Staff Senate :: Staff Senate Meeting Minutes May 2006

Senators present: Barham, Mitch; Beck, Scott; Bekis, Barbara; Boyce, Susan; Cantler, Edwin; Carman, Gary; Channel, Jessica; Clarkson, Amanda; Fair, Angela; Fitzgerald, Peggy; Fullwood, Ann; Hawkins, Roy; Hurley, Nancy; Johnson, Mary; Lim, Lorean; McMillan, Bev; O’Bryan, Kathryn; Patterson, Melodie; Stewart, Nancy; Swinger, Sandra; Taylor-Strowder, Ora; Wheeler, Helen; Wilson, Debroah; Woods, Keeya; Young-Taylor, Geraldine.

Senators Absent (Excused): Andrews, Margaret; Daniel, Ashley; Hawkins, Yolanda; Laney, Carol; Butler, Brenda.

Senators Absent (Unexcused): Ballard, Evell; Ballentine, Jeanett; Blake, Margo; Bragdon, Rebecca; Briggs, Angela; Bronson, Terrance; Cade, Paul; Claunch, Reba; Crawford, Deborah; Istre, Penni; Lott, Ruby; Mason, CE; McArthur, James; Merritt, Rebecca Abernathy; Mosly, Stephen; Rateri, Elizabeth; Tucker, Ruby; Turner, Debra.

The meeting was brought to order. The Senators were asked if they received a copy of the minutes from March. Due to the weather, there was no meeting for April 18, 2006. All had received the minutes, and a motion to approve the minutes was made and seconded. The minutes were approved.

President’s Report (Scott Beck): President Beck met with Dr. Raines to discuss the Staff Senate. President Beck has been working with the Faculty Senate President, Sheryl Maxwell, in hopes to bridge contact between the Staff Senate and Faculty Senate. He is hoping that in the future that there will be a combined office linking both senates. Dr. Raines has thought about combining the two senates with an office in the new UC, once it has been completed. She, as well as President Beck, believes that this would help with turnover in both senates.

Also, Dr. Raines says there will be something coming out about a policy concerning freedom of speech fairly soon. There have been vendors on campus, handing out information for people to make purchases. It’s true that is it alright to pass out literature, but not to sell things campus without obtaining the proper permits. Dr. Raines would like for the Staff Senate to help when this information is sent out to the University.

As for the polo shirts, the reason why we did not purchase them is because for auditing purposes, the purchase would be perceived as a gift. Thus we opted for the ice cream rather than the polo shirts.

Vice President’s Financial Report (Mary Johnson): At the beginning of May, the Staff Senate had a total of $7,586.49 in our account. The food for Aramark was $6,150, and the tape recorder was $29.88, which left us with $1,407.69. For next months meeting, we would like to serve food for the senators, as well as present the senators who are rolling off at the end of the year with certificates. It was asked if we wanted to keep something in the treasury for the senators next year, and it was confirmed that we will have money to roll over for next years Staff Senate.

Secretary’s Report (Melodie Patterson): We have a new tape recorder. Also, we have a card to send to Senator Yolanda Hawkins, which will be singed by all of the senators. Senator Hawkins had a baby girl on May 4^th.

Public Relations Report (Sandra Swinger): Staff Appreciation day – Staff Appreciation Day turned out very well. Senator Fitzgerald worked with the door prizes. Senator Fitzgerald recognized the senators that helped with obtaining door prizes. There were 97 names drawn and prizes given away. So far, there were no issues with distributing the prizes to the people that won them. Also suggested that there will be something posted on the staff senate web page. There were also other senators recognized for assisting with the Staff Appreciation Day. President Beck mentioned that Dr. Raines was very appreciative of the Senate doing this for the staff. We do no believe that we ran out of food, but there was a problem with the water order. The situation was that when it was ordered, a former code was used which did not represent the water code, and we did not receive any water. There were, however, several compliments about the food.

There was a discussion about the contract the University has with Aramark and being able to go outside of the University. We were wondering if we could hire some other company to cater our programs without having to the prices that were paid for this year’s menu. There is a question as to if there could be something more than what is always offered, other than bar-b-que.

Senator McMillan thought she heard that we would not have Staff Appreciation Day again next year. President Beck stated that there wasn’t anything official said about this yet, and that he did discuss with Dr Raines about the strain that it puts onto the senate’s budget. They talked about how when the State supplies the budget each year to the school, the school then allocates a certain amount among the departments and organizations across the university.

Web Site/ IT Report (Debra Turner): The new web site is up and running. The web address is http://www.memphis.edu/staffsenate. Currently the page has a template similar to the University’s web page.

Election Committee Report (Lorrean Lim): Senator Lim reported that he has 26 seats to fill, and only 10 have accepted. She has sent out e-mails, and will start calling if the e-mails do not work when she sends out reminders to those who were elected. If we are not getting the response, President Beck will talk with President’s office to see what we could do to get the people to respond. She will probably get the president to send out an e-mail talking about how she supports the Staff Senate.

There was discussion that according to the Bylaws, we will go throughout the individual clusters and contact the person with the next highest amount of votes to see if that person would be willing to serve on the Staff Senate.

There was discussion about how long the term would last. According to the bylaws, a senator would serve two consecutive years, or one year. There is the possibility that a senator can be elected to a second term, which would allow a senator to serve for four consecutive years. After the four years have ended, a senator would have to sit out for one year before being elected for a new term.

There is concern that there is no support from supervisors in different departments for people who have been elected to staff senate. In the pass, when senators are elected, the President’s office would get a list of senators and Dr. Raines would submit a letter to the department supervisors that the employee would be involved with monthly meetings. Most of the senators were not aware of this type of communication. Also, as senators, we will need to communicate to our constituents about what we do. Senator Beck stated that the web page is important at this point in getting it to the university what the staff senate does.

Issues and Reviews (Barbara Bekis): Senator Bekis state that there was a discussion and review of the rules Aramark has about allowing other off campus companies cater to campus functions.

There was a question about if another facility was being considered for the annual Family Night, being that Libertyland is now closed. This issue is actually being handled by another office rather than by the Staff Senate.

Facilities and Services(Senator Carman): There was a meeting to discuss that there is a plan to have th Millington Center up and running by Fall 2006. There was also some discussion about the construction on the University Center and that most of its offices will be moved to Wilder Tower (7^th, 8^th and/or 9^th floors). Other offices will also be moved to the Panahellic building. The University Center is supposed to close November 1^st, with construction beginning December 1^st. It will not be imploded, but it will be taken down completely. The grand opening is expected for the Fall 2009. There is the question as to where the Staff Senate will meet. We will not have to worry about that until after the October meeting.

There are several working projects going on across campus, especially roofing projects (more like 7 or 8 projects). These projects are all going on at the same time. The roofs are predicted to last for 30 years.

The law school will move to a downtown location, but will not open until Fall 2009. It is not known exactly what will happen to the law school after it has moved. There have been some suggestions made, probably connecting it with the Communication and Fine Arts Department. There was also discussion about tearing down Richardson Towers to begin building campus housing similar to Carpenter Complex. More information about the plans for the University can be found at the Campus Planning and Design web site under Business and Finance web page, http://www.memphis.edu/cpd/.

Campus Planning and Design had an event where people could go and view all of the designs for the new UC. At that time, the issue about parking was brought up. President Beck mentioned that he had suggested having parking garages at the four corners of the campus, and Campus Planning is looking into that issue.

IT Administrative Advisory (Senator Hurley): There was a discussion about workflow, which is an option in Banner. TBR has been convinced to use Workflow Separately from other TBR institutions. It is believed that it would be more efficient. Basically IT is looking for ways to streamline current processes (especially for Finance and Human Resources). IT is currently asking for Workflow procedure suggestions. The discussion was about how much was necessary in the procedures, and what would be used to make it more efficient. Other processes being looked at are international travel and creating new positions, where it can be very time consuming to write a job description and other information that would go into the job position. IT is trying to get people to realize that even though the processes in Banner is set in stone, the processes in workflow allows you to work around everything that we do now. Trying to get everyone to think outside what we know now. If there are any suggestions, please forward them to Steve Terry at sterry@memphis.

Public Records & Forms (Senator Young-Taylor): Senator Young-Taylor was sent information about what was discussed during the meeting. There were questions about data being backed up in data warehousing, but the backup was successful. Currently, Spectrum is not being sent to the data warehouse. There is a plan for data recovery in case of a natural disaster (similar to that of Hurricane Katrina) and it is being reviewed. There was also concern about recycling computers, if personal information being wiped off before being reissued to new users. The computer‘s hard drive is wiped out when it is being prepared for reuse.

Operation Round File will begin in June, where files and unnecessary papers will be picked up to be shredded. The departments can contact someone in Physical Plant concerning the office pickup.

Old Business: Question about recreational center time changes. Currently there has been no progress in changing the time that would be convenient for employees who have to be at work at 8:00 am.

New Business: *Due to attendance, President Beck will send out a memo to the senators about moving the time back to 9:30. A lot of senators would rather have the time move back to 9:30, as well as changing the Ad Hoc Bylaws committee to a Standing committee. That way, there will be a committee formed to handle issues concerning the bylaws. In order to make a decision during the meetings, we would have to have one half, plus one, senators present to vote. There will be one more meeting in June, where we will elect a president and other officers. There was a discussion as to who could be nominated as an officer for the 2006-2007 term. A senator that is rolling off may make a nomination, but it must be for someone who will not be rolling off in June.

* NOTE: President Beck submitted two motions to all of the senators via e-mail concerning moving the time to 9:30 and creating a standing Bylaws committee. The motions were voted on and approved.