Minutes from
Unclassified Senate Executive Board Meeting
January 29, 2009
Minutes transcribed by Aaron Quisenberry
In attendance:
Excused: Angie Claussen, Peggy Robinson, Mark Pacey
The meeting was called to order at noon by President Paul Farran.
Approval of November 20, 2008 Minutes- Motion by Kaiser 2nd by O’Connor - Approved
Reports:
President: Paul Farran
Jan. 15th proposal given to the governor- reduction of $15.9 million on employer benefits. What does this mean? More about University pays a portion of our benefits on our behalf- “employer tax” that is put in a big pot (i.e. death and disability)- this fund is performing well and might have some “fat” in it and allow the University to retain a portion of this fund.
OF: Stated that this has happened in the past but employees just didn’t know about it. It has no individual affect on employees.
Copy of Mike Krings letter given to the Provost- loved the concept.
Across the board salary cut to eliminate future layoffs-
JJ: this is a terrible idea…
PF: Provost didn’t like the idea either. Bad for morale. Isolated layoffs would be better than across the board cuts. Provost discussed furloughs, depending on a salary range employees fell in. Diane Goddard/Barry Swanson running figures on this to see what proposal could look like.
NK: Question on grants…how would this work? Calculations might be different.
PF: Faculty have different calculation regarding leave.
OF: Kink is Fair Labor Standards Act…leave without pay status has to be minimum of five business days. Will be looking at this to check for accuracy on the law. This would be KU specific- not all institutions.
JJ: Voluntary leave without pay as an idea? We got a fair amount of savings out of it the last time around a few years ago.
PF: across the board cuts- idea has come from
JO: This is a nice time to “trim the fat”
PF: all units are taking this opportunity to look for redundancies and help the University.
OF: Working with the individuals to try and find other employment
PF: Learning communities- entire program has been eliminated- three positions…Gail James is one of the employees…we’ll have a vacancy on the Senate…need to recruit to fill the vacancy.
Changes in our bylaws- the Provost was in favor of this
Would have a new website up by our next meeting- by the end of February
Technology Conservation Policy- workstations/toner/printers working in sleep mode…working to get numbers on savings ($20,000-30,000)- this concept will go forward as a cost-saving measure
MK: do you know Craig Hanson? He’s working on Energy Star program getting KU certified with EPA.
PF will get in touch with him!
JJ: Does Student Success have old monitors?
PF: no longer have the old CRT monitors
Chancellors budget hearing-
PF: was not what I thought it would be- didn’t calm people or concrete ideas were being discussed. Only one legislator present (Marci Francisco) but she didn’t speak.
PF: did anyone see the live feed?
MK: it will be on KU’s youtube page
PF: Mike, what was your impression? I’d heard a few new numbers, but really wasn’t event to make us feel better. They don’t know what the cuts are going to be, so…
JJ: Paper this morning stated “compromise” …republicans wanting across the board cuts…governor would veto it. This could drag out for a very long time.
PF: could be more this year…3 ½% up to 7% this year.
PW: A for effort…C- for content! Disappointed that they just announced the layoffs…no human side to the content.
JJ: What kind of questions were asked at the event?
AQ: school of pharmacy update, professors and supplies for their classes.
PF: Kathy Pribenow is out for extended period of time with health issues. She’s the rep for committee. Amanda Stuckow will take her place on the committee the rest of the year.
Chancellor’s Search Committee-
PF: We have not met, I serve on it, I have no information…might be able to share general information on the candidates, but not much more. Will give info when I can. Puts us in a strategic place having US represented at the table. If you have ideas, please let me know. Drew Jennings will be chairing the committee. Hired a search consultant (name) to recruit for the position. I have search committee members if you are interested. Hope to have candidate in place for fall 2009 semester.
Health Care Bridge Policy- Board of Regents Policy (BOR):
OF: BOR that would allow the payments of health insurance for a time period based on a calculation of their salary. Probably won’t be widely used…University will be working to form/implement the policy. This will affect all unclassified and USS staff. This applies to all! It is not a right, it is a privilege. You will only get into this program if you are considering retirement. There is a limit in the policy (can’t remember right now). Individual agreement for each person.
Secretary: Angie Claussen No report at this time
Treasurer: Noelle Kurth Budget Update-
NK: We haven’t spent any money except for stationary (i.e. $10.00). Balance is essentially same as it was- $5,562.00. Future plans for spending include $2,000 for scholarships, $1,200-$1,500 for Mini- Wheat State Tour, and $1,000 for KC Corporate Challenge. Balance left then would be about $1,000.
KC Corporate Challenge-
NK: Talked about the KC Corporate Challenge at a University Support Staff (USS) staff meeting…they didn’t sound to interested in participating. Will follow-up with them as we get closer to the event.
PF: good news from Ola…Provost will fund the remainder of the balance to help with the event. Heidi Simon/Ed Foley/Alexis McKinley-Jones working with Ola on this to make it happen!
JJ: are faculty involved?
OF: it is for anyone to participate in.
JJ: need to get a list of the activities to look at.
NK: make it an agenda item at the next Senate meeting. Need to get leaders and outreach!
JJ: When does it occur?
OF: June
Governance and Representation Committee: Phil Wilke
Newsletter Idea-
PW: Our group is meeting this afternoon. Following up on year-long projects. USS does a quarterly newsletter for their constituency. This is great! What does everyone think about Unclassified Senate doing a newsletter?
OF: we can build an electronic database from HR and build an electronic version!
JJ: The old UPSA group used to do this, but stopped as email became more prevalent. PW: This is a brilliant idea, but would take a lot of time and effort.
JJ: not sure how much “bang for the buck” we’d get for the effort put in.
Professional Development Committee: Allyson Flaster
Application for travel scholarships- AF: Application is out…due Feb. 6th. We have two applications out now. Will send out another reminder early in the week. So far it seems to be gliche-free. We can send a reminder on Monday. Last committee meeting was on Dec. 11th. We have an event with Craig Hanson on KU’s Energy Policy. It is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 23 at noon. Our next full meeting with committee is tomorrow. Hope to get a taker for Wheat State tour! Looking at Studio project in the area. Gail James is heavily involved with the committee. Want to put focus groups together and look at professional development groups together. Contacted Dennis Constance to get feedback- haven’t heard back from him yet.
OF: Maybe creating Professional Development advisory board to come up with ideas.
Public Relations Committee: Mike Krings
Updates on the website-
MK: Fund application is on the site. Site: rules & regs are now up there. New site: Tom is working hard. Should have something for the group at the next Senate meeting. PF: time for demo?
MK: 20-30 minutes w/questions.
PF: next meeting is Feb. 12th.
Elections Committee: Megan Gannon
Passed handout to the group-
MG: Handout outlines timeline. Many cannot participate in Senate b/c their bosses won’t approve it. Some senators are using vacation time to attend current meetings. PF: Ola, is this correct?
OF: do appt. letters come from Provost?
JJ: yes
MG: people were turning down nominations b/c they could not get approval from their boss. Elections start of Feb. 16th.
PF: Everyone start to think if you want to be nominated for the presidency for the following year. It is rewarding and a great opportunity for service towards the University. It is also OK to nominate yourself!
MG: We want to consider having every senator nominate someone!
University Support Staff: Maxine Younes Absent
Student Senate: Mark Pacey Absent
Faculty Senate
Unfinished Business
New Business
Legislative Visit vs. Media Campaign-
PW: Kathy Damron stated not as effective having the visit. Other ways to get message out to legislators? Brownbag lunch with legislators. We will help sponsor event with brown-bag event and outreach. In place of the visit…media campaign- still send one of our brochures…maybe hand-written letters to the targeted legislators.
PF: Can we spend money (i.e. letterhead, postage, etc.).
JJ: Can’t use state funds for this project.
PF: Phil will work with Kathy to get numbers of important people. Right now it is about 70 people. 70 names X .42 X 3 mailings= $88.00. Everyone could kick in to cover the cost. We could have a 3-piece mail drop time intervals…varying the types of messages that are going out.
PW: ran into Jay Bernard the other night and he stated an idea of using seed corn as a marketing idea to send to the legislators.
NK: I like spacing the mailers out. Need more than $88.00…need letters, packets of seed corn.
PF: Phil if you can come up with the form letter and get it ready before the February meeting that would help.
PW: We can use letter Mike has written as the template. We can have it signed by the senators…what suggestions could we do?
PF: this letter should be hand-written…it would be the most-effective. PW: what other inserts should we use?
JJ: things that are printed just get put aside…personal letter less likely to get put aside…
NK: brochure could go with the seed corn.
PW: we can use one mailing address at Topeka to get the letters dispersed.
PF: our next exec meeting is Feb. 26th.
MK: when does session end? PW: end of April
JJ: this year, who knows? JJ: there is a policy out on the website that points out using state resources for a potential political agenda.
University Senate Code- JJ: when you amend a university document, it should be recommended by the full Senate.
PF: we’ll do that to be safe. Jeanette, if you can get it to me by the Feb. 12th meeting, that would be great.
Danny has conflict with University Senate.
PF: We need to find someone who can take Danny’s seat and fill it immediately. Please notify me immediately if you’re interested.
DK: I can’t make University Senate, so logically I shouldn’t go to Senate Executive Council.
JJ: can start going now.
PF: it would make sense for JJ to start going, since she will be the president-elect.
Ideas for cost-cutting-
PF: Furloughs..etc…mandatory salary cuts…some think that we should take this to a vote to the unclassified senate.
JJ: this is tough…
DK: opening up a can of worms:
JJ: if you open it up in a meeting, it becomes public record. We can assess…if you have ideas, please send them to us. But the leadership of the University should be the ones to make the decision.
JO: I like the leave without pay for the month of December.
PF: do we want to put forward to the Unclassified Senate some issues to vote on? Chancellor has stated that “all options are on the table.”
DK: if you did a vote…”would you be willing to accept…” yes to all or no at all…
MG: here are some ideas that people have selected would be better.
Updates from Human Resources-
OF: A. FMLA and ADA (ADAAA)- couple of changes in federal laws
B. Biker commuter Act- pre-tax deduction and $20 repair to bikes that you ride to work. State of Kansas didn’t act on #1, but we’re looking at #2
C. LGBT- issue of gender identity non-discrimination policy on campus. What is not covered is transgender and gender identity. OF: you should contact Student Senate first to get support for changing the policy.
D. Test on website- will be contacting Paul to participate in a test for improving our website. If you’re interested, let me know.
Meeting was adjourned at 1:45 p.m.