Staff Assembly

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Staff Assembly Meeting Minutes

GH108 (Attendance - approximately 103)

Tyler Johnston, Chair, called the meeting to order and welcomed everyone.

Featured Department - A slide containing the Top Dawg past winners was presented.

Committee Reports

Staff Development - Gary Beaulieu reported this committee is offering staff three sessions which will be announced in the Digest.

  • Stress Management during Tough Economic Times, April 2
  • Understanding Your Credit Score, April 8
  • Understanding Today's Real Estate Market , April 15

Employment Affairs - Dana Ohren showed a slide on Campus Sweep which is set for April 28

Nominations & Elections - Patti Colip announced that nominations will be held from April 1 through April 10. There are three seats to fill on the Executive Committee. Elections will be held on-line from April 18-21.

Activities & Socials - Jennifer McConnell reminded everyone that the Relay for Life will be held March 27-28. Team Finance rose over $1,000. The Spring Sport Spectacular overnight event will be held April 17 -18.

Faculty Relations - Julie Schrader announced the survey results will be reported by early Fall. They would like a have a 'get-to-know you' event again during the spring picnic. They will hand-out goody bags to the faculty who received tenure or promotions.

Communications - Monica Strigari reported the newsletter was sent.

Top Dawg - Dick Hamm announced nominations will be open until May 1.

New Business

Bylaws - Tyler presented a slide with the written changes to the Staff Assembly Bylaws. The new bylaws show the restructure of the Executive Committee. Staff Assembly will vote on this in the April meeting.
Survey Results - The survey results are not finished yet, but will be in presented in the April meeting.

Jonathan Small - Background Check Policy & Long Term Care -
Background Check Policy - The purpose of the policy is to make sure Butler is providing a safe environment for faculty, staff and students. It also follows Federal laws and guidelines. Jonathan presented a grid with types of checks with qualifications.

  • The background check will be reviewed at Human Resources level and communicated with management to determine risk factor of hiring the applicant
  • The background check is only for new hires
  • It will be part of the employment process and will require permission from the applicant to conduct the check, which will be a separate form from the application

Long Term Care - Genworth Financial will provide the additional source of funding

  • The premiums will come out of employees pay check after taxes.
  • It is for employees and families.
  • There will be three options to purchase the Long Term Care Insurance.
  • During open enrollment, employees will not be subject to pre-qualifications.
  • The open enrollment dates will be April 16 and 17.

Dr. Fong - Finances - Actions of Board of Trustees at the February meeting.

  • 6% of the operating expense comes from endowments.
  • We are enrollment sensitive and if we make the end student number, we will be okay with the moderate increase of tuition.
  • There is an increase of Financial Aid offering this year.
  • Applications are up 7% but deposits are down.
  • Historical data is no good to us this year.
  • Salary pool for next year is 1% across the board but is contingent on meeting the enrollment numbers on census day. If a salary increase occurs, it will be retro-dated back to June 1.
  • The graduation rate of athletes is 89%.

Doggy Days Calendar - A student presented a slides about the calendar.

Announcements

Five new staff members were introduced and welcomed to Butler.

The next Staff Assembly meeting will be on Wednesday, April 15, 2009.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:37 pm.

Cindi Holloway
Secretary/Treasurer