December 6, 2012 Staff Senate Meeting Minutes

Approved Minutes

Roll Call by sign-in sheet

Called to order at 11:02
Approval of agenda: motioned by Ryan Reed; seconded by Gary Stafford -- approved
Approval of Minutes: motioned by Ryan reed; seconded by Gary Stafford -- approved
Chair's Report:
1. Ken McClure will be discussing the Inclement Weather Policy when he arrives--he is coming from another meeting (the below sub-points happened later in the meeting, but I put them here based on the agenda)
  1. Outline what we do on days when weather is threatening
    1. Spelled out in operating policies
    2. Beginning about 3 a.m. process begins with Don Clark, Director of Safety and Transportation, and he goes and physically drives the roads and talks with the city and highway departments
    3. Bob Eckels, in consultation with John Clark, talk about the condition of campus to find out if we can clear the campus in time for classes to start
    4. Matt Morris will talk with the three of them and they will give Ken an assessment about 4:30 a.m. and they will collectively make a tentative recommendation
    5. Ken talks with superintendent of SPS and the chancellor of OTC to see what they're thinking/planning. Three of them will talk and, if it's really bad, may talk to Drury and Evangel as well. Evangel never closes because they have virtually no commuter students and Drury is kind of similar.
    6. Policy says that after Ken gets a read from everyone, then he talks with the Provost and the VP for Student Affairs and the three of them make the call
    7. Ken informs the president, but of course he'll get Clif's input first
    8. Then, let media know by 6 a.m. and will post on University's website
    9. If no word is out by 6, assume campus is open and will often post that it's open on the website
    10. For evening classes, try to get word out by noon, but sometimes the weather situation isn't clear enough
  2. How this will impact staff
    1. If campus is closed and no classes, offices will generally be closed. This will be in the announcements. 99.99% of the time, this will be the case.
    2. We do have the ability to have offices open without having classes. Has only been used one time in 2010. In that instance, we could have been open Friday, but we knew we had a lot of administrative work and grounds work to do to catch up, so we canceled classes but had offices open
    3. OTC and SPS have this same policy (and were also open that day in 2010). SPS uses that fairly frequently for staff, more than we do
    4. If offices are open, it will be communicated very clearly
    5. It is not the intent to cancel classes and bring staff in when there is 6-8" of snow. That's never going to happen.
    6. Safety is the priority
  3. Question from Ryan Reed: When University is closed and offices are closed, what makes the decision of whether you have to come to work or not?
    1. Essential Staff is defined on a department-by-department basis. VPs have a list
  4. Question: Is policy listed somewhere on the website
    1. MissouriState.edu/Policy/Chapter3/Op3_29_UniversityCancellationClosurePolicy.htm
  5. Dixie: What about faculty who just decide to cancel class regardless?
    1. No clear answer. It’s essentially up to the faculty and between them and their dean or department head
  6. Matthew: Finals week?
    1. Unless it's bad, we'll be open.
  7. Ryan: Is there a way to clarify what is considered essential?
    1. Go to supervisor
  8. Dixie: Who clears parking lots?
    1. We contract the parking lots, but our staff do sidewalks
  9. Kelly Cara: City of Springfield provides salt for city, do they provide it for us?
    1. No.
  10. Dixie: Will shuttles be running if classes are canceled but offices are open? What if everything is closed?
    1. If Open, shuttles will run
    2. If we're closed, they will go to scaled back schedule or not run at all.
  11. Andrea: If people feel like they're having an issue with their supervisor regarding this policy, what is their recourse?
    1. Ken doesn't suggest anybody.
2. BoG meeting next week
  1. Focused on Sustainability and the Coalition against Coal will be there (student organization)
  2. Dixie will be giving report about the scholarship, public affairs, etc.
3. Staff Senate neon green safety vests are available for those who pick up trash as part of our Adopt a Street program; also have bags and gloves
Chair-Elect Report: no report
Secretary Report
1. Scott is working through some budget issues: somehow we have an 005 and 006 account. We're not supposed to use 006 which is related to the Staff Excellence awards, but we've been putting donations in there and FNS has just been moving money out of it. We're making sure things are clean and money is going where it ought to go.
New Business
1. Sandra Johnson brings proposal to form a new standing committee called "The MSU Administrative Professional Forum Committee." This group will create and oversee regular forums for administrative professionals on campus. Held probably once a semester for 1-1.5 hours and bring in various representatives from the departments that admins work with the most. This will give admin. assts. the chance to gather and be face-to-face with department reps, and they would also get a chance to find out about updates about forms, policies, or work-flows. Departments that present should see an improvement in the way admin. assts. respond to requests and work from their department. Could improve learning curve for new people and provides professional development, as well as an opportunity to meet face-to-face and share information, gain mentoring, etc.
  1. Matthew asks Sandra to send him a copy of her proposal (she has not yet)
  2. Ryan Reed moves to bring proposal to the floor
  3. Allison Overmyer seconds
  4. Ryan: Why is it over the lunch hour?
    1. Sandra: Timing hasn't been decided yet, but lunch hour wouldn't interfere with anything
    2. Matthew: A lot of departments dislike letting their admin. assts. attend things during “work” hours, so this might help improve attendance
  5. Kelly Cara: One of the things discussed is that, because many people might not be able to attend, they're thinking about how to get info out to those who cannot attend as well
  6. Brenda Stewart: Have it added to My Learning Connection
  7. Allison Overmyer: This is a good idea.
  8. Gary Stafford: Understanding is to come together to catch assts. up with what's going on, but also to provide professional development.
    1. Sandra: Committee will have to discuss and define.
  9. Yvette: Has anyone talked with HR to see if it would fit under them.
    1. Sandra: Not yet.
  10. Ryan Reed moves to vote; Gary Stafford seconds -- move to vote passes
  11. All in favor of starting the standing committee vote: motion carries
  12. Dixie suggests that we email constituents to tell them about this committee to get people for the committee; Sandra will send out a blurb to send out to constituents
2. Kelly Cara: Employee Handbook: Faculty handbook is updated in terms of big changes once every seven years and a committee makes that revision and works on those things. There's a standing committee for minor changes during the between-time. Don't have something similar for employee handbook, and we don't have anything in place for that. HR does work with other people across the campus including members of staff to work on bigger revisions. If we feel there's a need for minor changes in interim years, we could introduce that idea and speak with HR on it. Exec Committee wasn't sure what the concern was, so they want that clarified from the Senate or Senator before moving forward.
  1. Yvette: Had someone suggest that there are two policies that seem to contradict each other... or maybe the handbook and something else (policy?) contradicted. She wasn't sure
  2. Dixie: We'll let people think about that and bring it up next year
Committee Reports:
1. Bylaws -- Kelly Cara -- Nothing to report (waiting for updates from admin council)
2. Denim day -- Andrea -- Met to wrap up semester and there were concerns from faculty about the money going to Lee. Talked about that and next semester they will review with Lee (meeting with a representative of Lee) exactly where all their money goes to. Kelly also brought the resolution from several years ago and it says we have to vote on our philanthropy every 5 years, so it's appropriate that we review and vote on it anyways.
3. Public Affairs - Gary Stafford -- Recap on Meals a Million -- Activity reached their goal of over a million meals packaged. Things for next semester:
  1. More adopt a street days
  2. Work with Public Affairs Conference
  3. Professional development : HR teaming for ethical leadership
  4. Relay for Life
  5. Support for Cultural Competency events
  6. Ryan Reed: still collecting items for Isabel's House--last day is next Friday (the 14^th). Will send email on Thursday; send email to constituents about this please
4. Public Relations – Brenda Stewart -- Speaking with HR later today about staff orientation. We discussed at last meeting about survey and HR is putting one together. They'll talk about this more today with HR.
  1. Kelly Cara: If anyone on Staff Senate has questions that they want asked, can they send them to Brenda?
    1. Brenda: Yes.
5. Scholarship -- Charles Schooneboom
  1. Rudolph's 5 and Dime -- Thursday November 29th and Friday November 30th. Event sold stocking caps... and cookbooks... event raised $200
  2. January Staff Appreciation Luncheon -- Can work this during the second week of January and the Scholarship will be mentioned. 2 student recipients are invited. Will have table tents.
  3. Staff Lunch will be in April of 2013... Monday, April 8th at 11-1 and this is the same day as the faculty/staff photo in the Union. All you can eat buffet for $7.50, and Chartwells will contribute a portion of the revenue to the scholarship. For every 100 people, Chartwells can donate $3-400.
  4. Want to request approval to use $100 or less to pay for conference services that require fees. No charge for Chartwells. $55 for equipment, sound, and lightning, and an additional $36 for labor for the tables.
    1. Motion by Ryan Reed, second by Allison Overmyer to let them use up to $100 for conference services: approved
    2. Dixie: Have Andrew Garton contact Scott Fiedler to figure out how to do that... or whomever can contact him
  5. Staff Senate Athletic Event concession fundraiser. 8 people signed up and we have submitted organization information and they have available dates for the spring, but they'll let us know what the dates are and the committee will send that on
  6. Supporting Our Own -- Jar at each Staff Senate meeting to donate change or dollars to the scholarship
6. Staff Activities committee -- Kelly Cara -- Hasn't met and has nothing to report. Activities are traditionally in the spring anyways. At last Exec. Committee meeting talked about the fact that the only activity that doesn't cost us anything is Tent Theater, so as a committee they'll probably just focus on Tent Theater. Since Ice Cream Social has been low attendance we might not do it again. Cardinals ball game, we lost some money on that last semester, so unless we have a different strategy next year, we may not do that again. Focus is on no-cost. Maybe go to a Bears game for $2?
7. SEUSA – Matthew Stublefield – Have received packets of nominations and committee will be meeting on Thursday, December 13^th to select award recipients
8. EAP – Matthew Stublefield – The negotiations for the new health care plan have yielded a new benefit for Missouri State employees: an EAP!
  1. Provided at no charge through Mercy, but EAP is through New Directions, the same provider that the EAP Work group preferred and was suggesting
  2. Up to 6 counseling sessions per year and provides a very wide range of services
  3. EAP can be used by spouses and dependents even if they’re not on MSU insurance
  4. No cost for using the EAP to the employee whatsoever
  5. Deal to be signed today (Thursday the 6^th), and HR will send out more information as well as new insurance cards
  6. Regarding the Share-It-Forward program, Matthew has received positive feedback so far and will continue to pursue this in January. For now, the EAP work group is disbanded due to its work being completed, and Matthew is not sure if SIF will need a work group since the next step is to talk with HR and FNS
Old Business -- None
Announcements
1. Kelly Cara: January 23 from 1-5 in PSU there will be a showcase on assessment and some other stuff that applies to staff. Strongly encouraged to attend if your office has been asked to collect data or if you want to improve the functionality of your offices
2. Dixie: This is Andrea's last meeting until March as she is going to have a child within 4 days
3. How do we want to handle the January meeting? Have a party? Not have a meeting? Any feelings? Maybe Dixie decides what she feels like?
  1. Party sounds good
  2. Ryan Reed: Postponing doesn't work due to training, GAs starting back, registration, etc.
  3. Corbin Campbell moves to skip it... OK, no January official meeting.
  4. Look for an email inviting to dine with Dixie.
Adjourn