I. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to
order at 10:08 a.m. by the Chair, Larry Lauer.
II.
Welcome
Paulette Quickley welcomed
the Council to Bowie State University and spoke a little about the history of
the institution. She then introduced
Dr. Esther Ward, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, who brought
greetings from Bowie's new President, Dr. Calvin W. Lowe, who was unable to
attend. Dr. Lowe has a background in
Physics and comes to Bowie from Hampton University where he established a
research center for optical physics.
His appointment as President puts Bowie State University in the
forefront of historically black institutions.
Dr. Ward believes that Dr. Lowe will take Bowie into the 21st
century with style.
We were then welcomed by
Vera Chesley, Chair of Bowie's Staff Council.
Ms. Chesley was thankful to the CUSS Representatives for the work they
do, and thanked us for our efforts.
III.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The Minutes from the March
meeting were accepted with the noted corrections.
IV. REPORT
FROM CHAIR
Larry Lauer started by
introducing the new members and alternates present. Beverly Morris (UMUC) resigned from the Council, and Sally Davies
is the new representative from UMUC.
3/31/00 - Spoke at the Behavioral and Social Science
College Staff (UMCP) breakfast about
the activities of CUSS.
3/31/00 - Attended the Shared Governance meeting at
Towson - continued the discussion with Dr. Havas regarding details of shared
governance, and resolved language for several items. Discussed the wisdom of incorporation by reference or direct
incorporation into the Regents' document.
Dr. Hoke Smith will rework the report and present it to the Presidents
on the following Monday, April 3, 2000.
4/3/00 - Attended the Presidents Council, and
continued discussion of the Shared Governance document. The document was turned over to Dr. Chuck
Middleton for final revision. Joe
Vivona talked about the operating and capital budget. There was also discussion about the USM Strategic Plan and
enrollment projections for all institutions.
During Larry's report, he
talked about the BOR staff awards (specifically, the on-going review process
and the number of nominations) and the Staff Development Task Force (where we
are in the process and when the report is expected to be completed). He also commented on the budget and the need
for the Presidents to properly reward staff within the context of the working
budget.
4/17/00 - Attended the Board of Regents meeting at
Bowie. The Faculty Awards were
presented at this meeting. Larry's
presentation was late in the day and most attendees had left, but there was a
good conversation with Regents Chapman, Wood and Gonzales, and Joe Vivona about
the benefits for Contingent II workers, all of whom voiced strong support for
moving ahead with the proposal. Larry
also discussed the importance of the budget to the Staff, the BOR Staff Awards,
and the Staff Development Program.
4/11/00 - CUSS Executive Committee Meeting - set the
agenda, discussed the defeat of the Optional Retirement bill.
4/12/00 - Spoke with the Executive Committee of the
Black Faculty Staff Association (BFSA) at UMCP.
4/17/00 - Attended the Staff Development Task Force
meeting. They worked out an
implementation plan, preliminary budget and goals, and started a discussion of
inclusion of training into the USM Strategic Plan. All suggestions received the full support of Joe Vivona.
VI. REPORT
FROM BOARD OF REGENTS REPRESENTATIVE
Jennifer Berkman attended
the full board meeting in April. The
Regents discussed the honorary degrees to be awarded. Discussion revolved around the awarding of degrees to high
profile controversial people, and the danger they may bring to the institution
by their presence there. They also
discussed the need to avoid awarding degrees to politicians. Smaller
institutions may have done this in the past in order to get more affordable
speakers. The concern here is that it may be viewed as being done for political
gain, or exchange of favors.
There was a briefing on the
State Plan and the USM Strategic Plan.
The deadline for the Strategic Plan is June 30, 2000. The Regents received an update from Joe
Vivona on the capital and operating budget.
What related most to our work was for the plan to include operating
costs associated with growth and new buildings. There was discussion about the staffing of these new
buildings. The Chancellor and Joe
Vivona spoke about the Board of Visitors report. There was an update on the regional centers bill and the pension
bill.
The open session of the
Board meetings usually includes students as the welcome speakers. It was clear that the students from Bowie
were not happy, and they brought their concerns to the Board. Regent Josey spoke to them about the fact
that the BOR will not micromanage problems of individual institutions and that
they utilize the proper channels at their institutions. From our standpoint, this is important in
order to give the Presidents accountability.
At the end of the closed
meeting, Regent Chapman asked the Presidents to bring issues to the Regents'
retreat in June. Please speak to your
individual President about some of our issues (i.e., shared governance bill and
staff development issue) that they could take to the retreat. Also, remember that collective bargaining
might be a good topic for the retreat.
Technology Committee Report
- all campuses should have already submitted a plan. The committee is looking into the use of technology by
staff. The plan is due to the Board by
June 30, 2000.
VII.
REPORT FROM USM OFFICE LIAISON
When the Staff Development
Task Force is formulating a draft to be presented at the Regent's Retreat in
June, 2000. Vice Chancellor Vivona has
given this program high priority and it will be one out of 15 items scheduled
for the USM Strategic Plan for FY 2001.
The Chancellor's Salary
Guidelines memorandum was distributed right after the legislative session. The COLA remains at the November 15, 2000
implementation date. Under the
Chancellor's Salary Guidelines, merit increases may be given for outstanding and
above standards performance. Donald
Tynes will share with the Council the final report for merit increases awarded
across the USM.
Legislation - the increase
for the ORP was foremost in the Chancellors agenda. Donald Tynes and Rosario van Daalen attended endless committee
meetings. In the Senate Pension subcommittee,
this legislation got caught up in the vote trading that occurs in the end of
the session. Added to the original bill
were Morgan University, St. Mary's College and the Community Colleges. Funding for the Community Colleges was a
concern. In the end, it never came out
of the subcommittee. The plan is to
revisit it next session using the same arguments.
Other legislative items that
passed: The Social Security number that
was on USM ID cards will be removed; Organ donation with pay, provides 7 days
for bone marrow, 30 days for organ donation. The language just needs to be
worked on; HB 1270 creates a sick leave incentive program. It provides for payment of up to 56 hours of
unused sick leave per calendar year if an employee has used no more than 3 days
(24 hours) of sick leave during the calendar year. To be eligible for the program, an employee must maintain a sick
leave balance of at least 240 hours after payment is received. This bill does not apply to independent
agencies and the USM is currently seeking advice of council from the Attorney
General's Office.
SB 448 - Passed - requires
all new employees to have payroll direct deposit effective October 1,
2000. Our concern is that some staff
members who don't have checking accounts (bad credit, illiteracy, etc.) will
have problems due to this requirement.
Collective Bargaining - was
initially assigned to the Senate Finance Committee and was never assigned a
hearing. Based on the information
that's still filtering back, it will still be an item for the next session. The model is what the state has done to date
and is what the System will be reviewing.
It is still part of the Governor's agenda that the System be part of
that process. One concern during the
Optional Retirement Bill discussions, was the position of the System on
Collective Bargaining. A Senator stated
that because we don't have collective bargaining he didn't vote for the ORP
bill, trying that way to force collective bargaining on the USM.
The Librarians have faculty
status now. BOR approval took place
April 7, 2000 and will come under Section II of BOR policy. Staff policies under Section VII of BOR do
not apply to them any longer.
Relating to the discussion
from the last meeting about tuition remission, Rosario brought up the fact that
a working group of the Benefits Coordinators is addressing the information
brochures and procedures used by each institution.
Donald thinks that the BOR
Staff Awards should be awarded at the regular board meeting just like the
faculty awards. We can do another at a
later date, but it should be with the Regents present.
VIII. CONTINGENT
EMPLOYMENT DISCUSSION
Jessica Bird spoke about how
this is the time to address the contingent employees case. Jessica will email the documentation she's
compiled to the Council.
Contingent II employees have
been hired for varied reasons (varies campus to campus) and gravitates away
from the original reasons for these positions.
She has statistics of how many Contingent employees don't have benefits
broken down institution by institution.
Our concern is how many of those total numbers do not have health
insurance. Roughly, the former BOT
schools offer the bare minimum (holiday, sick and annual leave); the former UM
institutions offer anywhere from zero to the full amount the state receives,
minus the state retirement. All
employees have unemploy-ment and taxes withheld, but when it comes to the
enhanced benefits, even within a single institution, it depends on how the
employee is paid. If the employee is on
a grant, it may be fully funded whereas, the poorer departments may not get
anything more than a subsidy for health insurance. We have the cost figures for the bare bones HMO for Contingent II
employees. To move forward we will need
the number of Contingent employees not on grants so we can work up the costs to
provide a minimum health package.
It was proposed that maybe
we need to look at a cafeteria selection rather than at a set dollar amount. If what we're looking for is retention, then
this will help. Propose that we look at
this with as much flexibility as we can manage. The concern was expressed that by putting it in that mode, it
would create an inequity between Contingent and Regular line employees.
Our job should be to provide
the Chancellor with guidance. We
recommend that the USM move toward providing minimum health benefits for
Contingent II employees who are not moved to regular line positions. This will parallel/compliment the proposal
being developed by the SHRC.
Discussion evolved into a
Contingent I discussion about those employees who are renewed over and over
again. If we can't get them health
insurance, then at least they should have the right to file a grievance. The right to grieve is written into HB 682
and we are required to continue to use the state procedure.
IX. LUNCH
& COMMITTEE WORK
X. COMMITTEE
REPORTS
Benefits
Wording for
the memo to the Chancellor includes minimum health benefits package for
contingent employees with encouragement to move them to regular line
items. It also suggests the formation
of a task force to look into implementation, and that CUSS members be on the
task force. The cover memo for the
report packet is very strong and was well received by the Council. Move that we forward this letter on to the
Chancellor, asking him to form a task force to evaluate the contingent
plan. Motion passed. The letter will be forwarded.
There was clarification from
Rosario about sick leave being lost and not part of retirement. Under the Employees' Pension System, accrued
sick leave can be used toward retirement payments only if retirement takes
place immediately after termination. If
the employee defers retirement, accrued sick leave is lost. However, she strongly encouraged everyone to
consult with the State Retirement Agency for exact calculations.
Compensation
Still working on the Sick
Leave issues. Also suggest that we
should include compensation criteria in the USM Strategic Plan.
Community Development
BOR Staff Award review
process is done. We need to address
clarification of procedures for submittal in the future.
Communications
The newsletter submittals
are due at the May meeting for inclusion, but earlier is better so that Fran Younger
will be able to have a mock up available for that meeting. The newsletter will go onto the web after
completion.
Discussion of what should be
included in CUSS Words and whether we can put the approved minutes on the web
site. Minutes will go up on the web
after approval.
XI. OLD
BUSINESS
There
was no old business.
XII. NEW
BUSINESS
We are now accepting
nominations for Chair, Vice-Chair, and Secretary for the 2000-2001 year. The two at-large members of the Executive
Committee are elected at the August meeting.
Nominees are:
Chair Richard
Rose
Vice-Chair Dottie
Holland
Huck Bothner
Further nominations will be
accepted at the May meeting. Election
to be at the June meeting at Horn Point.
An issue was raised from Andrianna
Stuart that the College Park Senate would be looking into the use of "sweat
shop production", in the manufacturing of licensed university logo items. College Park belongs to the fair labor task
force. College Park found out the
national average is that most are not manufactured in this manner; rather it is
the unlicensed items which are produced this way. This might be something the Council should look into. It was proposed that a letter be sent to the
Chancellor encouraging System support of this task force. The Council would like more information
before making a judgement as to whether to get involved. This proposal is tabled until further
information is presented.
Fran announced that UMCES is
now an official staff council institution!!!!
Their President will be visiting all 4 of their institutional locations
to see what the issues are and what the various roles should be.
The question as to how to
record and use leave for Contingent employees for jury duty was raised. The Council is curious to know how jury duty
is treated at the various institutions for Contingent employees, so, in order
to address this, each member is asked to find out how their institution handles
the situation.
New Presidents
Salisbury State University's
new President, Dr. Janet Dudley-Eshbach is due to start on June 15, 2000. Dr. Dudley-Eshbach comes to Salisbury from
Fairmont State. She was named 100th
in the top 500 rising stars in higher education and has very strong ties in the
state of Maryland.
Bowie State University - Dr.
Calvin W. Lowe is a physicist coming from Hampton University.
Towson University will be
changing their President soon, as Dr. Hoke Smith will be retiring.
XIII.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn was made
at 2:27 p.m. Next meeting to be at
University of Maryland Eastern Shore on May 23, 2000. Note: The June meeting
will be June 20th and not the 27th as originally planned.
