Employee Assembly Meeting
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
12:15 - 1:30 p.m.
316 Day Hall
Minutes

I. Call to Order

J. Seymour called the meeting to order at 12:17 p.m.

J. Seymour then called the roll. Present- D. Brooks, T. Grove, A. Mittman, T. Ostrander, G. Osborne (on the phone), J. Seymour, C. Philips, P. Dongtoe, L. Croll Howell Absent- N. LaCelle, L. Lawrence, G. Stewart, L. Morris, B. McKinney Also attending- GPSA liaison Ben Heavner, A. O’Donnell, A. Epstein, K. Dessources

II. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

There were no late additions to the existing agenda.

III. Business of the Day

There was no business of the day to discuss.

IV. Report from Employee Elected Trustee

B. McKinney was not present. There was no report from the employee elected trustee.

V. Report from UA Representative

VI. Report from GPSA representative

B. Heavner explained the last meeting of the semester for the GPSA was Monday, April 19th. At the meeting, new officers for next year were elected. In addition, a resolution was passed that established a GPSA Sustainability committee. There is now a parliamentary question as to whether the committee was voted on correctly so the committee is currently in question. B. Heavner explained the GPSA is excited to take a break for the summer.

VII. Report from Faculty Senate Liaison

A. Mittman began with a report from the library board regarding changes in the library system. He announced there will be a series of renovations made to Olin Library.

A. Mittman also gave a brief report on the new childcare center resolution. He explained the new resolution has sparked a great deal of publicity. D. Brooks asked A. Mittman what the resolution is regarding. A. Mittman explained the resolution is based on the premise that faculty want more input into how the childcare center is run. There are also many improvements to be made at the childcare center due to a recent increase in turnovers and violations. D. Brooks asked if it would be cheaper is Cornell University employees ran the childcare center. A. Mittman explained that Bright Horizons are experts in the field, and CU does not have the same expertise. Parking was an issue for the staff, but that has been resolved. A. Mittman said the center was overwhelmed by full capacity from the beginning, and consequently things did not get off to good start.

VIII. EA Finance update

A. Mittman explained there was no new finance report. He said at some point, he wants to discuss this year’s budget, and next years. J. Seymour suggested this be on the Business of the Day for next meeting.

IX. Report from the Chair

J. Seymour said the EA presented the George Peter Award to Elizabeth Colucci. He also said it was a very nice award ceremony.

J. Seymour went on to explain that June 2nd is the first meeting of the new EA term. Two things will be going on at that meeting. First, there will be a presentation by Allan Bishop and Mary Opperman on questions regarding the layoff process. Also, elections will be held for officers

X. Approval of Minutes- April 7, 2010

There was an amendment made to the minutes concerning the tallying of the vote for the athletics resolution — should be 7–0−1. T. Grove motioned to approve the minutes with the amendment. G. Osborne seconded. The members voted and the minutes for the April 7th meeting were approved.

XI. Committee Reports

a) Executive Committee

The executive committee has not met due to conflicts in schedules. They have only had the chance to communicate through email.

c) Communication

D. Brooks explained that yesterday, he had gone to Andy Noel’s office (the Athletics director) to present the recently passed athletics resolution. He explained they printed it out on nice paper and presented it in a frame. A. Noel said that in his 30 years working at Cornell, he had never been recognized in such a way.

D. Brooks also commented on the quality of the second edition EA newsletter, he said it had many timely announcements. J. Seymour added that he has received a lot of positive feedback regarding the newsletter. He noted that one person in particular said she appreciated the “Caring Community” piece. T. Grove suggested that the newsletter should include a “here’s what the EA is up to” section in order to keep employees updated on the current issues and events going on in the Employee Assembly. She said she would like to see a cover note from Jason Seymour. J. Seymour suggested that the newsletters be archived on the EA website, for the reference of future employee assemblies. A. Mittman suggested they tag on to the new relationship with Athletics in order to help publicize EA activities. B. Heavner said he thought all assemblies would be interested in increased publicity on their activities.

b) Staff Recognition & Awards

The members discussed other ways of recognizing employees throughout the university. The George Peter awards are successful, but the process for nominating and selecting recipients is long and complex. D. Brooks suggested the EA award the Athletics staff, or another group of staff again. T. Grove suggested recognizing staff from Campus Life or Facilitates. The award would be a simple way of recognizing and respecting the work of employees.

d) Personnel Policy

Linda Croll Howell explained that she is going to be meeting with people from the office of Career Services concerning the FLEX policy for employees. This policy focuses on the idea that as the lives of employees change, work must change as well.

e) Internal Operations

T. Grove gave an update on the elections for the next employee assembly. She explained that elections are going well, but there needs to be a boost of encouragement for employees to get out there and vote. T. Grove said three emails have gone out, but they are still 500 votes away from their 20% goal.

f) University Benefits

There was no University Benefit Report.

g) Employee Education

C. Phillips briefed the group on the upcoming SEED (staff educational exploration day) event in June. She is on the committee for the event. C. Phillips explained the EA is going to have a table at the event. She would like to do a survey of benefits at that event. She will put some info on Facebook. C. Phillips explained if the EA has any questions that they would like to ask, they should send them to her.

XII. Cornell in Transition update

There was no Cornell in Transition update

XIII. Old Business

a) CARE Fund

L. Croll Howell said she has given a proposal to her boss, and is waiting to receive feedback on the CARE fund. There were two applications in the fall, but neither fit in the parameters.

b) Notice-and-Respond

L. Croll Howell said a mental health strategy committee has been put together. She explained the mental health crisis is a crisis of the entire university, not just the students. There has been a spill over from students to staff. The Human Resources Crisis hotline typically receives one call every two months, yet has recently received four calls in 24 hours. There is a concern about the mental health of employees following the changes implemented with the new strategic plan. One big solution that is being looked at is the Notice-and-Respond program at Gannett. A “train the trainer” session will be set up in early June. The commitment is 2 days from 9AM to 3PM. Furthermore, Gannett asks that trained employees run 2–3 of the Notice-and Respond sessions through the course of the year, after first observing one training session.

B. Heavner commented on the possibility of the GPSA getting involved in the Notice- and-Respond program. Mental health is currently a pressing issue for the GPSA. L. Croll Howell said a big topic right now is the fencing on the bridges. They are still trying to determine what the long-term solution is.

C. Philips said she believes there are some offices who have managers who add to the stress at the university (i.e.. an individual with bad communication skills). She suggested there should be a way of reporting such behavior. C. Philips expressed there is no clear place where staff can go to in order to make anonymous complaints. Some employees might doubt the trustworthiness of the HR department, whose main function is to serve the university. She said some staff are afraid to say NO to additional duties because they feel like it could affect them later.

XIV. New Business

As an item of New Business, the members went over events on the calendar. J. Seymour noted on May 19th, President Skorton and VP Mary Opperman are going to be joining the EA. J. Seymour asked members to send any questions they will like to ask President Skorton or VP Opperman to himself, D. Brooks, or A. O’Donnell. J. Seymour explained this will be the last EA meeting of the term.

J. Seymour said at the May 5th meeting, the EA will do a budget review, and at the June 2nd meeting they will be joined by Alan Bishop and Mary Opperman to discuss layoffs. New officers will also be elected at the June 2nd meeting.

XV. Open Forum

Nancy Doolittle was present from the Cornell Chronicle. She explained she is going to be attending assembly meetings and events to keep a pulse on some of the things that are going on.

XVI. Adjournment

G. Osborne made a motion to adjourn the meeting. D. Brooks seconded. J. Seymour adjourned the meeting at 1:17 p.m.