THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN-DEARBORN
STAFF SENATE MEETING
July 25 , 2007
9:00-11:00
1227 UC
MINUTES
Members Present: Bernadette Lis, Linda Southward, Rima Berry-Hung, Michelle Barnes, Sharon Lobdell, Vera Kapulak, Judy Wilson, Cindy Kecskes, Diane Sigler, Marlene Pruitt, Rachel Buzzeo, Paul Beteag, and Sandie Post
Members Absent: Judy Walker, Monica Hetu, Shelly Harris, Belinda Soliz
Also Present: Chancellor Little and Jeff Evans
- CALL TO ORDER
- ADOPTION OF AGENDA
- ANNOUNCEMENTS
3.1 Committee Reports:
3.1.1 Benefits Committee – The Chair noted that Linda Southward’s and Sandy Beck’s terms expire in August and asked Linda if she was interested in continuing. Linda reported that the committee is still working on their annual report and plan to have it completed by fall.
3.1.2 Budget Committee – Linda Southward reported that the committee has not met, but that a 3% salary program has been approved by the Regents.
3.1.3 UMake a Difference Committee – Nothing to report.
3.1.4 Recognition Committee – Everyone agreed that the awards program this year was great - organized and well attended. Moving the awards ceremony to a different day than the Staff Senate Staff Appreciation Picnic gave the ceremony more weight.
3.1.5 Voices of Staff – There was a meeting of the benefits group. A poster was distributed at the meeting. There will be discounts for University employees at various health clubs. The fact that we have our own Wellness Center with several broken machines was discussed. The Chancellor noted that the administration is looking into fixing the broken equipment. The University will be doing health assessment testing at all three campuses this fall.
The Core Team also had a meeting and talked about cultures within the University. Help for junior faculty is being promoted. They also talked about the age of the workforce and the large number of people that will be retiring in the next 5 years.
3.1.6 Public Relations Committee – Nothing to report.
3.1.7 Leadership and Development Committee – A meeting is scheduled with Jeff Evans on July 30th.
3.1.8 Hospitality Committee – 38 Vendors will be attending the Staff Appreciation picnic. Bids were sent to 6 food vendors. The committee received a letter from Kathy Herr stating that Campus Dining is willing to meet the lowest bid, including providing 5% over the actual count at no additional cost and with no substitutions. The final count will be submitted by Aug 9th. The cost will be $9.25 per person and there will be no service, delivery or wait staff fees. Facilities Mgmt will be handling the set-up and clean-up at no cost to the Senate. 30 tables will be rented at a cost of $180. Since there is a big reduction in costs this year, Vera asked that we pay a photographer $150 to take pictures. A motion was made by Judy Wilson, seconded by Sandie Post, to pay a photographer $150 for picnics of the Staff Senate Staff Appreciation Picnic. Vote: Yes 12 No 1 Abstain 0. It was noted that a special thank-you lunch will be provided to Facilities after the picnic. Vera will be doing an email to the Senate asking for volunteers at the picnic. All Senators are expected to participate.
3.1.9 Workplace Environment Committee – Nothing to report.
3.1.10 Election Committee – The chair announced that Sandy Kulka has resigned from the Senate, and her term expires in December 2007. A motion was made by Vera Kapulak, seconded by Linda Southward, to leave the seat open until the November election. Vote: Unanimous
3.1.11 Communication Committee – There is a meeting to discuss the next Senator July 26, 2007. It was suggested to Susan Gedert by the Secretary that articles be done on the Open Forum and ergonomics. - ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION AND ACTION:
4.1 Budget – The Chancellor noted that the Dearborn budget has been approved by the Regents with a 3% salary increase and 7.9% tuition increase. He noted that the budget was constructed based on a “leap of faith” that the state would make the withheld l/11th payment in October, and would not reduce our base budget allocation for 2007-2008. The Regents are aware that if the state does not follow through with the l/11th payment and does reduce the base budget, then a mid-year adjustment may become necessary. If we lose the 1/11th payment we are still covered. If we lose base budget money all alternatives for cuts will have to be considered.
4.2 Picnic – Covered in the Hospitality Committee report.
4.3 Open forum – The Senate has received lots of positive feedback. A follow-up forum on the safety issue will be held the last week of October assuming that Campus Safety is ready with their updates.
4.4 Longevity – It was noted that the longevity compensation issue is still a matter of concern to staff and that longevity/retention issues need to be addressed via an ad hoc committee for further research resulting in an advisory memo to the administration, which would include best practices by other groups and Universities. After some discussion, a motion was made by Cindy Kecskes, seconded by Vera Kapulak, to reconstitute the Staff Senate longevity/retention committee. Vote: Unanimous
4.5 Begin planning for 2008 Budget Letter – It was noted by the Chancellor that the budget letter that the Senate usually sends to the Administration should be called the “Fiscal Year Budget Report” not a request. It should be done as an advice letter on the pressing needs of the campus. A motion was made by Sandie Post, seconded by Cindy Kecskes, to reconstitute the ad hoc Staff Senate budget committee. Vote: Unanimous
4.6 The chair noted that the Senate needs to form an ad hoc committee to handle the Chancellor’s request that he and the Director of Human Resources be officially added to the Senate’s by-laws as ex-officio and to look at any other by-laws changes. The chair will email the Senate asking for volunteers.
4.7 Campus Food Service – Several complaints have been made by staff to various members of the Senate regarding pressure by the University Center Administration on the bookstore to stop selling milk and other food items. The complaint is that staff that start at 6 a.m. will be adversely affected, as well as all other staff, since the food court doesn’t open until 11 a.m. and is closed on Fridays. It was noted that the bookstore is willing to fill a need and staff do not understand why the university is pressuring the bookstore to stop certain services.5. Senate Goals
6. Roundtable – There was a lengthy discussion about the Staff Survey and the meetings that have already taken place. It was noted that there have been a lot of positive results. HR was given several kudos for its work on this project.
Respectfully submitted,
Judith K Wilson
Secretary
- Website maintained by jkwilson@umd.umich.edu
last updated 10/16/2007
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