1. President's report:
1. Dan presented a request from Classified Senate for UPSA support of House Bill 2020 that allows KU classified staff to leave state civil service. The board approved the request. Jill agreed to draft a letter for Dan to send to Classified Senate and with copies to University Council and the appropriate House committee chair.

2. Minutes: Pam will e-mail the December meeting minutes to all board members.

3. Continued President's report:
1. The board discussed requests that Dan has received from unclassified staff concerning the Provost's reduced heat policy over the semester break. Dan plans to discuss the concerns with the Provost. Jeannette suggested that Dan ask about savings from the policy and what generates the savings.
2. Dan asked if there are other topics we wanted him to discuss with the Provost. Ray suggested that we ask for more support, such as someone to take meeting minutes, from the university governance office.

4. Treasurer's report: Ray reported that the second UPSA ad had been run in the UDK at a cost of $138.75, giving us a balance of $2,317.75.

5. Professional Development report: Pam agreed to send a tentative professional development and general meeting schedule to the board for feedback and approval.

6. Public Relations report: Jill has updated the initial brochure and showed the board the draft of the research brochure. She currently is identifying people to include in the brochure and board members gave suggestions.

7. Representation and Governance: Jeannette reported for the committee as Kevin was absent. The committee met and Kevin met with Jon Josserand to discuss the UPSA visit to the legislature. We were reminded that March 16 is KU Day in the Capitol.

8. The board discussed the proposed restructuring of unclassified professional staff governance. We decided to keep the name "Unclassified Senate" even though we do not represent unclassified academic staff. It was felt that the full code made it clear that the term "unclassified" referred to unclassified professional staff.

Board members approved the revision with corrections and clarifications. Pam will send the proposed unclassified code to Thelma to put on the UPSA web site. Dan will e-mail all unclassified staff about the proposal. We agreed on the following timeline:

            1/14/2005 - With corrections, Pam sends code to Thelma

            1/19/2005 - Dan sends e-mail to unclassified staff

            2/7/2005 - Feedback from staff due

            2/10/05 - Board discusses comments from staff

The board's goal is to put the final proposal to a vote before spring break. At the time of the vote, we would include transition plans.

9. Classified Senate report: The Classified Senate discussed the following topics at its last meeting: (1) House Bill 2020 (Separating from state civil service system). Points in support of HB 2020 will be put on the classified senate wet site. It should have been sent to the higher education committee but instead was sent to the legislative educational planning committee. (2) Planning their legislative day, February 8.

10. Human Resources report: Ola reported that Pam Burkhead had sent the unclassified demographic data we had requested to Kevin. Ola will have Pam send the data to Dan, too. Ola also reported that the state is reviewing long-term care vendors and the benefits offered.

11. It was reported that there is nothing new on the health care committee.

12. Old business: Pam reported that she had attended the Retirees Rights & Benefits committee meeting to discuss the committee's proposal to ask the state to pay for partial cost of health insurance for retired faculty and staff. The committee chair, Reva Friedman-Nimz, had said she would send the proposal to Dan but it appeared Dan had not received it. Pam said she would contact Professor Friedman-Nimz to inquire about the proposal

13. New business:

1. The board made the following suggestions for talking points for the legislative trip:

                                                     i.     Redefining education as K through 16, not K through 12

                                                      ii.     State funding for the 27^th paycheck in 2005 (not forcing agencies to pick up the cost)

2. Jeannette informed the board that the Provost's office revised the grievance procedure for all unclassified staff on campus. The procedure is on the Provost's web site.
3. Ola informed the board that she is working on a FAQ on inclement weather policies.

Submitted by Pam Houston