University of Nebraska Kearney

Staff Senate Minutes - December 15, 1998

Employee of the Month: Ray Bickford, Facilities Operator with HVAC in the Facilities Department

Present: Dennis Choplin, Dee Ellingson, Shelly Fleck, Carol Hines, John Lakey, Kathy Livingston, Tim McMullen, Mike Miller, Jane Sheldon, and Bonnie Mumm.

Absent: Rex Kendall, Steve Robinson, and Suzanne Petersen.

1. Call to Order and Introduction of Members

2. Adoption of Agenda. A Wellness Taskforce Committee Report was added. (Livingston/Fleck)

3. Minutes were approved as printed.

4. Unfinished Business
   1. Annual Report – prepared by the past president, Anita Kucera, will be available at the next meeting. The question was raised if there should be some mechanism in place concerning approval of the annual report. Right now there is nothing. The president prepares the report and presents it to the Chancellor on behalf of the Staff Senate. It was decided the Procedures Committee should take it under advisement and make a recommendation concerning approval before it is presented to the Chancellor.
   2. UNL Meeting - The meeting in which Anita Kucera and Rex Kendall will provide information about UNK’s Staff Senate at UNL has been postponed until January 11, 1999. Kucera will report to Staff Senate next month.

5. Committee and Search Reports.
   1. The search for the Director of Computer Services will be reopened in January. A request has been made to John Oseth that someone from Staff Senate be included on the committee.
   2. President Mumm reminded members that if they hear of any searches or anything where you feel Staff Senate should be represented, please call that to her attention.
   3. Sheldon, who is on the search committee for the VCAA, reported that they are still waiting to find out exactly who will be on the revised committee. Faculty Senate forwarded names to the Chancellor, but she has not named who will be on the new committee. They are to meet in January with Rodney Miller as chair. The position has been advertised and questions for the candidates are under consideration.
   4. Fleck reported that she is the Saff Senate’s representative on the Wellness Taskforce, which is headed by Kate Snyder and meets every month. Since the Health Fest, they have been working on the application to get UNK a wellness community. There are three levels, and UNK will try for the gold. Also next semester, Kate is going to hold brown bag lunches with specific wellness topics. Suggested topics include nutrition & exercise, ergonomics and workstation safety, etc. It was suggested that stress management be another topic; others ideas might be taken from the evaluation sheets from the recent “Making A Difference” event. Fleck noted that Snyder had someone in mind who will speak about tips to improve your workstation. Also departments’ workstation areas could be evaluated, but there would be a charge for that. Another area of concern, especially for staff in Res. Life and Facilities, was proper lifting techniques. Other suggestions concern staff who are single parents, and dealing with elderly parents.

6. New Business
   1. Review of information needed by Staff Senate members.
      1. Web Site – is under Human Resources Department. A discussion was held concerning the structure of the website. McMullen stated there are plans to hire a web design person but first a decision had to be made as to where the funds would come from. The position, which has not been advertised as yet, will be under University Relations. McMullen was asked if he would be willing to keep Staff Senate’s web page up-to-date. He said he would and he would visit with Jeanne Cutler who had been doing that in the past in cooperation with Judy Spellman. Monthly the minutes and the employee of the month need to be added.
      2. By-Laws – additional copies available on request.
   2. Attendance
      The secretary will be keeping attendance. In the bylaws, it states that members must report, prior to the meeting, their absence to either the president or vice president in order to be an excused absence. Two unexcused absences without cause within one Senate year, will be grounds for the Senate to ask for resignation. Mumm noted the Senate has been lax on this in the past, but we need everyone’s input. Members who are not attending will be made aware of this.
   3. Committee Assignments
      Current committee chairs stated the function of their committee. Current members were given the opportunity to change committees and new members were given the choice of committees on which they would like to serve. Committees include Employee Recognition, Election, Performance Management, Procedures, and Professional Development. Committee members will be announced next month. Each committee is required by the bylaws to include at least one administrative director, one managerial/professional, and one office/service member. In order not to duplicate efforts, one OSAC member will also be included on each committee with the exception of Election.
   4. Membership
      Mike Miller will complete the term of Sue Downey who has left UNK and Suzanne Petersen will take the place of Patty Sitorius, who has resigned.
   5. Facilities Advisory Group
      This new committee will review facilities plans and services and solicit advice and counsel, review landscaping needs and issues and solicit comments and counsel, adjudicate parking grievance disputes involving faculty and staff, and will be asked to participate in the campus safety walk, two times a year. The committee will include two faculty, two from Staff Senate, two students, one dean, and the vice chancellor of business and finance who will be the chair. Ex officio members will be Mike Miller and Bill Davis. Randy Haack has asked Staff Senate to submit three to five names for this committee. From those names, two will be selected to serve a two-year term. Names submitted will be Kathy Livingston, Rex Kendall, Steve Robinson and Brenda Kring, provided all agree to serve if appointed.

7. Announcements
   1. Lakey wanted to clarify about Martin Luther King Day in January. The campus will be closed that day. No classes will be held and offices will not be open. Because of special events scheduled, some employees might have to work. Those will be given a floating holiday.
   2. Meeting Locations. It was decided to keep the meetings at 10 a.m. in the Art Gallery of the Nebraskan.

8. Adjournment was at 11:00 a.m. (Sheldon/Choplin).

The next meeting will be January 19th.