments that she thinks that people have to know that they are making and if a person is not willing to deal with the expectations or if they are not able, she does not think that they should take on that position. She understands that the EA is going through some struggles and things are getting rough, but if you do your job well, you are going to have continuity and you’re going to have leadership and you’re going to be dedicated enough to make sure that everyone is involved, the right things are said and the information is shared.

J. DeMarco made the original motion and would like to withdraw it at this time and give it back to the Communication Committee for further study.

T. Johnson seconded.

J. DeMarco said that the EA has already passed the resolution to create the Awards Committee so they should just write a letter to the president to get that committee in motion.

P. Dusseau asked what are the primary issues and what are they supposed to do?

H. Mandeville said that the EA needs to take a look at the charter and the responsibilities of the committees. Spread the officers out and start lining things up as they plan for next year.

S. McConnell made a motion to establish an adhoc committee to look at the membership structure and the responsibilities of the EA and it’s committees.

J. DeMarco seconded.

The motion fails.

H. Mandeville suggested talking about this at the orientation meetings.

D. Goss said she doesn’t see the urgency of this resolution and thinks that talking about it at the orientation meeting is a good idea.

T. Johnson made a motion to send this back to the Communications Committee for further review.

M. Smallwood Churchill seconded.

The motion passes.

B. New Committee Report Template
The members agreed to skip this subject and move to the Mentor Program.

C. Mentor Program
S. McConnell passed out a program plan with phases.

H. Mandeville said that a lot of what the OA is planning for the orientation meeting is listed in the plan and considers that the OA’s responsibility. She said that it would have been helpful to have the OA be a part of this.

S. McConnell said that they really wanted this to be a relationship between EA members.

M. Smallwood Churchill said that the role clarification piece had to do with a presentation that Joanne Shepherd made. It’s the role of mentors. She said that she would get the presentation to all members.

S. McConnell said that the mentor meeting was only yesterday and didn’t set anything in stone.

H. Mandeville suggested that the EA should wait and see what the OA is doing for the orientation meeting so that there are not any overlays.

P. Dusseau agrees. She is not going to be mentor, but is interested in hearing what is going to happen.

H. Mandeville said that one of the responsibilities of the OA is to facilitate the orientation meeting. She is in favor of the mentor program, but feels it will be hard for existing members because they have not been through an OA orientation. She has a lot of documentation to share.

D. Goss asked members if they would like the orientation meetings in May or June. Members agreed with June.

The members decided not to bring the Mentor Program to Mary Opperman tomorrow.

VI) COMMITTEE REPORTS

VII) NEW BUSINSESS

A. Geneva Call to Engagement
B. Calendar
C. Staff Morale
D. Time Off
J. DeMarco said that he met with Pete Tufford and this matter is being considered.

VIII) OPEN FORUM

IX) ADJOURNMENT

D. Goss adjourned at 1:35.