Southern Polytechnic State University
Staff Council Minutes

Date: January 15, 2004
Time: 10:00 a.m.

The meeting was called to order. The minutes of the November 20, 2003 Staff Council meeting were approved.

Leigh Ann Holton provided an update on the budget. Through the efforts of Jim Cooper, Staff Council was awarded a grant in the amount of $2,500.00 from the Foundation to fund the cost of the employee recognition and retirement ceremony. This year the Human Resources Department (HR) along with the Faculty Senate and Staff Council will handle the ceremony. Human Resources has the information regarding retirement dates and years of service. Staff Council will assist HR with any clerical support.

Staff Council has $3,459.74 in an agency account and $114.03 in the Foundation account. Staff Council incurred an expense of $43.10 for the mailing of the plaques to the retired employees and faculty.

Regarding new business:

Leigh Ann Holton will ask Ron Koger to provide the dates for the Open Forum.

Amanda said that the IT Message Board is not operational and will not become operational for several months. The delay resides in the fact that some equipment will have to be ordered and installed to make it operational and funding will have to be provided for its purchase.

Leigh Ann reported that the job descriptions for various personnel in the academic departments had not been completed. A generic template has been approved and the committee is working on department specific descriptions. The committee is composed of Alberta Cook, Quint Hill, Leigh Ann Holton, Sharon Hodge, Charles Azebeokhai, and Mary Ellen McGee.

There was no other old business discussed at the meeting.

Regarding old business:

William Ketchum announced that Annette Gillespie has asked to be excused from Staff Council for the 2003-2004 term. Annette has tendered her resignation citing the need to care for family members. The resignation was accepted unanimously by Staff Council.

William Ketchum stated that he will contact Annette and ask for her list of constituents and divide that list with Randall Scarboro who is also a Category Three (3) Staff Council representative. Leigh Ann said she will review the individuals who are in Category Three (3) and determine if Staff Council needs to appoint an individual to finish out the current term.

Leigh Ann stated that a constituent has expressed a desire to review the draft of the Staff Council minutes earlier than has been the current practice. William Ketchum said that he would like the Chair and the Vice Chair, as a minimum, to critique the minutes before releasing them to the campus community. Sharon Hodge said that Staff Council should be able to critique the minutes and provide a tentative draft to Amanda Canup for inclusion on the WEB page within one week of the Staff Council meeting. Everyone agreed that this goal was feasible.

Leigh Ann said that the University received a thank you card from the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. William Ketchum said the University received a certificate of appreciation from the Marine Corps Toys For Tots and Dr. Rossbacher received a personal word of thanks from the highest ranking marine corps officer in the Atlanta District for the University’s participation in the program.

Leigh Ann Holton provided the ground rules for the professional development funding program. The deadline for the enrollment application is February 09, 2004. Sharon Hodge suggested that Staff Council obtain a list of class offerings and forward to our constituents to see who is interested in taking classes. Leigh Ann said that Mary Ellen McGee has already sent information to the campus community regarding this matter.

Leigh Ann brought some information from the USG Staff Council Web Page regarding current University System budget issues.

The next meeting was scheduled for Thursday, February 19, 2004 at 10:00 a.m.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:00 a.m.