Official Minutes

 

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

10:00 am – 12:00 noon via audioconference

 

1.                  Call to Order and Roll Call  

http://gov.alaska.edu/home/who/staff/

 

            Members Present:

 

Lisa Sporleder, Chair of the Staff Alliance and

President of Statewide Administration Assembly

            Jeri Cary, Vice Chair of the Staff Alliance and President of UAS Staff Council

Jana Ring, Vice President, UAS Staff Council

            Lori Merdes, Vice President, Statewide Administrative Assembly

            Debbie Dickey for Bob Kizer, UAA APT Council

            Maya Salganek, President of UAF Staff Council

            Kimberly Stanford, President of UAA Classified Council

            Jeff Stepp, President Elect, UAF Staff Council                         

 

            Others present:

            Pat Ivey, Executive Officer, System Governance

            Jodi Bailey, Administrative Coordinator, System Governance

Carolyn Weaver, Payroll & Benefits

Debbie Carter, Employee Relations Specialist

Pete Kelly, Government Relations

 

2.         Adopt Agenda

 

MOTION:  Passed without objection

           

“The Staff Alliance moves to adopt the agenda for the October 11, 2005 meeting. 

This action is effective as of October 11, 2005.”

 

3.         Approve September 13, 2005 minutes                     

http://gov.alaska.edu/staff/minutes/2005/09-13.pdf

 

MOTION:  Moved by Jeri Cary, seconded by Kimberly Stanford,

passed without objection.

           

           

            “The Staff Alliance moves to approve the September 13, 2005 minutes.  This

            action is effective October 11, 2005.”

 

4.                  Chair’s report

 

Lisa Sporleder reported that she attended the Board of Regents meeting in September and made comments on the senior citizen tuition waiver.  Many issues were raised, and the board took them all into account in making their decision.  It was clear that some of the new ideas brought forth in the testimonials were influential in the final outcome.  Brian Rogers said that the board had received more input on this issue than any other topic since the reorganization of the University in the mid-1980s.  Regents were surprised at some of the abuses that have become common in the system, and asked for a report on how the waivers are being used across the system.  In the end, the tuition waiver will continue, but the age of use will rise to the age of Social Security full retirement benefit eligibility, with a grandfather clause for anyone who had already become eligible by Sept. 21, 2005.

 

She also stated that she met with Jim Hayes and they discussed her thoughts on the university and what she thought was needed.  They discussed the hiring practices of the University and that hiring is done as fairly as possible by not excluding anyone.  She also told him that there were communication issues and learning styles as they related to applying for UA positions in the bush and she suggested that a two hour workshop in locations target minority communities that could teach people how to apply and explain how the screening process works. He wanted to hear more opinions of the faculty, students, and staff in the University community.  She suggested that when commencements take place that they schedule a couple of days of interacting with the local campuses. She also informed the group that the President had turned down the Governance Regulation after discussing it with general counsel even though staff alliance had discussed the regulation with Jim Johnsen and Wendy Redman during the drafting.  Some of the provisions still conflict with the Regents Policy on the subject.  Roger Brunner is going to go through the draft Regulation with Wendy Redman, who is currently out of town for the next week. After that meeting the Regulation will be back on the table for staff alliance to revise.

 

5.                  Public Comment

 

            There were no public comments.

 

6.         Staff Governance Reports - SW, UAS, UAA, UAF                        

 

Statewide:  http://gov.alaska.edu/saa/

 

Lisa Sporleder reported that at the last Statewide Administrative Assembly meeting that they had a visit from Martin Klein to discuss the revised shuttle routes and he was open to suggestions.  SAA discussed staff development with regard to a memo from SAC that relates to faculty and staff development and discusses helping to pay for doctoral degrees.  It is primarily used by executive staff and therefore it was discussed whether or not the group wanted to take it up as issue.  The IT merger and the tuition waiver regulation were also discussed by the group.  SAA also put together committees for the Christmas and Thanksgiving potlucks and the Love inc. drive.

 

UAS:   http://www.uas.alaska.edu/staffcouncil/

 

Jeri reported that at their September 15th meeting, they had Michael Humphrey and Curt McAllister as guests to discuss the Wellness Program.  They also discussed the staff training opportunities available on their campus.  They meet again on October 20th. 

 

UAA:   http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/governance/

 

Kim reported that the UAA Assembly met last week and they worked on their goals and objections, communications and finalizing the facilitation project. 

 

Leadership, Classified and APT councils met October 6th to discuss the possibilities of combining into one staff council like the other campuses.  Classified members are working on goals and objectives.  The ad hoc event committee is meeting to work on putting together the annual chili feed, but it was suggested to add an event done by the APT council (warm clothing drive) to get more participation.  The staff training ad hoc group is to work in conjunction with Human Resources to decide whether or not another survey needs to be done.  Bill Spindle presented the UAA Idea Bank at the APT and ad hoc meetings.  The UAA Idea Bank is an online place for people to give their ideas on how the group could be improved.

 

Debbie reported for Bob Kizer on the APT council.  They approved their goal for this academic year and the candidates were announced for the diversity council group. 

           

UAF:  http://www.uaf.edu/uafgov/staff/index.html

 

Maya Salganek stated that Martin Klein from Transportation Services attended their meeting to discuss the revised shuttle schedule.  Their group is having a legislative mixer on October 21st.  This is an event that the advocacy committee has put together with the combined efforts ASUAF and the Faculty Senate.  They have invited legislators, local delegates and the president, chancellors and deans from all the campuses for these discussions.  The next meeting is October 21st, and Chancellor Jones will be there for comments.  They are also currently discussing the Wellness Program and how it was released late. Rural sites are looking into doing their own health fairs to help inform their staff of Human Resources programs.  Staff tuition waiver was discussed with the Chancellor.  They were notified by Steve Smith that they will have online elections with the help from Rory O’Neill they would like clarification for governance purposes about who will represent the newly formed IT department.  Lori Merdes responded by stating that no budgets are being rolled together and that OIT is a separate entity and therefore it is up to the governance groups to decide. 

Jeff stated that UAF is trying to implement a selective enrollment policy for general admission.  This will make it more restrictive for students and it will make UAF no longer an open enrollment university.  UAA and UAS do not currently have a program like that, and they haven’t heard of any new admission process.

 

 

7.         Employee Relations

 

            7.1       Jim Johnsen, Vice President, Faculty and Staff Relations

           

                        Jim Johnsen was unavailable for comment.

 

7.2       Employee Relations Specialist, Debra Carter

 

Debra reported that her position is split between Public Affairs and Human Resources to work on statewide awareness of Human Resource issues and other statewide projects.  Debbie mentioned that she is beginning to work on a statewide Human Resource awareness program that will notify staff around the state of upcoming projects.

 

            7.3       Staff and Supervisor Training

 

Lisa stated that she researched what statewide offers and so far all she found was courses offered to staff, but no supervisor training in particular. Staff Alliance has been advocating for training issues with Jim Johnsen for over a year with nothing being done.  Johnsen recently received approval from the president of a job description for a system wide training director.  Kim stated that UAA offers a course for supervisors through their Human Resources office, but it’s not mandatory and not monitored.  Maya stated that UAF does extensive work on this topic.  The training is available through UAF Human Resources because it is required for UAF supervisors.  The program has to be taken and passed within three years, but it’s not tracked and no one is held accountable.  Also, TVC does offer quite a few courses, but SBDC (Small Business Development Center) will not accept tuition waivers. 

 

            7.4       Employee Education Benefits                                              

Regents Policy 04.06.010

http://www.alaska.edu/bor/policy/4p/p04-06.html

University Regulation 04.06.010

http://www.alaska.edu/bor/regulation/4r/r04-06.html

Employee Tuition Waiver Study – two documents

http://gov.alaska.edu/council/2005-10-06.employee-dependenttuitionwaiverreportA.pdf

http://gov.alaska.edu/council/2005-10-06.employee-dependenttuitionwaiverreportB.pdf

 

Vicki Gilligan sent an email to answer some questions regarding the employee education benefit.  She stated that when staff or their dependents take classes, money is paid to the department offering the class from a central pool.  This money comes from the legislature appropriation, so the legislature is taking a closer look into this benefit and how it’s being operated.  When students fail or drop after the drop date, this money is “wasted”, and a high percentage of students on employee tuition waivers fall into this category.  Pat reported that Wendy Redman will be sending out a memo to all the governance groups to put together an ad hoc committee to discuss this benefit and the possible options of how to alter it.  Pat also reported that the Coalition is looking hard into this problem as well, and that it’s scrutinizing the dependent use in particular.  The group suggested that when a student drops or fails a class that they be held responsible for the costs.

 

            7.5       Timing of Grid Adjustments and Health Care Cost Increases

 

Carolyn Weaver, from Human Resources, discussed the schematics of the program and why the deductions show before the grid adjustments become effective.  Banner runs off of the pay date, not the worked dates, for the health care increases.  The grid adjustments depend on the legislature, and when the budget gets approved, which doesn’t happen until the end of June, there is not enough time to input the information into Banner that fast.  The University also likes to stay consistent with the collective bargaining units which state that the increase will take effect in the first full pay period after July 1.

 

Lori Merdes suggested that Human Resources create a visual representation to reflect the information in a more understanding way.  Jeri would also, in the future, like Human Resources to notify employees of this situation instead of after its implementation.

 

            7.6.      PERS/TRS and Legislative Items

http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~3047017,00.html

Draft advocacy memo

http://gov.alaska.edu/staff/2005-10-11Weyrauch.pdf

http://gov.alaska.edu/staff/2005-10-11Harris.pdf

 

Pete Kelly asked the group to put pressure on two legislators (Bruce Weyrauch and John Harris) who were on the House Finance subcommittee last year, regarding the University and its funding for this year.  

 

Jeri Cary suggested having the main Alliance letter to come from the Alliance chair and the group and she will follow up with a letter from her stating that she is a constituent of Rep. Weyrauch requesting to meet with him.

 

The main letter will have the governance letterhead with a disclaimer at the bottom and the group will fax in their signatures to attach them to the hard copy of the letter.

 

MOTION:  Moved by Lori Merdes, and seconded by Jeff Stepp, passed without objection. 

 

“The Staff Alliance moves to send the suggested letters from Pete Kelly and have them signed by all Staff Alliance members.  This action is effective October 11, 2005.”

 

 

 

 

7.7              Wellness Project Update

 

The letter from President Hamilton and a brochure from Summex have been received by some and there is doubt on campuses about what the program actually is.  Maya suggested to the group to send a memo to the President or Jim Johnsen to express concerns about the wellness program and the lack of communication.

 

Kim reflected on a past meeting with Mike Humphrey where he stated that there would be the same advertising efforts towards the wellness program as like there were for the new health plan.  The marketing materials have been released by Summex, not the University.  There will be a letter released to staff about privacy issues and any other concerns that arise.  Kim stated that people also want to know how much the program is costing and why statewide is doing it.  Carolyn Weaver commented that Premera will not receive any information from Summex because Premera can collect its own data from the claims.  She also reported that an information website is being laid out today and that it will be completed later this week.  The online form will go live on October 17th followed by a printed copy of the form in November for the employees enrolled in a UA healthcare plan who didn’t fill it out online.  Jeff suggested having fliers FAQ’s distributed instead of relying on email to inform staff of this program.  He also suggested that Human Resources put together FAQs especially focusing on the confidentiality concerns for staff.

 

7.8              Other Employee Relations Items

 

No other items were discussed.

 

8.         Governance Regulation                                                        

            http://gov.alaska.edu/staff/2005-04-21.governancereg-final.html

 

Lisa asked Kim to reconvene the ad hoc committee to alter the regulation per the General Counsel’s suggestions.  Kim agreed.

 

9.         Regents Recap, September 20-21, 2005 Meetings                        

                        http://www.alaska.edu/bor/minutes/minutes.xml

 

                        This was an item of information.  No action was required.

 

10.              Agenda items for next meeting, November 8, 2005

 

            Agenda items may include, but may not be limited to: wellness project, staff and supervisor training, including certified management training, tuition waivers, PERS/TRS update, and employee education benefits.

 

11.              Other items of interest

 

                        There were no other items of interest.

 

12.              Comments

 

            There were no comments.

 

13.              Adjourn

 

The meeting adjourned at 12:10 PM