Minutes - February 19, 2004

These minutes were approved at the UT Staff Council meeting on March 11, 2004.

Members Present: Pat Alfano, Vickie Amidon, Mack Andrews, Janet Bensman, Alison Louise Brown, Helen Burnette, Alanna Burney, Melba Catchings, Johnnie Conley, Julie Cunniff, Marlis Dagg, Laura Davis, Phillip Dubov, Margaret Evans, Patrice Fox, Rick Garza, Royce Gehrels, Sandra Godfrey, Suzanne Goodman, Andrew Gordon, Kathy Guajardo, Christy Habecker, Bert Herigstad, John Hibbits, Gayle Hight, Dora Hilgart, Tom Horn, George Hughes, Kim Johnson, Elizabeth Korves, Noah Lowenstein, Jim McElroy, Earl McMannis Jr., Kim Montroy, PG Moreno, Peggy Mueller, Greg Murphy, John Nelson, Sam Owens, Amy Pinkston, Jorge Puig, Ana Raley, Kay Randall, Jo Ann Richmond, Leslie Saucedo, Jennifer Scalora, JR Schlesinger, Ann Seago, Frank Simon, Sandra Sleeper, Didi Smith, Sheril Smith, Joe Sosler, Jerry Spillar, Kitty Villa, Erin Waneck, JR Watson, Shane Williams, Glen Worley

Members Absent with Notification: Michael Acuna, Jan Ballard, Karis Beasley, Philemon Brown, Joni Burks, Oscar Carmona, Neil Fahlund, Phil Gavenda, Margaret Hill, Marcus Horton, Mary Beth Mercatoris

Members Absent: Augustin Collazo, Chuck Pearson, Stella Smith

Guests:

President Faulkner, Pres , UT Austin
Pat Clubb, VP for Employee & Campus Services
Kyle Cavaunagh, VP for HR
Connie Deutsch, Dir., EAP
Brian Haley, Pres., Student Council
Daily Texan Staff member
Juanita Rodreguiz, CBACC

Human Resource Services: Kyle Cavanaugh, Linda Casarez, Monica Reed

Quorum: 75 filled UTSC representative places divided by 2 = 38 (for quorum)

Welcome:

Chair Glen Worley called to order the regular meeting of the UT Staff Council at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday February 19, 2004 in Main 212. 59 UTSC representatives were present. Next meeting is Thursday, March 11, 2004 from 2:00pm to 3:30pm, Main 212.

Guests Talks:

Connie Deutsch, Dir., EAP: thanked us for donations and getting the word out about the Employee's Emergency Fund. The generous contributions through the Hearts of Texas campaign will enable the fund to continue.

President Faulkner talked about the following concerns:

• Compensation will be a high priority and yes, there will be raises next Fall. The amount is not known yet as budgets are being worked out now - should know in about 4 to 5 weeks.
• Health Care - the supplement program to help with these increases for the next three years will continue but will not be raised.
• Staff Education Benefit - during the past three years the use of this benefit has increased. It has been decided to extend this benefit to include one course over the summer. No decision has been made over the dissertation hours as this policy is still being looked at.
• Grievance Policy - it's getting final feedback. It should be sent to System within the next month.
• Staff Emergency Fund - Hearts of Texas Campaign was very successful thanks to donations from staff and faculty.
• Emergency Leave - staff can now go to the funerals of co-workers.

President Faulkner said that these are challenging times--it is very difficult providing a good education for an affordable price but is optimistic that The University will meet these challenges.

He is happy to be working with Staff Council to improve working climate. He mentioned that the University was perceived as being a good place to work as there is an average of 40 applicants for each job, for some positions there have been 100 applicants per job. Turnover is very low at 11%.

He ended his talk by saying that the University has worked through difficult budget times. He thanked UTSC for the role we had in this past very difficult year.

Before turning the floor over to questions from UTSC representatives, Didi Smith, Chair of the Issues Committee, presented to Pres. Faulkner a notebook of the expanded database of Issues that had been put forth by the UTSC since its inception.

Discussion:

One Representative asked how Tuition Increases would benefit staff.

President Faulkner: Central to UT's health to maintain momentum in three critical areas:

1. Faculty expansion; lower student/teacher ratio
2. Retain faculty
3. Upkeep of physical facilities

There are many challenges to public institutions and these can be terrifying at times. How we put together a budget for a university of this size is very difficult as there are many variables to take into consideration. Pres. Faulkner said that he doesn't have a plan because he doesn't have complete control--the state senate does and they are just now comprehending the difficulties of running a university of this size.

UT's budget is 80% salaries--it's a real challenge to keep up with this and keep a positive rate of growth in costs to the university. To keep talent and high standards of education in an efficient way. Changes are happening and UT has been very successful in adapting to change due to a great extent with staff's help.

Another representative asked about the Commission 125:

Pres. Faulkner: the UT Executive Committee met on campus today and yesterday and is now synthesizing the various reports. The final report is due on December 22nd. The goals for the commission are: enlist and educate another generation of public leaders on how higher education and UT works. They will be advocates for the future of UT. This commission is done every 25 years. The past groups have helped guide the University to the present.

UTSC Chair asked about the new Honor Code.

Pres. Faulkner has increasingly felt that in communities like ours there is a need to re-enforce to ourselves levels of honor, integrity to use as standard. He thinks that the honor code can be implemented in several years. He used as an example the University of Virginia —their honor code is 200 years old. Student organizations have been charged with looking into it and creating a single statement that everyone can buy into.

One representative asked about the Knowledge Gateway Project.

Pres. Faulkner told the UTSC that the project would be unveiled under the name "Utopia" on March 6. This is also the date for Explore UT. Utopia will be a way for the University to engage and share with the people of Texas and beyond the University's treasures and services.

Another representative asked how the current Tuition/Fee structure will be affected by flat rates.

Pres. Faulkner replied that he didn't know, that this would depend on the Legislature's attitude on this. The way the University structures tuition/fees is pretty crazy and has come out of how the state legislature controls increases. Flat rate fees make more sense but will take a long time to implement into the current system. Again this depends on the legislature.

A representative asked about the salary policy—will it be an across the board raise for all staff or based on merit.

Pres. Faulkner told the UTSC that he favors a compensation policy that uses merit raises rather than across-the-board raises, but that changes in salary ranges for some jobs are being discussed. Changes in beginning salaries for those jobs could have the effect of an across the board raise for those jobs. He did not mention which jobs might be affected.

Announcements:

Stella Smith (in her capacity as President of the African American Staff Advocating Progress) and Phil Gavenda (as UTSC representative) appointed to the President's Ad Hoc Committee for Campus Community

In May, the Vice Chair's tenure in the UT System's Employee Advisory Council will and President Faulkner has given the UTSC authority to appointment their own choice to this position.

Chair's report:

Ann Seago, Ana Raley, Phil Gavenda, and the Chair attended a session with the environmental psychologist hired as a consultant on improving wayfinding‚ at UT. Wayfinding refers to the signs, maps, and other devices used to help people find their way around the campus. This is another example of how the Staff Council is becoming an active participant in university planning and activities.

Vice Chair's report:

No report

Recorder/Secretary's report:

Call for approval of Minutes from the previous meeting

Committee reports:

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

Didi Smith, Issues:

The Chair of the Issues Committee briefly discussed the Issues Summaries, which give short descriptions of all the Issues that have been presented to and worked on by the UTSC and which were distributed to the representatives. She also introduced the new Issues notebooks.

2004-2 Notification of Nomination for Award Submitted by Sandra Sleeper.
To suggest that when a staff member is nominated for an award, i.e.: the Employee Excellence Award, employee should receive a notification of the nomination regardless of whether they received the award or not. This could be seen as a kudos, or could be placed in employee's file. Validated by the Issues committee - proposed for Comp & Class.

A representative asked for clarification.

The Chair explained that if a staff members gets nominated for any award, regardless of whether they actually get the award, a notice of this would go to the staff and be put in their file.

The UTSC then voted motion to go to the Compensation and Classification Committee

Noah Lowenstein, Nominations and Elections:

The Chair updated the council on the upcoming Nomination/Election schedule and announced that the dates mentioned last time are official now. Fielded questions from the floor concerning the Nomination/Election process.

Discussion:

One Representative said that she was not sure what her role as a retiring representative was.

Chair of N&E: The District Contacts will coordinate and disseminate information on the election. What the retiring representatives can do is encourage their constituents to participate.

Another Representative said that the District Contacts in her district are confused as they are always asking her what they need to do.

Chair of N&E: There will be a meeting for the District Contacts to educate them on their duties not only in the nomination and election process but after.

A Representative wanted to know if the nomination and election process would be electronic.

Chair of N&E: Yes, for those who have an email address on file. For those without email, they would get paper versions of the notices and ballots.

Another Representative asked how past representatives could get themselves nominated again.

Chair of N&E: A representative can run for two consecutive terms and then sit out one year and be eligible to run again. At this time, this does not apply to any of the representatives currently on council.

Brief discussion of the (upcoming) March 2 meeting with the "District Contacts."

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

Andy Gordon, Insurance:

TMJ and Your Insurance Carrier - this is an old issue revisited.

The Insurance Committee thoroughly researched TMJ as one staff member who wanted coverage for an appliance for TMJ from Blue Cross/Blue Shield and was denied.

That person wanted to know what recourse was available to them then. The Insurance Committee, working with Human Resource Services, has developed a flow chart for an appeals process via Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Humana (see the PDF attachments [PDF; requires Adobe Reader])

Voted to have the Executive Committee write a letter to HRS to make the Flow Chart available to all and to better train HRS staff on issues of this order.

Amy Pinkston, Miscellaneous Benefits:

2003-18 Wavier of Re-admit fee for Staff - this issue was submitted as staff cannot always take classes each consecutive semester and it was felt that staff should not be charged a re-admit fee each semester they can take classes. If was found that there is a Student Need waiver which can be expanded upon to include staff.

Discussion:

One Representative asked how will the Office of Admissions identify staff to apply the waiver to that staff's admittance.

Chair of MB Ctme: Staff will have to ask for the waiver.

Another Representative said that it seems contradictory to what was asked for - one waiver, for all time, for all staff.

A Representative answered that staff would still have to apply to UT and that there should be an updated form with a check-box to identify staff members.

Another Representative said that the reason students get the fee waived is financial need and that the check-box for the staff waiver should say something like "Staff using SEB--waive fee."

Voted to have the UTSC Chair write a letter to the appropriate authority for a waiver of the re-admit fee for all staff.

UTSC Chair will also ask in the letter that there be a mechanism in the admittance form to identify that this is a staff member and that the re-admit fee is to be waived.

Unfinished business:

None

New business:

A representative brought up the shuttle-bus controversy and moved that the council write a letter in support of the drivers.

After some discussion it was voted that a letter would be written by the UTSC Chair in support of the drivers.

Adjournment:

A motion to adjourn was made and the meeting ended at 3:37 p.m.