Minutes - September 18, 2003

Members present: Pat Alfano, Mack Andrews, Jan Ballard, Karis Beasley, Janet Bensman, Alison Louise Brown, Philemon Brown, Alanna Burney, Oscar Carmona, Melba Catchings, Augustin Collazo, Julie Cunniff, Marlis Dagg, Laura Davis, Phillip Dubov, Margaret Evans, Neil Fahlund, Patrice Fox, Phil Gavenda, Royce Gehrels, Sandra Godfrey, Kathy Guajardo, Bert Herigtad, John Hibbitts, Gayle Hight, Dora Hilgart, Margaret Hill, Thomas Horn, Marcus Horton, Kim Johnson, Elizabeth Korves, Noah Lowenstein, Jim McElroy, Frank McIlhaney, Earl McMannis, Mary Beth Mercatoris, Kim Montroy, Peggy Mueller, Greg Murphy, John Nelson, Sam Owens, Chuck Pearson, Amy Pinkston, Ana Raley, Kay Randall, Leslie Saucedo, Jennifer Scalora, J.R. Schlesinger, Ann Seago, William Sederholm, Frank Simon, Sandra Sleeper, Didi Smith, Stella Smith, Sheril Smith, Joe Sosler, Jerry Spillar, Kitty Villa, Erin Waneck, J.R. Watson, Shane Williams, Glen Worley

Members absent with notification: Michael Acuna, Vickie Amidon, Joni Burks, Helen Burnette, Johnnie Conley, Rick Garza, Andrew Gordon, Vicki Heydron, Jorge Puig

Members absent: Christy Habecker, George Hughes, Steve Johnston, Bruce Volbeda

Guests: Marvin Hackert, Chair, Faculty Council; Brian Haley, President, Student Government; Kevin Hegarty (Vice President and Chief Financial officer); Kyle Cavanaugh (Associate Vice President for Human Resources); Gwen Grigsby (Associate Vice President for Government Relations)

Human Resource Services: Debra Kress, Monica Reed

Welcome:

Chair Glen Worley called to order the regular meeting of the UT Staff Council at 2:05 p.m. on Thursday, September 18, 2003 in Main 212. 63 UTSC representatives were present. At this time, Kyle Cavanaugh presented Glen with a gavel commemorating the two year anniversary of staff council.

Announcements:

Glen welcomed and introduced Neil Fahlund, PRC-Physical Plant, as the interim representative from 502. Leslie Wood, General Libraries, District 130.1 has resigned. An election for a replacement is being organized.

Peggy Mueller, General Libraries, District 130.2, was appointed to the Police Oversight Committee. This committee had its first meeting on Sept. 3 and received its charge from President Faulkner. The next meeting is Sept. 24.

Glen also introduced Marvin Hackert, Chair, Faculty Council and invited him to the podium. Dr. Hackert gave a short bio of himself and spoke of the need for the Faculty Council and Staff Council to work closely together during these hard times at The University. He would like to see both councils forming an alliance with one another to work on the issues that involve both faculty and staff.

Glen then introduced Brian Haley, President, Student Council, who thanked all University staff on behalf of the students. He mentioned several campaigns that the Student Council would like to team with us on (ie: a special trash pickup day to clean the grounds and classrooms). He, too, spoke of an alliance between Student Council and Staff Council regarding issues that pertain to both such as insurance.

Reports Relating to 78th Legislative Actions:

1. Other Legislative Actions — Gwen Grigsby (Associate Vice President for Government Relations). Ms. Grigsby gave an overview of the history of her department and outlined how her department watches which bills pass and how they will impact The University. She said that out of 5700, about 1/4 will pass. The three that will impact us the most are:

Tuition Flexibility which authorizes the Board of Regents to set tuition rates
100% return of Overhead from Grants: currently The University gets only 50% of the funds charged for overhead from grants awarded to The University (the State keeps 50%).
Administrative Efficiencies which cuts through the State's red tape and allows The University to mandate some of its own policies and also involves reporting issues.

2. Summary of Budget Items — Kevin Hegarty (Vice President and Chief Financial Officer). Mr. Hegarty gave us an overview of how the recent Legislative actions effect the University and its staff.

On the positive side there will be:

100% retention in Overhead which will result in $20 M to The University.
Tuition Flexibility: the Board of Regents can now set tuition

On the negative side there will be:

Reduction of State funds to UT
UT will now pay certain benefits to its employees (Premium Sharing) that the State once paid. New state law says that new employees must wait 90 days before insurance kicks in but UT Austin will cover this gap. Total annual cost to UT Austin is 8 million. This is a recurring expense.
Texas Tomorrow Fund has changed. State will no longer pay tuition/fees; there is now a set price to the contract which UT pays if the student elects to come here.
B on Time Plan: If a Texas resident meets the University's requirements for entry, makes good grades and graduates within four years, their loans will be excused.

3. Impact on Benefits and HR Issues — Kyle Cavanaugh (Associate Vice President for Human Resources). Kyle further expanded Hegarty's report on how the Legislature's actions impact UT staff. He explained how Benefit Plans are created, defined our position as employees of the State and of UT, and how we came to be in TRS and not the State ERS system. He also informed us that A&M has elected to get out of TRS and back into the State ERS Benefit Plan. Kyle went on to explain how the UT Benefits Plan differs from other schools with UT System in detail. Kyle also pointed out that UT Austin is the only UT component to offer the salary supplement to its part-time employees employed before 9-1-2003 to compensate for the reduction in premium sharing mandated by the new state law. No other state institutions, including state universities, are doing this.

The minutes of the July 17, 2003 meeting were approved.

Chair's report:

Due to the length of the above presentations, at 3:25 pm (?) Glen asked for a voted to either continue or adjourn the meeting. It was voted to continue. The Bylaws Committee counted to see if there were enough Representatives for quorum. There were. He, then, continued with his report.

EAC representatives:

UT System Employee Advisory Council terms are two years. Each component of the UT System gets two representatives and their terms are staggered. When the EAC was started two years ago President Faulkner appointed the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Staff Council as representatives with the Recording Secretary as alternate. However, the terms of the UTSC officers are only one year. This was not a problem before as Frank Simon served as Chair for two years, and Phillip Dubov was reelected as Vice Chair this year making him the EAC rep whose term will expire in one year. The term that Glen just started is supposed to last for two years. After discussion with the Executive Committee members, we proposed to President Faulkner that he would plan on serving the full two year term, and Phillip would finish out his final year as an EAC rep. In the spring of 2004 the Staff Council would nominate a person to fill the next two year term, subject to approval by President Faulkner. President Faulkner approved this request.

Issue 2003-06 Requesting vacation time:

President Faulkner asked Kyle Cavanaugh to take the lead in submitting to UT System a draft revised policy incorporating our suggestion requiring supervisors to approve/disapprove a vacation request within 5 working days.

Issue 2001-1 Proposed Grievance Policy:

The draft of the proposed grievance policy has been sent to President Faulkner along with the comments on the draft that were submitted by Staff Council representatives. If you want a copy of these comments, please sign up after the meeting and I will send them to you.

Kyle Cavanaugh sent this quick overview regarding policies: The modification of any policy proceeds through a number of internal channels. In the case at hand, although the Staff Council (and even HRS) provides a recommendation, it will need to be vetted with Deans and VP's. Let's assume that moves forward. At that point, the policy then is transmitted to UT System for approval. Depending upon the type of policy and potential impact across the system, the policy is reviewed by the Office of General Counsel. The review typically results in recommended revisions or questions to assist with clarity.

Employee Assistance Fund:

He received the following message from Connie Deutsch, Ph.D., Director

Employee Assistance Program asking him to announce the campaign for funds needed to keep this program going. Contributions can be made through the UT United Way campaign, the Hearts of Texas, which kicks off early in the fall. To find out how to contribute, visit the website (http://www.utexas.edu/hr/eap/eef1.html). He urged the Representatives to get this news out to their constituents.

University Leadership Council retreat, August 25, 2003 --President Faulkner's overview:

Projecting a 75 million dollar shortfall for the next two legislative cycles
40 million dollar gap for FY 04
45 M recurring shortfall: 30 M for rehabilitation and retirement,
15 M in FY 05 for competitive compensation
Enrollment this year projected to be slightly lower than last year: 51,700
Due to the number of people that took the retirement package, 239 layoffs were not necessary.
University will have a recurring 9 M expense to cover benefits that were reduced by the state legislature.
3% raise pool possible in January, but we will not know until late October if this is feasible.

Physical plant report by Ernest Hunter:

3.14 M reduction in Physical Plant budget mandated by budget cuts
144 positions eliminated by retirements
Goal of Physical Plant is to reduce frequency of work, not quality: e.g. offices cleaned once a week rather than daily. Contract services will be reduced accordingly.
UT Community will be urged to help out by keeping areas cleaner, putting trash outside offices for pickup, taking food waste to trash receptacles emptied daily, etc
Shop 99 has been eliminated.
Any problems: Contact Physical Plant, not custodial staff.

HRS report by Kyle Cavanaugh:

For staff employed before 9-1-2003 : Salary supplement will be adjusted dynamically each month based upon FTE status and benefit status. Moving from part-time to full-time will cause salary supplement to be reduced. Moving from full-time to part-time will cause supplement to be increased.
New hires starting 9-1-2003 : No salary supplement for part-time, though immediately eligible for health benefits.
Retirement for hires starting 9-1-2003 : 90 days before employee is eligible for participation in retirement plan. The 90 day period does not count toward months of creditable service in the retirement plans. It does count as state service, so it does count for longevity. TRS contributions do not occur during that 90 day period, and then the standard deduction begins. It is anticipated that TRS may offer the option for employees to contribute to their retirement plan to make up for the first 90 days.
Status of hiring freeze:
- Lifted 9-1-2003
- All staff positions must go through HRS
- No salary increases even if department has the funding available
- Re-classes must go through HRS and will be carefully scrutinized.
Retirements: 239 people took retirement package which represents 49% of people eligible
Layoffs: 120 separations by 8-31-2003. Comparison: University of Minnesota announced 500 layoffs
Criminal Background Policy: affects all staff. Beginning January 1, 2004. Security-sensitive faculty and graduate student worker positions, as defined by the Provost's Office, will also require criminal background checks.

Darlene Grant, Professor School of Social Work gave report on her committee for Racial Respect and Fairness

Dan Updegrove, VP for Information Technology gave report on recent problems with computer viruses and worms. 500 computers out of an estimated 30,000 on campus were affected and each required from 4-10 hours to fix. Everyone is strongly urged to get the free virus protection software from ITS and install it and keep it updated.

UTSC now has official stationery.

Communications – Press Releases by Communications committee are an excellent way to share information with your constituents.

Vice Chair's report:

Committee assignments (paper copies to be distributed)

Committee Chairs: All but retirement
- Web needs to be updated
Report forms for committee chairs now under way Committee

Committee Reports:

Standing Committees: (Bylaws; Issues; Committee on Committees; Communications; Nominations and Elections)

Glen announced that the report from the Bylaws Committee had been withdrawn pending further discussion by committee. This report will be presented at the next meeting in October.

Bylaws: 2003-12 UTSC issue resolution process; 2003-15 Eligibility to vote in UTSC Elections

Issues Committee, Didi Smith, Chair: Didi asked UTSC Reps if the Issues worksheet she put together and had sent out with the agenda helped. She was assured by the Reps that it did.

Issues: (see also Issues Summary)

2003-17 New UTSC Member Orientation
Action: Accepted and referred to Communications

2003-18 Family Medical Leave Sick Leave
Action: Accepted and referred to Compensation & Classification

2003-19 Sick Leave Pool Use Expansion
Action: Accepted and referred to Compensation & Classification

2003-21 Staff Educational Benefit - Admission
Action: Accepted and referred to Miscellaneous Benefits

2003-24 No HR Staff at UTSC Meetings
Action: Accepted and went to discussion. After discussion, it was voted against. It is felt that HR staff do not hinder communication in the UTSC meetings; their presence can be beneficial if questions arise.

2003-25 Attendance at HR Forum by UTSC
Action: UTSC did not accept this proposal. After discussion, it was decided that since the minutes of that meeting are posted on the Web before the UTSC meetings that the HR Forum website would be linked to the UTSC website so that those minutes would be assessable to those interested.

2003-26 Staff Educational Benefit - Extension
Action: UTSC did not accept this proposal. After discussion, it was felt that this had issue had been explored before and had not passed. Instead, Glen was asked to write Kyle Cavanaugh and request that the SEB website be updated to answer more clearly this question.

Working Committees: (Classification and Compensation, Grievance; Insurance; Miscellaneous Benefits; Parking and Transportation; Retirement)

Parking and Transportation: Glen gave the report on their activities and called for a staff representative to the University Bicycle Committee. It was felt that if a UTSC member did not volunteer that a constituent be selected to serve on that committee. Marcus Horton asked to be contacted regarding this as the first meeting was next week.

Unfinished Business:

None

New Business: