Minutes - November 18, 2004

These minutes were approved at the UT Staff Council meeting on December 16, 2004

Members Present: Yolanda Aldaco, Pat Alfano, Mack Andrews, Alanna Burney,Tara Carlisle, Melba Catchings, Johnnie Conley, Julie Cunniff, Marlis Dagg, Laura Davis, Neil Fahlund, Phil Gavenda,Royce Gehrels, Freida Golden, Mark Gonzalez,Philip Guerrero, Christy Habecker ,Charlotte Harris, Phillip Hebert ,Bert Herigstad, John Hibbitts, Tom Horn, Marcus Horton, Greg Howard, George Hughes, Kim Johnson, Liz Landeros, Sonja Lane, Lynn LeCropane, Noah Lowenstein, Debra Madden,PG Moreno, Chuck Pearson, Billie Pierce, Kathy Romberg, Leslie Saucedo, Craig Schroer, Sandra Sleeper, Didi Smith, Sheril Smith, Jerry Spillar, Jennifer Trost, Erin Waneck, Sara Jackson Watson, Shane Williams, Teresa Williams, Cynthia Wilson, Glen Worley, Gabby Yearwood

Members Absent with Notification: Vickie Amidon, Alison Louise Brown, Philemon Brown, Pat Fox, Gayle Hight, Margaret Hill, Dreya Johannsen, Amy Jones, Elizabeth Korves, Jo Ann Richmond, Anna Sergi, Olen Smith, Barbara Thompson, Alayna Wadleigh, JR Watson

Members Absent: Oscar Carmona, Augustin Collazo, Suzanne McIntyre, John Nelson, Donna O’Kelly, Albert Puga, Jorge Puig, Frank Simon

Guests: Ann Seago

Quorum: 76 filled UTSC representative places divided by 2-38 (for quorum)

Call to Order:

Chair Glen Worley called to order the regular meeting of the UT Staff council at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 18, 2004 in Main 212. 50 UTSC representatives were present.

Announcements:

Chair's Report:

The Chair read the report from Ann Seago on the EAC meeting:

The UT System Employees Advisory Council (EAC) had its first meeting of the 2004-2005 fiscal year on Nov. 8 and 9.

During the course of the meeting, three presentations of note were given. The first presentation was given by Kyle Cavanaugh, Associate VP of UT-Austin's Human Resource Services, on our new grievance policy. This presentation was well received by the representatives of the other System components. There were quite a few questions on how our new policy differed from the original one and what process we followed to come up with the new policy and get it accepted by UT System and the Regents. The Policy Committee of the EAC decided to see if the new policy could be extended to the other components within UT System and also to look at other policies within the Handbook of Operating Procedures to see about bringing them up to date.

The second presentation was given by Dan Stewart, Assistant Vice Chancellor For Administration and the EAC liaison. He talked about the establishment of an alternative leave plan at UT MD Anderson in order to help with recruitment of its medical staff. Also known as PTO, or paid time off, this type of leave plan does not separate sick leave and vacation leave and the new employee has immediate access to it. UT System will be drafting a policy on alternate leave plans to conform to a new state law that allows a higher education institution to establish such a plan, but UT System is definitely not pushing this type of leave plan for academic components.

The last presentation was given by Robert Gates with Human Resources at MD Anderson. Robert is a member of R-Pac, a group of representatives from all the components, charged with exploring opportunities to stream line internal processing issues and to explore the establishment of a 457 plan, tentatively entitled UT Saver. The focus of his presentation was a new web-based retirement manager called "Retirement Manager". According to Kyle Cavanaugh, this could be available sometime in 2005. Each component will have a different projection date. At first the web site will be slanted for those within the voluntary Option Retirement Program (ORP).

It will allow users:

• 24/7 Access
• on-line information and education
• one screen summary of retirement plans
• various forms for enrollment and account management
• financial calculators, which will allow you to use current balances for projection.

When users log-on to their account, they will not only see all their fund balances but the information they have access to is slanted to help them manage their accounts. In other words, the information they have access to is not generic but is slanted towards the types of funds they are in.

Eventually, users will be able to actually enroll at the web site and move funds around within the various accounts. Users will also have access in the future to their TRS and Social Security records and any other IRA or IRA Roth accounts that they are in.

Vice Chair:

No report

Recorder/Secretary:

Minutes of the October UTSC meeting were approved.

Committee Reports:

Ad Hoc Childcare report-John Hibbits

Issue 2003-5

After careful analysis, it was found that providing nighttime care for children of UT staff is not feasible. There were many obstacles to finding on site care, including difficulty of finding staff willing to work at night and finding affordable care was prohibitive.

Recommendation: Use the UT Childcare Center as a resource for referrals for staff looking for evening care and daycares that operate on a sliding scale.

Transportation report-Marcus Horton
Parking & Transportation Committee
Friday, November 5, 2004
O's Campus Café (ACES Building)
2:30pm

Members Present: Marcus Horton (chair), Johnnie Conley, Marco Gonzalez, and Alayna Wadleigh
Members Absent: Julie Cunniff, Phillip Hebert

Upon reaching a quorum at approximately 2:45, the meeting began. The following proposals were discussed:

2004-21: Bicycle lane for Speedway through the bicycle dismount zone

The committee members discussed the area in question. A limited map of the area was provided so that all members could be more aware of the dismount zone layout.

The committee acknowledges a strong following for eliminating or reducing the dismount zone while also defending it for the safety of both pedestrians and cyclists. The dismount zone is only effective with reasonable compliance to its restrictions. The committee discussed the pros and cons of its current structure and determined the following.

CONCLUSION 1: This committee feels that all affected parties are provided a disservice by the current dismount zone‚s criteria. Cyclists see it as burdensomely long and prefer to illegally skirt by riding on sidewalks or other areas wholly reserved for pedestrians. Pedestrians are wary of the area due to the random nature of cyclists‚ non-compliance of its restrictions. Lastly, UTPD enforcement of the dismount zone is discouraged due to the large surface area affected. Two primary changes are needed to aid all affected parties and serve as a compromise to these interests.

RECOMMENDATION 1: This committee believes that the dismount zone length (north to south along Speedway) should be shortened to a range perpendicular to the area where pedestrians primarily cross its path. We define this as the area immediately adjacent to the steps ascending towards Inner Campus Drive to the west and the East Mall to the east. It is our belief that this will reasonably reduce the potential for accidents, decrease the enforcement area of the dismount zone, and increase the cyclists‚ probability for compliance.

RECOMMENDATION 2: Cyclists should be provided a more clearly defined path for their transit. Although the dismount zone should be reduced as supported by recommendation 1, cyclists‚ transit through the full area currently termed Speedway Plaza should be reduced to a more clearly defined path between the concrete barriers currently situated adjacent to the F11 lot at the south and adjacent to the Schoch Building at the north. This path should adhere to Texas Transportation Code for dimensions, markings, and other requirements. Further, it is recommended that the path be defined by temporary markings to permit subsequent change or even removal should the University community deem necessary. Creation of such a path will increase pedestrian awareness to bicycle transit while better defining their expectations of their crossing to reduce accidents. Consideration should be given to the bicycle lane’s continuation as the Speedway Plaza area is redeveloped.

This recommendation met with unanimous approval of attending members of the committee.

Result: Accepted by UTSC. Chair wrote letter to Dr. Harkins, Director of Parking and Transportation, outlining recommendations of UTSC for his consideration.

Facilities Report-Sheril Smith

Issues 2004-16, dealing with trash can placement, and 2004-9; dealing with the mowing of wild flowers is pending a response from the physical plant. Issues 2004-17, dealing with replanting tree requires no action, since this is under way already, and 2004-18 also requires no action, since current policy already covers this item.

Issues Committee, Didi Smith, Chair

2004-23 STAFF PROBATIONARY PERIOD, submitted by Margaret Hill, #371

Specific objective: Change of policy

Reason for proposal: Currently, current staff who change jobs after their probationary period are not required to have a probationary period in the new position. For this reason a department may not consider an internal (UT employee considering position in another department) applicant for new position. This limits the mobility of current UT employees moving to another department.

Expected Staff Council action: Recommend
Expected University action: Policy Change

If accepted, the Issues Comm. recommends this issue be assigned to Compensation and Classification Committee.

Discussion concerning the possible loss of benefits for staff when placed back on probation was a detriment to approving this as an issue. Also, it was pointed out, that managers can still use appropriate action to terminate employees due to non performance whether they are still on probation or not.

Action: Not accepted by UTSC

2004-24 Funeral Leave Policy, submitted by Gayle Hight / Amy Jones, #160

Specific objective: I would like the Staff Council to work to make changes to the Funeral Leave policy. Currently the policy only allows for leave with grandparents, parents, sisters/brothers, and the same members of your spouse's family. I feel that aunts, uncles, cousins, and so on should all be included. Even if there is a yearly cap on the number of hours you can miss for work in order to attend these funerals.

Reason for proposal: Recently I have had to use vacation time for a family member's funeral and used my vacation time and was a little shocked by the policy. I have spoken to other people who have had to do the same thing and didn't understand why. I am surprised that the University does not allow its staff the ability to properly mourn the loss of any family member without it being a hardship on their accrued time. I do not feel that it is the University's place to determine who my or anyone else's close family is.

Expected Staff Council action: Other
Expected University action: Policy Change

If accepted, the Issues Comm. recommends this issue be assigned to Miscellaneous Benefits Committee.

Discussion took place that this issue would require legislative law change. Another member took exception to this and stated that UT is always free to expand legislative leave time. It was also confirmed by HR, that you do not need supervisory approval for funeral leave, and that everyone receives twenty-four hours of funeral leave annually, per immediate family member, as defined by state law.

Result: Referred to committee

Chair recognized Ann Seago, and asked her to give addition information concerning benefits and wellness information from the EAC meeting.

Ann explained the new focus on wellness because of rising cost of insurance across the University System. It makes sense for employers to encourage wellness, and the importance of this issue will become more prevalent as the realization that keeping staff healthy is a benefit for everyone.

New Business:

Didi Smith volunteered to bring cookies to our December UTSC meeting and asked other UTSC members to participate.

Tom Horn expressed concern that the recommendations of the 125 Commission did not reference classified staff anywhere in their report.

Chair, Glen Worley stated that staff are the point of service contact for students, and good service provided by staff will greatly affect future donations from alumni. The Chair felt that President Faulkner has demonstrated his appreciation of staff by keeping faculty and staff raises on par with one another.

Adjournment:

The meeting was adjourned at 3:20. The next regular meeting of the UTSC is December 16, 2-3:30pm, Main 212.