OPERATING STAFF COUNCIL MEETING
MINUTES 3/9/06
8:30AM –
Present: Elizabeth Buck, Gay Campbell, Sara Clayton,
Margie Foshe, Linda Jennings, Glenda Jones,
Theresa Kinniry, Joe Koch,
Nancy Schuneman, Andy Small, Julia Sober, and Rachel Turner.
Absent: Marcia Dick, Jason Hutchison, Jay Monteiro
and LaRonda Thuestad
Guests: Tim Griffin
President Rachel Turner called the regular meeting
of the Operating Staff Council to order at 8:40 a.m. on Thursday, March 9,
2006.
A motion was made to accept the agenda. The motion was seconded and passed.
III. Approval
of Minutes of February 9, 2006, Meeting
A motion was made to accept the minutes with a few changes. The motion was seconded and passed.
IV. Treasurer’s Report
The treasurer’s report was presented for discussion.
A motion was made to accept the Treasurer’s report. The motion was seconded and
passed.
A. Turner
said she, Shey Lowman, Paul Stoddard and Ken Zender met with President Peters
on February 27. She said it appears
there will be a 1.4% increase in the General Revenue base in the budget for
state universities for FY07. For NIU the
increase will actually be closer to 1.2%.
Peters said that increase would likely be earmarked for salaries.
B. Turner had a request from Sara Clayton asking that the Council pay her hotel fees for expenses incurred as part of the interview process for the new provost. As the OSC rep to the Provost Search Committee, Clayton is required to travel to the airport for the interviews. Clayton said the president’s office might pay the expenses. A motion was made and seconded that if the president’s office did not pay the Council would. The motion passed.
C. Turner said that it looks like there will be no capitol bill for the university for the third year in a row. Peters said that deferred maintenance is an important issue, and funds are going to be set up for these types of things.
A. Personnel/Staff
Developments/Benefits –
1. Clayton
passed around a draft of a flyer for the Benefits Fair, which will take
place on May 11.
The flyer has been sent to Deb Haliczer for review.
2. Clayton also said that an e-mail from a constituent
regarding additional benefits was forwarded to the University Benefits
Committee.
B. Elections
and Appointments –
Joe Koch is working on the flyers about Council
vacancies. The flyer will be sent out on
March 17 to all operating staff. Koch
will advertise the vacancies in available media including the website, the OS
newsletter and Northern Today. Candidate
interest sheets are due back April 7, ballots are sent out April 21. Completed ballots are due back May 12. Ballots will be counted May 19 and letters to
the winners will be sent May 23. The new
members will be invited to sit in on the June meeting. Koch will determine vacancies on committees.
C. Special Events – No Report.
D. Public
Relations.
Nancy Schuneman reported there
were 17 nominations for the OSC Outstanding Service
Award. The rankings are due March 17. The awards
committee will meet again March
23 to choose the
winners. Schuneman also pointed out that
a member of the awards
committee had written a
letter of support for one of the nominees. There are currently no
guidelines in the bylaws
regarding this issue, but it was decided that even the
appearance of favoritism on
the part of the committee member might taint the entire
judging process. It was decided that the committee member
should resign from
the committee at least for
this year. An update to the bylaws will
also be considered.
E. Visiting Committees/Guests. -
None
F. EAC –
1. Merit Board had one discharge
hearing. The accused chose not to have
union representation. The accused had
six prior disciplinary hearings against him and he was dismissed.
2. Discharge and demotion revisions have
gone to JCAR. A final report to the
Merit Board will be on May 24.
3. Hearing officers expenses were
increased from $300 to $500 per day.
4. Tom Morelock testified at the IBHE
meeting. Morelock is asking for a 1.4%
increase in the Systems Office budget.
G. UAC –
1. Legislative Audit Committee –
Committee discussed the 1.4% (1.2%) increase in General Revenue funds.
2.
Academic Affairs –
Recommended the BOT approve several sabbatical leaves. There was also a request
for a new minor in Cognitive Studies.
3. Finance & Facilities Ops. –
Recommended the following fee increases to BOT. Student fee structures increase
7.8%; A 13.2% increase in health insurance.
Huskie Bus increase is 7.1% and
Room and Board up 9%. Some Capitol improvements
projects include installing sprinklers in the resident halls, a new lab in
Davis Hall, Neptune Hall roof, work on Swen Parson and Zulauf Hall. The full BOT will meet on March 23.
H. University Council –
1. Linda Jennings reported that the
president acknowledged March as women’s history month. He also spoke about the
25th anniversary of women’s studies on campus.
2. The president talked about the success
of both the men’s and women’s basketball teams.
3. The president sees the 1.2% increase as
a turnaround in the budget situation.
4. The president said the provost search
is going well. There are about 35-40
serious applicants.
5. The IBHE is focusing on students with
disabilities this year as they are one of the underrepresented groups on
campus.
6. There is currently a bill in the
legislature regarding textbook costs and how they continue to increase. The bill is not expected to pass.
7. The Academic Policy Committee talked
about changes to the manual regarding student evaluations of professors. The
new language will allow students to write additional comments on a separate
piece of paper.
8. New members of University Council were
elected. Joe Grush was re-instated as
Acting Dean for the
9. There is talk that a Roth IRA 403B
might be made available to employees at NIU. It is not known when they will be
available.
VII. Old Business
A. Wellness Fair
Clayton
will bring the display board. Thuestad
has the sign and the 50/50 raffle can and
Turner
will bring candy. There will be no door prizes this year, other than the 50/50
raffle.
Set
up is between 9 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. A
sign up sheet was passed around so that
Council
members could sign up for which time they want to work.
B.
Turner
asked if anyone was interested in going on the trip to
about pension issues on March 15. Koch said he has an account to pay for the
car if
any
Council members wanted to go.
VII. New Business -
A. President Visit
President
Peters was supposed to come to the Council meeting in April but cannot come
because
he will be in
Jo
Abbott said it might be easier if the Council could reschedule their meeting to
a
different
Thursday since the president is often not available on the regular meeting
date.
It
was decided that June would be an ideal month for him to come because the new
Council
members will be there as guests and the old will be there too. Turner will try to
set
it up for June. If the president is
unable to attend the meeting in June, the Council will
consider
other dates.
B. Four-Day Work
Week
the
summer work hours begin earlier and end later.
There has been no response yet,
and
it is not known if the university will adopt the four-day work week this
summer.
Turner
will contact Steve Cunningham about this issue.
VIII. Adjournment – The meeting adjourned at 9:30 a.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Theresa Kinniry
OSC Secretary