UNIVERSITY OF HARTFORD

STAFF ASSOCIATION MEETING MINUTES

March 14, 2012, Woods Family Classroom – Mortensen Library – 1:00 pm

PRESENT:Nancy Fields, Kathleen Hayden, Holly Stevenson,Lindsay McKeegan, Barbara Dessureau,

Valerie Gilleran, Cindy Oppenheimer, Tina Berrien, Bonny Barsi, Connie Yoczik, Karen Degrace, Mary Dowst, Jason Pomposelli, Carla Fuller, Jamie Harlow, Erik Pavesic, Cheryl MacMath, Sharon Scorso, Nancy Clubb, and Jillian Holt.

MINUTES:Meeting minutes for the February 8th meeting were discussed. Holly Stevenson’s name was inadvertently truncated to “Stevens” in item 2 of the New Business notes. Holly is one of the volunteer members of the newly formed Communications Committee. The need to correct Holly’s name to Stevenson was noted and it was determined that the minutes would be approved in advance of the correction being made. The correction to the February meeting minutes will be made and the corrected minutes will be posted.

UNIVERSITY COMMITTEE REPORTS

BATSharon Scorso reported that the Budget Advisory Team met on Thursday, March 1, 2012. The spring 2012 Census Report was presented and briefly discussed noting a 2.5% total change in headcount (including both undergraduate and graduate students). It is noted that this percentage of change reflects December graduation. The updated 2012 budget to actual was presented showing a very tight end of the year budget. Schools and departments are encouraged to cut back on expenses as much as they can. Arosha stated that we should all remember that “your budgets are not check books” and that “we do not have to spend all monies by the end of the year.” Christine Pina provided a presentation regarding Institutional Advancement’s changes and plans for the immediate future and University campaign. A review followed regarding Foundation of the Future noting future information sessions specific for program managers, Deans, Chairs, and Directors – the next scheduled information session for Academics was March 14th at 11 am and Friday, March 30th at 1:30. The next Administrative information session is Tuesday, March 20th at 2:00 pm.

WELLNESSJamie Harlow reported for Kathe Snow. Jamie encouraged all members of Pure Wellness to go into the portal once each quarter to meet the requirements for participation incentives. A webinar on nutrition will be held during lunch hour on March 20th in GSU 331. Anyone can come to watch the webinar even if they are not a member of Pure Wellness. On March 31st and Biometrics Health Risk Assessment will be held. Jamie also mentioned that the still have pedometers and phone apps available. About 30 people are very much enjoying the cardio circuit being held in the North Cafeteria of GSU with a personal trainer. The sessions were appropriate for all ranges of physical activity. Jamie reminded everyone about the RAD classes (Rape, Aggression, and Defense) will be held on March20th, and 22nd from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm in Gengras Student Union room 331. Kathe is in the process of collecting healthy recipes and will eventually compile a healthy cook book for the University. We have been trying to get another Weight Watchers on Campus session to be made available during a 9:00 am time slot. HRD also wants to remind everyone about the “Shift to Professional Paradise” seminar which will be presented by Vickie Hess Friday, March 16th from 2:00 to 3:30 pm in Konover. The presentation is open to all faculty and staff. The possibility of bringing back Yoga sessions is being investigated.

BTF DeLois Lindsey was not present, so there was no report. However, Ann Costello is the Staff Association guest speaker for this meeting. She will discuss the tier structure applied to current employee contributions toward benefits and healthcare premiums at the University. (See page 4 of these minutes for Guest Speaker notes.)

Foundations of the Future Evelyne Haldimann emailed a report to Vice Chair, Lynn Galvin, who read the report as follows: “Administrative & Academic Taskforces have completed the templates to be provided to ALL Programs on campus and they were distributed on Friday 3/2/12. Both task forces are having two training/informational sessions within the next two weeks. All Program directors for the administrative piece will learn how to complete their templates and what aid they’d get from support office (Finance & HRD) as well as what help they’d get from the Task Force members – I guess the same will occur for the Academic side, however I’m not on their task force so cannot speak to it. Finance will provide budgetary information; HRD will provide position descriptions (not names, just positions) information. Monday 3/12 was the first of the two sessions; the next one is next week, 3/20. Templates are due back no later than April 27th to the task force for their review. Please email if you have questions concerning this update.”

SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE – No report.

STAFF ASSOCIATION REPORTS

WEB ADVISORY COMMITTEE – Barbara Dessureau reported. At our last meeting we talked about the new features for web masters. One is a drop down arrow for view, edit, move/rename, copy, publish and delete everything from the top menu. Before we had to go to the page and now that step is eliminated.

The other is a much faster publishing process and the designers have separated publishing of the library web site with the University web site. All of this is due to a CMS upgrade.

FACULTY SENATE –Ben Ide reported briefly by email. At the March 13th Faculty Senate President Harrison, Provost Sharon Vasquez, and Arosha Jayakwickrema spoke to the Faculty Senate about University finances, enrollment counts, and possible future plans. A more detailed and in depth report for the Staff Association will be provided at a future meeting.

COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE – Kathleen Hayden reported. This is a new committee of individuals who hope to create one website that will link to any other web site containing University forms for Purchasing, Financial Affairs, Computers, IDTs, etc. They hope to create an alphabetical listing and a cross listing so anyone can find any form they need from one location instead of what has become numerous web sites. All links should go to the location of the most up-to-date forms. The committee hopes to survey staff to ask where most people get the forms they need. They intend to create the ability to search for forms by name and by category. They will create a specific website and email address for staff to provide suggestions and report specific problems they are currently experiencing with finding appropriate forms. (The suggested web address is:

TREASURER’S REPORT –Cheryl MacMath reported that there was no change since the February report. The budget balance is $3,138.75.

MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR’S REPORT – Nancy Clubb reported that as of March 6th, 2012 there were 169 Staff Association Members. Nancy continues to make contact with all newly hired staff.

OFFICE STAFF COMMITTEE – The next quarterly meeting to be held with President Harrison, Provost Vasquez, HRD Director Lisa Belanger, and Vice President of Finance and Administration, Arosaha Jayakwickrema, will be held Monday, April 9, 2012.

OLD BUSINESS – Lynn regarding recent Eboard activities.

  1. Mandatory break requirement for more than 5 consecutive hours – This will be discussed at the next quarterly Eboard meeting with University Administration.
  2. Flex schedule minimum length – This will be discussed at the next quarterly Eboard meeting with University Administration.
  3. Appointing a University of Hartford Staff Association Grievance Office – A new position description has been created for the Grievance Officer position. We are asking members for permission to update the Bylaws with the following description: “The primary responsibility of the grievance officer is to support and guide an employee through the University of Hartford grievance process.”
  4. Marketing the Staff Association – The Eboard is looking at ways to better market the Association to the staff community and increase Community Representative involvement. Efforts to date include:
  1. A one-page document has posted on the Staff Association website which outlines the Staff Association mission and provides contact information for Executive Board members and Community Representatives, (The “one-pager” will be provided to all new staff employees by HRD and will be distributed to Employees at each presentation of the Extended Staff Orientation.)
  2. The Eboard met with Community Representatives at two separate meetings. Community Representatives were polled for their thoughts on what they see as their main functions and what Association marketing events and/or techniques would be most useful for increasing Association awareness and participation. A meeting summary was provided to attendees at the general Staff Association meeting (March 14th). A draft of a new job description for Community Representatives will be created and provided to representatives for their input. We will ask for the new description to be included in the Bylaws.
  1. Fundraising and Social Events Committees – We need volunteers to head these two new committees. Association members are asked to email Lynn Galvin () if they are interested in heading one of these committees. She is willing to help reinstitute Staff Association support of the 1877 Club Thanksgiving Luncheon.
  2. Some Association members and Community Representatives have asked that the meeting time for general Staff Association meetings be moved from the 12:00 pm lunch time schedule. A survey to all Staff Association members was emailed to poll members as to what the most desired meeting time might be. The survey was emailed on March 12th and will remain open until March 21st. Once the most requested meeting time is established it will be reported to members and the Eboard will ask University Administration to consider encouraging all departments to allow staff to attend as a regular professional development opportunity (i.e., not as connected to a “personal time” requirement).

NEW BUSINESS – The Eboard is looking for a volunteer to be the Staff Association “Webmaster”. Please contact Evelyne Haldimann at if you would like to help with this position.

GUEST SPEAKER – Ann Costello, Associate Professor Barney Economics/Finance/Insurance, addressed members regarding the current Insurance Tier Structure of the University. The issue of particular interest to members is that the current incremental schedule of increased employee contribution to health benefit premiums relative to gross salary/wage can cause some individuals to take a big jump backwards in net income when they reach a certain earned income mark. Ann gave background on how the Benefits Task Force operates and provided history of how the current tier structure was created. She reminded everyone that change can be a slow process at the University and that it took approximately 13 years to ensure that staff have the same disability coverage as faculty have. Ann was on the original committee that was able to first institute the tier structure into the benefits package. Members of the Benefits Task Force work very hard all through the year. Ann is a consulting member, but is not a University representative. Ann reminded everyone that the University of Hartford has very good health care coverage and the main concern for such coverage is to prevent catastrophic loss. The Benefits Task Force was provided with a survey of about 19 other universities regarding what they pay for health care coverage as institutions and how their employees contribute to premiums. We are the only institution that uses only income to calculate contribution responsibility and we are the only one that has so many incremental tiers in the payment structure.

She opened the floor to questions and discussion. Some people have observed that individuals in some of the tiers pay a very large percentage of their base pay as their contribution to the insurance premiums, while individuals in other tiers pay a much smaller percentage of their pay for their employee premium contribution. Individuals cresting the $30,000.00 annual salary mark end up making such a large jump in their percentage of contribution, that they basically end up losing (in some cases 7 to 10 years) of raises. In other words, many office support staff end up losing money for longevity of service and excellentwork product. Members were questioning if there could be more tiers incorporated into the existing structure to help smooth the financial transition from one tier to the next. Ann listened to comments and questions and will review some documentation provided to her so she can better understand how the current benefits tier structure and current job grade/pay grade classifications coincide. It is possible that not all members of the Benefits Task Force are aware that staff salaries are categorized into strict pay bands relative to job classifications and that some employees are severely impacted by the tier structure as it currently exists. Some members offered to help crunch numbers and provide reports with suggested tier structure changes.

Respectfully submitted by

Nancy Fields, Secretary