Staff Senate General Assembly March 14, 2005

2:00 Global Resource Center Auditorium

Present: Julia Biglin, JoAnn Fischer, Mary Hittle, Julia Morales, Anita Rios, Adele Springer

Proxy: Amy Baca, Cindy Holladay

  1. Open Meeting
    1. President Hittle called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance.
    2. Secretary/Treasurer Springer took attendance of those senators present.

  2. Approval of Agenda and Minutes

    3. Vice President Biglin asked for a clarification of the previous meeting minutes. Parliamentarian Morales made a motion to approve the agenda and minutes and Senator Fischer seconded. Motion carried.

  3. President’s Report
    1. Enrollment for 2004-05—As per the last report on enrollment, it shows that the university is within the 5% window for full funding. The university will be offering several short-term courses. If you are interested in the courses, please register for the course(s).
    2. Handout of Union Questions—On a table at the entrance to the auditorium, President Hittle made a copy of questions for the union representatives. These questions will be going to all off-campus sites for their input. Please provide any additional question to President Hittle or a senator.
    3. Elections—At this meeting, we will nominate a person for the office of President for the 2005-06 year. Also in the next few weeks, we will replace those senators who have resigned.

  4. Old Business
    1. Committee Reports
      1. Staff Handbook—Fischer—The committee met on February 21st and discussed procedural changes within the handbook. These changes do not require a vote of the staff. The Human Resources office will send out these changes in March.
      2. Rewards and Recognition—Biglin—Please pick up a copy of the Sick Leave Bank Policy if you did not get one before the meeting. Please e-mail any changes or corrections to Vice President Biglin. One section still to be addressed in the policy is the selection of the committee members that would allocate or distribute the hours to those employees who request the hours. This section will be written after a meeting with the Human Resource employees.

        3. Employee of the Month—The Employee of the Month for March was selected at the last meeting of the committee. The staff member selected is currently on vacation, so that person will be notified once they return to campus.

        The next committee meeting will take place on March 18th.

      3. Election—Rios—The committee has obtained a list from Carmen Maynes for the Presidential and Senator elections.

      President Hittle requested from those in attendance any nominations for President of the Staff Senate. The only nomination received was from Margaret Soucy. Ms. Soucy nominated Mary Hittle. With no other nominations, Senator Fischer motioned for a close of the nominations, with Vice President Biglin seconding. Motion carried.

    2. Union Issues
      1. Petition—A petition was recently sent to WNMU requesting a bargaining unit for the university. President Hittle passed out a timeline for the union and bargaining units.
      2. Meeting with Union Representatives—This session will be set up with union members to meet with staff members who are interested in both the positives and negatives of the union. Again, if you have any other questions to add to the list, please send them to President Hittle.
    3. Other Handouts

      1. Domestic Partner Benefits—The Faculty Salary and Benefits Committee forwarded a recommendation to President Counts on these benefits. The committee has worked on the price to the university on allowing these benefits. Please inform your senate representative your feelings on this issue.
      2. House Bill 888—The officers of Staff Senate have sent a letter to Representative Rick Miera to consider the appropriation to CHE to recognize WNMU being awarded the ZIA Award from Quality New Mexico. The amount of the bill has decreased from 5 million to $500,000.
    4. Other

    Chris Casey gave an update from the legislative session. The

    appropriation bill is currently in committee. The appropriation asked

    for are full-funding formula and several special appropriations. This

    includes a 2% compensation increase, money for building renewal

    and replacement, CDC, NAFTA, and the Miller Library.

  5. Open Forum

    6. A recent article in the Sun News on March 4, 2005, stated that WNMU has to counter the request for the bargaining unit within 30 days. This date will be April 4th or 5th. Chris Casey stated, that due to an illness, the Public Employee Labor Relations Board will not meet until the end of April because it is not on the state agenda until then.

    President Hittle would like to set the meetings with the union representatives about 4-6 weeks from today. There will be 3 to 5 sessions held to inform the university community about the union. The university lawyer will review the questions for the union representatives. He will not approve or disapprove them.

  6. Next Meeting—The next meeting will be April 6th at 10:00 a.m. in the Student Memorial Building.
  7. Adjournment—Julia Biglin made a motion to adjourn with JoAnn Fischer seconding. Motion carried.