Employee Assembly Meeting
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
12:15 - 1:30 p.m.
B16 Day Hall
Minutes

I. Call to Order

J. Seymour called the meeting to order at 12:19 p.m. and announced that they had changed their room location to B16 Day Hall.

II. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

J. Seymour added the Presidents Address and the presentation from Middle States Accreditation to the existing agenda.

He then called the roll.

Present-D. Brooks, P. Dongtoe, T. Grove, L. Croll Howell, L. Lawrence, G. Osborne (via phone), C. Phillips, J. Seymour, G. Stewart Absent: A. Mittman

J. Seymour introduced a new item “What’s New” and explained he would like everyone to take 30 seconds to 1 minute at each meeting to explain to the group what is new with them.

What’s New?

Members did a quick round of what was new with them. He also recognized a visitor to the meeting, Leslie Morris.

III. Report from the Employee Elected Trustee

B. McKinney said there was nothing to report since there have been no meetings recently. There will be committee meetings in September, so she will have some news to report on that.

IV. Report from Chair

J. Seymour pledged to get organized and on track with EA business quickly. He said he thought the EA retreat went well and explained he and Tanya are working to write up goals so they can be distributed soon. He said there has been some interest in the vacant seats, and there will be more on that at the next meeting. Candidates will be invited to come and give some information about themselves and their interest in the EA. If there is enough interest, they may have a bit of a “run off” to determine the 3 new members.

He also clarified that Pempa Dongtoe and Linda Croll Howell have been appointed to co-chair the Personnel Policy Committee. He said that he had mistakenly announced at a previous meeting that it would be just Pempa chairing the committee.

V. Approval of Minutes

a) June 17, 2009

J. Seymour asked that members review the minutes and asked for corrections or a motion to approve them. There was one small spelling error noted on page 1. T. Grove motioned to approve the minutes. D. Brooks seconded. The members voted and the minutes passed.

VI. Committee Reports

a) Executive Committee

J. Seymour said they met a few times over the summer to keep things going and to coordinate the retreat and a few other items.

i) UNC Employee Forum Reps on Bain (Gary)

He then turned it over to Gary Stewart to give a report on the Bain Consulting project from the University of North Carolina. G. Steward passed out a page of information and said he and Tanya Grove has talked to the staff assembly at UNC about their experiences with Bain. He said their group is approximately 60 members, and they use a multi-pronged approach to reach their employees. He also suggested the EA invite David Harris to attend an EA meeting with Bain, since he is the project manager. Amy O’Donnell will coordinate with his office. Tanya agreed that she was impressed with their information and helpfulness. P. Beach suggested we invite VP Opperman - A O’Donnell said this was already set. She also said there is a staff forum on Friday, 9/4 on “Reimagining Cornell” with the President and Provost from 12–1 p.m. in G10 BioTech. This was rescheduled from Friday, 8/21 since that is the opening day for freshmen students on campus. She explained how the forum has been advertised. There will be another staff forum on 10/2. B. McKinney said the faculty are not interested in the Bain project since it mostly affects administration. She then offered to work with the Communications Committee to work with the EA on an outside contract with a web company to communicate on Wellness and other things. G. Stewart said he hopes that as we are doing research and making cutbacks, we remember that purchasing impacts the local economy greatly.

b) Staff Recognition and Awards

T. Grove said she had nothing to report.

c) Communications

D. Brooks said B. McKinney and Kerry Howell are on board to plan an open meeting soon. J. Seymour said we should consider an outreach to acquire some statistics to see how employees get info. G. Stewart said he will get info from Univ. of Iowa.

d) Finance

A. Mittman was not at the meeting, and J. Seymour said there was no report on finances.

e) Emergency Grant/CARE Fund

G. Osborne said she was waiting to get the file from Pat Mahoney and would brief herself and put a committee together soon.

f) Personnel Policy

J. Seymour said Pempa and Linda will co-chair this committee. He said he forgot Linda had volunteered at the retreat. He said they will need to get together and review where they want the committee to go, and what policies they are interested in and would want to look at this year.

g) IOC

T. Grove said she met with Ari Epstein to learn the ticket system, so she will be moving ahead appointing people to committees. She said there is a rep waiting to be appointed to the Childcare Services committee. B. McKinney said she is the new chair of the Family Services Committee and asked if Bill Liddick could be the EA appointed staff person. They can then use his Presidential Appointment for someone else. J. Seymour said to go ahead with these two appointments. J. Seymour asked about the Middle States accreditation, and A. O’Donnell explained this is a presentation, not a staff appointment.

h) University Benefits

J. Seymour said he called and could not get any information about when meetings will resume. He even called VP Opperman’s office about it. Her office referred him to Paul Bursic and Jason said he has left a message with Paul Bursic to let us know if the committee resumes, that we would appoint staff.

i) Employee Education

C. Phillips said she did a bit of homework on the types of benefits available. J. Seymour said they should touch base, he has a few people in mind to be on the committee, and he is also interested. He said she was off to a great start.

j) “Ad Hoc” Charter Review

L. Lawrence said he would call a meeting soon, so EA members should let him know if they are interested in participating. J. Seymour and T. Grove said they were both interested. J. Seymour said they should look at some other schools to see some examples or models. A. O’Donnell said she had some information from last years’ committee on this and that she would forward it to the members.

VII. Update on Cornell Climate Action Plan (Gary)

G. Stewart said he is working on the committee and said it is a significant project with a lot of exploration and hope. The plan is being rolled out on Sept. 15 formally, and hopefully the Trustees will sign off on it on Sept. 10. They are seeking a resolution from the assemblies and the faculty senate in support of it. The goal is to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. On 9/16 the EA will have representatives from Sustainability and EH&S come in to discuss.

B. McKinney said the “Cost Savings” committee that she was on this summer had a few ideas that would appropriately fit under this. She said this plan may actually go somewhere. The President and VP Opperman are coming on 9/16 so some discussion will be needed on timing.

VIII. Old Business

There was no old business reported on.

IX. New Business

J. Seymour asked about the Middle States presentation, and suggested we move them to 10/7 meeting instead. J. Seymour asked if A. O’Donnell will ask if the Provost could attend the EA meeting on 10/21 or the next available meeting. J. Seymour said the execs will schedule other guests for the remaining fall EA meetings.

T. Grove said the Statler is available for $600. She said the Schwartz Center would be no cost. There was some discussion on convenience vs. cost. P. Beach said the date falls over Fall Break so many dining staff would not be at work then. G. Stewart said he was worried that having it off campus may discourage people from attending. L. Lawrence said he thought it was ok to move it off campus, and with good publicity it would be a good way to get people to see Schwartz. He said Cornell Catering recently used the Schwartz for a showcase event and it was very well attended. T. Grove said podium, lighting, and sound would not be a problem. P. Beach said there will be two other staff forums so hopefully employees will attend at least one. J. Seymour said since there were no real objections, Schwartz Center would be the location.

X. Open Forum

G. Stewart reminded the group the EA should schedule a meeting in Pempa’s area, and invite her Director to come and talk to the EA.

B. McKinney said there is a big celebration planned for CU employee day on Saturday, 10/10 during halftime of the football game. She said the EA should be involved. There is a committee planning it since it is bigger than just CU and will involve the community also. G. Stewart offered his office to help with local contacts in order to involve the community in it.

T. Grove asked if others have experienced problems with ESHOP. She said members of her department are very unhappy with it. She also said she is afraid it is pulling resources away from local vendors, just for cheap prices, and puts employees/faculty in the position of asking local vendors to decrease their prices to match big companies’ lower prices. L. Croll Howell said it is also affecting sustainability to order items from far away not to mention the impact on the community when Cornell’s resources do not benefit the local economy. B. McKinney said the EA should be involved with this issue. J. Seymour said he would contact the head of this project and invite someone to attend an EA meeting to give more info and to discuss. B. McKinney agreed this is problem and suggested a small off-line meeting first to get some background on what the purpose of this program is.

XI. Adjournment

T. Grove motioned to adjourn this meeting. L. Croll Howell seconded. J. Seymour adjourned the meeting at 1:26 p.m.