Minutes
September 26, 2002
The meeting was held in Room 158 University Hall.
USAC Chair, Carol Vuckovich called the meeting to order at 2:30.
Attendees were:
Mary
Lou Baker-Jones, University Libraries
Tom Brookey, Raj Soin College of Business
Jeff Bowman, CaTS
Jim Davis, Lake Campus
Michelle Feichtner, Financial Aid
Kathi Herick, University Libraries
Tamara Jones, Human Resources
Cheryl Lauricella, University Libraries
Melissa Minor, Human Resources
Sharon Powell, CaTS
Linda Sykes, Payroll
Donna Totten, VP Business and Fiscal Affairs
Carol Vuckovich, Internal Audit
Pamela Wallace-Johnson, University College Advising
Susan Wehmeyer, University Libraries
Rick Zech, Budget Planning and Resource Allocation
WELCOME
Carol
welcomed and introduced new council members:
Donna Totten, Kathi Herick, Sharon Powell and Michelle Feichtner.
New council member Dan Andrews who was elected to represent
Student Affairs has left the University and will need to be replaced.
APPROVAL of MINUTES
The minutes of the USAC meeting of June 11, 2002 were
approved as posted on the web site.
COMMITTEE
REPORTS
Rick
Zech, Athletic Council, Wellness and Recreation
The first meeting of the Athletic Council will be held September 27,
2002. The Retirees
Picnic was well attended by about 1,000 employees and 60 retirees.
Weight Watchers on campus is continuing.
WSU employees have lost over 2,000 lbs. this year.
Michelle
Martin, Parking Services
No report. Michelle
was not present. Carol
Vuckovich, University Dining Services
The first meeting of Dining Services will be held
in October.
NEW BUSINESS
Carol
called for nominations for Chair-Elect and Secretary. Donna Totten was nominated as Chair-Elect.
Susan Wehmeyer was nominated as Secretary.
Carol
called for volunteers to serve on the Dining Services Committee.
Sharon Powell and Jeff Bowman volunteered to share a position as
one of two USAC representatives on the committee.
Any unclassified staff member who is
interested in serving as the second representative should contact Carol.
Future
of USAC
Carol reported that various staff have expressed concern over the loss
of representation from USAC on the
Building and Grounds, Calendars and Elections, and University Budget
Review committees. Both Vicky
L. Davidson, Associate Vice-President, Facilities Planning And
Management and Matthew V. Filipic, Vice President For Business
And Fiscal Affairs have expressed willingness to meet with the USAC
council or representatives from the council on a regular basis as an
alternative to committee representation.
Tom
Brookey offered his opinion that USAC representation on these committees
has not been of high value as they are not really decision making
bodies.
Susan Wehmeyer reviewed the purpose of USAC as
described in the Charter: “The
purpose of the Unclassified Staff Advisory Council shall be to represent
its members to the university by:
- promoting their general
welfare;
- advocating for unclassified
staff through active participation in university governance
structure;
- reviewing, initiating and
making recommendation on relevant university policies and
procedures;
- encouraging and facilitating
communication among members; and
- encouraging professional
development opportunities. ”
She
expressed concern that USAC could not very well fulfill its purpose if
participation in university governance is denied. Pamela Wallace-Johnson seconded these concerns.
Tom stated that the governance structure has changed since the
charter was written, particularly since the faculty unionized.
Susan pointed out that the faculty senate has retained an
ex-officio student representative as a member of the Building and
Grounds Committee and that many staff have strong interest and
involvement in Building and Grounds issues.
Carol said she will bring our concerns about loss of
representation to Bill Rickert, Associate Provost.
Discussion of how USAC should react to this change will be
continued at the next meeting.
Guidelines
for New USAC Representatives
Carol said that various USAC representatives have requested more
direction about the duties and responsibilities of the position.
Carol asked that the representatives jot down ideas about what
should be expected of USAC representatives for discussion at the next
meeting. [As part of this initiative, each USAC Representative received
a list of their constituents earlier in the meeting.]
Business
Core Hours
Bill Rickert asked USAC for feedback about the possibility of
changing core business hours from 8:30-5:00 to 8:00–4:30. This issue was prompted by a change in the start time of the
first class of the day from 9:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Faculty would like their departmental offices to be open at
least 30 minutes before the start of class.
In addition, an influx of students, faculty and staff to campus
all at 8:30 may cause traffic and parking problems.
An informal poll by various USAC representatives indicated that
many student service departments already maintain longer hours or
stagger start times and would expect to maintain that procedure. Carol will find out how actively USAC is expected to pursue
this issue. Human Resources
has software to construct a survey if needed.
Vacation
and Sick Leave Reporting
A constituent asked USAC to investigate whether more information
could be added to the pay advices so that employees could see how much
was earned and how much used in the pay period.
Tom Brookey pointed out that vacation and sick leave use is not
reported on the pay advice until the month following the use.
Linda Sykes, Payroll, advised that the software used by Human
Resources offers no extra fields to add information to the pay advice.
She stated that Human Resources will audit sick leave and
vacation balances on request. If
the balance does not match what the employee expects, he/she should call
Human Resources. Doug
DeFrain stated that each unit on campus has a record-keeper who is
responsible for tracking sick leave and vacation use and reporting it
monthly.
Human
Resource Liaisons
Carol asked whether USAC has received any concerns, complaints or
questions about the Human Resource Liaisons appointed for each unit.
None were reported. Doug
DeFrain stated that the liaison program is working as it was designed to
do.
Merit
Leave
Carol reported that a constituent asked USAC to look into whether
additional leave time could be offered as compensation for exceptional
performance in light of the minimal increases available for merit pay.
Doug DeFrain said that merit pay is becoming less common in the
public sector. He stated
that concept of merit leave has been discussed before and remains a gray
area for state employees because the Ohio Revised Code restricts
compensation to pay for time worked.
He said the Board of Trustees has the authority to increase the
leave time allotted, but suggested that if USAC wishes to pursue this
issue that we ask for legal advice.
New
Business
Cheryl Lauricella raised the issue of fee remission for part-time staff
who want to attend classes at the Kettering Center. Doug will look into it and report back to USAC, but stated
that most universities do not permit fee remission for non-credit
courses.
Doug
also announced that Human Resources will begin a new service contract
with a Advanced Benefits, a benefit consulting firm at the end of
October to assist employees with insurance issues.
Advanced Benefits will work with employees who have already
discussed an issue with the insurance carrier and failed to reach a
resolution. The service
will be more confidential than any help Human Resources could provide
and offers the benefit of broader experience in dealing with insurance
issues. This service will
be offered at no cost to employees.
Further information will be forthcoming from Human Resources.
Doug
also announced a new program from October 28th to November 15th called
“Above and Beyond.” This
program was planned to address the concern revealed by a survey of
employees that Wright State does not do a good job with employee
recognition. The program
allows staff to recognize one another.
Any employee can nominate any other employee at any level.
Human Resources will verify the nominations and review them for
completeness. The nominator
will be given a certificate and small gift to personally present to the
employee. No supervisors or other staff will be involved in the
process. If someone is
nominated multiple times they will receive multiple certificates, but
they will only receive one gift. This
will be a very informal process run for only three weeks overall. Recipients will be announced in Dialogue, on the announce
list and on websites. A
brochure with more details will be forthcoming from Human Resources.
The
meeting was adjourned at 3:15.
NEXT MEETING
The next meeting of USAC will be held Thursday, October 17, 2002,
2:30 p.m. in Room 158 University Hall.
Minutes submitted by Susan Wehmeyer, USAC Secretary,
9/2702.
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