Sarah Fraker opened the meeting at 2:00. Present were David Levinson and Teresa Taylor from Academic Affairs; Laura Alfonso, Alice Gowens, Jim Graham, Donna Kent and Rachel Peavey from Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; Robyn Ansley and LaBau Bryan from Arts and Sciences; Elizabeth Pape from the Terry College of Business; Leisa Seabolt from Environmental Design; Jennie Ward from External Affairs; Henry Bridges, Mike Callihan, Leroy Carruth, Debbie Helsel, Frank Patman, Melissa Stoker, Sharlyn Tate, and Wanda Thaxton from Finance and Administration; David Knox from the Graduate School; Merrill Edens from the College of Journalism and Mass Communication; Jeannie Johnson representing Legal Affairs, the Office of the President, and the Equal Opportunity Office; Liz Stich from the College of Pharmacy; George Russell and Kim Wheeler from Public Service and Outreach; Sally Kroehnke from Research; Jeanell Muckle from Social Work; Jody Hall and Margaret Stephan from Student Affairs; Allison Wright from the College of Veterinary Medicine; Clyde Anglin, Parliamentarian; and Brenda Keen, Secretary. Sige Burden from Human Resources and Larry Dendy from University Communications were present for a portion of the meeting.
Absent were Greg Durham from Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; Sandy Smith from the College of Education; Susan Wilson from Family and Consumer Sciences; Jenny Yearwood from Forest Resources; Joyce Moss from the School of Law; Don Bullard from Research; and Tony Hughey from the College of Veterinary Medicine.
A change was made to the September minutes. On page three, Clyde asked that we change the last sentence of the third paragraph to end after "exposure" and delete "because no asbestos was involved." The minutes to the September meeting stand as corrected.
Reports of Standing Committees
The Executive Committee will be meeting with President Adams soon.
The Communications Committee plans on having the new newsletter out by Thanksgiving, but if that cannot be done, they will wait until the first of the year.
The Health and Safety Committee discussed two issues related to Thomas Street. David Clark will put in a request for crosswalk signs. They have received no response from the architects as to why no sidewalks were installed.
The Needs and Concerns Committee had no report.
The Classification and Pay Committee met with Duane Ritter and Loretta Harper from Human Resources who are working on a written plan to fix problems in classification and pay. Melissa Stokes reported that Human Resources has requested funding for a consultant to identify problems, who they hope to have working by the spring. Sarah added that the process was expected to take three years. Melissa mentioned that Dr. Harper is missing some past documentation, and if anyone has a copy of the Hay Report, they should send it to Human Resources to complete their file. LaBau asked why an on-campus resource wasn't utilized in order to investigate this issue. Jody Hall responded that often outside consultants are used to get an objective viewpoint. Sarah added that Loretta said that Human Resources is understaffed for what they have to do, and an outside company could come in without Human Resources having to direct them. Liz Stich asked why staff couldn't be sent a questionnaire now in order to speed up the time line. Sarah responded that the time line was due to the funding of the process beginning next year. Brenda added that all departments were supposed to have completed job descriptions for each position a few years ago, but some departments did not finish this. Many generic job descriptions are old and outdated. LaBau asked if Classification and Pay can gather information or documents that Human Resources needs and get the information to Loretta.
Sarah asked if anyone had any questions for any committee heads.
No special committees have met. Sarah needs to meet with the Parking Committee, George Russell or Susan Wilson. Sarah talked with Sige Burden about exit procedures and exit interview processes, and he was not aware of the Exit Procedures Committee formed last year, including two Staff Council members and two University Council members. LaBau and Teresa have agreed to serve on the committee.
The Retirees Association reported that they have been planning trips. They will meet again next Monday, and Jennie Ward announced that Dave Muia, the executive director of the Alumni Association will attend the November meeting to discuss the three Alumni Association projects, the Alumni Club in Atlanta, the Georgia Club Golf Course on route 316, and the new Alumni Center on campus.
President's Report Sarah talked with Sige Burden about the building smoking policy and he will work with Staff Council on that. Sarah attended the University Council meeting, which was the first of the year in which President Adams announced the University's new admissions policy. Sarah reported that most University Council business is done within the committees, most of which met twice over the summer. Sarah plans to bring up the issue of University Council representation for Staff Council with the president. The Staff Council statute requires that we confer with University Council, but we have no direct means of doing so. Sarah also plans to thank President Adams for the commitment that Human Resources has shown toward staff. She will also reiterate that an elected Staff Council member be appointed to search committees for vice presidential positions. Staff Council members have served on several search committees in the past year and she wants to say thank you to President Adams for that and to remind him to continue to do so in the future. The Executive Committee will meet next Tuesday at 12 noon. Sarah asked for any other issues to forward to the president be submitted to the Executive Committee by then.
Robyn Ansley has put together a University of Georgia display for the statewide Staff Council conference on October 15. Seven members from UGA Staff Council will be attending.
Old Business
Ian Gray wanted to know why President Adams dissolved the ADR [Alternative Dispute Resolution] Task Force. Brenda responded that the program has been implemented through Legal Affairs and therefore the task force is no longer needed. Elizabeth Pape will put this information on the web site.
New Business
Merill Edens asked whether the parking permits for the Georgia Center parking deck are to be turned in to the deck attendants or kept for the next meeting. Sarah clarified that the passes were to be used once, but that the date of the meeting should be circled. Members will receive a new pass each time.
Sige Burden gave out corrected copies of the Handout for Employee Benefits due to a misprint on the last one. He verified that Human Resources is trying to get a cross-section of comments from across campus related to the exit interviews. Initially, the exit interview product will be controlled out of Human Resources in order to get data on why people leave. This information will help determine what issues Human Resources needs to address. The information would not be in the employees file, and Human Resources hopes to collect the data in person within a week of the person leaving or transferring. Members of the committee will develop the questions to cover supervisory issues, benefits and other issues.
Sige also discussed the building smoking policy. Across campus, the policy states that the smoking or non-smoking status of the building is at the discretion of the head or administrative person in charge of the building. Most campus buildings are non-smoking. Physical Plant is not designated as a non-smoking facility. Each individual foreman decides on the smoking policy for that area. Elizabeth Pape and David Levenson asked why the University buildings do not count as state buildings, since all state buildings are required to be non-smoking facilities. Sige responded that the Board of Regents have discretions to exercise that are different from state guidelines. For instance, certain state or federal agencies are allowed to drug test, but we do not. Sige has been trying to discover who wrote the policy, what the initial intent of the policy was, and if the policy is keeping up with the current environment. Currently, Physical Plant gives the supervisors the discretion to change the environment. If workers have problems, they should talk to the supervisors. Elizabeth Pape noted that a non-smoker might be outnumbered in certain areas and may not have a voice, which may cause problems in that area. Sharlyn Tate said that several administrators in Physical Plant smoke and so the policy wouldn't be changed. Department heads do have discretion and much of the building is designated non-smoking. Elizabeth noted that this might be part of the larger issue of supervisor discretion. She added that some people have been kept from taking University classes because of supervisor discretion, and no equity exists in this policy. Sarah responded that this issue is related to the problem that the University has no supervisory training, and Human Resources is concerned by this issue. Supervisors might not be aware of the problem because they are not trained for this. Clyde Anglin noted that smokers are outnumbered in Physical Plant. In addition, Physical Plant is not the only occupant of the building. Kim Wheeler noted that students work in the building and some of them smoke. The employees who work near the door or next to the intake vent asked that the students not be allowed to go outside to smoke. Sige reiterated that the issue is best handled at the supervisor level, but if no one responds to let him know and he will try another strategy. LaBau said that someone from her department went to Human Resources for her retirement interview was delighted.
Jody Hall brought up an issue from the Student Affairs SRG. No crosswalk is installed at College Station Road between the Intramural Fields and the Ramsey Center. Clyde responded that a project is in design to improve safety in that area. Sidewalks will be installed, but other details are not available.
LaBau asked about parking on campus in the evening. Cars were parked on the sidewalk on Jackson Street and pedestrians were forced to walk in the street. No tickets were issued to these cars. Sarah decided that this is not a Staff Council issue. LaBau said she would write a personal letter to parking services, perhaps suggesting that everyone be allowed to park for free in the parking deck with or without a University parking permit.
Teresa Taylor asked how to slow down campus buses on Jackson Street. The buses pull out of the bus bay and reach fast speeds by the time they reach the crosswalk. She will call Campus Transit. Sarah responded that Campus Transit is very receptive and concerned about driver safety.
The meeting adjourned at 3:00. The next meeting will be Wednesday, November 3 at 2:00 in Green Room of the Seney Stovall Chapel at the Vinson Institute of Government's Lucy Cobb Complex.
Submitted by Maureen Finneran