Draft Minutes

Tuesday, November 9, 2004

10:00 am - 12:00 Noon

via audio conference

1. Call to order and roll call

The meeting was called to order at 10:02am.

Members present:

Lisa Sporleder, Chair; President Statewide Administration Assembly

Mel Kalkowski, Vice Chair; President, UAA APT Council

Jeri Cary, Vice President, UAS Staff Council

Rita Fuller, President, UAS Staff Council

Juli Gillispie, Vice President, Statewide Administration Assembly

Maya Salganek, President-elect, UAF Staff Council

Kimberly Stanford, President, UAA Classified Council

Josh Steadman, President, UAF Staff Council

Others present:

Jim Johnsen, Vice President, Faculty and Staff Relations

Jeannine Senechal, Director, Compensation

Mike Humphrey, Director, Benefits

Pat Ivey, Executive Officer, System Governance

Hans Gunderson, Admin. Coordinator, System Governance

Matthew Walker, Publications Assistant, System Governance

2. Adopt Agenda

MOTION: Moved by Kalkowski, seconded by Stanford, passed without objection

“The University of Alaska Staff Alliance moves to adopt the agenda for the

November 9, 2004 meeting. This action is effective November 9, 2004.”

3. Approve October 12, 2004 Minutes

http://gov.alaska.edu/staff/minutes/2004/10-12.html

MOTION: moved by Kalkowski, seconded by Salganek, passed as amended without objection

“The University of Alaska Staff Alliance moves to approve the minutes of the October 12, 2004 meeting as amended to change ‘Carey’ to ‘Cary’ in item 1. This action is effective November 9, 2004.”

4 Chair’s Report - Lisa Sporleder

The semester is half over, and lots of things that have been worked on or instigated by Staff Alliance are in progress. The ad hoc draft Governance Regulation committee met yesterday and will be presenting their final draft later in this meeting. Jim Johnson will be speaking to the status of staff issues including the mediation project, supervisory training, and the issue that this body has been working toward for several years now: an annual cost of living increase. Staff Alliance has been championing this subject for longer than I’ve been a member of the group, knowing that it was the right thing to do, but also knowing it was an uphill climb that we might never summit. But the motto of the University of Alaska, ad summum, “to the top,” in some way provides an incentive to persevere in the face of limited budgets, knowing that a better day will come.

In an effort to restrain the ever-increasing cost of health care, the Human Resources is looking at a Wellness Program. While not unheard of, this type of program is still, in a sense, cutting-edge technology for benefits departments across the country. It will be another uphill battle. From stock market economics, we know that the easiest way to make money is to have money, but there is a certain amount of risk involved. In many ways, this theory translates to the Wellness Program. The more money that the University of Alaska invests into a properly designed program, the greater the return on investment in the form of health care costs not incurred. But can we afford not to make such an investment? I don’t think so.

The University is continuing to look for cost savings in areas highlighted by ACAS, a major systemwide committee that had solid governance participation. From HR automation to outsourcing audio conferences, UA is streamlining processes, replacing expensive methods with less costly options. Sometimes, like with the elimination of subsidized dial-ups, we are redistributing the cost…instead of the university paying globally for a service, those who use the service will end up paying for it individually, but at a lower rate negotiated for the university community than is available to the general public. HR automation will cost money initially, but will save money in the long run. In the case of audio conferencing, using an out-of-state third party slashes the university’s phone bill. We all know how much cheaper out-of-state calls are than in-state. Outsourcing takes advantage of that equation.

At the Board of Regents meeting earlier this month, the board approved the final FY06 budget that will be submitted to the new legislature. Now begins the annual advocacy campaign to let our senators and representatives know that what we are asking for is realistic and necessary to maintain the momentum we have so carefully begun. We need to emphasize that we have done what they asked: decreased our percentage of dependence on state support, increased our accountability for the moneys with which they entrust us, and increased enrollment in key areas of importance to the state. Much of this year’s enrollment increases are in the targeted areas of education and health care.

All these things show us that we are doing a good job in our roles as governance leaders at the University of Alaska. But they also show that we have a continued role, a long way to go, and will always be needed to help balance our forward momentum as an institution.

5. Public Comments

There were no public comments.

6. Staff Governance Reports

UAS - Jeri Cary reported she was not at the last UAS Staff Council meeting but did know that Chancellor Pugh attended. Rita Fuller reported that there was a good turnout at the last UAS Staff Council meeting where performance outcomes were discussed http://www.uas.alaska.edu/UAS_StrategicPlan/ and Mike Humphrey spoke on benefits issues. Staff at UAS are excited about the mediation project and supervisor training.

UAA - Kim Stanford reported that the UAA Classified Council met November 4. The Council is working on governance awareness and is sponsoring a chili feed on November 12, sponsoring a forum with the UAA diversity person on November 17 and a coffee with the chancellor on December 9. The UAA Assembly meets this week, is working on incorporating goals and objectives from all the UAA governance groups, and heard a presentation at the last Assembly meeting on bookstore pricing. Mel Kalkowski reported that the UAA APT Council had a recruitment luncheon featuring the new chancellor, and actually did recruit two new members as a result. The Council discussed the Fair Labor Standards Act and the loosening of the federal regulations. Kalkowski wondered if this change might mean that some positions reclassified because of FLSA would actually change back as a result.

UAF - Josh Steadman reported that the UAF Staff Council is still working on major projects and is meeting again Wednesday. The Chancellor is scheduled to attend for the first time. Major projects include on-line elections. The Council is working with Jim Johnsen and Vickie Gilligan to use the Banner survey tool to do elections. Saichi Oba came to the UAF Coordinating Committee to talk about what is needed. The Associated Students of UAF have had an on-line elections process for a couple of years but next election will be the first time they are done via Banner. The Staff Council workplace ethics group has been working on performance measures and is preparing a white paper. Steadman promised to share with the Staff Alliance as soon as it is ready, hopefully within a month.

SW - Lisa Sporleder reported that the Statewide Administration Assembly met on October 15, heard updates on academic reorganization, the wellness project, and the Butrovich Building move, and a status report on the System Governance Council’s survey of legislative candidates. SAA also worked on the Thanksgiving and Christmas potlucks for statewide employees and agreed to sponsor two families through Love, Inc. for Christmas this year, along with their annual canned food drive.

Action Items

7. Change April Retreat Date

The original date of April 12 and 13 for the Staff Alliance annual “Cookie Brigade” retreat in Juneau was changed to April 5 and 6 to avoid conflict with the Board of Regents meeting April 13 and 14.

8. Governance Regulation Draft and Policy Changes

http://gov.alaska.edu/council/2004-11-08.governancereg-final.pdf

http://gov.alaska.edu/council/2004-11-08.proposed-change-to-policy-03.01.01.pdf

Kim Stanford reported that the ad hoc committee met yesterday and completed review of the governance policy changes and the draft regulation. The ad hoc committee made no changes to the policy change but made minor editorial changes to the regulation.

MOTION: passed without objection.

The University of Alaska Staff Alliance moves to approve the changes to Regents Policy 03.01.01 and draft regulations as finalized by the Ad Hoc Committee on November 8, 2004, and forward them to the System Governance Council with a recommendation that they be approved. This action is effective November 9, 2004.”

9. Other Action Items

There were no other action items.

Information/Discussion Items

10. Merger of UAF and SW Information Technology Departments

Steve Smith was unable to attend for personal reasons. Lisa Sporleder reported that it was announced last week that UAF and Statewide IT departments will merge. It is not likely that there will be any reduction in staff but there may be some shift in the reporting structure. Steve Smith, the Chief Information Officer, will head up the combined departments.

11. Regulation changes for Annual Cost of Living Increase

Jim Johnsen reported that at the December Board meeting, there would be amendment to Regents Policy to allow the process for changes to the grid keyed to the Anchorage CPI and capped at 2 percent to be inserted into regulation. The first change to the salary grid to the Anchorage CPI is already in the FY2006 budget request. The Board of Regents will continue to act on the change to the grid by accepting the operating budget each year, but will no longer have to approve the grid change twice. Department of Labor statistics from June each year will be used to calculate the grid change and insert the corresponding funds into the following year UA budget so that the grid change becomes a regular part of the annual university budget cycle.

12. Mediation Project Update

Jim Johnsen reported he has not been able to work on the mediation project yet. He suggested that at least one Staff Alliance member serve as key contact person and he will assign one of his staff to the project.

The Staff Alliance suggested that an ad hoc be formed, consisting of one member from each MAU (Lisa Sporleder for Statewide, Kim Stanford for UAA, Rita Fuller for UAS, a member from UAF as yet to be determined), and a staff person appointed by Jim Johnsen. Sporleder will see if that would work for Jim Johnsen.

13. Supervisory Training Update

Jim Johnsen reported that Jonathan Anderson, Professor of Public Administration at UAS, has agreed to conduct an audit of current UA supervisory training opportunities. Johnsen will have another faculty member do a similar audit of faculty development opportunities.

Maya Salganek asked that the supervisor training audit be expanded to include training opportunities for all staff. Another request was that method of delivery be taken into account.

14. Job Reclassification Update

Jeannine Senechal reported that the administrative job family implementation was nearing completion. Notices of the results will go out to 700 of the 900 employees beginning next week. The other 200 require more work but are scheduled to be completed some time in January. Of the 900 jobs, one-third were adjusted upward and ten percent were adjusted downward. Those upgraded will not receive any more money unless there is no corresponding step on the new range and the incumbent has to be moved to the next step on the new range. No one will lose any money. Statewide Human Resources will send out all the notices to the MAU HR offices to be distributed locally.

Next, the Department of Labor FLSA audit now underway will have to be reviewed and then the rest of the job families implemented. It is hoped that the process can be completed by mid-summer.

15. Wellness Project Status Report

Mike Humphrey reported that there have been two meetings of the Wellness Group. The Summex consultant summarized the key points from the first wellness group meeting and produced a preliminary report. The wellness group made multiple changes to the report. The Summex consultant is in the process of revising the report, and at some point, the highlights will be shared once the decision is made as to which parts to implement. If all the ideas mentioned by the wellness group were actually implemented, it would cost $1.3 million per year for three years, which would be too costly.

16. Agenda items for the Next Meeting, December 14, 2004, 10:00 - Noon by audioconference