The meeting was called to order at 10:12 a.m. by the Chair, Larry Lauer.

Nelva Collier introduced Dr. Ronnie Holden, Vice President for Administrative Affairs, who spoke on behalf of Dr. Delores Spikes who was recovering from surgery. The University of Maryland Eastern Shore is proud of their achievements over the years and are proud of the organization. What we are trying do is to serve the citizens of the state of Maryland in the best way we can.

Greetings were also brought by Marie Billie, Director of Human Resources.

The Minutes from the April meeting were accepted with the noted corrections.

4/28/00 - Training and Development Task Force Meeting. The Task Force came up with the title "USM BEST" (Building Excellence through Staff Training), to be submitted with the strategic plan for USM. They have developed a five-year development plan. Different staff development plans were looked at from across the country such as: The University of North Carolina which is closest to what we aspire to. Their web site cataloged upcoming training opportunities; the University of Illinois system had a well-developed arrangement that offered web based training, with on-site staff presenters; Washington State regularly places into their budget dollars for training campus wide. Hampton University refers to their training as an "Academy"; and Morgan State University has an aggressive training program that focuses on information technology. The recent comments from the Vice Presidents noted that the money was either unavailable for implementation of BEST, or that it would be $10,000. Joe Vivona has been one of the catalysts who has moved this endeavor forward and he will make sure it becomes part of the strategic plan. Sally Hearn from UMBC has also been instrumental in the completion of this plan.

It was brought up that when we start to develop the training programs, we should make sure training is available for staff members who are functionally illiterate and make literacy a part of the complete mix of training opportunities.

5/1/00 Chancellors' Council - The Presidents response to the Contingent Workers Task Force was positive. Larry received the requested report from Benefits Committee for inclusion with the letter to the Chancellor and Board of Regents. The names of the BOR Staff Awards finalists will be forwarded to the Regents. The Shared Governance document reviewed again. Dr. Charles Middleton is now involved with the revision. He has taken the document and revised it to reflect the kind of document that we originally envisioned. Issues such as: the involvement of staff in the decision making process, allowing staff to speak their mind without fear of retaliation, support given for travel, time off to attend open governance meetings, etc. are included in this document.

There was no Board of Regents meeting this month.

5/9/00 CUSS Executive Committee Meeting - The committee set the agenda and discussed nominations for the officers for next year that we had already received. They also discussed the possibility of a summer function.

Larry then discussed an idea that the Executive Committee had proposed - to have a picnic in July that would be open to all past, present and new CUSS members. It was proposed that Rocky Gap State Park in Western Maryland be the site. A pavilion is available, golf for those wishing to partake, paddle boats, canoes and swimming. Lunch would be provided by CUSS (hot dogs, hamburgers, rolls and sodas) at 12:30 p.m. and the picnic would last until dark, when the park closes. This proposal was strongly approved by the Council.

Janet Magruder of UMBC stated that their Staff Senate had been working on initiatives regarding Staff who are classified "Emeritus". She suggested that this is something all the institutions may want to look into because of the number of faculty receiving Emeritus status. The Council felt that it would be an additional way to reward service of staff members.

BOR Staff Award - UMUC was the only institution that did not participate in this first year of the award. A letter from the Chancellor will be drafted and sent to all employees stating the winners once they have been approved.

There was no Board of Regents meeting.

6. REPORT FROM USM LIAISON

The Task Force for Staff Development Training will meet again and then distribute the document they have conceived.

Nonexempt Merit Distribution Task Force - to address the issue that the distribution of merit monies has not been consistent throughout USM institutions. The Chair of the Task Force will be Mr. Jim Hill from UMB. CUSS will need to furnish two representatives to serve on the Task Force. Larry Lauer and Janet Magruder volunteered to serve from CUSS, along with Donald Tynes. They will meet several times over summer and will look into non-monetary rewards for staff. The first meeting should take place in mid June.

Implementation of merit distribution - most institutions are only distributing additional money for outstanding and not for above standards ratings for Nonexempt Employees. The Council has concerns about how the money is distributed and the new task force should help address these concerns. We have been discussing this issue for over 8 years. Training sessions were held and merit increases were tied to performance starting in 1997. We continue to repeat the same errors and we should continue to work toward resolution. The wording for implementation is vague and there are no consequences in place for failure to follow set guidelines. The Council feels that accountability still needs to be addressed, with checks and balances put in place. Contact your President and Vice President to make our concerns known.

The Legislative Committee and concerned others will work on the interpretation of SB 682.

Richard Rose has withdrawn from the nominations and Larry Lauer has come forward to run for the position of Chair. Dottie Holland and Huck Bothner are still running for Vice Chair and there were no nominations for the position of Secretary/Treasurer.

The committee sent a report to Larry concerning health benefits for contingent employees. The report was also forwarded to the BOR strongly requesting that they look into providing minimum benefits for Contingent II employees. There is a lack of consistency of benefits for contingent employees across the system. We need to provide good benefits in order to attract good employees. The packet will also include a recommendation to transfer length of service for contingent workers who are converted to regular status for purposes of leave and awards.

Report for submission to the newsletter is available for review. They received information from Carol Prior about the state leave system.

BOR Staff Award - the committee will start putting together changes for next year's award process. They will see that the word gets out earlier. The committee is looking for ideas about how to disseminate and promote the idea systemwide, and also how to clarify what type of staff are eligible (i.e., one Exempt, one Nonexempt, explanations of 'Packets', explanations about the categories, and possibly including the full number of copies we will need for evaluation.)

All committee chairs need to get their reports to Fran Younger immediately for inclusion in the newsletter.

The CUSS Words document is now available. It was sent to everyone via email attachment, and hard copies are available for distribution.

The committee wants to draft a letter to the Chancellor about the shared governance open meetings that are held at the institutions. He should be made aware that some areas of some institutions are not allowing their employees to attend these meetings. Lu Ann Marshall will send a draft letter to the executive committee for review.

Target Staff Salaries - we are still attempting to find a copy of the letter that was sent during Sally Hearn's tenure as Chair of CUSS.

Sweatshop Logo situation - Andrianna Stuart received the information for the Council to review and Sandy Ratke will have it copied to send out in the next mailing packet.

Contingent workers jury duty - the Council will look into the issue of Contingent Staff having to take leave instead of getting paid release time or administrative leave when serving on juries.

Collective Bargaining meeting at UMBC - it was brought up that the AFSCME representatives that were present at the meeting made people uncomfortable with their presence. If our meetings are going to be open, then we need to invite all the unions to be present. If we are still uncomfortable, we can then decide to close our meetings in certain situations.

Letters setting up procedures for speaking with employees should be sent to the unions before the next legislative session. The discussion included who the letters should come from. No consensus was agreed upon.

CUSS Budget - yes, we will have a budget this year and it will be a separate line item.

New CUSS member orientation was successful last fall and will be held again this year.

Member terms - it was asked if there is a limit to the amount of time someone may be on the council? No, not at this time. Is this something the council should look into? Discussion included the fact that our government was built on the premise that you're in a position until you're voted out. It is the opinion of some that it should be a campus-by-campus decision. No consensus of the body was reached as to whether or not to discuss this further.

The Council was adjourned at 2:09 p.m. Next meeting to be held at University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science - Horn Point Laboratory in Cambridge, Maryland on June 20, 2000.

The 1^st Annual CUSS Picnic is to be held on July 28, 2000 at Rocky Gap State Park in Western Maryland at 12:30 p.m. All past, present and newly elected CUSS representatives and their families are encouraged to attend.