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Officers & Executive Committee
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Minutes - April 20, 2006In attendance: Yolanda Aldaco, Jennifer Betancourt, Linda Breining, Layne Brewster-Smith, Alison Louise Brown, Lisa Camero, Vanessa Cobb, Johnnie Conley, Marlis Dagg, Vickie Drake, Neil Fahlund, Danielle Fournier, Christine Gauger, Phil Gavenda, Claudia Gerardo, Marco Gonzalez, Christy Habecker, Clifford Haby, Bretna Hackert, Tom Horn, James Janknegt, Dreya Johannsen, Amy Jones, Elizabeth Korves, Noah Lowenstein, Debra Madden, Gary Martt, Alan McKendree, Kimberly Montroy, Terry Moore, Rita Moreno, Joyce Moyer, Pamela Owen, Eric Patkowski, Billie Pierce, Janet Reed, Carl Roell, Kathy Romberg, Christopher Scherer, Edie Shugart, Sandra Sleeper, Olen Smith, Barbara Thompson, Alayna Wadleigh, Kim Wallace, Erin Waneck, Deborah Warden, JR Watson, Sara Jackson Watson, Ashley Williams, Kimberly Williams, Cynthia Wilson, Andrea Zabcik Absent with notification: Tommy Downey, Patrice Fox, Philip Guerrero, Greg Howard, Lynn Lecropane, Keke Kelly Liao, Craig Schroer, Nadine Schulte, Absent: Melba Catchings, Troy Johnson, Candace Legge, Collin Logan, Robert Micks, Donna O'Kelly, Albert Puga, Kim Snyder, Guests: Linda Overton, Barbara Fehlman Meeting called to order at 2:05 PM upon verification of a quorum. Chair recognizes Corinna Kester from Environmental Health & Safety Office who has been invited by the facilities committee to address issue 2005-32 “Campus Wide Recycling for Staff” Information and PowerPoint presentation can be found at: http://www.utenvironment.org and info@UTenvironment.org UTSC member reminded everyone that Physical Plant is now Facility Management. Additionally, they do not go out to Lake Austin at this time and you can recycle cardboard thru UT – usually in loading docks. Announcements:Next meeting is Thursday, May 18, 2006 from 2:00pm to 3:30pm, ACES 2.302, orientation for new members begins at 1:00. We will say farewell and present certificates to outgoing representatives. We will take nominations for officers to be voted on during the June meeting. Chair reminds reps to think about whom to nominate. Outgoing members please return books to give to new reps in May. Phillip Hebert is no longer the Secretary – he has taken another position in a different district. Mark Gonzalez will be acting as recorder until elections. Committee on Committee’s still needs members. Terry Moore has offered to act as Chair until the committee reforms and a chair may be selected by the members. Marcus Horton is no longer on campus. He was the Parking and Transportation Committee representative and is now working for Capital Metro. If interested on serving on the Parking and Transportation Committee please email the Chair. Recorder/Secretary asks for any changes to the minutes and changed Vickie Drake to Vicki Heydron. Tom also asked that a clarification be made to the minutes (the change is made in the previous month’s minutes as an amendment). UTSC rep 712 asked that March 9 read April on the next meeting date. Additionally the rep asked why the attendance was not available. The attendance was not picked up by the Secretary and if anyone has it please return it to the Recorder. Chair asks for approval of minutes and minutes are approved by UTSC. Committee Reports:Issues Committee – Amy Jones, chair2005-29 Workmen's Comp - Supervisor Training Standardized Filing, Competency, and Sensitivity
2005-31 Better enforcement of traffic laws in the parking garage(s)
2005-32 Change permit required on campus to 7 AM
2005-33 Removal of Social Security Information from insurance notices
2005-35 Campus Computer Store Discounts for UT Retirees
2005-36 Public Access to Hot Water
2005-37 Quarantine Preparedness
Bylaws Committee-Tom Horn, chairRep Tom Horn asks UTSC to grab the “low hanging” fruit. There was a great deal of feedback on revisions 4 and 5. Until this past Monday no one had given any feedback in writing at all and committee had already met. Therefore, Tom asks UTSC to hold 4 and 5 for the future. Tom asks and invites UTSC to give feedback. B&P meets the second Tuesday of each month. Tom asks the plan as outlined be approved. Chair asks for motion to hold 4 and 5 for the future. The motion is approved. Rep Tom Horn has feedback on 1, 2 and 3. The purpose of the bylaws changes is not perfection – we may never get there. Feedback is critical to this process. This is first attempt to edit the bylaws. Tom asks that we forgo the second reading. The Chair asks for a motion, one is given and the motion passes. Tom moves that the suggested revisions, presented on first reading on March 9, label number 1 for Term Limits, label number 2 for Voting Privileges, and label number 3 for independent Chair Elections. Chair asks for motion to accept what Tom has presented. Motion is presented, seconded and approved. Tom will issue a general appeal for additional feedback and invitation to meeting. Nominations and Elections-Sandra Sleeper, chairSandra encourages people to vote. Two days left. Rep 182 tells Sandra that constituents have not been able to vote. Sandra asks that issues be sent to utscelections@lists.cc.utexas.edu. Issues will be addressed by close of business tomorrow. Sarah Shafer has received calls and the issues have been looked at. Issues brought to their attention have been addresses and most have been found to be non-issues. Statistics on nominations received:
Election schedule to date:
Chair asks how results will be announced. Sandra believes results are validated then work with Communication Chair and HR to post results on the web. There is an HTML form that will have the districts and reps. An email will be sent with the link. Chair recognizes Tom. Tom asks whether he heard the N&E Committee would fill the vacancy. Sandra says no- the vacancies will be filled thru the Executive You can contact Sandra Sleeper at electionschair@utsc.utexas.edu, but would prefer for the whole committee to receive emails at utscelections@lists.cc.utexas.edu. All issues should be reported ASAP. Philip Gavenda expressed a concern about issues with the voting system. Sandra suggests that the reps with an election send an email to their constituents if and only if their district is having an election. Also, if they have concerns they can send them to the above email addresses. Tom suggests that emails be sent from reps and that in the future some standardization is setup for reps. Sandra Sleeper did mention that when they met with District Contacts they instructed DC’s to list the current representative and to state whether the rep would like to continue or not. Rep 282 says nothing was done by their DC. Sandra Sleeper encourages all the district reps to send email to her in order to address issues in the post-election meeting. Sandra Sleeper discussed the new officer elections, Chair, Vice-Chair, and Secretary. Duties are in the bylaws on the web. The minimum requirement is one year service with UTSC. Also, think about whether you want to chair a standing, working or ad hoc committee. You are not required to have one year service in order to chair a committee. If you need a copy of the bylaws please let Sandra know and she will email them to you. Terry Moore would like to make sure that the bylaws are followed and that officers be nominated in May and elected in June. Sandra explains that the current reps make the nominations and new reps take part in elections. We would like to see at least two nominees for each position. Chair mentions that two nominees are not required by the bylaws. You can run unopposed. Tom suggest that the election of officers, in order to avoid the appearance of abuse, be monitored and conducted by three non-UTSC members to distribute ballots, make sure that only current reps get ballots, and then count them. Chair recognizes a motion from Tom to decide who counts the ballots – the motion is carried. Tom also suggests that the procedures be written down with the names of the people who will distribute the ballots, make sure only people who should vote – vote. Council voted to ask Frank Simon, Glen Worley and Julien Carter to serve as ballot distributors and tellers (vote counters) in the officer elections at our June meeting. And although someone else had the floor, Sarah Schafer from Human Resources immediately volunteered to be an alternate. ***During the last council meeting it was stated that last year's officer nominations were illegal; however, they were sanctioned by the bylaws committee chair, Shane Williams, the N&E chair, Noah Lowenstein and the council chair, Glen Worley as well as the Executive Committee of which Erin Waneck was an officer. ***The Chair has formally invited Frank Simon, Glen Worley and Julien Carter to perform this task; all three have accepted. In part because we would prefer not to impose additional burdens on someone from HR who has already advised the entire Council about her workload, the Chair also invited Ana Dison (nee Raley) to serve as an alternate if needed. The Chair would like to take a moment to acknowledge the work the committee chairs have put into all this, specifically all the work and expertise that Noah has done as well as Tom’s work as chair of the bylaws committee. Tom reminds UTSC that he is only the spokesman and that the committee does all the work Ad Hoc committee on mentoring-Gary Martt, ChairMr. Martt would like to thank the ad hoc mentoring committee for their participation and the UTSC reps who participated in the survey last month. Anyone who wants a copy can get one from Mr. Martt. The handout also has his email address. Suggestions included getting a new photo amongst others including: 1. Expand UTSC FAQ’s to include training information for reps. This may be quicker than an electronic handbook. Links could include Robert’s Rules, the UTSC email system and the issue forms. 2. Request mentoring volunteers from committees and UTSC at-large. Volunteers should have served for at least a year. We can also ask exiting reps to be available to assist new reps. A phone list should be distributed. 3. A special orientation for new reps, already scheduled, to use PA system to introduce themselves that can also be used as a training experience and encourage Q and A. 4. Prepare a PowerPoint slide show to explain the email system. New BusinessTom recommends that we formally endorse Mark Gonzalez as Secretary-ProTem. Motion is passed. Terry asks that anyone interested on being on Committee on Committee please stay for a few minutes after the meeting. The Chair explains that the Committee on Committees gets all the reps for committees across campus that needs a staff representative. Cindy Wilson explains this is a busy time but a good committee to work on. Chair asks the Vice-Chair in conjunction with the new Communication Chair that when we train the new reps we will present how to access the email system. UTSC reps are the conduit to our constituents. Tom asks how to increase UTSC visibility perhaps by creating the University and Public Relations Committee listed in the bylaws. It is listed as a working committee. Amy Jones, Rep 160 agrees with Tom and would like to see more outreach to work with reps to talk to constituents. Executive Officers talked to Mr. Carter about the UTSC having a brochure. Tom would like to see someone assigned to work on the website. Communications is currently assigned to do updates but perhaps Public Relations Committee would be a better fit. Rep. Alan would forward the minutes but they are a month old and it would be helpful to get them out sooner. Chair reminds UTSC that many of the issues do not expire and we should send them out regardless of the date. The goal should be to get them out sooner. Rep. 202 says she emails her constituents the day after with key points and a link to the web site. Chair suggests that we continue to send out summaries of the minutes. Rep Debra Madden was wondering about the HMO status. Chair informs UTSC that Mr. Carter worked with the System to continue HMO for one more year. This will be the last year. It will be more costly too – please look at the new premiums. You should get an email about your options. The Chair recognizes the visitors to our meeting and encourages that we all bring someone to the meeting. The meetings are open. Council Meeting for Incoming and Retiring UTSC Reps May 18, 2006 *** = clarification to minutes Adjournment:Meeting is adjourned at 3:29. Prepared by Mark Anthony Gonzalez |
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