Staff Council Minutes

Thursday, December 1, 2005

2:00-3:00pm Alumnae House Board Room

(Submitted by Linda LaFlam, Co- Secretary)

Attending:  Joseph Bialek, Suzanne Beaumier, Nancy Brady, Beverly Byrnes, Janice Cole, Cheryl Dellecese, Lou Ann Krawczynski, Linda LaFlam, Karen Lehouiller, Jinny Mason, Janice McDowell, Steve Monteiro, Patricia Rist, Rick Rubin, Sam Rush, William Sheehan, Xinh Spangler, Joe Stoddart, Art Usher, Laurie Wyman, Tara Zidonik

Excused: Adrianne Andrews, Gayle Fitzgerald, Laura Matta, Kim Perez, Kathy Yarnell

Guests, Stacey Anasazi, Sandra Bycenski, Sabrina Marsh

Minutes approved

Joe Stoddart was welcomed to Staff Council as a new member.

Candace Baer will come to the January 5, 2006 meeting to talk about a Professional Development Day.

Winter Gifts project is complete.  Staff Council sponsored 1.5 children and gave them gift certificates and toys.

Campus Center Advisory Board is looking for someone from Staff Council to join their group.  They meet one time per month on a Wednesday evening to discuss policy decisions, concerns, questions, and activities.  Next meeting will be held on February 1, 2006.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Activities Committee:

• Holiday Hoopla to be help on December 16, 2006 from noon to 1:30 pm.  There will be a cookie contest and posters are coming out.
• Staff Social Hour coming in January
• Mardi Gras Event to be held on the evening of February 18, 2006. Planning Committee meetings are on going.  The group is looking for more volunteers to help. 

Communications Committee:

• Community forum discussed, Carol Christ wants to wait for a new HR director so he or she can participate in the forum.
• Staff Chronicle needs more input from staff on issues, and items to put in the Chronicle.  It was suggested that perhaps a shorter 2 sided version similar to the one HR puts out might be an answer.

Diversity Committee:

• Committee has not met in awhile, however the monthly movies have been on going.  Attendance could be better, supposedly posters have been printed by Central Services, but no one has seen them yet.  The movies are also being advertised on E-Digest.

Nominations and Elections Committee:

• Joe Stoddart is a newly elected member of Staff Council.
• Carol Christ wants the new HR director to be involved with Staff Council

Personnel Policy (PPC) Committee:

• Nothing to report, there will be a meeting with Candace Baer on December 14, 2005.

New Business

It was decided that faculty will now get copies of the Staff Chronicle.

There was a discussion about whether the Presidential Appointment to Staff Council should or should not come from HR. Some felt it was okay if the person was elected to Staff Council and not okay if the person was appointed.  There was a consensus that Staff Council should submit a list of names to the president and that the focus should come from under represented groups.  The issue will be brought back to President Christ with our concerns.

Steve met with President Christ about the morale issue.  It is on the agenda for the upcoming SAMS meeting on December 6, 2005.  There was also some discussion about the workload issues.

A Feedback Booth idea was presented to the group as a way of getting ideas, concerns, and suggestions to Staff Council.  It would be an anonymous account set up by Staff Council where people would feel comfortable bringing forth a problem. Logistics need to be worked on; the hope is that there would be a Kick Off Event to launch the program. Perhaps this might be done through a Community forum.

Meeting adjourned 3:00 pm.

Next Staff Council meeting- January 5, 2005