Staff Council
Meeting Minutes
June 24, 2004
Order-Chair John Kosky
The meeting was called to order at 3:00 pm in B-13.
Delegate Attendance
All delegates were in attendance except the Spivey Hall delegate. Spivey Hall delegate Gene Pinion is replaced by Sara Prisk who has an excused absence.
Visitor Attendance
Angela Avery, Joan Murphy, Christy Hicks, Brenda Findley, Pat Barton, Alisa Kirk, Donna Taffar, Heidi Benford, Kara Mullen, Laura Herndon, Vicky Stewart, Jayme Sanders
Introduction of New HR Director
Before discussing meeting business, John introduced the Director of Human Resources, Brenda Findley who addressed the delegates.
Meeting Minutes
The minutes of the May 26, 2004 meeting were approved.
Staff Council Procedures
John stated the importance of notifying our constituents as well as relaying any constituent concerns.
John stated that a delegate should notify the Chair, Vice-Chair, or the Secretary when one is going to be absent otherwise it will be considered an unexcused absence.
John stated the meeting format will include calling the meeting to order, approval of last month’s meeting minutes, current business, and constituent concerns. Each delegate will have an opportunity to present a summarized version of each constituent concern for consideration to be placed on next month’s agenda as new business.
John stated the format for introducing new business is to raise your hand, be recognized by the chair, only one delegate can hold the floor at a time, before a formal motion is debatable (open for discussion), the motion must be seconded. One topic must be brought to closure before another topic can be opened.
John invited the Staff Council delegates to attend a free seminar on parliamentary procedure.
Committee Business
John charged each committee to have a standard meeting time, roles, goals etc. to be presented to the Council by the July Staff Council meeting. Each committee is to create their specific addenda to the Council bylaws. Each committee Chair is to report their progress each month at the Staff Council meeting.
Professional Development Committee
Chair: Row Anderson
Vice Chair: Tomanika Redd
Charges: Develop a list of current programs on campus; Assess the current staff development; Determine development needs of staff. Setup a free seminar in July on parliamentary procedures.
Smith Award Committee
Chair: Tammy Wilson
Vice Chair: To be assigned by Tammy Wilson by July 3rd
Charges: In February kickoff preparations for the Smith Award ceremony held in April. Determine date for Smith Award.
Elections Committee
Chair: Rhonda Boozer
Vice Chair: To be assigned by Rhonda Boozer by July 3rd
Charges: Set a date to start the 2005-2006 Elections; Determine each areas number of delegates.
Website Team
Leader: Thomas Downing
Teammates: Cheryl Garvin
Charges: Develop a Staff Council web site
Bylaw Refinements
President Harden pointed out that amendments to the bylaws need to be approved by all staff employees.
Article IV(a), Qualifications: Term “Full Time”
John asked Rhonda to open for discussion Article IV, Section A, Qualifications, the term “full-time” may need further clarification. John explained that “regular” is an employee who has worked 6 months or longer. “Full Time” is 40 or more hours. “Part Time” is less than 40 hours. Regular Full Time is an employee who works 40 hours or more and has been employed at least 6 months. Part Time employees that have benefits cannot be a Staff Council delegate.
Rhonda suggested that the term “full time” may not need to be corrected.
Cheryl suggested that we include a description of regular, full time, part time, and part time with benefits.
John tabled the discussion, giving it to the Elections Committee to work out and have a motion ready by next meeting.
Section V(a):Sergeant-at-Arms
John opened for discussion an amendment to Section V(a) to add a Sergeant-at-Arms position to the Staff Council Officers. There was no discussion. The motion was approved by the Council. The motion is to be sent to staff employees for approval as an amendment to the bylaws.
Section V(d)4: Sergeant-at-Arms Responsibilities
John opened for discussion an addition to Section V(d)4 to specify the responsibilities of Sergeant-at-Arms:
- Schedule meeting location for Staff Council Monthly Meetings and Standing Committee Meetings
- Coordinatesand sets up resources required for the facilitation of each meeting, such as audio/visual, food (if applicable), etc.
- Calls each meeting to order at the designated time
- Introduces Council Chair
- Conducts roll call of delegates at each Staff Council Meeting
- Greet all guests to Staff Council meetings
- Serves as Council Parliamentarian
- Distributes handouts, exhibits, etc. to meeting participants
- Tallies votes as necessary and reports results to Chair or Presiding Officer
- Other duties as assigned by the Chair"
There was no discussion. The motion was approved by the Council. The motion is to be sent to staff employees for approval as an amendment to the bylaws.
Section V(d)1b: Parliamentarian
John opened for discussion a deletion to Section V(d)1b to remove “Appoint a parliamentarian as needed for any meeting.” There was no discussion. The motion was approved by the Council. The motion is to be sent to staff employees for approval as an amendment to the bylaws.
University System of Georgia Staff Council
Cheryl Garvin announced that the University System of Georgia has a Staff Council that we will join. The dues are $25 a year and President Harden has approved payment of the membership. Cheryl is looking into the particulars.
Cheryl also announced that the USGSC has an annual conference that all delegates are invited to. This year the conference is held at ColumbusState, October 7th and 8th. Dr. Harden has approved four delegates to represent ClaytonState. The delegates will be the Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, and Sergeant-at-Arms. If one of these delegates cannot go their position will be offered to the Committee Chairs then to the other delegates.
President Harden encouraged all delegates to participate upon their supervisor’s permission.
Health & Safety Concerns
Continuing EducationBuilding Temperature
Thomas Downing stated that every Monday the Continuing Education Building is very hot until the chillers start up. Thomas suggested the chillers start earlier.
LakeArea May Be Unsafe
Karin Smoot stated there is an area by the lake that is close to the woods that may be unsafe and should be fenced from the public. Dr. Harden stated there is a fence in that area and acknowledged that there are no lights.
Continuing Education Doors Unlocked
Paul Bailey stated that the door on the Continuing Education loading dock is unlocked most of the time. Thomas Downing stated that the front doors to the Continuing Education Building are unlocked in the early morning. Wanda Zellars stated the schedule for unlocking the Continuing Education doors is a 6:00 am open and a 11:00 pm close. Usually the doors are locked at 10:45 pm. Wanda also stated she would verify this schedule is being implemented.
Smokers Not Following Policy
Tomanika Redd stated that smokers are not standing 30 feet away from the building at the StudentCenter loading dock. President Harden stated the current policy allows employees to tell offenders of the “30 feet” policy, and that public safety can be called to help if needed.
StudentCenter Bathrooms
Sherry Barwick stated the downstairs bathrooms in the StudentCenter have broken locks on the stalls and items falling off the walls.
Constituent Concerns
Each delegate was asked to state the concerns they received from their constituents.
Campus Calendar
Rhonda Boozer stated that many employees may not know they can post things to the campus calendar. Employees may not know how to access or add things to the calendar.
Short Term Disability
Cheryl Garvin and Tammy Wilson stated a desire for a short term disability policy.
Personal Need Notification
Cheryl Garvin stated the campus needs a way to notify others when there is a personal need from an employee.
Raises
Karin Smoot and Jean Hughley asked when we would know about yearly raises. Dr. Harden stated that the Board of Regents postponed raises until January 2005 at which time there will be a 2% raise pool that is awarded by department supervisors/managers in accordance with performance assessments. Performance assessments should be delivered in the early fall.
Parking
Karin Smoot suggested that each building designate employee parking.
Flextime
Karin Smoot asked about Flex Time policy and lunch break policy. John stated these policies are handled by each department, and concerns should be stated through the Human Resources department.
Customer Service
Tomanika Redd suggested we look for better ways to serve our students and community.
StudentCenter Bathrooms
Sherry Barwick asked when the renovation of the upstairs bathrooms would be completed.
Campus Communication
Jean Hughley stated their department is off campus and only their supervisor has email access so they are not consistently kept inform about campus matters. Jean stated they do have Internet access. Cheryl Garvin stated she contacted Dorothy Herzberg and relayed the procedure to follow to obtain an email account. Cheryl could not remember the current status, but would look into it again.
Snacking in the Classroom
Greg Duhart stated that students needed to stop snacking in the classroom.
No Supervisors should be on Staff Council
Valerie Laney-Marshall and Row Anderson stated that no department supervisors should serve on Staff Council. Thomas Downing agreed as some constituent concerns may involve supervisors. John questioned which council would support supervisor’s concerns. Row suggested that the Administrative Council would be the proper forum for supervisor’s concerns. Rhonda stated that since we vote our delegates into office that if the constituents did not want their supervisor on the Staff Council, the supervisor would not receive the majority vote.
Faculty/Staff Fund Drive
Valerie Laney-Marshall suggested that a staff employee serve as a coordinator with a faculty employee on the Faculty/Staff Fundraiser.
Adjournment-John Kosky
John adjourned the meeting at 3:50 pm and asked that each committee take 10 minutes to meet.
Respectfully Submitted,
Cheryl Garvin
Cheryl Garvin, Secretary
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