OPERATING STAFF COUNCIL MEETING
MINUTES
06/12/03
8:30AM – HSC 406
Present: Sara Clayton, Michele Crase, Marcia Dick, Ada Hetland, Linda
Jennings, Glenda Jones, Theresa Kinniry, Joe Koch, Jay Monteiro, Andy Small,
and LaRonda Thuestad.
Excused: Elizabeth Buck, Judy Burgess, and Dena Olson
Guests: Sue Altenburg, Tim Griffin, Susan Manlove, Jeannette Papucci,
Leslie Pergement-Nenia, Dave Rathke, Dedrie Rudolph, Rachel Turner, and Dawn
Vaughn.
The meeting was called to order by President Sara
Clayton at 8:35 a.m. Clayton introduced
Rachel Turner, newly elected OSC member, to the Council and had the Council
members introduce themselves to Turner.
Turner has been at Northern Illinois University for about 3˝ years and works as a
graphic designer in the Imaging Unit of Media Services. Her term of service on the OSC will begin
July 2003.
A motion was made to approve the agenda. The motion was seconded and passed.
A motion was made to accept the minutes after moving Guests to New Business. The motion was made and seconded. Joe Koch had a procedural question for the parliamentarian. Question: Can the Chair make a motion? The parliamentarian found no ruling against it, so the motion made by the chair in the May 2003 meeting will stand.
No report.
1. Clayton
distributed copies of a memo to go out from HRS regarding the Flexible Schedule Option Policy for NIU employees
during the week of July 4, 2003.
2. Clayton
passed around a copy of the letter she sent to President Peters, along with a petition of 200 names, after the May 8,
2003, Council meeting. Clayton received
a letter from President Peters
stating that he appreciated OSC efforts and that he had passed her letter and the petitions on to the Board of
Trustees. The president will be presenting a recommendation to the
Board of Trustees for staff salaries for FY04 on Thursday, June 19, 2003.
3. Donna
Smith passed around a copy of the ISU Open Line Newsletter for April 15,
2003, and
May 20, 2003.
4. Andy
Small distributed a packet of helpful information about Northern Illinois
University to the
Council.
5. Clayton
passed copies of the BOT Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, and Personnel Committee, the
Finance, Facilities, and Operations Committee, and the Legislation, Audit, and
External Affairs Committee report around the Council.
6. Marcia Dick distributed copies of the NIU Women’s Basketball
Golf outing to the Council. This is the
major fundraiser for the year.
A. Personnel/Staff
Developments/Benefits. No Report.
B. Elections
and Appointments
Michele Crase distributed copies of the FY04
schedule of meetings to each Council member.
Crase then talked about the OSC committee vacancies for 2003-04 and read
Committee Interest sheets from new applicants.
The Council voted on each of those committees that had candidates. The Council was encouraged to consider
applicant’s record of attendance for future committee openings. Representation
is what the shared-governance system is all about.
Campus Parking Committee: Incumbents John Bass and LaRonda Thuestad were re-elected.
Campus Parking Appeals Committee: Incumbent Lisa Reynolds re-elected.
Computing Facilities Advisory Committee: John Tobias elected.
Unity in Diversity Steering Committee: Rita Reynolds re-elected.
University Benefits Committee: Pamela Rosenberg elected.
Outstanding Service Awards Selection: Beverly J. Patton, Nancy Schuneman, and Sue
Stelling appointed.
Personnel/Staff Dev/Benefits Committee: Diana Ramp appointed.
Nominations were then taken for officers for the
Operating Staff Council and were as follows:
President – Sara Clayton
Marcia
Dick
Linda
Jennings
Joe
Koch
Vice-President - Marcia Dick
Linda
Jennings
Joe
Koch
Secretary - Gay Campbell
Treasurer - Elizabeth
Buck
Glenda
Jones
Jay
Monteiro
Voting will take place at the July 2003
meeting. The Council will also
nominate an Ex-Officio member and two alternates for the University
Council.
C. Public
Relations
Joe Koch reported that the committee met and that
the Northern Staff News is about ready for distribution. The committee is working on an outline for
an Operating Staff Council handbook for new Council members. This will be presented to the Council next
month for input. Koch also announced
the OSC Dinner scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on June 19, 2003. Koch announced that the OSC brochure would
be reprinted this year.
D. Visiting
Committees
1. University Benefits.
The Council had a copy of the University Benefits Committee Annual
Report for 2002-2003 to read. Scott
Mooberry sent his apologies for not being able to come and go over the report
with the Council.
2. Dick reported on the trip to the Civil Service Systems Office on May 21, 2003. It
was a full day and two vans of people went from NIU, including three civil service
employees that were not Council members. Each attendee received a packet of
information. Tom Morelock led the day’s events. He informed attendees there were 1300 Civil Service classifications statewide and that over 26,000 exams were given last year. The systems office has been collapsing and condensing some of the classifications so that like classifications can be grouped together. Morelock talked about how the examinations are being revised. Currently, they are going to revise the exams for Cook, Kitchen Helper, and Printer. The Secretarial exam has just been revised. One of
Morelock’s goals is that many of the exams could be done via computer at campus HR offices. An applicant would know their score and their place on the register before they left the HR office. Morelock explained the different work categories: learner, trainee, and the pilot program with the Business Administrative Associate. After lunch the topics of discussion were compliance issues, audits, discharges, and demotions. Morelock complimented NIU’s Operating Staff Council and said they were strong advocates for staff concerns. Equipment in the Systems Office has been upgraded. Morelock ended
the day by repeating his three main goals for the systems office as:
making the process of demotions and discharges more user friendly, making tests available electronically with automatic scoring, and
electronic interfacing with each campus in the system.
E. EAC. No report.
F. UAC. No report.
G. University
Council. No report.
H. Special
Events Committee.
LaRonda Thuestad reported that planning is moving
ahead for StaffFest 03. Clayton has
sent a letter to the food servers and Thuestad is already getting a
response. New hats and visors were
ordered this year from Priority Promotions in Sycamore. Crase and Small will prepare a poster board
with all Council members and committee representatives names on it for
display.
A. Grievance
Procedure Committee
1. Donna Smith requested that a small group work together for constituency
input for the University Council’s first meeting in the fall. Volunteers for that group were Marcia Dick,
Theresa Kinniry, Jay Monteiro, and Donna Smith and they plan to meet mid-July.
A. Guests
The Council and the IEA-NEA union representatives
introduced themselves to each other.
Spokesperson for the Civil Service Employees Association, CSEA, was
Leslie Pergament-Nenia. At the May
meeting of the Council, CSEA presented a petition signed by 200 NIU civil
service employees calling on the OSC to take a formal stand opposing a pay
freeze for the 2003-04 academic school year.
It is their understanding that the OSC did, in fact, pass their petition
along to the administration and they thanked the Council for that effort.
The association asked the Council to adopt a
resolution in support of an adequate pay increase for the upcoming fiscal
year. They asked if the Council could
be counted on to take a stand in passing such a resolution and presenting it at
next week’s BOT meeting on Thursday, June 19, 2003. Discussion followed Ms. Nenia’s request.
Linda Jennings read from the President’s report of
May 2003 and reminded everyone in the room that the BOT was directing the
Administration to identify funds that could be used for raises in the coming
year. The commitment to improve faculty
and staff salaries remains the president’s number one priority and that
commitment has not changed. The administration is working in earnest on salary
increases for FY04. President Peters said he would be presenting a salary plan
to the BOT at the June 19, 2003, meeting.
After further discussion, motion was made that
Clayton take forward the salary concern to President Peters. Clayton would then contact Nenia. Motion was seconded and passed. The CSEA representatives then left the
meeting.
A
motion was made to adjourn the meeting at 11:30 a.m. Motion seconded and passed.
Respectfully
submitted,
Gay
Campbell
OSC
Secretary