Approved Minutes For Meeting On March 19, 2014

Date: March 19, 2014

Program:

1. The meeting was called to order at 1:00 p.m. by the Chair, Kathy Jones. Visitors and guests were welcomed.

2.  Roll Call

Members Present:  Todd Bryson, Don Castle, Angela Cummings-Hunter, Jon Geiger, Jill Gobert, Kathy Jones, Colleen Kuczynski, Charlotte Sarao, Matt Sronkoski, Valerie Brooks Wallin

Members Absent:  Rod Sievers (Jill Gobert, proxy), Don Patton, Jeannie Killian

Visitors and Guests:  Tracy Bennett, Pat Eckert, Wayne Glass, Michelle Rushing, Karsten Burgstahler of Daily Egyptian 

3. Minutes

Motion to approve the minutes of the Council meeting on February 19, 2014, was made by Charlotte Sarao and seconded by Todd Bryson, minutes approved as presented.

4. Adoption of Meeting Agenda:  

Chair Kathy Jones noted a revision in the agenda. Under Reports, John Massie was unable to attend, so he was removed from the agenda. Valerie Brooks Wallin made a motion to accept the agenda as revised, Charlotte Sarao seconded. Motion carried.

5. Reports            

5.1  Chair
K. Jones reported that the Constituency Heads had not met since the last Council meeting. K. Jones suggested that we announce the A/P Staff Council meetings every month by sending out an email to the constituents. T. Bryson suggested SIU Today and D. Castle suggested the University Calendar. K. Jones reminded Council members that elections are coming up. The expanded Executive Committee meeting has produced candidates that want to run for offices in the past, but with impending retirements, the only person from the current Executive Committee is K. Jones that will be staying on. If anyone is interested in being an officer, let Kathy know.  

5.2        Board of Trustees
K. Jones announced the next Board of Trustees meeting has been moved from April 10th to April 17th here in Carbondale.

5.3        Human Resources (HR)
T. Bennett reminded everyone about the Pension Reform Sessions coming April 23 at 2:30 p.m. and April 24 at 10:00 a.m. in the Law School Auditorium.  Anyone who is remotely close to retirement should go to the meetings to be aware of the changes in pension reform and how it affects them. Registration is suggested for attendance to the meeting or watching on the web.

5.4        Representatives to University Committees
5.4a     Annuitant’s Association – Pat Eckert
Pat Eckert reported that as of February 2014 the local chapter of SUAA had 745 members. P. Eckert encouraged younger retirees or those about to retire to join SUAA and to get involved with the local chapter and become officers. SUAA needs more members. The current issues are the lawsuits filed against components of the pension reform legislation. SUAA filed a lawsuit in Champaign County recently.  The primary focus of their lawsuit is contractual law. They are not just looking at the constitutional issues.  The lawsuit is available for review on the SUAA website, if interested. The plaintiffs in the suit are a good cross section of retirees from different groups; civil service, administrative professional, faculty, etc. Several other lawsuits have been filed across the State on behalf of public employees. Some other items of interest Eckert included are: a) if you’ve had estimates done for retirement after July 1, those estimates are null and void; b) employees need to pay attention to the changes that have occurred; c) the lawsuits will take time to run through the courts, maybe even several years; d) the bill was passed in December because if passed before Jan. 1, it could be implemented in a short time period. If it passed after the first of the year, there could have been a waiting period, which would have been good for SURS and employees close to retirement;  e) all retirement systems are getting hit with the Medicare changes, this piece of legislation has inconsistencies, and the systems are struggling and sorting through information. P. Eckert’s report is attached. (attachment A) P. Eckert announced that she will be retiring.  This is her last report to the Council and her position will need to be filled for the upcoming year.

5.4b     Chancellor’s Planning and Budget  – Michele Rushing
The last meeting was held on February 24th.  The Chancellor went through several updates. Housing on East Campus which will include low-rise housing and taking down the towers, is planned for 2017. Funds will be used to renovate some of the buildings on West Campus. The impact of minimum wage increases on campus was discussed.  Updates were given on the FY15 Budget Plan. Governor’s budget address has been pushed to March 26, so not much insight on the budget discussion. M. Rushing’s full report is attached. (attachment B)

5.5 Standing Committees

5.5a     Executive Committee – Jon Geiger

J. Geiger reported that the Committee discussed the agenda and minutes.  The Committee is still working on the UCOL 101 staffing suggestions.  Happy Hour suggestions were discussed and a Happy Hour was planned for March 25th at 4:30 p.m. at Pinch Penny Pub.  The Constituency Relations Committee will be discussing the Spring Luncheon and its format.  There was a discussion on who might be interested in running for Council officers.

5.5b      Committee on Committees – Charlotte Sarao
No report.

5.5c      Constituency Relations – Rod Sievers

J. Geiger reported that the Committee had met to discuss a luncheon for spring.  The Committee will be working on a luncheon to be held before the May meeting with the outgoing Council and the new Council members.  The Committee also discussed the possibility of a luncheon in conjunction with the Staff Excellence Award Program. Dates have not been decided yet.

5.5d      Operating Paper – Kathy Jones
No report.

5.5e      Staff Benefits/Staff Welfare – Don Castle
No report.

5.5f       Ad Hoc Elections Committee – Valerie Brooks Wallin
V. Brooks Wallin reported there were four nominations for the four open seats on the Council.     All election ballots will be online.  Balloting begins on March 28th and ends April 4th.

6. Old Business

UCOL 101
The Council discussed the draft of the memo that went out to Council members on teaching UCOL 101 classes. K. Jones noted some things have changed since the Council first decided to send the memo; for example, there was an announcement to hire ten NTT faculty to teach UCOL 101 classes. K. Jones asked the Council if they wanted to proceed with the letter. The Council agreed that it was important to send the memo to show their concerns. Issues discussed included: 1) welfare of A/P Staff, and compensation for teaching; 2) with retirements and attrition in units throughout the University, how is the work load going to be handled and what will the impact be on A/P Staff; 3) recruits should be volunteers or have teaching duties written into their job descriptions; 4) recruitment of instructors should include those who taught the course before; 5) training should be available at multiple times, and instructors should be given release time to attend training; 6) tuition is being paid for the UCOL courses, but since teachers are not paid, where is the money going?  After much discussion, a motion to send the memo as amended was adopted by a voice vote of 8 approved, 0 opposed and 1 abstention.

7. New Business                        

A question was raised on the imminence of members of A/P staff joining a union.  Does unionization have an impact on the A/P Staff Council? Members of the Council felt that it would be handled just like all the other constituency groups that have some members in unions and some that are not – or in the case of civil service, there are a lot of different unions. D. Castle reminded the Council that the A/P Staff Council was created by University policy as an advisory group to represent the A/P Staff constituents in university governance.   A union is defined by the bargaining law as to what they can negotiate and what they can’t.  

8. Announcements

D. Castle made an announcement that he runs into people daily that are not aware of the retirement changes, so he encourages everyone to find out about their retirement, especially if they are close to retiring. Keep people apprised of the changes taking place with the pensions.

Happy Hour at Pinch Penny Pub at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 25th.

9. Adjournment

Motion was made