04-16-2008
Staff Assembly Executive Council
Wednesday, April 2, 10-11:30am
Road to Zanzibar Room in Crosby
Minutes
Attended: William Gibson, Bob Cepeda, Lindsey Ross, JoAnne Bruce, Lorrie Engle, Jeff Taylor, Mary Beth Charloboix, Kim Gieber, Mike Tobin, Angela Ruff, Bill Kostelec, Connie Hickman.
Heads Up Gonzaga– Kim Gieber
Date set for Thursday, April 24, 9am-1pm in the Globe Room in Cataldo. Fr. Spitzer will speak as part of the program, the last hour will be lunch. Suggestions for speakers and topics included Dr. Stebbins on ethics, Jason Swain, Fr. Maher, maybe something practical for employees on time management or work/life balance.
Spring Open Meeting – Connie Hickman
The purpose of the meeting is to introduce new officers, representatives, and committee members, to give two mission awards, and to reflect on the accomplishments of Staff Assembly. Connie recommended an early June meeting, and will pull together a committee. Lorrie Engle and JoAnne Bruce volunteered to assist. We want to honor Fr. Lee’s contribution to Staff Assembly at the session in some way.
Cares Initiative – William Gibson
A draft of the general appeal and the program outline was and distributed a couple of meetings ago and posted onto Blackboard last week. Suggestions at a prior meeting included not asking the university for a donation of sick leave hours at this time. Lorrie posted questions and comments on a Blackboard discussion board related to how the university will allow employees to use the hours for community service. The section of the by-laws related to staff-wide voting on proposals was discussed. Comments included when a community vote is helpful or necessary. Mary Beth gave an example of a previous employer where the administration would require a vote to clearly demonstrate community support. Kim suggested that the by-laws were crafted with broad-based policy changes that impact. The council is a representative body with the authority and responsibility to forward proposals to the administration without a vote of the entire community, but possible we need some discussion and clarification on the decision process. William will convene the committee to finalize the proposal and submit to the executive council for approval.
Cares Manual Update – William
The Cares Manual is provided in hard copy only at this point. Lorrie suggested it be added to the website. The Outreach committee is working on updates. The Cares Initiative isn’t ready to be included, given that it’s in the proposal stage. William invited everyone to review and suggest updates and improvements.
Mission Awards – William
A committee is needed to recruit nominations and select awardees prior to the Spring Open Meeting. Connie, William, and Jeff volunteered. William has confirmed Bill Randall will have the plaque stand ready for Heads Up Gonzaga. Mike suggested a decorative wrought iron stand, easel-style. He believes there are materials on hand and people who could build it. Bill Kostelec and Mike Tobin will lead the effort. Mike will also ask Fr. Ganz for ideas on an appropriate location.
Parking Concerns– William
Krystal emailed William and Marcia that she talked with Bob Cepeda regarding concerns and suggested including information in the Cares Manual. Bob Cepeda shared that he regularly gets complaints about parking from students and employees ranging from signing to how fees from tickets are allocated. There are about 2600 parking stalls on campus and an average of more than 200 visitors per day. Regents and Trustees do not want excessive signing, and Plant Services has followed that guidance in placing the signs. Security is not focused on parking enforcement, but rather compliance. Suggestions for addressing concerns currently include only issuing warnings, requiring daily fees, changing. There are some individuals who refuse to pay fees, some which have accumulated into the thousands – certain employees and donors (these accounts are referred to collection). Students who fail to pay get the amount added to their student account, and a hold on registration is placed. Citation waivers are a challenge. About 45% of the citations a couple of years ago were waived. In 2005 year about half were waived, and last year about 59% were waived. Citations will no longer be waived as of January, 2009. Website will be updated with a visual representation of approved parking locations. Athletics has been asked to do a better job of educating their population, which has helped with problems, there. Bob’s main concern is the entitled and negative attitude by employees and others. The parking fees for employees are as low as possible, and are very low compared to other schools. Bob would like to create an appeals board with representatives from the community with an emphasis on refunding paid fees if the situation is deemed as worthy. It was suggested Bob call together an advisory committee to help decide parking policy regarding the space limitation issues. The 3-story parking garage construction has been delayed, apparently due to finances. Departments with special population needs should work closely with Security to develop ways to ensure compliance.
Staff Socials- William
Krystal’s email suggested we keep the socials as is for now, and to submit a new proposal in the summer reflecting suggestions.
Climate Survey Workgroup – Kim
The group will meet on April 7. Questions will be compiled from reviews from the student and faculty surveys, as well as input from the committee.
Staff Assembly Executive Council and Committee Nominations – Kim
Krystal has nominees for every open position and is in the process of contacting people to verify a willingness to serve.
Compensation Committee Survey – Kim
A revised draft was circulated, with special attention to the question about satisfaction with staff assembly representation. The consensus of the group was include this question, as every opportunity to evaluate our effectiveness is appreciated.
Action Items
Angela post Heads Up Gonzaga on the Staff Assembly calendar
Kim will convene the Heads Up Gonzaga planning committee to select a topic and speaker and finalize event Executive Council will discuss by-laws and voting needs at a future meeting
Mary Beth will share the mission award letters and process from last year with the council
Mike and Bill will help to get a display stand for the mission award plaque completed
Connie will convene the Spring Open Meeting planning committee
Angela post revised compensation survey to Blackboard
Executive Council provide suggestions to compensation committee survey to those committee members
