Employee Assembly Meeting
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
12:15—1:40 p.m.
316 Day Hall
Minutes

I. Call to Order

B. Cornell called the meeting to order at 12:17 p.m.

II. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

There were no late additions to the agenda.

III. Report from Chair

B. Cornell said he hoped everyone had read President Skorton’s email from yesterday so we are all passing on correct information about the 10% correction. He said it is important we emphasize it is not a cut, but the entire budget is being reduced. He said the Deans and Directors of each department will be evaluating their priorities and know best where things need to change. He emphasized that there are still many uncertainties, and since EA members are not experts or senior managers we do not want to start rumors or any panicky situations. EA members should empathize with employees who are asking questions or who have been laid off, and point them in the direction of those staff who are in a position to help. He said employees who are laid off will be handled by counselors in the best way possible, and some employees will be re-directed to other jobs. B. Cornell said VP Opperman will help as much as she can. J. Magura asked if there was a timeframe for lay offs and what if any severance package was being offered. B. Cornell said some employees have already been laid off and each situation/employee is different, there is no one size fits all solution HR can offer. P. Mahoney said HR will be working from a previously decided plan from the departments. She added CU works on a 30 day minimum notice for lay offs, but CALS likes to get 60 days or more if possible.

IV. Report from Employee Elected Trustee

B. McKinney said she went to one meeting of Buildings and Properties. She said it was very short since there are no construction projects to approve.

V. Report from SA representative

J. Seymour reported for Emily Cusick. He said the SA decided to hold direct elections for officers and finalized the election rules. He said they had visit from the President at their last meeting, and he had told them about his visit to Iran and about the economic situation at CU.

VI. Report From UA representative

B. Cornell said there have been no recent meetings to report on.

VII. Report from EA representative to the Faculty Senate

B. Cornell said there have been no recent meetings to report on.

VIII. Report from Staff Climate Survey Steering Committee representative

B. Cornell said there have been no recent meetings to report on.

IX. Approval of Minutes — December 3, 2008

B. Cornell asked the members to quickly review the minutes from December 3, 2008. J. Seymour asked to remove “Ad Hoc Membership Committee” under the committee reports.

P. Mahoney motioned to approve the amended minutes. B. Liddick seconded. The minutes for the December 3rd meeting were voted on and approved as amended.

X. Committee Reports

a) Executive committee
B. Cornell said thanks to all who inquired about attending the Presidential Inauguration in January. He announced Alan Mittman will be attending this on the EA’s behalf.

He reported the Executive committee discussed shifting its goals in response to changes in the economy. They also discussed the possibility of a short winter retreat session with Jim Sheridan in place of a regular business meeting. J. Magura said she would inquire at the museum for space. P. Korolov said he would contact Jim Sheridan. 12:15 — 4 p.m. was the suggested timeframe.

B. Cornell said the Cost Savings committee has been meeting regularly since the reports are due soon. There will be a way to see feedback to suggestions online at some point in the future. He said he would like to see the best suggestions get some recognition from the EA. This can be discussed more at a later time. There is a possibility of holding more forums in the spring, but we need more info before making any commitments. B. Cornell said that VP’s and senior staff would attend to give up to date information. We will need to discuss this at future meetings.
b) Staff Recognition & Award committee
B. Cornell said there will be another meeting of this committee in January. He said they will reconsider all recent applications and develop a process to keep nominators informed as the process moves along.
c) Communications committee
J. Seymour said the committee met yesterday. He said the survey idea they had to partner with another campus survey will not work so they will need to send a separate one. J. Magura will look into this. J. Seymour said they also discussed the possibility of staff opting to be on an EA staff list-serve.

He said the committee wants to discontinue staffing the “Welcome to CU” events as they are at least 1–2 times per month and it is difficult to find someone to work. They said they will find another way to reach out to new staff via emails, brochures, etc. He said they will be following up on the appointment letter process with the Office of Assemblies, and will discuss this more in committee meetings in January. A. Mittman had a question about why the survey would not work. J. Seymour said that the questions on the other survey and the questions we wish to ask are not the same so they would not mesh well on the same document.

J. Magura asked how the current hiring freeze will affect the “Welcome to Cornell” events. P. Mahoney said there are still many jobs open that are not affected by the hiring freeze.
d) Finance
A. Mittman said he is looking for any outstanding expenses for the Energy Fair/President’s Address. So far the total on expenses for the event is $2,400. J. Seymour said he had one outstanding bill to send in.
e) Emergency Grant Fund
P. Mahoney said the committee met again last week and had a good discussion. She said there are currently two bank accounts for the EGF. One account is an interest bearing account, and another account for operating and donations. An account to receive donations/gifts to the fund will be set up by Peggy Beach. They will be meeting again the first week of January.

B. McKinney added the staff/faculty portion of the Far Above campaign is on hold for now. J. Magura will coordinate with Communications committee to market this when the time comes. P. Mahoney said they will update the charter with any changes the committee approves. She added there is a lot of paper involved in order for staff to make donations to the fund.
f) Personnel Policy
B. Cornell said the committee will be meeting on January 6, 2008.
g) IOC
P. Korolov said he has finalized the staffing report with help from Ari Epstein. He will receive an email, approve the appointment and the OA will do a letter to the person on Brian Cornell’s behalf. If there are any questions on an appointment, Peter will discuss it with the Executive committee. A. Epstein added that since staffing committees is a big responsibility, Brian has delegated it to Peter. This is how other assemblies process appointments also. J. Magura said she thought there should be a press release so chairs and directors would get a copy when staff are appointed to committees.

XI. Business of the Day — Presentation from HR on Disability Strategic Plan

There was a handout distributed by email on this.

Lynette Chappell-Williams and Andrea Mott explained the history and progress of the plan and gave a detailed power point presentation on how CU is accommodating people with disabilities.

They took a few questions from EA members and gave a website to refer to as cornell.edu/ disability if we had any other questions or needed further information.

B. Cornell thanked them for coming and for the presentation.

h) University Benefits
J. Seymour said there is 1 opening on this committee for a statutory employee. They will need to staff this soon.
i) Employee Education
J. Seymour said the committee met yesterday. There is going to be a formal review at the January meeting. He said they will be brainstorming and focused on the big 3; childrens education benefits, employees on layoff, and veterans.
j) “Ad Hoc” Charter Review
B. Cornell said the committee met yesterday and they are still making progress.

P. Mahoney made a motion to extend the meeting by 10 minutes. J. Seymour seconded.

XII. Old Business

a) Cost Cutting Forums
B. McKinney said there were 50 ideas generated out of this process.
b) Committee Staffing Review
J. Seymour said this was covered previously.
c) Evaluating the EA’s Priorities
B. Cornell said this was covered previously.

XIII. Open Forum

I. Mahler said she had recently attended a TAC meeting. She said the t-GEIS report will be presented to the town soon. They are supposed to give comments to CU by the end of the year. Also, they are looking at sustainability, so there is now a big effort by TCAT to redo bus stops with better maps and information. The meeting revealed that bicyclers and walkers need help getting around campus also, so the community will need to help out on this issue. She said the UA is working on this too. B. Cornell commented on the insufficient service TCAT offers to Spencer. She added that Watkins Glen is losing service by their county, but TCAT is picking it up. P. Mahoney said Geneva employees need more help and information with transportation also. She would like to know who to talk to about this as it would involve Tompkins, Ontario and Seneca counties.

XIV. Adjournment

P. Mahoney motioned to adjourn the meeting. A. Mittman seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 1:40 p.m.