Minutes
Employee Assembly
December 3, 1997
Day Hall Board Room
12:15 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

I. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 12:17 p.m. by M.Overstrom.

II. Open Forum

a. Parking Issue -

T.Fraboni reported that Diane Pettit , a part-time employee, wrote a letter asking that her parking fee be prorated for the days that she does not come to Cornell to work. Since then, there has been nothing communicated to her. T.Fraboni stated that a response should be given to D.Pettit. M.Overstrom and D.Poland will address this issue.

b. Cornell Review -

G.Brandt, expressing an interested from a employee who contacted him, noted that the Cornell Review has printed several offensive and controversial items recently. Therefore, according to some, the use of the name “Cornell” may not be appropriate. G.Brandt said that he will put this topic on the agenda for the next meeting.

c. Transportation Review Committee -

M.Esposito asked whether or not a review committee has been established to evaluate the effectiveness of the transportation advisory committee and to recommend changes to the same. M.Overstrom stated that originally the transportation advisory board was staffed with students, staff, and faculty. However, many of these members would not show up, and this made it easy for transportation to have items passed without adequate review and input. Therefore, it was suggested that the make-up of the committee be reviewed. If all the seats are filled, then this review is not needed.

d. EA Budget -

L.Caswell asked about the status of the EA budget. G.Brandt replied that there has been no work on the budget for the last two months. This item might be placed upon the spring goals list.

e. PHP rates -

M.Overstrom stated that these rates were announced to the employees at the same time that they reached M.Opperman’s and J.Lambert’s offices. Also, rates are determined by the State of New York and effect employees state-wide. At the December 12 UBC meeting, there will hopefully be a representative from PHP who will be present to answer questions about rate increases. If enough employees switch to the Empire Plan, then PHP will be out of business in the Tompkins county area.

Scott Maynes, chair of the UBC, said that at an earlier meeting a representative of PHP stated that rates were set by PHP. What kind of State consultation takes place is not known. For Empire, rates are set by the union, primarily CSEA, the New York State Legislature, and the New York State Department of Civil Service. There will be a meeting next week, at which a discussion of endowed and statutory PHP programs will take place. S.Maynes stated that he would like to be able to speak to someone from Albany. It is important to have contact with people in the decision-making process.

L.Caswell noted that an employee recently received a letter from Candor stating that coverage would continue. A letter from PHP arrived stating that Candor was dropped from coverage. These two are still negotiating and a decision will be announced on December 4.

S.Maynes stated that the next UBC meeting will be on December 10 at 12:30 p.m. in Day Hall room 163. This meeting is open and EA members are welcomed to attend. P.Tufford noted that the state legislature is involved in this process since the state pays a portion of the premium.

S.Maynes noted that the rate structure is very crude. For example, a couple would pay the same amount as a family with several children. UBC had a discussion on this topic last spring, and they came to the conclusion that such classifications need to be less general.

P.Tufford suggested that Steve Johnson, Executive Director of Government Affairs, be contacted because he may know who to speak to in Albany.

III. Announcements and Reports

a. Opperman/Rogers meetings -

The next meeting will be held on December 15. Questions were due on December 1, and the Office of the Assemblies only received one question. C.Gardner suggested that meeting be canceled or M.Opperman be asked to speak about policies currently being developed or revised. The DSA is also scheduled for the same day, and will take place at 1:30 p.m. Given that, the EA agreed to cancel the December Opperman/Rogers meetings.

b. Leadership Meeting -

C.Gardner stated that there were three questions asked by the EA at this meeting. The first of the three dealt with the review of the Division of Biological Sciences. The Provost stated that there is an academic review in the division but their there is no intent to do any downsizing; all changes may be made in the pursuit of academic excellence. There have been no recommendations made yet, and there will be discussions about options before decisions are made.

The second question brought forth by the EA dealt with the recent deaths of students at MIT and Clarkson due to alcohol. At Cornell, there is approximately one alcohol-related accident per year. This problem is being actively addressed by the University, but ultimately this issue depends on individual decisions and behavior.

The last issue was staff involvement with various campus events, such as Family Weekend. Staff currently has involvement with two campus events, Commencement and Alumni Weekend. The President thought that this was a good idea and will encourage greater publicity of these campus-wide events.

The SA brought up the question of Rand Hall. AAP once had a $25 million grant identified for major renovations and constructions. Routine maintenance and short term repairs were not performed because the administration intended to tear down Rand Hall. While they still hope to identify a major donor, they have decided to put some funds into the existing building to address immediate needs.

The UA asked a question about the position of the Transportation Advisory Committee in the decision-making process of TCAT. There will be three members of the Cornell community appointed to the TCAT board. These members have yet to be chosen. The UA will work with F.Rogers to see if there is a formal way to be more involved in decision-making.

IV. Business of the Day

a. New Member Elections -

M.Overstrom stated that there are two names on the ballot: C.J. Lance-Duboscq and T.Hoebbel. There are two open seats, one statutory and one endowed. T.Hoebbel would get the endowed seat and his appointment would be effective immediately. C.J.Lance-Duboscq would get the statutory seat, but she would not have voting rights until D.Poland resigns from the EA in January. M.Overstrom asked whether or not there are any other candidates.

M.Esposito stated that if there is a month before D.Poland resigns, then that time should be used to search for more candidates.

T.Calvert suggested that D.Poland be asked to resign from his seat.

C.Gardner requested that T.Hoebbel’s appointment be effective immediately, while C.J. Lance-Duboscq’s be effective on January 1.

A vote was taken to appoint T.Hoebbel to D.Walter’s seat, effective immediately, and C.J.Lance-Duboscq to D.Poland’s seat, effective January 1. Members voted unanimously for the appointments.

C.Gardner distributed copies of the Employee Spring 1998 election schedule and asked the Assembly members to review it. The EA Forum was changed to February 3. The members voted unanimously to accept the schedule as amended.

V. Old Business

a. Fall P2K Open Forum -

There is still no word from the President’s office on whether or not he will be in attendance. There is a December 16 meeting with M.Opperman and F.Rogers to discuss the name of this event.

b. “Frontline Feedback” -

There will be a meeting on December 5 with M.Opperman to discuss a kickoff event.

VI. Committee Reports

a. EA Goals -

M.Overstrom expressed concerned over the level of EA activity. She believes that the EA is not as active as it was last year, and that the same people should not be doing the same thing. She stated that the EA needs to come together more often. The only thing that has been done collectively is the Open Forum. Therefore, she would like to start thinking of goals for the spring, since many fall goals have not been achieved.

M.Esposito noted that there may be members that seem not be participating, but they are simply not stating what they are doing at the EA meetings.

T.Fraboni asked M.Overstrom if there is any one area that is of specific concern to her.

M.Overstrom said that in the past, there would be a report on each committee at each meeting. There have been few reports from committees this year, and this could be due to the committees not doing anything.

M.Esposito stated that the EA waits for issues to come to it, instead of being pro-active. There are many policies that are being created that affect employees that the EA has no involvement in.

L.Caswell mentioned the Employee Development Policy. This policy is to ensure that employees have the opportunity to get the training that they need. This policy originated with HR, and was brought to the Education and Training Committee. This will be different from the policy that is already in affect.

M.Esposito noted that unlike past years, there were no goals established. Also, there were not enough workshops for members to get acquainted with each other.

L.Clougherty stated that the PPC has been struggling because its chair resigned and because it lost approximately half of its members. More members are needed to maintain this committee and this fact will be advertised in PawPrint.

G.Brandt said that one of the problems with committees is the question of how one effectively follows-ups because members are so busy. There are two types of projects-one with no visible results in the short-run and ones with tangible results. Both of these types are needed and this should be kept in mind when goals are established.

M.Overstrom suggested that goals would be discussed at the last EA meeting. These goals should be collective goals; the whole committee should work together on these goals.

G.Brandt suggested that at every meeting, there should be a featured guest. The featured guest should be someone who is new to Cornell. If there is a future need to speak with that person, there would have already been previous contact.

C.Gardner noted that there had been previous discussion on holding a retreat. She suggested that this retreat be held in January.

b. Advisory Committee on Work and Family Services -

C.Hayes said that the next meeting of this committee is to be held on December 4. There will be an update on the filling of the director’s position.

c. University Benefits Committee -

L.Clougherty reported that there was a meeting of this committee last week at which Bonnie Hall gave a presentation on the operation of the hospital.

d. Student Assembly -

G.Brandt volunteered to fill this position, but he resigned from the PPC due to a conflict of interest.

e. GPSA -

D.Marsh said that at the last meeting, the GPSA set the student activity fee. The fee increased from $36 to $48. The GPSA agreed to pay $7 per capita for athletics and $3 per capita for liability insurance. The addition of the liability insurance fee ensures that all clubs are covered by that insurance regardless of the make-up of that club.

f. University Assembly -

M.Esposito said that at the last meeting there was a presentation from the Judicial Codes Counselor. The JCC gave a report and spoke of the difficulties that his office is facing. There were two resolutions brought up at the meeting. The first dealt with the search committees that deal with the JCC, JA, and Ombudsman. Because the administration and many UA members are new, the process took longer than usual this year. Therefore, a resolution was passed that institutionalizes the process for the future. The second resolution dealt with TCAT. This resolution was postponed for revisions and will be discussed at the next meeting. The next meeting is actually an extra one, and it will be on December 10 at 4:30 in Uris G-08.

g. Faculty Senate -

G.Brandt said the next meeting is on December 10. They will vote on two resolutions at that meeting. One is a motion on the Provost Committee and the transition of faculty to emeritus status. The other one deals with whether or not the Faculty Senate will support the Research Futures Task Force.

h. Communications Committee -

The next meeting will be on December 10. The DSA will be held on December 15 at Biotech. At the last meeting, the committee discussed working on publicity and members signed up for what they wanted to work on.

i. PPC -

L.Clougherty said that she believes that this committee is needed and so should continue.

j. CRC -

T.Fraboni stated that there will be a Christmas party on December 5. There is a raffle going on to raise money for park improvements but the Park Development Committee will be slowing down due to the fact that it is winter. The CRC is currently looking for bell ringers for the Salvation Army.

VII. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 1:35 p.m.