Approved Minutes For Meeting On July 17, 2013

Date: July 17, 2013

Program:

1. The meeting was called to order at 1:04 p.m. by the Chair, Kathy Jones. Visitors and guests were welcomed and introduced..

2. Roll Call

Members Present: Members Present: Don Castle, Jon Geiger, Jill Gobert, Kathy Jones, Faye Joyner-Keene, Charlotte Sarao, Rod Sievers, Matt Sronkoski, Valerie Brooks Wallin.

Members Absent: Angela Cummings-Hunter, Don Patton.

Proxies: Kathy Jones for Todd Bryson.

Visitors and Guests: Tracy Bennett, Pam Gwaltney.

J. Geiger introduced T. Vaughn, Director of Recreational Sports and Services. He and J. Davis gave a presentation on the Chancellor’s Employee Wellness Initiative and answered questions from the floor.

3. Presentation

J. Geiger presented K. Jones with a gavel honoring her service as Chair during the 2012-2013 year.

4. Minutes

The minutes of the Council meeting on June 19, 2013, were approved as presented.

5. Adoption of Meeting Agenda: R. Sievers moved to adopt the agenda as presented; seconded by F. Joyner-Keene. Motion carried.

6. Reports

6.1 Chair 
K. Jones reported she was unable to attend the constituency heads meeting, so she has nothing to report. There has been discussion about whether there is an I.T. advisory committee and whether or not all the new I.T. fees have been discussed by that advisory committee, so she reached out to JP Dunn, our representative on the Computing Advisory Committee. He said the fees were not discussed with that group. There has also been discussion about whether a campus climate survey is in the works. K. Jones reached out to Jim Allen with regard to the accreditation side, and he didn’t recall any such survey being conducted. She also reached out to Linda McCabe-Smith but hasn’t heard back from her. If it isn’t in the works, perhaps this Council would like to recommend that it be done to gain a greater sense of how employees are feeling on this campus at this time. R. Sievers inquired as to whether this would apply to all employees or just AP staff. Discussion ensued regarding how all constituency groups are impacted by each other; therefore, all employees should be surveyed. K. Jones has invited the Chancellor to a Council meeting this fall. She contacted Terry Clark, Chair of the Faculty Senate, regarding Becky’s replacement as well as constituency involvement in University decision making. M. Sronkoski inquired about how the Council operates with regard to surveys, whether those can be conducted independently or as a group. D. Castle responded that the Council tends to do things as a whole or through their Committees. Discussion followed suggesting that if there was a University-wide survey in the future, this is not something we would want to do just for our own constituents. K. Jones asked the Council whether or not we want to conduct Town Hall Meetings again, or whether we want to continue our recent “happy hour” social events. The next one is planned for Wednesday, July 24, at 4:30 p.m. at Italian Village.

6.2 Board of Trustees 
The Board met on July 11, 2013, and K. Jones submitted her written report (attached). She indicated she would not be able to attend the September 12, 2013, meeting in Carbondale and asked someone from the Council to go in her place. J. Geiger, as Vice Chair, agreed to attend on her behalf. J. Gobert asked if there had been any discussion about AP raises for the fiscal year. K. Jones responded there wasn’t discussion at the Board meeting. J. Geiger added that it wasn’t on the agenda. K. Jones asked T. Bennett if she knew anything about it, and she indicated HR was in the process of implementing raises for the union groups that have contracts in place. She was not aware of any roadblocks for the non-represented increases, and if things proceed as they have in the past, it should be on the agenda for the September Board meeting. But, she indicated she has no official guidelines for the raises and that no one has said that it will be on the agenda.

6.3 Human Resources (HR) 
Human Resources (HR) - No report.

6.4 Representatives to University Committees

6.4a Naming University Facilities - Pam Gwaltney 
P. Gwaltney presented and discussed her report (included as appendix 1 to the minutes).

6.4b Chancellor’s Advisory Review - Todd Bryson 
T. Bryson submitted his report (included as appendix 2 to the minutes).

6.5 Standing Committees

6.5a Approval of Standing Committee Assignments 
Standing committee assignments were presented for approval. J. Geiger indicated that the Executive Committee was able to give everyone who turned in a form their first or second preference. V. Brooks Wallin moved to approve the standing committee assignments as presented; seconded by C. Sarao. Motion to approve standing committee assignments carried

6.5b Recess to Elect Standing Committee Chairs 
J. Geiger called for a short recess and asked committees to meet briefly to elect their chairs. After re-convening, the standing committee chairs were announced as follows: C. Sarao, Committee on Committees; R. Sievers, Constituency Relations; and D. Castle, Staff Benefits and Welfare. Since M. Sronkoski was the only member of the Operating Paper Committee present, announcement of the chair is pending. J. Geiger indicated that K. Jones would like to continue with an expanded Executive Committee this year, meaning the standing committee chairs would be included in Executive Committee meetings.

6.5c Executive Committee 
J. Geiger reported the committee discussed the replacement requested for the A/P member appointed to the Naming University Facilities Committee due to a potential conflict of interest. K. Jones indicated she would look for the committee’s operating paper to review constituency appointments. We discussed recent job searches and the lack of requests to the Council for representation on these search committees. We also discussed replacing Keri Burns on the Council and changes to the appearance of the AP listserv.

6.5d Committee on Committees 
C. Sarao reported that we have eight volunteers and 18 vacancies to fill. The committee has reviewed and discussed these appointments. Her first thought is to give the eight volunteers what they want to the extent that we can, and then approach everyone we haven’t replaced and ask them re-up. After that, she will approach Council members to serve. K. Jones suggested we could ask for volunteers again, and C. Sarao agreed. However, she suggested we encourage people we know to serve. D. Castle agreed that we could pressure ourselves to come up with volunteers. C. Sarao stated we could resend the request for volunteers, stating we have a large number of vacancies that need to be filled. She will not re-up someone automatically. We could open it up for another two weeks, and she will send an email to everyone up for reappointment who hasn’t already been replaced asking them to consider staying on for another term. K. Jones asked C. Sarao to work with V. Brooks Wallin when the appointment letters are ready to go out. J. Geiger suggested contacting those volunteers going out to see if there is another appointment in which they would be interested.

6.5e Constituency Relations - No Report

6.5f Operating Paper - No Report

6.5g Staff Benefits and Welfare

The committee hasn’t met yet, but it has the report from the Ad Hoc Committee on term and continuing appointments, so that will be the first business of the committee.

7. Old Business

K. Jones reported that at a previous meeting, there was discussion about a committee member, Kevin Lister, being replaced on the Naming University Facilities Committee before the expiration of his term because of the potential for a conflict of interest. She could not find an Operating Paper for this committee, but she did find a Board policy that talks about naming physical components of the University, and it says the Chancellor may appoint an advisory committee made up of constituents. If the advisory committee serves at the pleasure of the Chancellor, she can add and remove committee members.

 

8. New Business

8.1 K. Jones reported we have to replace Keri Burns in the Academic Sector since she took a job at another university. She asked that the Academic Sector caucus and consider two names submitted by F. Joyner-Keene and J. Geiger. After caucusing, the Academic Sector voted to replace K. Burns with Jeannie Killian. F. Joyner-Keene moved to approve J. Killian as the Academic Sector representative; seconded by M. Sronkoski. Motion carried.

8.2 K. Jones charged the Committees to have their FY14 Goals and Objectives ready for the next Council meeting on August 21, 2013. She asked that they be submitted prior to the Executive Committee meeting scheduled for August 12. She indicated last year’s Goals and Objectives could be found in the August 2012 Meeting Minutes.

8.3 K. Jones distributed and the Council discussed the Year End Budget Report for FY 13 (attached).

9. Announcements

J. Geiger revised the invitation to representatives to University committees to report at Council meetings. The main revisions removed the inclusion of last year’s report and a written reminder prior to the meeting at which the representative is scheduled to appear and added the option to submit a written report only.

D. Castle stated that he watched the Conference Committee on Pensions online, and a discussion of the pension issue ensued. He inquired as to whether anyone knew of any constituency groups who had approved the University presidents’ plan. No one knew of any sort of formal vote on the plan.

10. Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 2:22 p.m.