Call to Order - Meeting was called to order by Tabitha Haynes, Chair, at 1:30pm.
Tabitha reminded the Senate that we would be following parliamentary procedure and
reviewed some basic rules about motions and being recognized to speak. Senators were
also told that there were amendment forms on the front table should anyone like to
propose an amendment to a resolution.
Roll Call - Roll Call was done by Janelle Melton. At future meetings, there will be a sign
in sheet at the front for attendance.
Approval of Minutes (09/02/10) - The September minutes were approved pending the amendment of the Denim Day Committee
report. A motion was made by Matthew Stublefield and seconded by Jaimie Trussell.
Approval of Agenda – The agenda was distributed in advance. A motion was made by Lenord McGownd to amend
the agenda to add the Shared Sick Leave Committee report. Seconded by Matthew. A motion
was made by Cathy McFall to amend the agenda to add a Membership Committee report.
Seconded by Dale Moore.
Executive Committee Report –
Meeting with Jake Swett, SGA President
Tabitha reported that SGA would like staff and faculty to start promoting BearWear
Fridays more
Jake Swett is establishing a Spirit Commission to include students, staff and faculty.
The purpose is to promote spirit on campus and in the community. Jake is in the process
of choosing members for this committee, but if you have any suggestions on spirit
ideas let him know.
Logo – A member of SGA created two logos for us – one is a seal for official use and the
other is for promotion.
Staff Excellence in University Service Awards – Konya Knackstedt, as past Chair of Staff Senate will serve on this committee and
Matthew Stublefield has been appointed to this committee. An email was sent campus-wide
on Monday, October 4 and nominations are due to November 15.
Committee Reports
Recreation Center Fee Committee - Erin Parrish reported that the committee has not met since the September Staff
Senate meeting. However, Matthew Stublefield (committee member) formalized the earlier
resolution submitted to Staff Senate in order to guide the discussion about the proposed
resolution. The formalized document still presents the recommendation of the committee,
just in a different format. The new, formalized resolution has been submitted for
discussion and possible approval/modification by Staff Senate at October’s meeting.
Charles Klarr suggested an amendment to the current resolution to change the word
“spouse” to “household members” to match the language used by Taylor Health and Wellness.
Cynthia Hail questioned whether the intent was to include domestic partners or to
really mean all household members. Charles replied that it was to include household
members. Matthew Stublefield reported that this is a Student Recreation Center that
staff members would be using. “Household members” is a broad term, such that it would
allow children, teenagers, parents, grandparents, roommates, etc. to attend. We want
to maintain this as a Student Recreation Center; it was funded by the students, for
the students, and as Jaimie Trussell said, it is student generosity that would allow
staff to use it at all. The second issue has to do with accuracy in language and maintaining
the same defining terms throughout the resolution. After speaking with Human Resources
we concluded that to promote this as a staff benefit, with all the accoutrements that
go with it as a benefit (payroll deduction, pre-tax, etc.), we would need to use the
same language as was used for other benefits. At this time at Missouri State University,
that is “spouse,” rather than “household members” or “partners.”
Jaimie Trussell made a motion to keep the current language of the resolution. Nadine
Jones seconded the motion. Approved.
Jaimie Trussell made a motion to adopt the resolution. Matthew Stublefield seconded
the motion. Approved.
Scholarship Committee –
Cookbook Fundraiser – Konya Knackstedt reported that we have collected 150 recipes and have 202 pre-orders
for cookbooks. This will put $850 into the scholarship fund so far. The Bookstore
will sell 50 cookbooks with all profit going to the scholarship. Deadline to order
is October 8, 2010 and we should have them by December 10, 2010. Staff Senate will
pay for the order up front and be reimbursed from the sales.
Scholarship Award - Corbin Campbell reported that the committee got together and answered several questions
from Mark Stillwell concerning the scholarship such as who can apply, tuition breaks,
etc. Specifically, Mark wanted to know what the money would be used for since staff
already have a tuition waiver. The committee responded that the money would be used
for books, additional credits or certification courses. They also looked at some
of the other staff senate scholarships that are available at other universities.
The committee looked at the funds that are available in the scholarship fund ($1850.25)
and decided they would like to give a $250 scholarship for the Spring/Fall 2011 semesters.
This would promote the scholarship and would generate talk amongst the staff to give
to the scholarship. Corbin and Jaimie Trussell explained that the endowment had been
raised from $10,000 to $25,000.
Corbin Campbell made a motion to award $250 for the spring 2011 semester and $250
for the fall 2011 semester. Jaimie Trussell seconded the motion. Approved.
Denim Day – Cathy McFall reported a 5k entitled “Bears Think Pink” was held on September 25,
2010 at Nathaniel Greene Park with an exceptional turnout. $2,750 was taken in including
sponsors and without expenses.
On Friday, September 24, 2010, Web and New Media requested we organize people wearing
BearWear and jeans for a photo shoot since Denim Day and BearWear are both on Friday,
October 8th. Be watching the University homepage especially on Friday for photos.
On Saturday, October 2, 2010, the campus was painted pink by tying ribbons on trees
by Xi Omicron Iota and container collections were held at the football game with ten
female swimmers assisting at all the entrances with collections exceeding $500. We
were pleased this year with the participation of students helping the cause.
October 5-7, 2010 there will be a collection table open from 11a.m.-2p.m. in the Student
Union to accept donations, distribute Domino’s certificates and see tee shirts. Thank
you to those on Staff Senate who volunteered to help with the table.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010, the University-wide luncheon was held in the ballroom
with 318 in attendance. An addition to the luncheon this year was a friendly competition
of a penny war with some of the top administrators. Special thanks to Holly Robison
for helping count pennies. Winners were calculated using penny war points and also
calculated with who raised the most money.
Tomorrow, October 8, 2010 will be Denim Day where we hope to gain the most for our
cause. We have 40 collection coordinators for all buildings on campus.
This is Staff Senate’s philanthropy, so as senators if you have not contributed your
$5 to wear jeans, you have one more day to contact your collection coordinator, or
come see me in my office after today’s meeting. All coordinators are listed on the
website.
Most of all, I want to thank the committee for giving up the past two weekends and
all their work in making the year’s fundraising drive successful. Special recognition
goes to Andrea Weber, Holly Robison, Sandy Johnson, Diana Garland, and Denise Baumann.
Shared Sick Leave - Lenord McGownd reported that the purpose of the MSU Shared Sick Leave program is
to allow an employee to donate sick leave hours to a sick leave pool for use by fellow
employees due to a qualifying event. This program is for employees who have exhausted
sick, vacation, and compensatory time. To donate hours to the pool you must have been
a full-time employee at the University for at least 3 months AND have at least 64
hours of your own sick leave accrued after donating time. The employee could designate
hours go to a certain person or could donate to a general shared pool. To use the
hours from the pool you must have been a full-time employee of the University for
at least 3 months, have a qualifying event, have exhausted all forms of paid leave
(vacation, sick, compensatory, etc.), have donated some of your own sick leave hours
to the shared pool prior to this event. The process to request hours from the pool
will be that the employee must submit an application to the Shared Sick Leave Pool
committee for review. The committee will review the application and supplemental
documentation to determine if leave should be granted, and, if granted, the amount
of leave to be granted. All decisions of the committee are final. This committee
would be a presidential committee.
Matthew Stublefield asked what a “qualifying event” means. Lenord responded saying
Nadine Jones asked if hours would be donated/applied for in any certain increment.
Lenord responded that it would be in 8 hour increments.
Charles Klarr asked if there would be a limit to the number of hours that could be
donated. Lenord stated that there would be no limit as long as the numbers mentioned
previously were met.
Konya Knackstedt, committee member, reported that Ed Choate, Director of Human Resources,
suggested that there an open enrollment period be considered to build up the pool
of sick days.
Charles Klarr asked if it would be possible for someone to donate time and then turn
around and apply for it. Lenord stated that there is potential for abuse, but hopefully
that won’t be an issue.
Lenord commented that the committee hoped to have a final report to Staff Senate today,
but a meeting with General Counsel was postponed due to the President’s State of the
University address.
Membership – Cathy McFall stated that due to the removal of a senator recently, we need to add
a senator. Cathy raised the question of doing a search for a replacement or moving
a current senator from their area of representation to that area. Cathy reported that
in one job family we have one more seat than needed. Matthew Stublefield asked why
there were additional seats in a job family, and Cathy responded by saying the numbers
that were given to her by Human Resources at the time were different once the next
count had been done. Jaimie Trussell made a motion to open up the search to more applications,
Matthew Stublefield seconded. Approved.
Old Business - None
New Business -
Employee Assistance Program - Tabitha Haynes brought up a discussion from a previous meeting regarding an Employee
Assistance Program (EAP) for Faculty/Staff initiative. Looking into this program was
received positively by administration and is supported by other staff members on campus
as reported in the 2006 Work-Life Committee report. An EAP includes crisis intervention
and counseling, among other things, to assist staff and faculty. Matthew Stublefield
made a motion for Staff Senate to take on the EAP initiative and Charles Klarr seconded.
All approved.
Bylaws - Dale Moore proposed a revision of the Bylaws. Dale commented that Staff Senate
has a responsibility to ask “how does what we do affect staff?” and noted that because
our role is important on campus, we will be asked to weigh in more on changes that
will be happening over the years. Based on other committees Dale currently serves
on, he noted that administration does care about what Staff Senate is doing and how
we conduct business. Dale stated that we should review our current bylaws to make
sure we are still relevant and well positioned as we move forward. Dale Moore made
a motion to refer amendment AM-0001-A-2010-10-07 to the Staff Senate Bylaws Committee
for review. The motion was seconded by Matthew Stublefield and approved. The amendment
will be emailed to all senators after the meeting for review. We will take action
on this at the November 2010 meeting.
Announcements -
Street clean on Saturday, October 30, 2010 at 9:00am. Meet at Glo Cleaners parking
lot.
Adjournment – Teresa Steele made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Matthew Stublefield.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:35pm.
