MINUTES UAF STAFF COUNCIL MEETING #111 Friday, October 8, 1999 Wood Center Ballroom I Irene Downes called the meeting to order at 8:36 a.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT: Anderson, L. Barnebey, T. Baergen, A. Borjon, T. Bender, L. Dufseth, K. Candler, R. Enochs, K. Comstock, S. Heineken, H. DeKerlegand, D. Martyn, P. Downes, I. McClellan, L. Gieck, R. Murawsky, N. Hazelton, G. Rogers, P. Parzick, J. Rounds, P. Powell, D. White, P. Scholle, M. Wilson, K. Simmons, H. Sowell, P. (for P. Duvlea) OTHERS PRESENT: York, R. Chapman, C. Hagen, D. Hardenbrook, J. Humphrey, M. Lind, M. Mosca, K. Poole, J. Williams, F. B. The minutes to meeting #110 (September 15, 1999) were approved with a point of clarification that ARAMARK was losing money on the pub and some changes were made. C. The agenda was adopted as distributed via e-mail. II Committee Reports A. Rural Affairs - H. Simmons Eleven members attended the last meeting and the committee has focused their efforts on a combined College of Rural Alaska catalog, which was passed around for representatives to view. The catalog encompasses 7 campuses and 155 villages. The committee will be working on ways to improve the next catalog. Representative Simmons asked for more membership on the committee and asked for recommendations for areas to focus on. The committee will be meeting on the following dates: November 1, December 1, February 1, March 1, April 3, and May 1 at 11:00 a.m. If you are interested in serving on this committee, contact the Governance Office at fystaff@uaf.edu. B. Staff Affairs - L. Anderson Meet on September 21 and addressed goals for the coming year, red line salaries, career ladders, paid time off, and the compensation schedule. The committee decided against subcommittees and will focus on one issue at a time. Janet Jacobs, Executive Director of Statewide Human Resources will speak at the October 21 meeting at 9:00 a.m., and the committee will narrow down their focus. Representative Anderson summarized the list of issues to address for Janet Jacobs. Representatives were encouraged to attend the meeting. An ice cream social will take place after the meeting. Representatives were encouraged to participate and encourage their constituents to stop by and fill out the survey regarding Staff Council. C. Staff Training - A. Baergen Staff Training met on September 22 and firmed up the fall supervisory training schedule. Don Foley will be presenting with Paul Eaglin at the training session on December 2 - Legal Liabilities. Human Resources will be offering several brown bag training sessions this fall. Fourteen people completed their training requirement of ten hours per year. Letters will be going out shortly. Fifty people attended the training session - How to Deal with Difficult People. Carolyn Chapman, director of UAF Human Resources just returned from Dillingham, where she conducted training at the Bristol Bay Campus. Team Leadership and team building was one of the topics for training at Bristol Bay and this was very successful. Carolyn Chapman will be visiting the other rural sites this semester. Representative Simmons stated that Rural Affairs Committee can assist will the visit to rural sites. The fall training schedule is located on the web at: http://www.uaf.edu/uafgov/www/ST-www/schedule.html D. Elections, Membership & Rules - R. Gieck The committee will be working on the option of co-president and clarification on absentee voting. The committee will be reviewing the bylaws this year. Forward comments to Rob Gieck at fnreg@uaf.edu. Elections for even numbered units will be coming up this fall. Nominations will be distributed shortly and ballots will go out the beginning of November. Results of the election will be announced at the December 3 meeting. 1. Election of President-Elect Nominations are open for the position of President-Elect. The President-Elect will be elected from the staff at large by the representatives at the meeting. Pam Sowell and Marie Scholle have been nominated. Pam Sowell declined the nomination. A motion was made and seconded. The vote was unanimous. Congratulations Marie! MOTION PASSED (unanimous) ============== The UAF Staff Council moved to approve Marie Scholle as president- elect. EFFECTIVE: Immediately ******************* E. Staff Alliance - M. Scholle The Staff Alliance retreat was held in September, which included a workshop on parliamentary procedures. Janet Jacobs, Executive Director of Statewide Human Resources gave a presentation on Human Resources. Discussion centered around the lack of staff positions which have not been filled from the RIP. UAF supervisory training was mentioned at the retreat. Jim Johnson spoke regarding leadership and tips on how to approach different groups and how to lead them. President Hamilton spoke on the future economy in Alaska and education is the key to the future success of this state. The University system is not thought of as an important component of the state. Legislators have targeted the University for cuts. College Town Days President Hamilton spoke at the dinner and the Chamber was in support of the University. F. System Governance - R. Candler The State does not appreciate the University and the many contributions that the University makes. Human Resources policies and morale were also addressed at the last meeting. It is up to all members of the University to communicate the importance of the University to this State. The State needs to see how the University affects each individual. The University needs to present a unified front and work as a team. Transfer credit continues to be an issue of concern. G. Technology Advisory Board - P. Sowell No report, the Technology Advisory Board has not meet. H. Food Advisory Board - D. Powell The RFP will be sent out shortly. The Board is looking for ideas regarding the Pub and will meet again in November. A recommendation was made to have a menu distributed on what the Pub will be serving for the week. Representative Anderson stated that members from ARAMARK were up looking at the food service aspect and how it can be approved. The quality of food at the snack bar has improved a great deal and representatives were encouraged to check it out. I. Ad Hoc Committee on Parking - P. Sowell The committee meet last week and addressed what they will be focusing their efforts on. The committee wants to know what is being charged to parking. Thom Wylie-Gruenig is the new chair of the committee. The committee is asking for a student, faculty, and alumni to serve on the committee. The committee will be looking at the fee and is this fee subsidizing other units budgets. Who is in charge of what is being charged to the parking account, etc. The committee will be receiving a copy of the procedural audit which was done last year. The committee will be asking for an accounting audit, also. A recommendation was made to get information from UAA and make a comparison. There is a large disparity between the fees charged at UAF, UAA, and UAS. Carolyn Chapman recommended that Yvonne McHenry from UAF Human Resources serve on the committee. This semester Human Resources has had a difficult time receiving the parking deduction forms from the Business Office. Parking complaints should be forwarded to Linda Ilgenfritz at fnlei@uaf.edu. Linda is the staff member on the Parking Advisory Board. J. Ad Hoc Calendar Committee - K. Mosca The UAF Staff Council is soliciting photographs for the 2000 Staff Council calendar. If you have any outstanding photographs that you would like to share with the University community, send them to the Staff Council, Governance Office. The deadline for slides is Wednesday, October 20 at 5:00 p.m. III Other Business A. Motion to approve FY01 Meeting Calendar Discussion took place on Friday meetings and the low turn out. Rural representatives stated that the Friday meetings are convenient for travel rather than mid week. The Calendar Committee needs the meeting dates for inclusion in the 2000 Staff Council calendar. The motion was made and seconded. The vote was unanimous to approve the 2000-2001 meeting calendar. MOTION PASSED (unanimous) ============= The UAF Staff Council moves to approve the FY01 meeting calendar as follows: MTG.# DATE DAY LOCATION 119 September 13, 2000 Wednesday Wood Center Ballroom 120 *October 6, 2000 Friday Wood Center Ballroom 121 November 8, 2000 Wednesday Wood Center Ballroom 122 *December 8, 2000 Friday Wood Center Ballroom 123 February 7, 2001 Wednesday Wood Center Ballroom 124 *March 2, 2001 Friday Wood Center Ballroom 125 April 4, 2001 Wednesday Wood Center Ballroom 126 *May 9, 2001 Wednesday Wood Center Ballroom 127 June 1, 2001 Friday Wood Center Ballroom *Face-to-face meetings EFFECTIVE: Immediately RATIONALE: The Ad Hoc Calendar Committee will need all the meeting dates for 2000 to be incorporated in the Staff Council calendar. The 2000 will be distributed at the December 3 Staff Council meeting. ****************** IV Chancellor's Remarks - M. Lind Chancellor Lind thanked Staff Council for the opportunity to speak at the meeting. The Chancellor is looking forward to meeting staff and visit the various units. UAF will continue to focus on drawing quality students. Enrollment is an area of concern, the numbers need to be increased. Chancellor Lind welcomed recommendations on increasing enrollment. Recruiting from outside Alaska has shown some success. UAF is able to offer a unique educational experience, unlike any other state because of our location. Retention is also an issue which needs to be focused on. All staff can assist in the recruitment and retention process. The little extra funding that the University received was very helpful and made a difference. Continued momentum will be a challenge, but cannot be let up on. Completion of Hutchison is a high priority, as well as facilities at Bristol Bay, fisheries in Juneau, and UA Museum. Deferred maintenance remains a high priority. Representatives recommended that administration make available key areas and issues which need to be addressed by legislative funding again this year. V Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services Remarks - F. Williams Computing The ceremony for the OC12 connection between UAF and the University Washington will take place today. This will substantially increase the band width. The ceremony will take place at the International Arctic Research Center building. Representatives from the National Science Foundation in Washington DC will be on hand for the ceremony. This was a staff driven success for UAF and Vice Chancellor Williams appreciates staff making UAF a better place. VI The Council took a five minute break. VII Guest Speaker A. Mike Humphrey, Director of Benefits, Statewide Human Resources - Update on UA2000 Plan Highlights of changes to the current health plan include the following. These changes will go into effect on January 1, 2000. 1. Charge the same amount for each dependent on the plan as the charge for employee coverage, up to a maximum of four dependents (dependent charges will not be less that $5 bi-weekly per dependent, based on 26 pay periods per year.) 2. Modify the basic health care plan in the following manner. - Increase the individual deductible from $100 to $250. - Increase the family deductible from $300-$500. - Increase the individual out-of-pocket maximum from $400 to $750 (does not include the deductible). - Increase the family maximum out-of-pocket from $750 to $1250 (does not include the deductible). - Implement a preferred provider organization provision that pays 80/20% for in-network services and 60/40% for out-of- network services. - Implement a $400 preventive health care benefit, not subject to the deductible, for enrollees over age 1. The UA2000 plan has well-baby coverage through the first year of life. - Make all other health care charges subject to the deductible. - Change the pharmacy program from an 80/20% co-insurance to a plan where the employee pays either $7 co-pay for a generic or a $10 co-pay for a name brand medication. - Implement a $25 annual deductible for non-preventive dental work. - Change the way dental procedures involving surgical procedures are handled under the plan so that they are processed as part of the dental work. - Modify the vision program by providing an annual $100 per person vision benefit for any eligible vision service. 3. Eliminate the supplemental health care plan options. For more information: www.alaska.edu/benefits Network of preferred providers has saved the University approximately $8.9 million. The University will be actively working to expand this network. VIII Governance Reports A. Alumni Association - J. Poole Alumni board of directors will meet next week. After the board meeting, Alumni will be donating $4,000 to Student Activities. College Town Dinner - Hosted by the Chamber of Commerce on September 16 was very successful and had a good turn out from UAF. President Hamilton gave a presentation at the dinner. Alumni Drive is now open. The ceremony on September 28 was well attended. The UAF sign will go up in the spring and it will have the time and temperature on it. Furniture for Multi-Level Lounge - Funding should be wrapped up by the end of the December and the furniture will hopefully be ordered in January. Alumni Fees can now be done through automatic deductions. MOTION PASSED (unanimous) ============= The UAF Staff Council moves to extend the time of their meeting. EFFECTIVE: Immediately RATIONALE: Staff Council had exceed the agenda time and an extension was needed to complete business. ****************** B. ASUAF - J. Hardenbrook Joe Hardenbrook, Legislative Affairs Director for ASUAF, gave the ASUAF report for Stacey Banks. ASUAF is spearheading a postcard drive in support of the University budget. The postcard will be presented to Governor Knoweles by the Student Regent Joshua Horst. Postcards were distributed to representatives for their support. The Governance Office will also distribute information via e-mail to all staff. Postcards are due back by November 1. Joe Hardenbrook will also be serving on the University Advocacy Ad Hoc Committee established by Staff Council. Another area of focus for ASUAF is a community partnership - the Fairbanks Idea. Madison, Wisconsin did a similar project and generated a great deal of support from the community. ASUAF will be working with the Chamber of Commerce on this also. A recommendation was made to expand this idea for every campus. C. Faculty Senate - R. Gatterdam The Faculty Senate passed a motion which makes the Graduate Record Exam optional, depending on the department requirements. The grade appeal process was also clarified. The graduate committees will be looking at the interdisciplinary degree. The Core Curriculum will assess the core curriculum in its entirety. The graduate committees will be looking at an emphasis in graduate programs, essentially a minor. There will be a new mission statement for UAF and the other major administrative units this year. Narrowing the focus of each MAU will probably be expressed in the new mission statements. Ron Gatterdam did not feel that transferring credits was an issue of concern, while some staff representatives felt the contrary. IX Comments and Questions A. President's Report I. Downes President Downes attended the Board of Regents meeting in Anchorage on September 30 and October 1. At the Human Resources meeting, the staff survey results are in. The main concern staff has is the lack of communication with administration. Salaries and jobs were not as much an issue as communication. Communication will be a focus for the coming year. There will be an increase in tuition in FY02. President Downes also met with UAF staff located in Anchorage. In order to further expand community involvement, President Downes recommended that a staff member sit on the Chamber. A motion was made to have a Staff Council member on the Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce. However it was tabled due to lack of quorum. MOTION TABLED ============= The UAF Staff Council moves to have a member on the Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce. ******************** X Announcements A. The October meeting schedule was distributed for the convenience of representatives. XI The meeting was adjourned at 11:13 a.m. Tapes of this Staff Council meeting are available in the Governance Office, 312 Signers' Hall, if anyone wishes to listen to the complete tapes. Submitted by Kathy Mosca, Staff Council secretary.