University
of Georgia Staff Council
Communications Committee Report 2004-05
Following is my year end report for the Communications Committee. Half of our meetings were by email (every other meeting), for which no minutes were done and there are face-to-face meetings for which I neglected to do minutes. We did not meet last month and will not be meeting this month. We are waiting until the new members are assigned.
Bonnie Norwood Communications Committee Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
In attendance: Bonnie Norwood, Bob Ratajczak, Brenda Keen, Elizabeth Pape and Martha Phillips
I. Website - Bob Ratajczak
A. Small changes have been made
B. Will contact Linda Lee Enos to get approved minutes to put on website
C. Will update Staff Council representatives list
D. Add link to Agenda
E. Add link to draft minutes
F. It was suggested that an index of previous newsletters be included on the website
G. Add a link to community volunteer opportunities
II. Newsletter
A. Martha Phillips suggested “Fall Into Step With Your Staff Council” as a theme for November’s The Staff Voice newsletter - possible topics include:
1. Step right up . . .
2. Step back in time . . .
3. Stepping stones to the future . . .
4. Stepping in the right direction . . .
This was the only suggested theme, but was met with enthusiasm.
B. Other suggested topics for newsletter:
1. Include “Years of Service” list; get info from Human Resouces
2. Get staff to send feedback as to what they would like to see in the staff newsletter
3. Interview, and take pictures of, Staff Council representatives; need to compile interview questions
a. Elizabeth volunteered to take the pictures at Staff Council meetings with the Staff Council camera
4. Stories of staff helping each other
5. Summary of shared leave - how many hours have been donated and how many recipients were there; possibly get recipients to volunteer how the shared leave program helped them
6. Elizabeth suggested sending mini news briefs out in between newsletters; needs further discussion
C. Check with ARCH news and Columns about posting the newsletter - Bonnie will take care of this
III. Attendance
A. There was a discussion about attendance at committee meetings and staff council meetings. Bob will stress the importance of attending these meetings at the next Staff Council meeting.
B. It was suggested that getting President Adams to write a thank you letter to Staff Council representatives thanking them for participating in Staff Council, as a way of recognizing their contribution.
IV. Shared Leave Program
A. Current guidelines for the shared leave program dictate that a donor wishing to donate leave to another person MUST retain a set amount of hours for themselves and can donate the remaining leave time in 8 hour increments. This is true even if the donor is retiring and doesn’t need to retain the leave. It was suggested that this be changed, so that a retiring employee can donate any amount of leave they wish.
V. Committee Chair
A vote was held for Communications Committee Chair and Bonnie was voted in unanimously.
Staff Council Communications Committee Minutes
August 9, 2004
Present: Bonnie Norwood, Elizabeth Pape, Brenda Keen, Morgan Nolan, Nelda Parker, Martha Phillips, Bob Ratajczak
Absent: Leslie Mason
I. Welcomed new members and handed out Communications Committee members list with email and campus addresses for information and corrections
II. Decided on “Fall” Into Step With Your Staff Council as the topic for our November Staff Voice newsletter. Bonnie will contact Tom Jackson’s office about sending this out over the Official Announcements list serv again.
III. Discussed setting up list serv links on the Staff Council web site for all Staff Council committees - Bob will add
IV. Contact Columns regarding interviewing Bob, as current Staff Council President. Bob’s interview was in the latest Columns. Also want to contact them to do an article about Staff Council and take pictures of Staff Council representatives
V. Discussed e-mails to Communications Committee from web site link - one regarding Human Resources Benefits was forwarded to Needs & Concerns; other one regarding For Sale list serv rules violations was responded to by Bonnie
VI. Bob updated us on the web site changes that have been made and requested that a sub-committee be formed to finalize the changes and the look of the site. The sub-committee consists of Bob, Morgan, and Elizabeth
VII. Bob requested 1-3 questions from the communications committee
Communication Committee Notes
January 25, 2005
I. Discussed Spring newsletter and made writing assignments - it was suggested that we might want to ask Matt Winston if President Adams would like to address our request for more staff representation on the University Council in answer to Bob’s letter requesting this
II. Brenda will draft “sample” letter to legislators about the proposed delay in pay raises, which will be sent to the staff listserv and to the USG Staff Council which hopefully will send it to member institutions
III. Need to look at, and update, Staff Council accomplishments on the Staff Council web site
IV. Discussed listing UGA staff longevity milestones of 20, 25, and 30 years in the next newsletter