Present:   Judy Burgess, Elizabeth Buck, Gay Campbell, Sara Clayton, Michele Crase, Marcia Dick, Ada Hetland, Linda Jennings, Jay Monteiro, Glenda Jones, Theresa Kinniry, Joe Koch, Dena Olson, Andy Small, Donna Smith, and LaRonda Thuestad.

Guest:   Tim Griffin and Jodi Tyrrell
 

I.         Call to Order

The meeting was called to order by President Sara Clayton at 8:35AM.

II.        Approval of Agenda

A motion was made to approve the agenda as amended.  Under Old Business, three items were added.  They were the proposed University calendar, the IEA-NEA Union status, and the Council of Councils Conference to be held at UIC on Friday, October 11, 2002.   The motion was seconded and passed.

III.      Approval of Minutes of September 12, 2002, Meeting
 
            A motion was made to accept the minutes as amended:
                     V.10.  Changed the first two sentences to read as follows:  “Tyrrell informed the Council that the State Universities Civil Service Systems Office
                      has developed three classifications in the Civil Service  category and is proposing a three-year pilot program. All three of these classifications will
                      require a degree.”
                     VI.D.  Change “Ms.” to “Dr.”
            The motion was seconded and passed.

IV.     Treasurer’s Report

Elizabeth Buck distributed copies of the Treasurer’s report for the three-month period ending 9/30/02.  Buck went through the report with the Council, explaining the only expense for September. After general discussion, a motion was made to accept the report.  The motion was seconded and passed.
 
V.     Announcements/Correspondence

        1.      Donna Smith passed around the table a copy of the ISU Newsletter and asked the Council to note the new format.

        2.     Jodi Tyrrell gave the sad news about Seshan Subramaniam, who died Tuesday evening, October 8, 2002.

        3.     Tyrrell announced that the HR Forms Matrix has been finalized and is now on the HRS web page.  Any comments or suggestions are appreciated.

        4.     Tyrrell confirmed that the Council had all received copies of the Family Illness and Bereavement Leave Policy Revisions.

        5.     Tyrrell announced the appointment of Admasu Zike as Interim Director of Affirmative Action and Diversity Resources and that Karen Baker will serve
                as Chief of Staff during his leadership.

        6.     Judy Burgess announced that she would be sending an email survey on NCA accreditation to the Council members to get their perspective.

        7.     Clayton announced the Northern Today is now on-line.  Clayton has heard concerns from those employees that do not have access to a computer at
                work not being able to read the paper any more. The Council members discussed some of the advantages and some of the disadvantages of the
                on-line paper. Clayton will send a letter to Melanie Magara expressing the Council’s point of view.

        8.     Joe Koch announced the retirement of George Shur and felt that Clayton should send a letter of appreciation to Mr. Shur for his pro-active work for
                NIU.

        9.     Clayton mentioned the Independent Contractors Memorandum from HRS and ascertained that the Council members had all received it.

        10.   Marcia Dick distributed copies of a library flier entitled: Information Literacy:  Electronic Sources in the Library.

VI.    Committee Reports

        A.     Personnel/Staff Development/Benefits.  No report.

         B.    Elections and Appointments

                The next meeting of this committee will be October 16, 2002, at 3:00 p.m. in HSC 503.  At this  meeting, the committee will be voting on a new chair
                and some publicity changes.  Michele  Crase announced that the annual OSC picture will be taken at 8:00 a.m. before the November  meeting.

        C.    Public Relations

                Joe Koch announced that the recipients for the Dependent Award have been chosen from eight applications that were received this year.  They are
                Kerig Marie Anthenat and Brandon Welch.   They will visit the next Council meeting to have their pictures taken and for the Council to meet them.
                Koch would like to start an in-house philanthropy program on campus to raise monies for this award and plans to implement an aggressive marketing
                campaign this year.  Koch also announced that the Northern Staff News is being re-designed.  Jay Monteiro is compiling the information.  Three
                people are stepping down from the Outstanding Service Awards Committee and Crase currently has one replacement.

        D.     Visiting Committee.  No report.

        E.     EAC.

                Clayton attended the Merit Board meeting on September 18, 2002.  This Merit Board is serious about its mission and is an excellent Board.  They are
                pleased with Tom Morelock and to hear the plans for the Civil Service pilot program.  The next meeting for the Merit Board will be January 29, 2003,
                in Urbana.   The Board had three dismissal hearings – they voted to reinstate two.

                EAC met on October 3 and 4 in Springfield and heard the report on the CS pilot program.  Morelock has reorganized the office to be more user
                friendly and also has plans for a quarterly newsletter.  There is some concern about the new examinations in the secretarial classification.  Those exams
                seem to be either too hard or too easy.  Jim Beedie was also at the meeting and gave a report on SURS.  The next EAC meeting is scheduled for
                January 30 and 31 at UIC.

        F.     UAC.  No report.

        G.     University Council

                Koch reported that President Peters commented on the state of the budget at NIU, announced three new grants for the school, and acknowledged
                faculty contributions.  The President stated his job as having to work with the changes in Springfield, especially since this is an election year.  Under
                this kind of budget shortfall, civility will be the key word at both the state level and on campus.  The State’s finances will have a large gap, but the core
                of the President’s budget requests will be salary increases.

                Pat Henry of the Faculty Advisory Committee reported that the IBHE is running an on-line survey and can be accessed on the web. Faculty salaries
                were at 101% of its comparison group in 2002.  The Holiday schedule for FY04-05 has been proposed.  Flu Shots will be given in the Capitol Room
                at HSC on Wednesday, October 23, and Tuesday, November 19, 2002.

        H.     Special Events Committee.

                LaRonda Thuestad and Clayton met with Dr. Eddie Williams to discuss next year’s event.  Dr. Williams approved holding next year’s event at the
                Convocation Center and will cover the cost.  Thuestad will be meeting with John Gordon, Director of the Convocation Center, in the next few weeks.

VII.     Old Business

        A.     Proposed University Calendar

                Andy Small informed the Council that the SPS Council and the University Council will possibly approach the administration and ask for Monday,
                December 23, 2002, as an Administrative Closure day.   Discussion ensued among Council members on this issue.  Small will get back to the two
                Councils and inform them that the OSC did formally discuss the issue and the consensus is that we will support the calendar as recommended.
                Motion:  made by Joe Koch to send a copy of the proposed FY04-05 calendar to the Operating Staff Council Benefits Committee.   Motion carried.

        B.     IEA-NEA Union Status

                Small opened discussion on this subject by giving the following statistics:  138 postcards were returned to the CS Employees Union Organizing
                Committee.  46% of the responses were favorable; 26% were undecided, and 28% were unfavorable.  Small then advised the Council that the next
                informational meetings were scheduled for October 16 and November 20, 2002, at Pagliai’s Restaurant.  All civil service employees receiving the
                letter are invited to attend.  After discussion, consensus was reached that as a governance group, it will be important for the OS Council to be
                responsible and to be educated.  The impact of our involvement now in gathering information about both the progress and the process of the Union
                Organizing Committee should empower us to have greater influence later.

        C.     Council of Council Conferences – UIC

                The Council of Councils Conference was organized in 1998 by Andy Small in order to network   with other operating staff councils in a positive and
                productive way.  The meeting this year will   be on Friday, October 11, 2002, at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  Four representatives   from our
                Council will be attending.  They are Judy Burgess, Ada Hetland, Joe Koch, and Andy   Small.  The Council spent some time discussing the trip, what
                they hope to accomplish by   attending, and whether Northern should be prepared to host the event again in the near future.

VIII.     New Business

No new business.

IX.         Adjournment

A motion was made to adjourn the meeting at 10:30 a.m. The motion was seconded and passed.
 

Respectfully submitted,

Gay Campbell
OSC Secretary