STAFF COUNCIL MINUTES June 5, 1996 Linda Slaney, President, called the meeting to order at 2:30pm. Minutes from the May staff council meeting were approved. Present were Linda Aaron and Deborah Shackelford from Academic Affairs; Doris Bombich, Jennie Bartlett, Lynn Clapp and Brian Watson for Donny Wyatt from Ag. & Environmental Services; Clyde Anglin, Henry Bridges for Carol Bailey, Arthur Bastidas, Joe Cochran, Brenda Elrod, Tammy Dawson, and Pam LaSalle from Business & Finance; Nancy Fajardo from Education; Leisa Baker from Environmental Design; Mark Toomey from Family & Consumer Science; Lois Shackelford from Forest Resources; Beth Benjamin-Alvarado from the Graduate School; Susan Gabriel from Journalism & Mass. Communication; Kathy Burks for Jeff Satterfield from Law; Sheila Roberson from Pharmacy; Warren Safter from Research; Margot Peters for Margie Gibbs from Services; David Robinson from Terry College of Business; Tony Hughey and Penny Gibbs from Veterinary Medicine. Some of the Staff Representatives are leaving because their term is up. Below is a list of the new members for Staff Council. Please realize this list is not yet complete. The new elected secretary will take care of getting a completed list out after the August meeting when all new members are present. Gilbert Head from the Main Library will take Linda Aaron's place from Academic Affairs. Jim Graham will take Frances Cochran's place from Ag. & Environmental Services. Diane Couch will take Jennie Bartlett's place from Ag. & Environmental Sciences. Tracy Roberts will take Linda Brawner's place from Arts & Sciences. Bryan LeBau will be a new representative from Arts & Sciences. Henry Bridges will take Carol Bailey's place, Jeff Jeeter will take Brend Elrod's place, Winucia Gray will take Tammy Dawson's place, and Janet Bjornye will take Pam LaSalle's place all from Business & Finance. Lori Shodder will take Nancy Fajardo's place from Education. Shay Sumake will take Mark Toomey's place from Family & Consumer Science. Galma Alday will take Sheila Roberson's place from Pharmacy. Elizabeth Pape will take David Robinson's place from Terry College of Business. Allison Wright will take Penny Gibbs place from Veterinary Medicine. Tammy Dawson, Treasurer reported that we have a year end balance of $862.25 left in the budget. The Communications Committee gave a year end report. Mark Toomey reported that as of June 17, 1996 MCI will be the provider for UGA. It will cost $12 a month and this will be for 60 hours of use. You will have client software for Mac and Windows and e-mail access. Anyone who is an employee or student (faculty, staff, student) can join up. You do not have to have your supervisor's permission to join with MCI. This will give you access from your home as well. It will also allow you to access your e-mail from anywhere in Georgia and will provide you with a 1-800 number so you can access your mail, etc. from anywhere within the U.S. Any accounts you have now will remain the same. Rex Walker from UCNS is the liaison for UGA with MCI. A newsletter is expected to be printed and sent out before the Olympics and it will give all updated information and the most current information on the Olympics. The Health and Safety Committee; Needs & Concerns Committee; Benefits Committee; and OFCCP Ad-Hoc Committee all gave year end reports which are all attached to these minutes. Linda Slaney, President reported on the accomplishments over the past year. Some of these accomplishments include things such as the Salary Disclosure which is now policy that you have to be told in writing the percentage of your raise compared to others in your same position. The Employee Handbook has been revised and Linda Slaney and Lois Morrison both made suggestions and changes which Opal Haley of Human Resources took under advisement and accepted a lot of their suggetions. The new revision will be available on Gopher and you can request a copy to be sent to you through Human Resources. A high point this year for Linda was when she attended the Retiree's function at UGA. This year for the first time, staff retiree's were recognized by a certificate, recognized by President Knapp, and had their dinner paid for just as the faculty retirees. Linda got to stand and call out the names of the staff retirees. Our Staff Council has influences not just in our state but all over the United States. Thanks to our Gopher, two Universities have contacted Linda and want to begin Staff Council's and model theirs by ours. A University in Texas contacted Linda as well as the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Linda also reported that the Sexual Harrassment Policy Review Task Force had a good response from 6 people interested in helping with it. The Executive Committee of Staff Council has formed an Ad-hoc Committee in Staff Council which includes Mary Cash, Jerry Harris, and Ruby Heaton. Linda reported that the Olympic Torch will come through Athens on July 15, 1996. Linda reported that she has been told that in the next issue of Columns, there will be a parking lot closure list. Linda Slaney also recently met with Asa Boynton and asked what did people need to do in case of terriost threats or bomb threats. He said to call the emergency number for Public Safety. 542-2200. Remember this number is for emergencies only. Asa told Linda that all of the radio stations in Athens will be having Public Safety Announcements which will be reports on information about what is going on during the Olympics. The only raido station locally that is NOT holding these announcements is WBKZ. Asa Boynton stated that evacuation plans for fire and other emergencies should be followed as usual. If you don't know that evacuation plan for your building or the Safety Officer for your building you need to ask around and find out what to do. Linda talked with Dr. Coker about the recent tuition remission discussion which arose on UGASTAFF. Dr. Coker reported that the policy people are talking about is just that right now, a policy. The Board of Regents has not implemented this policy yet and is still working on the implementation of this plan. The Board hopes to have it implemented by Fall. The policy reads that on acceptance to a degree program, an employee can take 2 classes a quarter and receive tuition reimbursement. Linda Slaney recognized all the members from Staff Council for the 1995-96 year. She passed out nice certificates and stated that if she left anyone off to please contact her. We all want to thank Linda for a job well done as President this year too. Linda Slaney recognized Linda Dudley, Ruby Heaton, Caroline Huff, Lois Morrison and Mary Cash for their work with Staff Council and gave each of them a certificate. Linda Dudley and Ruby Heaton, past Staff Council Presidents came to the meeting to help Joe Cochran with the elections. The following were the nominees for each category. President Nominees - Linda Slaney Vice President Nominees - Leisa Baker Treasuer Nominees - Arthur Bastidas Secretary Nominees - Deborah Jackson There were no other nominees in any of the categories. Joe Cochran held an oral election, which was seconded and each candidate was voted on separately and all of the above were elected unanimously. Congratulations everyone. Keeping with tradition, there will be no Staff Council meeting in July. The next Staff Council meeting will be held on August 14th at the Georgia Center. The time and room will be announced at a later date by the new Staff Council Secretary. These minutes are submitted by Angie Paul. Please contact her for any changes, corrections, or additions.