Minutes for November 16, 2006

SSB (student services building) Glen Maloney room G1.310, 11:30-2:00
Prepared by: Mark Anthony Gonzalez

Members Present: Timothy Barber, Sharon Bernard, Linda Breining, Gregory Browning, Lisa Camero, Vanessa Cobb, Johnnie Conley, Vickie Drake, Lara Eakins, Nelson Fahlund, Danielle Fournier (Vice-Chair), Christine Gauger, Claudia Gerardo, Mark Gonzalez, Philip Guerrero, Bretna M Hackert, Tom Horn, Dreya Johannsen, Mari Johnson, Troy Johnson, Amy Jones, Richard Lee, Debra Madden, Gary Martt, Alan McKendree, Terry Moore, Rita Moreno, Joyce Moyer, Pamela Owen, Eric Patkowski, Monica Pena-Mercado, Martha Ramey, Elaine Rafferty, Carl Roell, Chris Scherer, Nadine Schulte, Allison Supancic, Barbara Thompson, Salwa Uzri, Kim Wallace, Erin Waneck (Chair), James Watson, Ashley Williams, Kimberly Williams

Members Absent With Notification: Jennifer Betancourt, James Cogburn, James Janknegt, Michael McFarlin, Linda Overton, Heather Pafk, Billie Pierce, Debbie Warden, Blake Willms

Members Absent: Layne Brewster-Smith, Melba Catchings, Tommy Downey, Patrice Fox, David Haney, Maria Hernandez, Victoria Herrera, Candace Legge, Shelton Lewis, Keke Kelly Liao, Cynthia May, Robert Micks, Kimberly Montroy, Ben Rodriguez, Felix Sanchez, Sandra Sleeper, Olen Smith, Sara Jackson Watson

Guests: Debra Kress, Monica Reed

Meeting commenced with quorum.

Announcements:

• The Chair thanks Sharon Bernard for all her hard work and for arranging the donation of the two Thanksgiving turkeys
• Sarah Shafer has accepted a position with the Dean of Students and will no longer be with HRS. The Chair wants to express her sincere thanks for all the work she does for UTSC.
• Orange Santa is currently accepting applications. There are approximately 200 families that utilize the service. Applications are due November 28th by 5pm. The application certifies that you need the help. Orange Santa gives the ability for families to “shop” for the gift they want at the Orange Santa store. UTPD also donates bikes for families. Donations are always welcomed, especially for teenagers – gift certificates are a good donation. All families are welcomed – you must be affiliated with UT.
• Next meeting is Thursday, December 14, 2006 from 2:00pm to 3:30pm, ACE 2.302 Avaya Auditorium

Chair's report:

• The Executive Committee retreat resulted in many great ideas and goals for UTSC. Included in the goals are partnerships with other UT organizations, including the Faculty Council, symposiums, meet and greets, a weekly Q and A, town hall meetings open to staff as well as more social events like happy hours and picnics with UTSC members.
• Manuals for committee chairs will be developed. Updating the UTSC web site and benchmarking with other similar organizations at peer universities to see what they are doing. Branding and logos were also discussed and “Advocacy, Community and Impact” seem to be a working theme. The Communications Committee will work with Rhonda Weldon office to develop a brochure layout, color and design. A statement from President Powers will also be included for the UTSC brochure and web site. An annual report for the President will also be presented to the President to showcase UTSC’s work.
• The Chair met with students about a first responders group. This would be a student led group of first responders - they would like to come speak to UTSC in order to generate support. The Chair believes Student Government is funding this resource.
• Danielle Fournier and Erin Waneck met with Stan Roux the current Ombudsman for Faculty on November 13, 2006.
  1. Stan is beginning his 3rd year as ombudsman and reports to the Provost and Faculty Council.
  2. He does not report to HR. Works independent to administration.
  3. The Ombudsman spends approximately 3-4 hours weekly on his duties. He benchmarked this and most spend 5-6 hrs weekly.
  4. He gets paid for 2 months summer salary.
  5. He had no particular qualifications, but interviewed with a panel from Faculty Council, as well as with the Provost and President. His term is for one year at a time and gets renewed after discussions with Faculty and the Provost.
  6. He identified two types of mediation training options
     • 40 hour course offered at the law school which was not very useful except if you enter into legal rights issues. Having certification as a mediator gives you immunity from disclosing confidential information.
     • National ombudsman association training workshop that lasts for 3 days and is available before their yearly association meeting. The fee is $1,000.
  7. He mediates faculty concerns which can include interactions with staff and students. He also facilitates discussions with faculty and their superiors.
  8. Information discussed is, by law, strictly confidential.
  9. Meets with parties separately, not together.
  10. There are no records kept of discussions or outcomes. They are destroyed.
  11. If there were any written agreement, only the two parties would get copies.
  12. They address issues of Compliance, evaluations, and pay and a host of other issues including communications.
  13. The first year he took up 48 issues. The second year is dropped to 32 (mainly because of lack of advertisement.) Only 2 issues have not been settled and have gone to formal grievance.
  14. The role of the Ombudsman is to remain impartial. He does not arbitrate, and hopes for a “win-win” outcome.
       
• When an issue involves legalities, he consults with Legal Affairs Office: Jeff Graves, Lee Smith, and Susan Bradshaw
• When an issue involves policy, he consults with Steve Monti. He rarely uses the HOP.
• Asked if retaliation has ever been a problem and he stated no, mainly because he meets with the Provost every six weeks with updates.
• Grievances are by nature, adversarial. Most people do not want to file.
• Grievance for Faculty institutes a trial, where ½ jury are faculty ½ chosen by President’s Office. The grievance committee was able to get three wins in a row, but the administration refused to act. This signaled a problem with the process. Suspended process for 1 year, until they could get process outlined and agreement signed by the Grievance Committee and with the President to fix the problem.
• Benchmark recommendations:
• Ohio State
• North Carolina-Chapel Hill (100,000 yr salary with associate 40,000 Support by University at ¼ million dollars.
• Michigan State
• University of Southern California
• Obtain survey from Student council chair of committee: Lauren Bloom
• Ombudsman position was instituted as a result of the insistence of the Faculty council and the fact that it is very affordable. It improves moral…huge benefit. Money is saved from absenteeism; work productivity when moral goes up.

Vice Chair’s Report:

• The Vice Chair reminds all Chairs that there will be a meeting immediately after UTSC’s meeting to discuss the stage of current issues within committees.
• The Vice Chair would like UTSC representatives to return surveys of their abilities and interests that can better help UTSC when issues arise.
• James Janknegt will be leaving UTSC and his position will be filled with Lisa Gentry. Mark Smith in Parking and Transportation will be filling Jeri Bakers position. We are working hard at filling all vacant positions.

Recorder-Approval of minutes/Quorum:

• The September and October minutes are being presented for approval. The September minutes are approved as is. The October minutes are approved as is.
• The Chair reminds UTSC representatives that the minutes do show the attendance. If you miss four in a year or three in a row, the Chair will be contacting you to ensure that you are still willing to serve as a representative.
• The Chair asks Eric Bataskia, representing the Bylaws and Procedures Committee to review Section IV for input and consideration to the proposed changes. A motion is presented and approved to dispense with the reading of the proposed changes.

Insurance Committee report: Vickie Drake

UTSWIAC Brief Update

• There will be no HMO plans offered to any UT System institution next year. HMOs are basically finished in Texas.
• The state of affairs regarding insurance benefits is pretty dismal. The last several years have seen legislative appropriations not meeting the rising costs of the insurance plans. The Texas Legislature has appropriated money to the System at approximately 5.5% increases, however costs have been increasing 9-10%. In this time, not many changes have been made to the insurance plans and the short fall has been covered by a contingency fund.
• However, costs are expected to rise even more this next year and may hit the 12% mark. Thus, unless the Legislature meeting in the next legislative cycle decides to appropriate enough money to cover the costs, the short fall will be more substantial. This is probably leading to major changes to the insurance plans in the more immediate future. What these changes are to be is still unclear, but a couple of ideas are being investigated:
• Consumer Directed Plans: these include Health Savings Accounts however this is not likely to be the choice, as it will only save money by being the only option.
• Using the Efficient Method or tiered network: this would look similar to the PPO option of in-network vs. out-of-network providers, however the in-network providers are split into "efficient" and "not as efficient" doctors. The efficient providers are those that treat patients with fewer follow-ups, less costly treatments (rated on many criteria based on the claims data), thus causing less cost. These would be covered at the highest amount, while there would be a greater cost to the patient to see a non-efficient doctor.
• There was also brief discussion about the pharmacology plans and what kind of savings could be realized if those plans were tweaked. One option might be to go back to a coinsurance type plan, where a provider might pay 80% of a drug's cost, while the patient pays 20%
• There was discussion about the new $4 drugs offered by Wal Mart. Target and HEB are also following along (although HEB is offering their list for $5). These are generics of many common drugs, not all drugs are covered.
• Each store will be a bit different and the generics you receive will not likely look like those that might have been received in the past (due to different manufacturers). Make sure you still use your insurance card for these drugs; you will still get them at $4.
• In the more distant future, the reporting to the Governmental Accounting Standards Board is likely to impact a huge segment of the governmental and higher education employees. GASB is requiring all agencies and institutions to report future liabilities, the largest impact being insurance for retirees. Once this goes on paper, which for UT System is 2008, it will likely create a reshaping of retiree benefits for state employees. This number is likely to be in the billions, because unlike retirement funds that are paid throughout the person's working like, insurance is funded pay as you go. Since the funds are not paid in advance for retiree insurance, this creates a huge deficit (a very large number with many zeroes) to the agencies of the state. FASB for private corporations had the effect of scaling back robust retirement benefits several years ago, and the expectation is the same for the state, although to what effect is unknown at this time.

Issues Committee-Amy Jones, Chair

• 2006-20, it might be 2006-21
• DF and 40 Acres Shuttle Bus Changes proposal is validated accepted and motion to refer it to Parking and Transportation is approved.

New Business: None

The Chair would like to thank UTSC representatives for all their hard work

Motion to adjourn approved.