CEPAC-Staff Senate

Roll Call

• Voting Members:
• Mary Engle, Chair
• Kevin Thane, Chair-elect
• Diane Helgeson
• Michelle Larsen
• Jeannette Radcliffe
• Steven Beasley
• Kristine Mashaw
• Rose Cain
• Gale M Kinzie
• Non-voting Members:
• Ron Brekke
• Sheron McIlhattan
• Judy Van Andel
• Beth Littlefield
• Cherie Eck
• Sherry Garner
  Others present:
• Sandra Tetro
• Sara France

Apologies for Absence

Minutes of the Last Meeting

General Business

• By Laws - The revised By Laws are now lodged with CEPAC-Staff Senate, publically accessible via www.montana.edu/staffsenate. Steve Beasley moved that they be officially adopted. Diane Helgeson seconded and the motion was unanimously approved.
• Shared Governance - Shared Governance weekly meetings reconvened for spring semester, as of January 17.
• MUSSA Activity - MUSSA has conferenced twice since the last CEPAC-Staff Senate meeting. The first, on December 17, established some preliminary ideas for the next Board of Regents presentation, in March. Work will be on-going in this regard.

  The second call, on January 18, included Kevin McRae, Director of Labor Relations, Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education (OCHE), and Susan Alt, HR Director at MSU. Discussion revolved around the status of

  1. the Pooled Resources professional development and training on-line facility. Kevin requested that MUSSA provide him with a report of exactly what is required for Pooled Resources to proceed;
  2. the January Board of Regents meeting at which OCHE and individual campus biennial budget initiatives were presented. The MUS has been cautioned to be realistic in its State funding requests. The MUS's first priority initiative from the January meeting is a pool of money to address critical salary issues (this following the Recruitment and Retention Task Force findings, and OCHE confirmation of less than competitive salaries). The impact of other, non-salary employee recruitment and retention recommendations from the Task Force report can likely not be assessed before the next biennial budget is known (probably in the spring of 2009). The PEPB presentation last month went well and the information was well received. No specific action was defined on the day. Those present at today's CEPAC-Staff Senate meeting commended OCHE's and Regents' recent activity and their quick response to the Task Force findings.
• Goals and Projects Update - The next MSU Friday falls this week, on January 25. CEPAC-Staff Senate email listservs have been utilized to encourage employees to display buttons, posters, table tents etc. Buttons are now available for pick up at the Office of Communications and Public Affairs; posters and table tents are on the CEPAC-Staff Senate web site for download. Carol Shannon offered to place appropriate wallpaper on student lab computers, and a jpg has been provided to her.

  CEPAC-Staff Senate is conducting its biennial survey of if/how staff must supplement their MSU incomes (deadline January 25). Preliminary findings will be reported to the Regents in March.

  Departmental outreach meetings are pending with Facilities Services, and the College of Engineering. However, facilitating local meetings has not proven easy this year due to staff, and member, workloads and availability. Sara France spoke of the success of large scale presenation CEPAC-Staff Senate made last year (on the MSU Within the Community research) and suggested members consider this kind of approach to outreach in 2008. Mary Engel moved that constituents be informally polled, by email, as to whether they would be interested in attending such meetings, at what time of day, and on what topics. Rose Cain seconded and the motion was unanimously approved. The results will be shared with voting members electronically and a decision on how to proceed made by email.

  Committee Reports

  CEPAC/Staff Senate-nominated committee representatives have scheduled agenda time at each meeting to personally report on their committee work. CEPAC-Staff Senate believes maximum communication to greatly benefit the staff and campus, and so also maintains on-line reporting as well as personal contact.

  UFPUB met on January 9 at which the new Parking Manager was introduced. Topics discussed were final construction at Cooley Lab; the Viscom lobby renovation; temporary names for the currently un-named buildings (these will be "Hoseus Fitness Center" and "Chemistry and Biochemistry Building"); and teaching facilities during the renovations to Gaines Hall (likely to be provided by temporary buildings for two years).

  The International Programs Committee was conducting a SWOT study at the same time as CEPAC-Staff Senate meeting today. Judy Van Andel had submitted her input.

  Benefits Committee - Ron Brekke spoke of possible plan changes to be discussed at the February 7 Plan Change subcommittee meeting in Helena. Changes are proposed in various areas including prescription drug deductibles, and the possible elimination of flex account administrative fees. Ron invited staff members with questions and/or suggestions to contact him prior to February 7.

There being no other business, Kevin Thane moved to adjourn. Michelle Larsen seconded, and the meeting closed at 10:25 am.