OPERATING STAFF COUNCIL MEETING
MINUTES 4/12/07
9 AM –
Present: Elizabeth Buck, Judy Burgess, Gay Campbell,
Sara Clayton, Marcia Dick, Linda Jennings,
Glenda Jones, Theresa Kinniry,
Nancy Schuneman, Alan Smith, Brenda Smith, LaRonda
Thuestad
Absent: Jay Monteiro, Andy Small, Jesse Tellez
Guests: Jodi Tyrrell
President Sara Clayton called the regular meeting of
the Operating Staff Council to order at 9 a.m. on Thursday, April 12, 2007.
A motion was made to accept the agenda with the
addition of a few items. The motion was seconded and passed.
III. Approval of Minutes of the March 8, 2007,
Meeting
A motion was made to accept the minutes. 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.
Clayton passed around thank you cards from Rachel Turner and Nancy
Schuneman.
B. Clayton also sent around minutes from the Secretarial Advisory Committee.
C. Jodi Tyrrell reported that the specs in the secretarial series are being reviewed. She also said the secretarial e-tests are going to be changed to all multiple choice. She said there will likely be some pre-testing done. There is also talk about changing the titles of some of the secretarial classes. There will also likely be changes to the police officer tests series.
A.
Personnel/Staff Developments/Benefits – No
Report
B. Elections and Appointments – No report
C. Special Events –
LaRonda Thuestad reported that the flyer for the
annual StaffFest luncheon is ready for printing.
D.
Public Relations –
The OSC election materials are in the mail. Changes to the OSC Award procedures were
discussed. It was suggested that members
of the OSC Awards Committee be invited to a Council meeting to review
procedures for award selection.
E. Visiting Committees/Guests
–
Marcia Dick provided a
report from the NIU Athletic Board
-
NIU athletes had a cumulative GPA of
3.074. Out of a total of 486 student
athletes, 207 of them have a GPA of 3.0 or above, 20 have a 4.0, and 100 are
over 3.5.
-
The Rich Harvest Farms golf course in Sugar
Grove is now the home golf course for the NIU men’s and women’s golf
teams. The founder is Jerry Rich, an NIU
Alum.
-
The Spring football practice game is April
21 at 1 p.m. Food will be available
prior to the game. This season there
will be no mid-week games.
-
What used to be called the Huskie Club has
changed its name to the Huskie Athletic Scholarship Fund. The fund provides monetary support for
intercollegiate programs.
-
This summer, NIU Women’s Basketball coach
Carol Owens will spend three weeks co-coaching the under 18 women’s basketball
squad at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO. She did the same thing last summer.
-
The Jeffrey and
-
New coaches this year include Ryun Ferrell,
women’s tennis; Ricardo Patton, men’s basketball; Donna Turner, associate
athletics director of media relations; and Ed Pasque and Brent Moberg in the
Compliance Office.
-
New this spring is that 8 of the men’s home
basketball games will be broadcast on WLBK radio in DeKalb.
-
Two Huskie basketball players were drafted
recently. Stephanie Raymond was a 2nd
round pick in the WNBA, and James Hughes was picked in the US Basketball league
draft in the 2nd round by the Gary Steelheads.
F. EAC – No Report.
G. UAC – No Report.
H.
University Council
–
Marcia Dick reported on
the meeting:
- The University Council
is looking at possibly making a list of recognized religious holidays in order
to make it easier to schedule exams/assignments.
- The Strategic Task
Force is finishing up. The post
preliminary report should be on line soon.
VII. Old Business
–
A.
There was some discussion about the four-day
summer work schedule. Some constituents
were not happy with the change in the time frame.
B.
Clayton handed out a report showing the
breakdown of OS, SPS, and faculty members at public universities around the
state. She asked the Council to review the report and provide feedback about
the changes seen in employment classifications.
VIII. New
Business -
A.
SURSMAC Rep Judy Burgess went to
She said the SURSMAC
Benefits Committee wants to recommend that the traditional retirement plan be
changed to the portable plan. This would
require legislative action. She also said that SURSMAC Executive Director Dan Slack
gave excerpts of a speech he gave to the state legislature which attempted to
dispel some of the myths concerning state employees, such as how they are under
worked and overpaid.
B.
A bus will be leaving at 7 a.m., April 25 for
C.
The Secretarial Advisory Committee (SAC)
asked OSC to review a draft letter. The
letter was a memo to Steve Cunningham and OSC wanting support for addressing
longevity. The SAC letter was proposing 5 years as the standard for longevity
for secretarial and clerical personnel. The SAC feels that the longevity issue
should be addressed for pay purposes so that
secretarial/clerical personnel would receive an additional percentage in
addition to the annual increment. The Council voted to support the concept, but
not the proposal as written. The Council felt that 5 years was not long enough
for longevity and that the issue should be considered for all classifications.
The OSC Benefits Committee will be looking at raises/merit across the board.
IX. Miscellaneous
Items
A constituent expressed the
following concerns:
1. The very dangerous situation caused by
not having a walkway along
2.
Double parking by students waiting for a
parking space to open up on
3.
The crosswalk on Lucinda that leads to the
parking lot between
The Council discussed
each of these items and referred them to the OSC Benefits Committee to look for
possible solutions.
X. Adjournment – A motion was made at 11:20 a.m. to
adjourn.
Respectfully Submitted,
Theresa
Kinniry
OSC Secretary