Employee Assembly Meeting
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
12:15—1:30 p.m.
S1123 Schurman Hall
Minutes

I. Call to Order

B. Cornell called the meeting to order at 12:18 p.m.

II. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

b) D.Stein asked to talk about Sustainability Day.
c) L. Lawrence asked to speak about the Halloween Happening.

III. New Business

a) President’s Address Format-Questions Review
B. Cornell announced the suggestions so far:
1. State of Economy at Cornell University especially employees
2. Sustainability efforts with respect to staff
B. Cornell said the format will remain the same as in past years; he will introduce Mary Opperman and then she will introduce the President, Brian will give the award, and Geneva will present gifts. G. Stewart asked why doesn’t B. Cornell introduce the President. L. Lawrence agreed. B. Cornell said it is tradition since she is an ex-officio member of the EA. D. Stein asked if the Energy Fair would be suspended during the President’s address. J. Seymour said yes there would be an announcement for people to take their seats for the President’s address, and the vendors would take a break. L. Lawrence added volunteers will help direct people.

B. Cornell said A. Mittman is making arrangements for disabled people, he has hired a sign language interpreter, and police will be scanning the event. B. Cornell described the stage set up and noted it is costly, and that professionals were hired to handle the audio. He also described a funny skit they would like to do at the beginning. D. Stein advised the “warm up” period be short. Some discussion was held about program and other details.

IV. Report from Chair (Faculty Senate Appointment, UA Appointment, Committee Staffing)

B. Cornell said the event is coming together and that there is lots of good energy and ideas. He said Mary Opperman sent an email to Deans, Directors and Dept. heads encouraging attendance over a week ago. D. Stein suggested they have another meeting with Judy Hart to tie up loose ends. B. Cornell said that was a good idea. G. Stewart said it was important that it is clear the Energy Fair will stop from 12–1 p.m.

V. Report from Employee Elected Trustee

B. McKinney not present. B. Cornell said there was nothing to report.

VI. Report From the UA Representative

B. Liddick said there was an UA meeting tonight and he will report at next meeting on this.

VII. Approval of Minutes — October 1, 2008

B. Cornell asked the members to review minutes from the EA meeting on October 1st, 2008. H. Hall motioned to approve the minutes as submitted. I. Mahler second. The members voted and approved the minutes as submitted.

VIII. Committee Reports

B. Cornell asked reports be kept to 30 seconds each.
a) Executive committee
B. Cornell said they met and discussed the President’s Address and Energy Fair.
b) Staff Recognition & Award committee
B. Cornell said there was nothing new to report.
c) Communications committee
J. Seymour said that Andy Page has asked the EA to sponsor a holiday event. He said he will get more information on this and report back.
d) Finance
B. Cornell said Alan Mittman was not in attendance, but there was nothing new to report.
e) Emergency Grant Fund
H. Hall said she and P. Mahoney had been a meeting, and they have decided to postpone the auction for now because there is too much work to be done and not enough time left to do it.
D. Stein noted there are several members not staffed or listed on the website. He said P. Mahoney is writing a letter to discuss a reorganization of the committee, the guidelines, etc.
f) Personnel Policy
Nothing to report.
g) IOC
Nothing to report.
h) University Benefits
Nothing to report.
i) Employee Education
Nothing to report.
j) “Ad Hoc” Charter Review
There will be a meeting tomorrow.
k) “Ad Hoc” EA Membership Review
Nothing to report.

III. New Business, continued

b) Sustainability Day — D. Stein
D. Stein said the last issue of PawPrint had information about Sustainability Day, “Getting to Zero”, in it. He said this will be an exciting event in Weill Hall, they are looking to reduce Cornell University’s carbon footprint to zero by 2040, so this event is supposed to help generate excitement and ideas to accomplish that. He said to let him know if anyone was interested in volunteering to help at the event.

He said the next issue will feature the President’s Address and Energy Fair on the front page.

c) Halloween Happening — L. Lawrence
L. Lawrence said the Cornell Recreation Committee is having an event called the Halloween Happening. He said if the Employee Assembly wanted to participate to let him know. He noted he is a judge this year, and he has a flyer he will send out to all.

J. Seymour reminded everyone the Ribbon Cutting at the Childcare Center is today at 2:30 p.m.

X. Open Forum

I. Mahler thanked everyone for coming to the Veterinary College.

P. Beach said the Cornell Chronicle is producing a new quarterly magazine called “Ezra.” She said it is available in many locations around campus.

G. Stewart asked for some “cushion” time in the agenda. He said he believes it is important for dialogue to happen and not feel rushed. P. Beach said there is a reason why the committees are on the agenda, but a change in the agenda could be discussed at an Executive Committee meeting. B. Cornell said he would look into a shorter agenda.

H. Hall asked if Cell Phones for Soldiers was legitimate. B. Cornell said yes, and reported there will be a box at the Energy Fair and it will be publicized beforehand.

D. Stein suggested they have an Employee Assembly table at Employee Day on November 1st. He said he believes this is a good marketing event where 2500+ people are coming. B. Cornell agreed but stated that they would need volunteers. He said he would send an email out about this to see if anyone was interested in volunteering. G. Stewart asked if Employee Day would have a table at the Energy Fair. J. Seymour said he would try to find out from Cheryl McGraw if it is too late. D. Stein suggested there be flyers advertising the Energy Fair at the “Getting to Zero” event. L. Lawrence asked if there will be a hand out at the President’ address. J. Seymour says yes, there will be a program produced from P. Mahoney and possibly a map to show locations as soon as the vendors are confirmed. P. Beach suggested quarter cards be given out at the “Getting to Zero” event.

IX. Old Business

a) Employee Assembly Vacancies (Who applied? What’s next)
This item was skipped.
b) President’s Address and Energy Fair Tasks
J. Seymour said he got the estimate for an employee mailing, and the cost will be approximately $1,000. He explained once the final poster was set, a hard copy would be mailed and a .pdf will be made so that it can be distributed electronically also. D. Stein asked when they would be going out. J. Seymour said as soon as possible.

D. Stein said if it couldn’t go out by Monday then they should consider another strategy to get the word out. D. Stein said he would get a PawPrint flash out two weeks in advance, another one a week in advance, and then one on the day of too. D. Stein suggested they consider an ad in the Cornell Daily Sun. G. Stewart volunteered to send information to the Cornell Chronicle. There was a continuing discussion about whether to send out mailing at this late date.

B. Cornell asked about vendors. B. Liddick, B. McKinney and J. Seymour are working on the logistics for all vendors.

B. Cornell asked for volunteers to help at the registration table. H. Hall said she would help with this.

B. Cornell said Cornell Dining is providing food for volunteers and vendors, and noted that those vendors who requested to have electricity are taken care of.

P. Beach said it will be videotaped and highlighted on the website and the Events calendar.

L. Lawrence asked if this would be an annual event. It was decidedly NO, but the EA would consider joining with other groups to host it.

D. Stein asked if Cornell Dining would do a really inexpensive choice. He said he feels this is important and could be an issue because people are used to not having to pay for lunch at this event. D. Stein said he would email Cornell Dining about this.
c) Cell Phones for Soldiers
This item was covered during the “President’s Address” section.
d) Chili Chat Follow-up
This item was skipped.

XI. Adjournment

L. Lawrence motioned to adjourn. G. Stewart second. B. Cornell adjourned the meeting at 1:35 p.m.