MINUTES
Employee Assembly Meeting
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
12:15 - 1:30 p.m.
316 Day Hall

I. Call to Order

T. Grove called the meeting to order at 12:21 p.m.

Present- P. Dongtoe, C. Ferguson, T. Grove, L. Meyerhoff, L. Morris, G. Osborne, C. Phillips, G. Stewart Absent- D. Brooks, K. Coldren, L. Croll Howell, T. Denesevich, J. Seymour Also attending- K. Dessources, N. Doolittle, A. Epstein, A. O’Donnell

II. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

There were no additions to the existing agenda.

III. Business of the Day

T. Grove explained that she emailed Kristen about the Middle States Accreditation program. She asked her to provide the Employee Assembly with pre-information on the discussion. She made a request that the presentation be geared towards staff and how the accreditation will affect them.

T. Grove explained that J. Seymour could not be present today because of a conflict with work. However, he asked for the new list for membership for the ad hoc committee. A. Epstein has ordered the list of employees for membership change discussion.

L. Meyerhoff explained she looked into the release time for non-exempt employees, and found there is a policy called the “release time from work” policy. She presented a copy of the policy to all members. According to the policy, staff members need to talk to their supervisors if there is a committee they would like to serve on. If the supervisor approves, the staff member should be able to take time off and enter it into their payroll system. T. Grove commended L. Meyerhoff for her research, and explained they will cite this policy in the letter to president Skorton. She hopes the president will send the letter to supervisors of each EA member, to make sure they are accommodating and abiding by the policy.

Next, N. Doolittle from the PawPrint explained to the EA she met with members of the Survey Research Institute. She explained she is planning on holding focus groups on the PawPrint. One of these focus groups will be composed of EA members (8–10 people). Nancy explained that a focus group of EA member is important because (1) EA members have a long history with the PawPrint and (2) because the EA is representative of so many employees on campus.

One of the goals for the focus groups is to update the PawPrint website, changing the small-printed PDF documents that are currently on the website, and making them more robust. T. Grove told the EA to let her know if anyone is interest in participating in this focus group.

Concluding the business of the day, T. Grove explained B. McKinney was unable to attend the EA meeting today, but informed her the Board of Trustees is going to be meeting next week.

IV. Report from the Chair

T. Grove said she, L. Meyerhoff and G. Stewart had attended the means restriction meetings. The company that Cornell is working with is putting together a proposal that will be ready by May of 2011. They are keeping in mind that all the bridges at Cornell are different, and will therefore need different restriction solutions. L. Meyerhoff added that, depending on the cost of the restrictions solution, the process may occur in phases. She also emphasized the fact that there will be a great deal of community involvement throughout the process.

Next, T. Grove explained that she and L. Meyerhoff are going to be meeting with M. Opperman soon. She informed the EA if they have anything they would like to add to the agenda for this meeting, they should let her know.

T. Grove commented on the President’s Address event. She explained that the EA is looking for an employee to give an award to at this year’s event. The EA discussed possible award recipients.

Lastly, T. Grove discussed the possibility of the EA meeting with President Skorton. As of right now, there is a scheduled videoconference with the president

V. Approval of Minutes-

a) September 1, 2010

C. Ferguson motioned to approve the minutes from September 1st, 2010. The motion was seconded. The minutes were approved.

VI. Committee Reports

a) Finance committee

G. Osborne sent around the updated budget to the EA. She explained the finance committee moved around some funds within the $9,400 budget. The committee decided to increase the budget for the president’s address by $500. G. Osborne also explained $600 was added to the staff recognition luncheon. Some funds were extracted from the election funds, since elections have become mostly electronic.

The EA also discussed the Emergency Grant Fund. A. Epstein explained that, according to L. Croll Howell, the program is in limbo. T. Grove explained the program is supposed to be under Human Resources. The EA agreed they are going to look more into this issue.

G. Osborne asked if there were any further questions or comments on the budget. T. Grove entertained a motion to approve the budget. The budget was voted on and approved.

b) Communications committee

L. Morris explained that she sent out a draft of the EA newsletter, and is looking for feedback. The EA discussed how often they should distribute the EA news. EA members favored distributing it “periodically”.

Next, L. Morris discussed the Fall Staff Event with Cheryl McGraw on October 16th. She explained that she is looking for EA members to help serve food or run an EA table at the event. The EA discussed different possibilities of what they can do with the EA table. G. Osborne volunteered to make signs for the table, as well as signs that can be posted around campus to recruit new members.

c) Internal Operations

K. Coldren was not present at the EA meeting, but asked T. Grove to brief on what was discussed at the last executive meeting. As explained by T. Grove, K. Coldren suggested doing open forums where the Employee Assembly can interact with staff. She also discussed the possibility of video casting these forums, for those who could not attend.

VII. Old Business

There was no old business discussed.

VIII. New Business

L. Meyerhoff discussed the difficult process that she had to go through in order to drop a course at Cornell. When adding or dropping a class, employees must go around campus and get several signatures of approval. The EA discussed the possibility of addressing this issue, so that the process of course enrollment is easier for employees.

IX. Open Forum

EA members went around the room and gave new updates on themselves.

X. Adjournment

T. Grove made a motion to adjourn. C. Ferguson seconded the motion. The Employee Assembly meeting was adjourned at 1:17 p.m.