MINUTES
Employee Assembly Meeting
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
12:15 - 1:30 p.m.
316 Day Hall

I. Call to Order

T. Grove called the meeting to order at 12:18 p.m.

Present-D. Brooks, P. Dongtoe, C. Ferguson, T. Grove, L. Croll Howell, L. Meyerhoff, G. Osborne, J. Seymour, G. Stewart

Absent- K. Coldren, T. Denesevich, L. Morris, C. Philips

Also Attending- A. Epstein, B. McKinney, A. O’Donnell

II. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

There were no late additions to the meeting.

III. Business of the Day

a)Planning for Geneva retreat on 5/4

T. Grove stated the next EA meeting would be held in Geneva and there is a tentative schedule for the day. She asked the members of the EA if there was anyone who could not attend the retreat. C. Ferguson will not be attending but will be phoning into the business portion of the meeting. T. Grove mentioned they are planning to reserve a minivan to transport members of the EA to and from Geneva.

The schedule for the day is to arrive in Geneva and meet up with G. Osborne. She will then give the members of the EA a tour of the station, which will be followed by a meeting with the staff at Geneva. After the staff meeting, the EA will have a business meeting. The main issues to be discussed will be CARE fundraising, planning the summer retreat, and filling the rest of the seats on the EA. Once the meeting has adjourned, the EA will return to campus. T. Grove opened the floor for discussions and questions. G. Stewart asked if more than one Geneva member could be on the assembly? T. Grove said there could be more than one; the other member could be an “at large” member. It was also brought up that the Geneva is working to figure out how to get a better profile in the community. T. Grove stated that the EA is attempting to get more Geneva people, which is something that G. Osborne is working on.

b)Planning for Skorton/Opperman visit on 5/18

T. Grove said the meeting with President Skorton and Mary Opperman will be on May 18, 2011. She asked the EA for ideas about potential topics to be discussed. C. Ferguson suggested they ask how to get “buy in” from the deans about the staff survey. T. Grove noted that the current status of the survey is that it is projected to be out in the fall. There will not be any EA input in the questions to be asked on the survey; however, the EA will have the opportunity to look it over before it is released. L. Croll Howell said the people creating the survey know how to make a good survey that will address questions that can be acted upon.

L. Croll Howell then brought up the concern for the welfare of the staff and the exhaustion many of them are feeling. Much of the exhaustion occurs because people feel they cannot disconnect from work. L. Meyerhoff mentioned that Gannett has a publication called “the Toilet Paper” which is advising students and other members at Cornell that it is okay not to be connected all the time. T. Grove said this seems to be a trend that is growing.

C. Ferguson questioned whether recommendations from Bain have been implemented and has the university noticed the savings? He also mentioned it would be interesting to receive the president’s thoughts and ideas about this program. D. Brooks asked if the EA could talk about the 100 million dollar incentive to the faculty. The final question posed was what the university is doing to help combat the problem of increasing gas and living prices for the staff members who are living farther and farther away from Cornell University.

T. Grove will be sending an email with some of the questions posed to President Skorton. If the members of the EA have any other questions or topics they would like brought up to President Skorton and M. Opperman they should e-mail them to T. Grove.

IV. Report from the Chair

a)Meeting with Mary Opperman

T. Grove, L. Meyerhoff, and B. McKinney met with M. Opperman the week of April 11. They discussed the transportation resolution the EA created. M. Opperman encouraged the EA to hold off on putting the resolution forward since there are many issues involved in the resolution. It was mentioned that the parking rate might increase; therefore, it may be beneficial for the EA to postpone the resolution so they can submit a resolution that encompasses all issues instead of just the motorcycle issue. The floor was then open for debate. G. Stewart asked whether the EA would be able to give input into the issues before they are approved? T. Grove noted the issues will first be presented to the UA but then the EA would receive all of the information. Some members of the EA wished to push the motorcycle resolution forward and then just create another resolution once the new transportation information comes out. D. Brooks questioned whether President Skorton would be able to address the parts of the resolution separately if they were all bundled into one large resolution. A. O’Donnell stated that President Skorton addresses many parts of the resolution individually and would have no problem with this. T. Grove mentioned that what was asked in the resolution may not be factually correct and the new motions coming out may affect more people then just the motorcyclists. Therefore, it was decided to postpone Resolution 5. until the new information is released from the Transportation Advisory Committee and can be discussed by the members of the EA.

V. Approval of Minutes

a)April 6, 2011

The minutes were tabled until next week.

VI. Committee Reports

a) Elections Committee — Curtis Ferguson

C. Ferguson asked the members to vote and to encourage their friends and co-workers to vote also. T. Grove also mentioned she received an e-mail from a potential candidate and said she will be keeping the EA informed of any other potential candidates.

b)Faculty-Staff Assistance Program — Linda Croll Howell

L. Croll Howell stated that two concepts came out. They are moving forward with hiring new staff and the interviews will occur during the week of April 25–29, 2011.

c)Communications Committee — Leslie Morris

L. Morris mentioned she would like to put a small survey together regarding people’s knowledge about the Employee Assembly. She is putting together a log for the next chair of the Communications Committee. It was also mentioned the new E-news will be coming out soon so if any EA members have any information they want to add they should send it to L. Morris immediately. G. Stewart suggested a communication class could help the EA develop a communication plan. He will contact one of the communications professors and proceed with this idea in the hope of implementing it in the fall semester.

VII. Old Business

a) Transportation Advisory Committee — David Brooks

D. Brooks said the meeting scheduled for April 19, 2011 was cancelled and the next meeting will probably occur after the UA meeting on April 27, 2011. At the next TAC meeting there will be representatives from TCAT so if any of the members of the EA have issues with the buses then they should inform D. Brooks so that he can bring them up at the meeting.

VIII. New Business

a) Jeff Shepardson, Community Dispute Resolution Center

L. Meyerhoff introduced the speaker, Jeff Shepardson, from the Community Dispute Resolution Center (CDRC). She noted that she and J. Shepardson have been discussing ways in which the CDRC could become involved in the Cornell community. J. Shepardson explained what the CDRC does, which includes mediation services and training for mediating disputes. J. Shepardson believes this training could be very helpful for members of Cornell management. G. Stewart questioned whether or not the staff would have to go through HR if they wanted the CDRC’s help and would the training conflict or coincide with the training at Thornwood. J. Shepardson answered the staff would not have to receive permission from HR but the staff member would want to inform the HR department of the CDRC’s involvement.

L. Meyerhoff suggested this topic to be discussed during the retreat. Information about the CDRC will be added to the EA E-news with the hope that this program will be able to benefit the Cornell Community.

IX. Open Forum

There was no open forum for this meeting.

VIII. Adjournment

G. Stewart made a motion to adjourn the meeting. L. Meyerhoff seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 p.m.