FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Elizabeth Solano

Governance Office

312 Signers' Hall

474-7056   fystaff@uaf.edu

 

AGENDA

UAF STAFF COUNCIL MEETING #135

Wednesday, May 15, 2002

8:45a.m. – 10:45a.m.

Wood Center Carol Brown Ballroom

 

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Time           Item                                                           Length of Time

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8:45    I      Call to Order – Scott McCrea                                    5 Min.

A.            Roll Call

B.            Approval of Minutes to Meeting #134

C.            Approval of Meeting #135 Agenda

                  D.      President's Report                                       10 Min.

 

9:00    II     Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services             5 Min.

                  Remarks – M. Neumayr

 

9:05    III     Governance/Department Reports

                  A.      Career Services – T. Trabant                          5 Min.

                  B.      Faculty Senate – G. Chukwu                            5 Min.

                  C.      ASUAF – D. Miller                                            5 Min.

 

9:20    IV    Committee Reports

                  A.      Staff Affairs – G. Hazelton                             5 Min.

                           (Attachment 135/1)

                  B.      Elections, Membership & Rules – D. York        10 Min.

                           1.  Election of President-Elect (Attachment 135/2)

                  C.      Rural Affairs – H. Simmons                           10 Min.

                  D.      University Advocacy – S. Comstock                5 Min.

                           1.  UAF Southside Day

                  E.      Ad Hoc Staff Training – D. Hagen                    5 Min.

                  F.      Ad Hoc Longevity Awards – D. Hagen               5 Min.

                  G.      Ad Hoc Staff Picnic – A. Linn                          5 Min.

 

10:05  V     Guest Speakers           20 Min.

                  Debra Brownfield, Dir Space Planning & Management

                  Update on UAF Master Plan

 

                  Carolyn Chapman, Human Resources (HR)           15 Min.

                  HR Year in Review/Plans for Coming Year

 

10:40  VI    Other Business/Comments                                      5 Min.

                  A.      Turn in Raffle Tickets (Attachment 135/3)

 

10:45  VII   Adjournment


ATTACHMENT 135/1

UAF STAFF COUNCIL #135

MAY 15, 2002

 

Staff Affairs Minutes, May 7, 2002, 10:45 a.m.

 

I Roll Call

Joyce Allen-Luopa, Tyrone Burkhead, Liam Forbes, Gabrielle Hazelton-chair, Stacey Howeshell

 

Excused

Jean Crews, Wanda Fields, Nici Murawsky

 

Absent

Dixie Emery, Diane Gray, Larry Ledlow, Cathy Magnusen, Donna Moore, Sue Sharpton, Jeannette Skrob

 

II Old Business

A.            sick leave conversion to retirement/PTO—After review of PTO information, committee decided not to explore it.  Joyce proposed the following as a starting place.  Joyce will take this to Mike Humphrey, SWOHR, and he will be invited to the next meeting.

At a time when President Hamilton and Chancellor Lind are making great strides to implement employee appreciation programs and much needed salary increases, I want to suggest an area that has been overlooked.   I want to suggest a proposal for limited sick leave conversion to PERS at retirement.  I believe this is a way to express appreciation to long-term employees who have helped to keep our cost of health care down by not taking sick leave unless they absolutely needed it, in a manner that would not be overly expensive to the University.

 

First: I suggest a stipulation that this would only apply to employees who retire with 1000 hours or more.  That would be the qualifier.

 

Second: I suggest that employees who qualify will have all of their sick leave converted to PERS time.  Example:  if you retire with 4000 hours of sick leave on the books, you would receive an extra 2 years of PERS credit.

 

Third:  Possible amendments to my suggestion may include a need to access a sliding scale of conversion.    I would like to see 100% conversion for any employee who has the qualifying amount of time.  After all, 1000 hours of sick leave amounts to an extra six months of time spent on the job.  In all probability, it amounts to six months of extra time spent on the job when you were sick.  It represents an extra benefit to the University in terms of employee productivity and it amounts to an extra amount of employee dedication that should be rewarded.  But if there are a very large number of employees who have 1000+ hours of sick leave, perhaps we would need to establish a sliding scale.  

 

Example:  at 1000 hours you qualify but only receive an 80% conversion of time to PERS.

                 At 2000 hours you qualify and receive 90% conversion of time to PERS.

              At 3000 + hours you qualify for the program and receive 100% conversion.

 

I propose we find out how many employees this suggest would affect and attempt to move forward with the proposal. 

 

B.            Rumors of step increase freeze & removal of tuition waivers.  Gabrielle has asked many people, and did research on many webpages, there appears to be no basis for these rumors.

 

III    New Business

A.            Employee Recognition Program DRAFT from Carolyn Chapman, Director HR.    The following comments will be sent to the Administrative Committee & then to Carolyn.

 

We agree with Carolyn's justifications for such a program as outlined on

page one.  We are encouraged by the simplicity and versatility of the

levels of recognition outlined and are happy about the ability to award

immediate recognition rather than wait for the annual, campus-wide

opportunities such as "make students count" and others.  Rural sites are

especially happy they could recognize their staff without having to

compete against main campus departments for campus-wide opportunities.

 

Understanding that departments foot the bill for any recognition

program, small or large, some concept comments are:

Is there a way to bypass supervisors who will not recognize any employee

 

for any reason?

If passed by the Chancellor, can his distribution memo contain words of

strong encouragement to participate in such a program; to encourage

supervisors/managers who are against such recognition?  Potentially

using some of Carolyn's own points of justification?

Can there be any equality between departments that usually have a budget

 

excess and those departments that routinely have minimal funds?  Or any

recourse for those departments that want to recognize employees, but

can't financially (even to purchase a plaque)? Was the concept of a

campus-wide pool of money considered?

What is the timeline for implementation?

 

Some practical/end user questions are:

For leave, will there be a special earnings code, Used for both budget

prep & program usage?  Or does this become a "comp" system that

conflicts with the university's "no comp leave" policy?

For non-monetary gifts, will there be a special account code to record

items purchased? Used for both budget prep & program usage?

Has the Bookstore been approached about selling items at cost for

recognition awards?  Or having specific items be "recognition" items

that can be sold at cost?

What types of staff are eligible-student, permanent, term funded?

If term-funded staff are included, grants will not pay for such items,

should it be made clear that departments pick up the tab for those also?

 

If term-funded staff are not included, is there a discrimination based

on funding source?

Is this just for non-represented staff?  If no, is there a conflict with

union issues?

Can the Representation Allowance be used to take a team out to lunch,

etc-provided proper documentation is given?

 

B.  Mike Humphrey, Director of Benefits, SWOHR, left a message for the group.  Health Care costs are increasing. It is medical inflation, there is no clear area of fault.  There is no definite response to these increases as of yet.

 

IV  Next meeting will be June 4, 10a.m., Wood Center Conf Rm B.

 

V      Adjourn


ATTACHMENT 135/2

UAF STAFF COUNCIL #135

MAY 15, 2002

 

BYLAWS

of the

UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS

STAFF COUNCIL

 

Sect. 2       (ARTICLE IV. - Membership)

 

         D.      ELECTIONS

 

         3.      Elections for President-Elect shall be conducted as follows:

 

                  a.      Notice of election to fill the office of President-Elect shall be announced in the regular meeting in March for the election to be held in May.

                  b.      Suggestions for possible candidates shall be presented to the Elections, Membership and Rules Committee in order to prepare a slate of serious candidates for presentation to the Staff Council.

                  c.      Call for nominations will take place during the May meeting where the slate of candidates will be presented and any further nominations from the floor will be accepted.

                  d.      Voting shall be limited to representatives and designated alternates by using secret ballots on site and using voice vote for the outlying areas.

                  e.      Three non-candidate representatives shall count the ballots.


ATTACHMENT 135/3

UAF STAFF COUNCIL #135

MAY 15, 2002

 

Staff Council representatives are asked to turn in their raffle tickets at the meeting.  Any remaining tickets will be sold at the Longevity Awards Program and picnic.

 

***********

 

UAF STAFF COUNCIL RAFFLE

CAROLYN SAMPSON MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

 

The UAF Staff Council is conducting their annual fundraiser for the Carolyn Sampson Memorial Scholarship.  Proceeds from the raffle will benefit this scholarship, established by the UAF Staff Council in June 1990.  Tickets are available from Staff Council representatives or the Governance Office. 

 

Grand Prize:

Two coach round trip ticket vouchers to any U.S. destination serviced by Alaska Airlines, courtesy of Alaska Airlines.  The vouchers will not be available to be picked up until after July 1, 2002.  The vouchers will need to be turned into tickets within a year of the voucher date.

 

Runner-up Prizes:

·               2 tickets for Top of the World Tournament, courtesy of UAF Athletics

·               2 season tickets for UAF Hockey, courtesy of UAF Athletics

·               1 night at the Moose Lodge, courtesy of Chena Hot Springs Resort

·               1 roundtrip ticket from Fairbanks to Anchorage, courtesy of Frontier Flying Service

·               1 parking decal, courtesy of UAF Parking Services

·               1 individual Student Rec Center Pass, courtesy of UAF Athletics

·               2 tickets on Riverboat Discovery, courtesy of the Binkley Family

·               1 bowl w/UAF logo, courtesy of The Great Alaskan Bowl Co.

 

Tickets are $5 each, or 5 for $20 and available from Staff Council representatives or the Governance Office, 312 Signers' Hall.  The drawing is on Thursday, May 16, at the staff longevity awards program and picnic.  You need not be present to win.

 

The UAF Staff Council named the scholarship in memory of Carolyn Sampson, former executive secretary in the Governance Office.  Carolyn was instrumental in obtaining support services for the Staff Council and provided support for the Faculty Senate and Academic Council while employed at UAF. This scholarship is designed to provide new career paths or retraining to applicants wishing to re-enter the job market or whose work activity may be threatened by economic, health or other factors.  For more information, contact your Staff Council representative or the Governance Office.