Minutes
Wednesday, July 11, 2001
10:00 am - 12:00 noon
Fairbanks location: Butrovich Building – Sherman Carter
Conference Room
1. Call to order and
roll call
Kerry
Digou called the meeting to order at 10:04 am.
Members Present
Kerry
Digou, President
John
Mitchell, Vice President
Laura
Jackson, Secretary
Chris
Garris
Sharon
Gramstad
Laura
Letuligasenoa
Carol
Pickett
Lisa
Sporleder
Juli
Gillispie, Alternate
Linda
Harrigan, Alternate
Michael
Simmons, Alternate
Members Absent
David
Rohwer
Donna
Miranda
Dave
Veazey
Guests Present
Pat
Ivey, System Governance
Brian
Brubaker, System Governance
2. Adopt
agenda
MOTION: Moved by
Gramstad, seconded by Mitchell, passed without objection
“The
Statewide Administration Assembly of the University of Alaska hereby adopts the
agenda for its July 11, 2001, meeting.
This action is effective July 11, 2001.”
3. Approve
June 13, 2001, minutes
Several
changes were suggested for the minutes.
Onpage three, in second paragraph, the last word of the second line
should be “from” instead of “form.” On
page four, last paragraph should say “first floor” instead of “fist
floor.” In the list of questions under
agenda item five, the question “What do we do know that is helpful?” should be
“What do we have now that is helpful?”
In the numbered list of questions on page two, the phrase “and how will
we…” currently listed as part of question 4 should be listed as a separate
question, number 5. On page 4, in the
last paragraph of agenda item 4, the first occurrence of the word “was” should
be struck from the first sentence. The
last sentence under agenda item 4 on page 4 should read “V. Janene Sikkink said
without after seeing what the….”
MOTION: Moved by
Gramstad, seconded by Sporleder, passed without objection
“The
Statewide Administration Assembly hereby adopts the minutes of the June 13,
2001, meeting as amended. This action
is effective July 11, 2001.”
4. 2001-2002
Goals and Objectives
Various
members gave a recap of what was discussed regarding goals and objectives for
2001-2002 at the last meeting. Items
dropped from the original draft list of goals included the Butrovich Building
Directory and parking charges. Kerry
Digou moderated the discussion of items as listed on the second draft of goals
and objectives.
New Idea: SRC Fee for Employees and the Wellness
Benefit
A
member said that a constituent asked about staff costs benefits and
specifically the $400 wellness benefit.
This constituent wondered if SAA could support that $400 being used for
SRC memberships. It was explained that
the powers that be have basically said no to this idea when the subject was
broached last year.
New Idea: Employee Orientation Improvements
John
Mitchell said that Scott McCrea, the president of the UAF Staff Council, is
working on improving orientation materials for new UAF employees. John Mitchell said that he would like to
work on this also for statewide employees.
Better orientation of new employees will help improve employee
retention.
Kerry
Digou said that there seems to be a consensus that improving new employee
orientation is something SAA wants to work on.
A member said that there is just too much information to cover for new
employees. One possible goal would be
to make the orientation a little longer; another would be to make sure that
written references are available; and a third is to make a more user-friendly
written guide for new employees.
A
member said that they would like to cover some of the more daily, trivial
topics in orientation - like what the schedule of headbolt heaters is and where
you go to buy your parking decal. Laura
Jackson mentioned that the UAA Classified Council President, Cheryl Wright, has
prepared a short, user-friendly reference for new UAA employees. She said she would try and get a copy of
that resource and send it to John Mitchell.
Civic Goals
Brian
Brubaker pointed out that there is a significant gap in the timeline of civic
events sponsored by SAA between March and October each year. He said that these civic events and projects
are a way for SAA and statewide employees to do public service and promote more
social interactions between employees.
It was suggested that SAA could coordinate a Golden Days Event or
something during the Tanana Valley State Fair.
It was mentioned that the Advanced College Tuition Department has a
booth at the fair each year. An ice
cream social was suggested for consideration.
Kerry Digou asked members to continue to think about possible civic
events for this gap.
Participate in
Compensation System Development
This
item refers to the new job families and classification system. Kerry Digou announced that Dale Seay, who
had been managing the implementation of the new classification system, has
taken a new position with the Fairbanks North Star Borough School
District. His position is being
refilled and there are two more positions added to this project. Also, two consultants are continuing to work
on this project.
It
was mentioned that SWOHR’s timeline to implement new IT job families in early
August has slipped, obviously. Kerry
Digou said that he guessed implementation for IT job families could occur in
September 2001.
Janet
Jacobs reported to the Staff Alliance that SWOHR will be up to full strength by
early August. A member said that they
were impressed with Dale Seay’s professionalism and accomplishment in busy
times.
Participation
in the Development of a New Classification Appeals Process
It
was pointed out that Lisa Sporleder will represent SAA on the committee that
will develop a process to appeal an individual’s job family assignment under
the new classification process. Lisa
Sporleder said she heard that Janet Jacobs will be participating on this
committee in place of Dale Seay, who is leaving the university. Lisa Sporleder said they had originally
hoped to meet for the first time by July 4, 2001, or shortly thereafter.
Participate in
the Staff Development Initiative/Professional Development Program - Career
Planning
Sharon
Gramstad said that she represents SAA on the advisory committee for the new
Professional Development Program - Career Planning, which has not yet met. Kerry Digou and Laura Jackson said that
Janet Jacobs reported to the Staff Alliance on July 10, 2001, that Roxa Hawkins
is planning some supervisory training to be offered for the first time in
August 2001.
Employee
Relations
There was some confusion about what this category of goals and objectives is referring to. It was apparently not mentioned and/or discussed at the last SAA meeting. Kerry Digou said that the newsletter helps promote good employee relations in a very general way, and so would John Mitchell’s suggestion of improving new employee orientations.
Linda
Harrigan, who had been absent to attend a department staff meeting for land
management, joined the SAA meeting at this point.
It
was mentioned that there is an effort at union organization underway. Kerry Digou said that a union organizing
representative has contacted him.
Members mentioned that they have been receiving pieces of mail and
emails about union organizing gatherings in Wood Center.
Keep Employees
Updated on Benefits Issues - $400 Wellness Benefit
Kerry
Digou said that he is still hearing about and personally having problems with
the $400 preventative benefit. A member
said that basically, if it doesn’t get coded right the first time you
lose. Kerry Digou said that in his
case, it was coded right but an unexpected regular type payment under a
spouse’s plan caused problems. A member
said that he had good experience with the benefit with his two children.
A
member said that it may be necessary to do another information mailing like was
done last year to keep the awareness up.
It
was mentioned that there has been some confusion specifically about
mammograms. A member said that she is
disputing whether or not their mammogram is a wellness benefit with Blue
Cross. Apparently, many employees have
had the experience where they call Blue Cross and hear that something is not
covered, while at the same time they have it in black and white in front of
them that the procedure they called about is covered.
At
the Staff Alliance meeting on July 10, 2001, Janet Jacobs said there has been
very high claims experienced recently on the university health plan. A member speculated that this could mean
that the employee co-pay will increase as a result in the future.
Keep
Employees Updated on Benefits Issues – Medical Reimbursement Accounts
A
member said that they preferred having automatic rollover – where claims are
automatically posted to the Medical Reimbursement Accounts and checks sent - to
the current vendor’s services, which does not offer that function. Another member said they preferred not
having automatic rollover. Kerry Digou
said that the issue of automatic rollover was discussed previously by SAA with
SWOHR administrators. There is some
question about whether or not Blue Cross will reinstate automatic rollover with
the new venture.
A
consensus was reached that a good number of goals has been chosen and that they
seem to be stated adequately.
5. Committee
to Develop Appeals Policy on Job Family Assignments
Lisa Sporleder said as she stated earlier during the discussion of goals and objectives for 2001-2002, the committee to develop this has not yet had a meeting. It is not clear who else is on the committee; although it may include Ella Nuss, UAA APT Council President.
A
member said that at the last meeting, Dale Seay talked about the process of
progressing through your job family (earning promotions). He said that you go to other managers in
that job family in order to get the go ahead to progress through the job
family. This is to help ensure
fairness, so that promotions in one department don’t outstrip or happen in
significantly different fashions than in other departments or at other campuses
or MAUs. A member thought that process
of approving promotions sounds incredibly cumbersome and burdensome, and with
appeals it would be even more so.
Another
member said that they didn’t fully understand that description Dale Seay gave
about how to progress through a job family.
He’s afraid that when we lose Dale Seay we are loosing some of the
details of this project which are in his head and aren’t on paper.
Kerry
Digou pointed out that the promotion process isn’t nice as it currently
exists. He feels that what Dale Seay
had described would be less cumbersome than the current process.
A
member said that they are seeing a number of “new processes” being described,
suggested, and debated and not necessarily any real improvement to compensation
and job classification methods.
6. Other
items of concern
Butrovich
Parking Arrangements
Kerry
Digou said that the changes SAA recommended to the parking lot were reviewed by
statewide administrators and were sent to UAF Parking Services to be
implemented. UAF Parking Services has
not addressed the changes. They claimed
they were waiting until the summer and until their office was moved to address the
changes asked for.
7. Agenda
items for the next meeting – Wednesday, August 8, 2001
Agenda
items for the next meeting may include:
Employee
Orientation Improvements
Butrovich
Parking Lot Changes
A
Report on the UAF Parking Committee by David Rohwer
An
Update on Job Family Assignment Appeals Policy by Lisa Sporleder
An
Update on Professional Development Program - Career Planning by Sharon Gramstad
8. Special Orders
Kerry
Digou mentioned that V. Janene Sikkink is leaving the university. Lisa Sporleder is taking over her seat and
Michael Simmons and Juli Gillispie are new alternate members.
9. Adjourn
The
meeting was adjourned at 11:21 am.