April 2000

LaFortune Student Center - Notre Dame Room

1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

 

Present: Angeliek Anderson, Debra Bennett, Dan Brazo, Emily Cassidy, Deb Fox, Connie Gard, Rita Grontkowski, Beverly Harbor, Pam Jobin, Bobbi McMahon, Lou Parks, Sue Penrod, Terron Phillips, Maria Pozzi, Marv Pruett, Samantha Qualls, Marcy Simons, Fred Sonneborn, Leona Strickland, Cindi Sykes and Melodie Wise. 

Absent: Dona Coggins, Norma Frost, Kay Herrity, Carl Hubbard, Rose Leonard-McMahon, Norma Mezykowski, Phyllis, Shelton-Ball, Doris Smuda and Dona Waters.

 

HR Liaisons: Sarah Misener and Wendy Mott.

 

Dan Brazo, Chair called the meeting to order at 1:03 p.m.

 

1. Approval of the Thursday, March 9, 2000 Minutes 

After changing Women's Committee to Ad-Hoc Committee on Women's Issues, a motion was made by Marv Pruett to accept the minutes. Samatha Qualls seconded the motion, and all present Council members were in favor. 

 

Leona Strickland will act as the Council secretary in Phyllis Shelton-Ball's absence.

 

2. Committee Reports 

- Elections Committee

 

Deb Fox introduced and welcomed Lou Parks as the new representative for district #18. The elections for districts #8 and #17 are being completed. 

 

District #25 is an open district and will go unrepresented. 

 

- Communication Committee 

A draft copy of the flyer for the picnic was passed out and a few changes were made. Emily was asked by an English professor to announced the summer Shakespeare festival in August. Sarah Misener offered to call the professor about putting an announcement in the StaffNews for the August show. Emily also announced on April 27th "Will and I" will be showing and you can get tickets from the LaFortune ticket desk. The Council was asked to let their districts know. The letter was discussed that will be included in the packet for new hires at Notre Dame. Cindi Sykes, Lou Parks and Beverly Harbor will need a copy of the letter mailed to them. Emily Cassidy made a motion to accept the letter to be put in the new hire packet with the discussed changes. Maria Pozzi seconded the motion. All Council members present were in favor.

 

- Parking Committee 

Nothing to report at this time.

 

- Parking Appeals Committee 

Nothing to report at this time.

 

- Ad-Hoc Committee on Women's Issues 

Marcy Simons announced there was a great turn out for the March Movies. Marcy also announced the "Lunch in April" flyers will be going out soon and the "Lunch in May" topic will be on gardening tips. Marcy also shared that Chandra Johnson will be heading the "Women Under the Dome" retreat on June 2nd and 3rd at Fatima Retreat Center.

 

- Ad-Hoc Staff Picnic Committee 

Deb Bennett passed out a draft copy of the picnic flyer. Discussion took place on the flyer and changes were recommended. Any other changes to the flyer can be e-mailed to Deb Bennett and final approval of the picnic flyer will be done at the May meeting. Deb shared that donations for gift certificates, t-shirts and sweatshirts are being given for door prizes. 

 

The ad-hoc committee for prizes is working on trivia questions on the University. Melodie Wise offered to work on getting a permanent sign made for the Staff Advisory Council to put on the booth for the Staff Thank You Picnic. 

 

- Ad-Hoc Committee on Drug Testing 

Letters were received from Fr. Malloy by the ad-hoc committee on drug testing. Sarah Misener shared that Tracy Maginn is chairing the University Drug Testing Committee and Tracy will have the meeting dates out to the rest of the committee soon. Angeliek Anderson had some questions to ask for a person in her district. Why can a person fail a drug test as a new hire, but can still work on-call and if that is so what is the purpose of the drug test? Sarah Misener shared that on-call people are drug tested when applying for a full-time position. If the individual tests positive then the University allows them 6 months to deal with their drug issue and after 6 months they may reapply for another full-time position. The second question Angeliek asked for her district was why we don't have drug testing when there is an on the job accidents. Sarah Misener answered that the University does. It is called "for cause testing" and this will be a topic that the University Drug Testing Committee will be discussing further. The third question Angeliek Anderson asked for her district was "Why do African Americans have to take urine drug tests and everyone else has to take hair drug tests?" Sarah Misener clarified that "for cause testing" is a urine test and pre-employment drug testing is a hair test. 

 

- Ad-Hoc Redistricting Committee 

This is a new committee and has not yet had an opportunity to meet.

 

Council members met with Dave Prentkowski with regards to the nonexempt food service employees having to work the "Staff Thank You Picnic" and not having an opportunity to enjoy it. The Council members who attended the meeting felt the meeting went well. Ideas were formed and Dave was receptive to the ideas. 

 

3. Update on Confidentiality Agreements 

Sarah Misener shared that at this point there are no plans to have a University wide signing of Confidentiality Agreements. It is currently based on a department by department basis operational need. A handful of departments are participating with this on an as needed basis. 

 

Leona Strickland asked about the new Employee Tuition mailing and when that would be ready to go out and how it will be communicated. Sarah Misener shared that the mailing will go out to all exempt and nonexempt employees around April 20th and will go in the May StaffNews Letter along with comparisons shown between all of the current tuition benefits for employees. 

 

Dan asked the Council if there had been any feedback on the annual report. There didn't seem to be much feedback. Dan shared that he received a letter from Pat Trost (a former Council member) congratulating the Council on all of their hard work. Melodie Wise asked about the performance review section in the annual report that discussed separate check boxes. There was an error in this annual report section regarding certain changes to the criteria in the performance review form. 

 

4. Update on the Classification Review Project 

Paul Henry, Manager of Compensation did a presentation on the above topic. Since there were many new Council members since Paul had done his last presentation, he showed historically how the project got started up to where the University is today. A discussion and question and answer session took place. Leona Strickland requested copies of the ranges and market slides to go to all employees. Paul shared that the supervisors were instructed to be the ones to share this with their employees as part of the performance review process. Paul was going to look further into the request and get back to the Council at the May meeting. 

 

5. Presentation on the Retirement Benefits 

Vivek Kumar, Manager of Retirement Planning did a presentation on the above topic. Vivek shared what the two different retirement plans were, as well as, recent changes in the Staff Pension Plan. He thoroughly covered aspects of the plan, to life and health insurance benefits. Discussion and question and answer session took place. Maria Pozzi requested that the Council receive a copy of the slide "What is the Staff Pension Formula" and Vivek agreed to have the slide mailed out along with the draft of the April minutes.

 

6. Set Agenda for Thursday, May 11, 2000 Meeting 

I. Approval of the Thursday, April 13, 2000 Minutes

 

II. Continue Presentation on the Retirement Benefits

 

III. Committee Reports

 

IV. Presentation by Scott Malpass (2:00 p.m.)

 

V. Web Page

 

VI. Set Agenda for Thursday, June 15, 2000 Meeting

 

 

Bobbie McMahon made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 2:53 p.m. Emily Cassidy seconded this motion. A vote was taken and all present Council members were in favor of the motion.

 

Sincerely, 

Communication/Promotion Committee