MOREHEAD STATE UNIVERSITY

STAFF CONGRESS MINUTES

November 3, 2008

Jeff Adkins

Rhonda Crisp

Phillip James

Jill McBride

Lonnie Morris

Todd Thacker

Darlene Allen

Chris Hampton*

David Jessie

Jewell McCormick

April Nutter*

Sharon White*

Patty Carper*

Shannon Harr

Kevin Koett

Rebecca McGinnis

Joel Pace

Terry White

Lisa Caskey*

Rosemary Hinton

Margaret LaFontaine

Rick Messer*

William Salazar

Shannon Colvin*

Joe Hunsucker

Rhonda Mackin

Amy Moore

Dallas Sammons

Guests:

Lisa Shemwell, Speech Team Coach, Department of Communication & Theatre and a member of the President’s Leadership Academy; Sharon Reynolds,

Motion:

To approve the minutes from the October 6, 2008 meeting.  A correction was noted in the October minutes in that Chris Hampton and Amy Moore were supposed to be marked as absent and were not.  Also, under Announcements, M. LaFontaine’s name was left out identifying her as the person being mentioned.  The letter “l” was left out of the word bowling. 

Proposed:  J. Adkins

Seconded:  T. Thacker

Called for Vote:

Passed with corrections.

Chair's Report

 The meeting was turned over to Sharon Reynolds who gave a brief presentation of the results of the Senior Administrator’s Survey from this past spring.  The presentation was previously given to the Staff Congress Executive Council and the President’s Council.

Chair Pace reported that this year was the 21^st anniversary of Staff Congress, not the 20^th anniversary as previously thought.  On November 21^st there will be another state meeting in Elizabethtown of Staff Congress organizations across the stat which he will be attending.  If anyone else would like to attend, let him know.  On the back page of each copy of the minutes, there will be a bill-tracking box where the progress of items presented to Staff Congress will be tracked as to their status.  He has talked with Mike Walters, and the Staff Congress filing cabinet and information that was talked about at the last meeting has been found in an office in Waterfield Hall.  Mr. Walters will be moving the Staff Congress office into another location in Allie Young that is yet to be determined.  Hopefully, we will have a central location in Allie Young Hall by the end of the week. 

Vice-Chair’s Report

R. McGinnis reported that she has updated the Staff Congress website, removed the Committee Interest Form, and removed Michele Thompson from the website.  We would like to compile a list of accomplishments that Staff Congress has done throughout the years and have it ready by the time elections are held next year.  If you can think of anything that you feel like Staff Congress has accomplished in the past, please send it to her. 

Secretary's Report

R. Mackin reported that $115.37 was spent on refreshments.  The current balance in supplies is $2,556.87. 

Parliamentarian's Report

No report.

Credentials and Elections

D. Jessie obtained a list from Human Resources of the Technical/Paraprofessional employees on campus.  He contacted several of them and so far no one has shown an interest in taking over that position so he is still working on that.  He was in contact with one person but that person is being promoted to another position January 1^st so would be unable to fill this vacancy.  He has another item that he and K. Koett will be addressing within the next 7-10 days within their committee and will report on that at the next meeting on December 1^st.  Chair Pace asked if there has been any progress made on filling the Secretarial/Clerical position that Michele Thompson left last month, when she was transferred to another position.  K. Koett replied that R. Hinton has given him a name and he will be contacting that person. 

Fiscal Affairs

No report.

Personnel Policies and Benefits

1. A. Moore reported their committee has not met; however, she brought copies of the Sick Leave Bank policy that she just received from Phil Gniot late on Friday afternoon and forwarded out to everyone.  She said Staff Congress was asked to review it and submit any comments to Human Resources.  She asked Staff Congress members to discuss it today and table it for now, then bring any comments back to the December Staff Congress meeting.  She stated that all the health care information has been sent out from Human Resources with regards to the three health care plans that have been proposed for this next year.  J. Hunsucker asked if they were planning on doing away with the HRA.  A. Moore replied no, the HRA will still be associated with the CDHP and will still have the same contributions as the last four years as far as amounts.  What is changing with the HRA, is that when you leave the university, it used to be open-ended; in other words, you still had access to those funds.  It will be changing to the funds have to be exhausted within 18 months after you leave employment with the university.  Initially, when the HRA was presented to us, you could use the money towards retirement premiums if needed but that has changed.  You will now only have 18 months to use it when you leave employment with MSU.  Additional discussion was held and concern expressed regarding accounts with high HRA balances.  A. Moore will voice the concerns to Human Resources.  One item that others were not aware of was that an employee could use their HRA to pay for medical expenditures for family members who are not part of our insurance group because it is considered a financial hardship on the employee to cover a medical expenditure.  In 2009, we will have the HSA (Health Savings Account) that is similar to the FSA (Flexible Spending Account) but is not a “use it or lose it” type of account, you will retain this even if you leave employment with the university.  There was additional discussion regarding the HSA.  T. Thacker stated that everyone will need to read the Sick Leave Bank policy as it replaces the current Sick Leave Pool.  A. Moore stated that how the Sick Leave Pool currently works is that if you exhaust all your vacation/sick leave days and you have a serious injury then you can apply to the sick leave pool and be given days.  The Sick Leave Bank will replace the Sick Leave Pool and the Sick Leave Bank will be an “opt in” option; either you are a part of it or you are not.  If you are not, you will not have an option to apply to it and get days.  If you decide you want to be a part of this, you have to contribute two days of sick leave a year.  But if you have an illness that falls under FMLA guidelines, then you will be eligible to receive days from the bank.  The limit will be 60 days eligibility in a rolling calendar year.  After you have been a participant for five years, the mandatory contribution decreases to one day per year.  If you have donated previously to the Sick Leave Pool that donation does not count towards your initial contribution to the Sick Leave Bank; however, the initially donated days are not lost.  They will become the foundation of the new Sick Leave Bank.  Your doctor will state whether or not you are a qualifier for the FMLA.  Further discussion was held regarding the Sick Leave Bank.  Chair Pace stated that if anyone needs a copy of the Sick Leave Bank information that Amy had sent out, another copy will be sent to you by contacting either Amy or Rhonda.  He encouraged members to read this over and be ready to take some kind of action on it at the December meeting. 

Ad-Hoc - Professional Development

No report.  

Motion:

To adjourn.

Proposed:  T. Thacker

Seconded:  D. Jessie

Called for Vote:

Passed.

ACTION

PERSON RESPONSIBLE

DUE DATE

RESOLUTION

Staff Assessment on SC

Kevin Koett/Joel Pace

April, 2009

Report on EOC categories and staff congress representation

C/E Committee, David Jessie and Kevin Koett

December 1, 2008

Sick Leave Pool

Amy Moore

December 1, 2008

Ad-Hoc Committee to look at committee structure at other schools.

Rosemary Hinton and Shannon Colvin

March, 2009

Staff Congress Vacancies

C/E Committee

December 1, 2008