Date: April 20, 2004
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Members Present: Amanda Canup, Jeff Carter, Sharon Hodge, Leigh Ann Holton,
Bennie Houck, William Ketchum, Randall Scarboro
Members Absent: Jim Cooper
Advisors Present: Dawn Ramsey
Advisors Absent: Mary Phillips
Guests: Cressia Callahan, Alberta Cook, Denise Stover
Leigh Ann Holton opened the meeting by recognizing and welcoming the three (3) guests to the meeting. William Ketchum stated that this Staff Council meeting had the necessary quorum to vote on issues.
The minutes of the March 18, 2004 meeting were reviewed and unanimously approved.
Both Denise Stover and Alberta Cook addressed Staff Council voicing their concerns over some of the proposed changes to the bylaws.
The Chair recognized Dawn Ramsey to give a report on the Staff Council budget. Dawn Ramsey reported that the Staff Council had a balance of $2,660.92 in the Foundation Account. Leigh Ann stated that the Agency account had a balance of $114.03 which was unchanged from the previous meeting. For fiscal year (FY) 2004, the Staff Awards are the only function that the Foundation will fund as it relates to Staff Council. Dawn Ramsey stated that the Foundation’s support will not be a carry forward fund as it was past. At the close of the FY any balance will be moved to the general fund.
The proposed changes to the bylaws were discussed. It was decided
that since Human Resources will not use Group III. “Professional”
as a category that group will be eliminated from the By Laws. Leigh Ann stated
that Group III was intended to be used for medical doctors, attorneys, etc.
which were present on some campuses but were not employed at Southern Polytechnic
State University. Group IX. “Other Positions” was also eliminated
because the Staff Council does not represent temporary and contracted employees.
The above modifications to the bylaws were approved unanimously.
Staff Council modified the wording to the proposed bylaws relating to Group I. (Executive/Administrative) to exclude school deans and academic department chairs, members of the President’s Expanded Cabinet and the Director Administrative-Library) from representation on the Staff Council.
The above change was approved unanimously.
Staff Council voted unanimously to accept the proposed wording regarding “Amendments” as a permanent part of the bylaws.
The proposed revised bylaws as amended were unanimously adopted by Staff Council.
William Ketchum stated that he will redo the bylaws and send out to each Staff Council Member.
The Chair proposed that Staff Council deal with the other issues under “Old Business” and address the proposed election procedures later in the meeting since the changes to the bylaws impacted the election procedures. Everyone agreed.
Regarding job descriptions for secretaries and administrative secretaries in the academic departments, Sharon Hodge reported that the finalized job descriptions have been forwarded to the academic departments. Leigh Ann stated that, if approved, the job descriptions will be forwarded from the Director of Human Resources to the President for final approval.
Regarding the election committee; Sharon, Leigh Ann and Jim Cooper will meet soon.
Regarding the Outstanding Staff Awards and the Service Awards Ceremony; Leigh Ann stated that she had met with the Foundation to hash out the money. She said that the Foundation will pay for the overall service awards which will cost about $7,000 to include the cost of the faculty and staff awards and the service recognition ceremony.
Leigh Ann suggested that Staff Council place the writing of a proposed Policy and Procedure for Outstanding Staff Awards on the agenda for the next meeting since there is little documentation to cover this event.
The proposed revision to the election procedures was discussed. It was determined that the election procedures should mirror the language and intent of the bylaws. It was determined that all permanent full and part- time non-faculty employees who are eligible for representation as defined by the Staff Council bylaws are eligible to vote. Permanent full-time employees as defined by Staff Council bylaws must be employed on a permanent basis for at least one year to be eligible for nomination to Staff Council. The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) groups were changed to be identical to the groups identified in the By Laws. These changes were approved unanimously.
Since the bylaws provide for Staff Council to appoint a representative to fill a vacated position, it was decided unanimously to delete the paragraph providing for a special election.
The Staff Council elected to delete the paragraph providing for write-in candidates to be elected to Staff Council since employees can nominate anyone in their group who wishes to serve on the Staff Council. Five individuals voted to delete the provision providing for a write in candidate while two members abstained.
All other provisions of the proposed election procedures were approved by the Staff Council.
The proposed revised election procedures as amended were unanimously approved by Staff Council.
Sharon Hodge said she will redo the Election Procedures and send a copy to each Staff Council member.
There was no other “Old Business”.
Regarding “New Business”, Amanda Canup will investigate what other units of the University System are doing regarding a sick leave bank and see if this is feasible for Southern Polytechnic State University.
Leigh Ann announced that Robert Kunig had tendered his resignation from Staff Council.
The next USG Staff Council meeting will be held at Macon State College on the third Friday in June (06/18/04) and the Southern Polytechnic State University Staff Council should send a representative.
The next USG Staff Council Conference will be held at Columbus State University on October 07th and October 08th.
The next Staff Council Meeting was scheduled for May 18, 2004 at 10:00 a.m.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:20 p.m.