Southern Polytechnic State University
Staff Council Minutes

Date: March 2, 2005
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Location: J-381

Members Present: William Ketchum (Chair), Bennie Sue Houck, Ann Lay, Brandon McLain (Secretary), David Stone

Members Absent: Sharon Hodge (Vice Chair), Linda Powell, Teresa Street, Edward Bulick, Fola Teru, and Amanda Canup

Advisors Present: Dawn Ramsey

Advisors Absent: Mary Phillips

Guests: Alberta Cook, Darlene Martin

The meeting began at 10:00am and opened with a welcome to all present Staff Council members, Advisors, and guests. At this time, William Ketchum asked us to read over the January 20, 2005 minutes for approval. He then opened the floor for discussion and any corrections. Alberta Cook, a guest at the meeting, inquired as to why nomination forms could not be sent by email or interoffice mail instead of being faxed? Her concern was this process might be more difficult for everyone to obtain the ballots. William Ketchum’s response to her concerns were that in the past ballots were lost in the mail. This method would make the nomination and voting process more secure. After corrections to the minutes were made and submitted, a motion was made by Ann and seconded by Bennie to accept the minutes with corrections.

The minutes were approved unanimously.

Due to Sharon Hodge’s illness, the budget update will be posted at a later date.

The first item discussed under old business was the Election Procedure Modifications and an update from the sub-committee, which includes Bennie, Ann, and Ted. The Staff Council Election Procedure Committee revised the nomination and voting procedures on March 2. William Ketchum then asked the Staff Council to review the revised Staff Council Election Procedure Draft so that the procedures can be finalized. After a discussion with suggestions
and corrections, the committee then worked on the final draft. This is how the final draft reads:

The Chair of Staff Council shall appoint an election committee of at least three (3) Staff Council members at the March meeting.

The Chair of the Election Committee shall contact the Human Resources Office and request 2 lists of current employees, broken down by IPEDS categories:

The Human Resources Office shall generate these lists on the first Friday in April

The Election Committee shall check both lists for accuracy as defined by the Staff Council By-Laws by noting the following:

The Election Committee shall count the number of staff employees in each group, to determine the number of Staff Council representatives needed.

Nomination forms will be distributed to eligible voters by campus mail on the first working day in May. Nomination forms can only be faxed to the nominee.

Nomination Forms must be returned to the Election Committee Ballot Box (located in the office of the Dean of Students, Building A, Room 231. no later than the close of business on the 2nd Friday in May. No nomination forms will be accepted after the deadline…NO EXCEPTIONS. There will be NO write-in candidates accepted. Staff members must deposit their nomination forms in the locked box labeled “Staff Council Nomination Forms” which will be under dual control requiring two (2) members of the Election Committee to open.

In order to challenge the nomination list, a staff employee must put the challenge in writing to the Election Committee Chair prior to the 2nd Friday in May. The Election Committee Chair shall seek to resolve the challenge with the Human Resources Office. After the 2nd Friday in May, the nomination list becomes final for the remainder of the election process.

Balloting will take place the third week of May. Ballots will be sent to eligible staff employees via campus mail by the Election Committee prior to the 1st Friday in June. Completed ballots must be deposited in the Election Committee Ballot Box which will be maintained in the Student Center offices in Building A, Room 231 no later than close of business on the 1st Friday in June. The box will be labeled “Staff Council Ballots” and will be under dual control requiring at least two (2) members of the election committee to open.

The Election Committee along with the assistance of the Staff Council Chair or Staff Council Vice- Chair will verify the ballots.

The Election Committee and 1 person i.e. ex-officio and/or advisor will do the counting of the ballots.

Designated Advisor will collect the ballots from the voting box. Each ballot will be checked against the IPED group of constituents. If there are any duplications, then the Advisor would contact the voter to verify which ballot would remain for the counting.

Election Committee members will do a blind count of each and every IPED group. The 3rd person will count the ballots again and compare to the original 2-member count. If all numbers agree, then this would be the final number of votes for each candidate.

If the 3rd person (the Advisor) tabulation did not agree with the 2 Election Committee members, then the other Advisor would be asked to tabulate for clarification.

The Staff Council Chair will distribute election results to the campus via email. Ballots and vote tallies will be kept by the Election Committee Chair until the last working day of June, and will be available for inspection.

Challenges to the Election Results:

Any staff member who is nominated for an IPEDS category and whose name appears on the ballot for the appropriate IPEDS category may request a re-count of the ballots for that category. This request should be made in writing (electronic mail is considered to be a written request) to the Election Committee Chair within twenty-four hours from the time that the election results are announced by the Chair of the Staff Council.

Members of the election committee in consultation with the Staff Council Chair and the Staff Council Advisors will appoint an individual or individuals who is/are independent of the category that has sustained a challenge to recount the ballots for that category. The date, time and place of the re-count will be announced at least twenty-four (24) hours in advance. Members of the election committee, Staff Council members and Advisors and the candidates who competed for election to Staff Council may be present when the ballots are re-counted.

The results of the re-count will be announced to the attendees by the Chair of the Staff Council and at this point the issue will be brought to closure.

Elected members will serve two-year terms beginning on July 1.

Dates for Election Process:

The second item under old business was led by Ann Lay discussing Merit System and Merit Increase. Ann Lay and Sharon Hodge met with Charles Azebeokhai in Human Resources on this issue. Mr. Azebeokhai said it is difficult for supervisors not to show favoritism, so the suggestion he had is to keep a log or journal yourself. This journal will keep a concise record of your own progress and accomplishments you have achieved throughout the past year and which will be to your advantage during your review process. A report of the meeting with Mr. Azebeokhai and Staff Council members, Sharon Hodge and Ann Lay, will be sent out to all constituents by their representatives.

William Ketchum then gave the committee a progress report on the Outstanding Staff Awards.

The first item in new business was the resignation of two Staff Council members. The Staff Council accepted both Peggy Romanowski and Jeff Carter resignation. According to the By-Laws, if a member has missed more than two consecutive meetings, then the member will be endangered of being voted off the Staff Council. The Secretary first sends out a letter stating that the next meeting is mandatory for those individuals. Four members were sent letters reminding them of this situation.

For the next item of new business William Ketchum shared the highlights from the USG Staff Council meeting in Macon on February 18. The USG Staff Council has $1,344.33 to spend for functions. Privatization of the University System jobs was also discussed during the Macon conference. Mr. Ketchum continued by saying how there is an effort to privatize more jobs held by the University System of Georgia. Southern Poly has already privatized its housing.

The Staff Council formed a Nomination and Election Committee that consist of William Ketchum, Ann Lay, and Brandon Mclain.

The last item of old business was a discussion of the Professional Development Fund led by David Stone. David Stone suggested that the Staff Council representatives should ask for feed back from our constituents regarding courses they would like to take so that we can develop a pool of courses before we ask for Professional Development Funding. Ann Lay suggested possibly having motivational speakers. The Staff Council will send out a handout asking all of the constituents what type of workshops, courses, or motivational speakers they would like to have offered and funded by Professional Development including classes taught by The Extended University (ConEd).

Just as a closing note before the meeting was adjourned, Ann Lay designated William Ketchum to get in touch with Charles Azebeokhai to ask the President, Dr. Rossbacher, about the job title changes for Administrative Secretary II and I.

The next Staff Council meeting will be Thursday April 14, 2005 at 10:00am in room B-120.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:15am.