Administrative Staff Council 2004-2005
Minutes: January 6, 2005
101A Olscamp Hall

Call to Order
Joe Luthman called the meeting to order at 1:30.

Members Present
Wendy Buchanan, Rob Cramer, Dave Crooks, Kim Fleshman, Michael Ginsburg, Ann Jenks, Steve Kendall, Naomi Lee, Joe Luthman, Teresa McLove, Connie Molnar, Emily Monago, Jeff Nelson, Sally Raymont, Diane Regan, Robin Veitch, Mary Beth Zachary

Member Substitutes
John Clark for Rachael Schaeffer, Chris Haar for Sheila Irving, Brady Gaskins for Jill Carr, Tony Howard for Paul Lopez, Bill Wheelock for Rich Peper

Absent
Nora Cassidy, Gerry Davis, Greg Dickerson, Tim Hoepf, Larry Holland, Lona Leck, Susan Macias, Deb McLean, Penny Nemitz , Deb Rice, Celeste Robertson, Larry Spencer

Approval of Minutes
The addition of Dave Steen as substitute for Mary Beth Zachary was made to the December 2004 minutes. Motion made by Connie Molnar to approve. Robin Veitch 2nd, motion to approve passed.

Chair’s Report
1. Joe Luthman attended the Board of Trustees December meeting and cited the tradition in the past of the University re-hiring administrative staff whose contracts are not renewed due to budgetary issues whenever openings come available. A discussion of non-renewals followed. In December somewhere between 8 and 12 administrative staff received letters of non-renewal. It was clarified that administrative staff employed more than three years must receive a 180 day notice of non-renewal of contract. Staff with less than three years of service must be given a 90 day notice. Rumors are circulating of more non-renewals to come in March. It is not known in which vice presidential areas the non-renewals occurred. Human Resources says there is a confidentiality issue in making public a list of the people who are not being renewed as a possible deterrent in job searches these employees may have underway. It is up to the employee to make disclosure of his/her situation. On the other hand, Council can not take any action if it is not apprised of whom these staff are and in what area they work. Dave Crooks said we have always worked at the pleasure of the president, however, thus far there has been the period of notice given to those whose contracts will not be renewed. It is rumored that the upper administration would like to move change the December and March notifications to inform Administrative Staff whose contracts will be renewed as a corollary to the paperless contract. Luthman and Lona Leck will take these non-renewal issues up with Rebecca Ferguson at their January 17 meeting.
2. Cindy Puffer told ASC at her presentation last fall that the Health Center pharmacy can fill 30 day prescriptions, but not yet 90 day prescriptions. Classified Staff Council has asked the pharmacy to look into the possibility of filling the 90 day prescriptions. ASC can now express its interest in the 90 day prescription.

Vice Chair’s Report
No Report.

Secretary’s Report
No Report.

Guests
Diane Regan introduced the Proposed Handbook of Commonly Shared Employment Practices, beginning with the history of how it came to be. Several years ago the Provost’s Office gave a professional development workshop for those in the academic areas who supervise faculty, administrative, and classified staff. The policies for each constituent group were sometimes the same, sometimes different, and not always easy to find. Linda Dobb decided to create a handbook of commonly shared policies and appointed a committee to work on it comprised of staff from all three constituent groups and chaired by Diane. The committee only listed policies held in common by all three groups. An FMLA policy was not included because the Board of Trustees-approved definition of family member as noted in the Faculty Charter includes in-laws and for administrative and classified staff does not. Official policies must be approved by the Board of Trustees and additions/changes will come across our desks. It behooves all employees to watch for policy changes – a policy handbook is only as good as people who look at it and use it. Council thanked Regan for her work on this handbook.

Committee Reports
Amendments
The committee is working on a draft amendment to add the office of Treasurer to: oversee the budget, centralize all budget reports, maintain a history of the ASC budget process, oversee fund-raising and grants and to sit on Executive Committee.

Awards and Special Recognition
The December ASC Spirit Award was given to Michelle East, Dining Services.The committee is accepting nominations for the BG Best Award. A letter will be going out to all administrative staff members to promote both the Spirit and BG Best Awards. Deadline for BG Best nominations is February 25, 2005.

Currently the Spirit Award winner receives a $75 check, balloons, and a certificate, while the BG Best winner receives a Zuni owl. The committee would like to ask to all administrative staff via Blackboard if the BG Best winners should also receive a cash award in addition to the Zuni owl since it is a more prestigious honor that the monthly Spirit Award. It was not known whether the budget had funds available for the additional cash awards and Executive Committee will have to look into this.

External Affairs
No Report.

Internal Affairs
No Report.

Personnel Welfare/Salary
As of the last meeting, the committee did not have the latest salary spreadsheet showing years at the University, years in position, and gender. It was noted that some of the data on the last spreadsheet was inaccurate. There is a problem with data warehousing in which in some cases there is a data set used in the offices that are copies from the administrative system. If a backup is not made in the administrative system the data may not be current. This is a problem that will be addressed in the implementation of the new Oracle/Peoplesoft system. It was asked if staff will have an opportunity to check their HR record for accuracy before the information is migrated to the new system. Historical data will not be converted and data verification is essential prior to turnover because it will be the only data in existence.

PWC is prioritizing goals and breaking them down into annual goals and long-term goals. Some of the long term goals are: giving all staff who meet expectations one personal day; increasing the vacation bank for each employee to 480 hours; getting the University to clarify work expectations; and having a plan in place for raising staff to the mid-point.

There was a discussion concerning the exit interview process, whether or not the interviews are being conducted, and how ASC can get information on who is leaving and why. Collection of employee statistics on level of education, race, disability, and other information has not been done since the retirement of Dean Gerkens. Marshall Rose should be contacted to determine the status of this exit interview information

Professional Development
A rolling application process has been implemented to allow for professional development awards to staff who may be attending conferences later in the year.

Plans are in the works for a Job Analysis Questionnaire seminar to be offered in March and at another time later in the year. The committee is working on ideas for the ASC Spring Reception. An upcoming presentation by CASO (Coalition Against ??) will possibly be videotaped and put on the ASC website.

Scholarship
The donation drive for raffle items has been very successful. The committee is working on putting the application process on the website. Registration and Records is supplying a list of students who are in the top 10% for GPA. They will receive letters of invitation to apply for scholarships.

Faculty Senate Liaison – Robin Veitch
No Report.

Classified Staff Liaison –Lona Leck
No Report.

Old Business
None to report.

New Business
The administration is looking at a possible closing of the University from Monday December 26 through Monday January 2. The holidays would be Monday December 26, Tuesday December 27, and Monday January 2. For the remaining three days, Wednesday December 28 through Friday December 30, employees would be required to take vacation or leave without pay. A discussion followed in which it was pointed out that classified staff would be the group most affected, since some only have 10 paid vacation days a year. For many offices such as the Bookstore, Bursar, International Programs, Student Financial Aid, and Registration this is one of the busiest times and they would work regardless of a closing. ASC would like to see more documentation of how this benefits BGSU in light of our concerns for the ‘student centered approach.’

Good of the Order

Robin Veitch reminded staff that Faculty/Staff tickets are available for the January 12 women’s basketball game against EMU and the January 15 men’s basketball game. All teams are going well and look for support from faculty and staff. Women’s tickets will be available at the door and men’s tickets are available at the Memorial Hall ticket window.

Jeff Nelson said that a committee will be appointed to investigate a one card system for all University transactions. Nelson is co-chairing with Jim Lach. Dining Services’ current system will no longer be supported after this year and since it will need to make a change it might be a good time to look into a University wide system. The committee will be asking for feedback. In the discussion that followed it was pointed out that the library is a heavy user of the ID card and need to be included in the process from the start. Also while there are many benefits associated with the one card approach, it has been studied previously and was not implemented.

Connie Molnar said that Continuing and Extended Education will be offering Blackboard training for administrative and classified staff for the first time.

Mary Beth Zachary encouraged all to attend the Feb 5 women’s basketball game which is taking place during a Title IX symposium on Women in Sports. BGSU women athletes from previous years will be recognized in a halftime presentation. For more information go to the Athletics Department website.

Adjournment
Diane Regan made a motion to adjourn. Teresa McLove seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 3 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Ann Jenks for Penny Nemitz