Archives
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STAFF COUNCIL
MINUTES OF MEETING HELD 4/16/02
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| Present: |
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Janey Loney, Christie Shepherd for Alicia Stanley, Roger Morris, Kathleen Norvell, Cynthia Stevenson, Rebecca Beardsley, Rita Seelye, Lisa Ruddell, Juli Crecelius, Lee Ann Bennett, Deb NeSmith, Curt Peterson, Barb Gelwick and Bev Biggs |
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| Absent - Excused: |
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Cari Winstead |
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Secretary Bev Biggs reported that the minutes of the last meeting were approved by all Staff Council members via email and then sent to all staff prior to the meeting. |
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| Treasurer Janie Loney reported the following: |
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$373.76 |
Rainy Day Fund (deposit of .39 dividend only activity) |
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$858.78 |
Savings Account (deposit of .90 dividend only activity) |
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$2528.68 |
Checking Account
Ticket Sales of $2,002
Expenses of $12.73 for Style Show Expenses
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| STYLE SHOW REPORT: Everyone agreed that the Style Show was a great success. The Council gave a round of applause to the committee which consisted of Janey Loney, Cynthia Stevenson, Lisa Ruddell and Cari Winstead. The date of March 21, 2003 has been set for next year. Not all expenses for the style show have been paid as of this date. Dennis Cottingham donated the printing of the programs and plaque for the door prize table. At this time, printing costs and decoration expenses appear to be about $120.83. Most of this cost will be covered by the $100 donation received by Rebecca Beardsley.
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COMPENSATION FOR NON-INSURANCE HOLDERS: The following information was received from Susan Brewer of the University Benefits Office in answer to this question:
The question does come up from time to time. I'll try to answer.
First let me start by saying that in 1995 a 41-member, university-wide task force reviewed the very question that you have asked. The task force was made up of staff, union, professional, administration, and faculty representative. IUS was represented on that task force. They worked with
an outside national consultant (Hewett, I believe) for about a year and their final resolution was that 'full flex' benefits were not appropriate at that time for IU. Probably very little has changed since then that would result in a different outcome if it were reviewed again. However, the IU Commission on Health Care and the IUB professional council have expressed some interest recently in looking at this issue. Mary Ann Baker from IUS is your representative on the Commission.
The core of the issue, over simplified, is below. Keep in mind that the issue is complex and that the task force spent an entire year and considerable resources analyzing the option.
- A change to 'full flex' benefits would need to be budget neutral, that is, it cannot result in additional costs to the university (i.e., to departments). Why? Health care this budget year is running at $61.1 million dollars. This is almost double what it was in 1997 ($34 million). This office is requesting an additional $13 million dollars (21.5% increase) for the 2002-2003 budget year to cover health care expenses and an additional $16 million is expected to be needed the following year. In the current budget situation, we are not sure that departments can afford to pay this. (These monies come from each department in the way of a payroll tax.)
- There are currently 15,500 employees that are eligible for IU-sponsored health care plans. Only about 14,000 are currently enroll in IU health care plans. This means that today IU makes no contribution for about 1,500 individuals. If these individuals were given the average contribution for
health care to purchase other benefits like supplemental life, long term disability, accident insurance, of to take as a cash payout; it would add a few million dollars to the benefit plan budget that is already going up $13 million. In order to remain 'budget neutral' this means that the additional costs would need to come from the current $61.1 million budget, i.e.,
contributions that are currently made for the 14,000 who do have
IU-sponsored health plans would need to be re-allocated to cover these costs. I believe that the 1995 task force determined that the net result of moving to 'full flex' benefits would be that employees that currently have spouse/child/family coverage would receive smaller contributions from the university and thus would have to pay significantly more for their dependent coverage. They were not willing to recommend this.
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| SNOW POLICY: Employees who have a question about this issue should discuss it with their supervisors first; then, if no satisfaction is received, go up the chain of command. Human Resources informed the Council that individual issues or gripes should not be addressed by this group. |
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| CHANCELLOR’S GIFT: A platter from the staff made by Louisville Stoneware will be presented to the Chancellor at his campus-wide farewell. |
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MISSION STATEMENT: The following mission statement will be placed on our web site:
The mission of the Staff council at Indiana University Southeast is to represent non-academic staff in University matters, provide a support system and foster a benevolent, social bond among the staff.
The Council thanked Deb NeSmith for developing this.
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| ELECTIONS: Roger Morris reported that no one in the SM category from the Physical Plant was willing to serve on the Elections Committee. Barb Gelwick volunteered to be a member of the committee and to provide assistance in putting the elections on the web site. Barb confirmed that nominations and elections can be anonymous by this method. An email will be sent to all voters with a web address linking them to the site for voting. Paper ballots will be available upon request.
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| FUND RAISERS: It was agreed that the Council will continue to have fund raisers, but wanted an activity that would not mean asking for donations again and would be fun for the participants. President Norvell had some information from The Bats (formerly The River Bats) about working in the concession stand. The Council could earn 10% of the profits on a weekend and 12% on a weekday. It was agreed that this would be a worthwhile endeavor. The event would require a minimum of 16 people to work at the concession stand for approximately 4 to 5 hours. The two dates being considered are Friday, May 31 or Friday, June 7 both at 7:15. Volunteers are asked to email President Norvell with the date they are willing to work. Hopefully, the group could travel from IUS together and enjoy the evening, along with earning funds for the treasury.
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| SALARY INCREASES: Council members have been approached by staff voicing their disappointment with the 2.5% increase, in lieu of a 3% increase that was requested. It was felt we couldn’t do anything about it now, but that we should plan on getting a head start next year. President Norvell suggested that we invite the new Chancellor and Vice Chancellor for Administrative Affairs to one of our fall meetings when the matter of salary increases can be addressed.
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| ABSENCES: The Council voted to amend the by-laws to include sickness as an excused absence. The By-Laws Committee will be asked to make this change.
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OTHER:
- Rainy Day Fund: This fund is to lend a helping hand for staff facing a catastrophic event. A letter of recommendation must be submitted to the committee - two faculty and one staff person, who approve the request.
- A letter of welcome from the Staff Council, explaining who we are and what we do, along with a copy of our by-laws, is sent to each new CL, TE and SM person who is hired.
- A staff member suggested that the Council ask for volunteers to help the grounds crew prepare for commencement since their overtime has been curtailed. The Council decided that since we were not approached directly to help, that we didn’t have much time to seek volunteers and that most of us would have to work overtime to help that this was not something we should pursue.
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