Approved Minutes For Meeting On April 17, 2013

Date: April 17, 2012

Program:

1. The meeting was called to order at 1:02 p.m. by the Chair, Kathy Jones. Visitors and guests were welcomed and introduced.

2. Roll Call

Members Present: Don Castle, Angela Cummings-Hunter, Pat Eckert, Jon Geiger, Jill Gobert, Jenni Janssen, Kathy Jones, Faye Joyner-Keene, Don Patton, Charlotte Sarao, Rod Sievers, Lori Stettler, Valerie Brooks Wallin.

Members Absent: Steve Buhman.

Proxies: Jaime Conley-Holt for Keri Young.

Visitors and Guests: Pat Latch, Michele Rushing, Ben Smith, Derrick Williams.

3. Minutes

The minutes of the Council meeting on March 20, 2013, were approved as presented.

4. Adoption of Meeting Agenda: P. Eckert moved to adopt the agenda as presented; seconded by D. Patton. Motion carried.

5. Reports

5.1 Chair 
K. Jones reported: i) the constituency heads are currently meeting, so she is unable to attend. The next meeting overlaps with the Council meeting as well, so she will ask about rescheduling so she can attend; ii) she, C. Sarao and J. Geiger met to discuss the town hall report. They were unsure whether it was necessary to draft a final report since the Council has done well following up on the suggestions that were made by staff at those meetings. Since only a few people attended, K. Jones reported that she sent those individuals an email indicating the Council did follow up with their concerns. She included a link to the Council agenda from the January 16 meeting which the Chancellor and Provost attended. She also mentioned that the questions asked at that meeting were based on the comments received from the town hall meetings. K. Jones included that the Chancellor has agreed to consider coming up with some mechanism for accruing vacation days and notification requirements for term appointments that are other than a prelude to termination. K. Jones noted that the ad hoc committee chaired by K. Young will attempt to get its report to the Staff Welfare Committee by next week. Hopefully, by the May meeting, the Council will have the gist of what the proposal would be for that policy. Then, the ad hoc committee will begin doing some research over the summer on what is happening with continuing and term appointments for A/P staff at other public institutions in the state. K. Jones reported that at the end of the staff emails, she mentioned the May 2 constituency meeting and invited them to attend. She also hopes to send an email to all the new hires at the University since January and invite them specifically to attend.

5.2 Board of Trustees 
K. Jones reported the Board was scheduled to meet on April 3. The meeting began with a quorum until a motion was made to postpone the election of officers until the vacancies on the Board were filled. When that motion failed, two trustees walked out of the meeting in protest. The meeting was again cancelled due to lack of a quorum. K. Jones indicated that she later received notice that there would be no April meeting. She also learned that the notification requirements for the Board Matters to be taken up in May have been met since the materials had already been previously published.

5.3 Human Resources (HR) 
P. Latch reported: i) benefits choice begins May 2; ii) SIU is holding an employment workshop at the School of Law Auditorium for people hoping to gain employment on campus. J. Geiger asked P. Latch if she is aware of the choices employees have with respect to health providers. P. Latch believes the choices are the same. She did notice on the website this morning that Quality Care (health and dental) is having delayed payments. They are currently processing claims up to May 2012 for health and March 2012 for dental.

5.4 Representatives to University Committees

5.4a Affirmative Action Advisory - Derrick Williams 
D. Williams presented and reviewed his report (included as appendix 1 to the minutes).

5.4b Student Center Advisory - Terri Harfst 
T. Harfst submitted her written report (included as appendix 2 to the minutes). A. Cummings-Hunter asked what organization would be replacing Chartwells. L. Stettler responded that they have issued RFPs for different concepts so instead of looking at one management company, they looked at all of the different concepts and put them out to bid. Those bids are currently being reviewed. There are some areas that did not get bids, so they will negotiate individually with those. For example, a Starbucks franchise will be bought and operated by the University. From a catering perspective, the Student Center will open up a catering option to allow anyone who meets the University's requirements from a health inspection and liability perspective to cater in the building. There will be several changes occurring over the summer.

5.4c Graduate Council Representative - To be rescheduled.

5.4d Chancellor's Planning and Budget Advisory - Michele Rushing 
M. Rushing presented and reviewed her reports from the meetings on February 25 and March 25 (included as appendix 3 to the minutes).

5.5 Standing Committees

5.5a Executive Committee 
J. Geiger reported the committee reviewed the minutes from March and discussed the election results. There was also discussion about the town hall meetings and the decision to talk to those who attended regarding their input and how they would like the Council to proceed.

5.5b Ad Hoc Elections Committee 
D. Castle reported on the results of the elections (included as appendix 4 to the minutes). He reported the return rate on the electronic balloting was up some from last year.

5.5c Committee on Committees - No report.

5.5d Constituency Relations 
V. Brooks Wallin reported the spring constituency meeting is scheduled for May 2. The guest speaker will be Cindy Stein, the new head women's basketball coach. Rosemary Simmons, the Staff Excellence Award recipient, as well as the other A/P staff nominees, were also invited to attend. The alcohol permit was approved, so there will be wine served.

5.5e Operating Paper 
P. Eckert reported the committee has not met; however, K. Jones sent her some of the discussion from the last Council meeting regarding calculating sector numbers and sector definitions. Consequently, she will be calling a meeting of the committee. With respect to doing away with sectors altogether, P. Eckert pointed out that the Operating Paper was changed last May to reflect the restructuring of the campus when Student Affairs was eliminated. The committee spent a lot of time on those changes. She is certain people will want to have input into the new discussion. K. Jones suggested P. Eckert may want to pass this issue on to the incoming committee since it may take some time to draft any changes.

5.5f Staff Benefits and Welfare - No report.

6. Old Business - None.

7. New Business

K. Jones reminded standing committee chairs that final reports will be due by May 8 for inclusion on the May agenda.

8. Announcements

8.1 K. Jones reminded everyone of the reception this afternoon for "Pathways to Excellence," the University's strategic plan. Also this afternoon is a presentation by Cheryl Ernst on taking good care of international students.

8.1 V. Brooks Wallin announced that Art and Design has a new director, Marie Bukowski from Louisiana Tech University, who is a painter/printmaker. She will begin her position in the fall.

9. Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 2:22 p.m.