June 2009
Staff Advisory Council Minutes
Thursday, June 11, 2009
1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
LaFortune Student Center
Present: Sandy Sarber, Roxie Litteral, Diana Singleton, Char-anna Koblick, Joe Wheeler, Barb Wadley, Jody Klontz, Marie Revak, Kathy Stopczynski, Mo Marnocha, Fred Sonneborn, Victoria Chidister, Tami Springer
Excused: Patricia Smith, Kathy Troth, Shari Herman, Sharon Konopka, Adele Almaguer, Penny McIntire
Unexcused: John Mackowicz, Bill Peck
HR Liaison: Lori Maurer
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 1:01 p.m. by Mo Marnocha.
Approval of March, 2009 Council Minutes
Minutes were approved - motion by Mo Marnocha and 2nd by Victoria Chidister
Committee Updates
Elections Committee
Nothing to report
Benefits Committee
Nothing to report; next meeting is being scheduled
By-laws Committee
Nothing to report
Parking Appeals/Parking
The committee will not meet until August
Promotions Committee
Discussed that the Hacienda night for Relay for Life needs to be better communicated to campus next year.
ECDC
John Affleck Graves requested that SAC appoint another member to the committee. Sandy is currently serving and Barb Wadley volunteered for the second position.
Webpage Committee
Nothing to report
Compassion Fund
Nothing to report
Old Business
SAC discussed their experience participating in the ND Voice focus group sessions. The sessions were well attended and they felt that Dr. Affleck Graves really listened and in turn learned a lot about campus issues. One member expressed that the session was not useful and not worth the time. Another member mentioned that some employees complained about personal issues rather than addressing the survey results. One issue that was discussed is how SAC can do a better job in communicating their role and accomplishments on campus.
New Business
Lori Maurer and Matthew Blazejewski, HR Business Partners, spent some time explaining their job and campus role to SAC. The Business Partners provide guidance and support to managers and employees of designated departments. SAC members were provided a copy of the Business Partner brochure that is available on the HR website. The other HR Business Partners are Mark Kocovski, Sherry Veith and Sharon Hawkins. Lori & Matthew then took questions from the group.
Denise Murphy, HR Director of Compensation & Benefits, was invited to SAC to address previous questions about leave policies. The issue attendance equity between non exempt hourly and non exempt salaried employees was raised and discussed. A question was raised about our funeral leave policy. Denise explained that she has benchmarked our policy against other Universities and found ND’s policy to be equal or more generous. She did indicate that the policy would be reviewed in the near future. Denise then took questions from the group about leave time and attendance occurrences.
Denise gave an update on the ND Renew project and also shared that health screenings for the Health Quotient questionnaire will be offered starting in July to give employees more time to get the information.
Denise informed SAC that a letter is going out to all non exempt employees regarding a change in how the pension benefits are accessed. A new software system is being installed that will allow employees to review information directly from the internet. The website should be in place by December 2009. During the conversion, there may be a delay in accessing some information.
Additional Business
Jeff Korros, NDSP, sent along a note of thanks to SAC for inviting him to speak at the last meeting. The information/ideas he heard will assist him in improving the campus parking situation.
Adjournment
Barb Wadley made a motion to adjourn at 3:00 p.m. The motion was seconded by Victoria Chidister.
Respectfully submitted,
Human Resources