MINUTES
Employee Assembly Meeting
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
12:15 - 1:30 p.m.
316 Day Hall

I. Call to Order

T. Grove called the meeting to order at 12:18 p.m.

The group went around the table to share news with each other since the last meeting.

Present- D. Brooks, K. Coldren, T. Denesevich, P. Dongtoe, C. Furguson, T. Grove, L. Croll Howell, L. Meyerhoff, L. Morris, G. Osborne, G. Stewart

Absent- C. Phillips, J. Seymour

Also attending — B. McKinney, A. O’Donnell, B. Rosen, J. Blair, A. Epstein

II. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

There were no additions to the existing agenda.

III. Business of the Day

• a) Bridge Barrier Resolution
  T. Grove gave a bit of history on the resolution. G. Stewart explained why he wrote it. T. Grove said that Leslie Meyerhoff went to the Common Council Meeting and took the resolution to the meeting. G. Stewart made a motion to approve. L. Croll Howell seconded. By a vote of 10–0−0, the resolution passed.

IV. Report from the Chair

At the leadership breakfast with Tommy Bruce, he spoke with all the assemblies leaders and is open to discussions about communication and help. Elmira Mangum will be the guest at the next breakfast. There is a third seat available if anyone is interested in attending. EA Execs had a meeting with Mary George Opperman and discussed expectations and goals for this years EA. They reported she is very excited about the increase in membership. Conversations with deans and directors will help with this. They discussed how Cornell University is moving forward with he outgrowth. The reward model is being changed to not only reward people in supervisor positions but those in expertise positions. G. Stewart thinks this is a good issue for the EA to look at and understand. They may create a report on the Bain research ICCO office. There is also a book coming out about universities. It is about 12 elite universities and Cornell is in it. That is not going to bring good press to the university.

V. Approval of Minutes-

a. August 18, 2010

After a few minor changes, G. Osborne motioned to approve the minutes. L Morris seconded. The minutes were approved.

VI. Committee Reports

a) Finance Commission

G. Osborne went over her ideas for the changes and adjustments. L. Meyerhoff said that Cheryl McGraw has asked for help with employee events. The EA then discussed spending a little money on takeaways for these. The cake cost has increased and the number of awards for recognition has decreased. They need to discuss the luncheon and how to use it. J. Blair said that he would do anything to help with the idea that staff should be encouraged to attend EA meetings. G. Stewart asked around the table about who feels stressed by EA commitments. T. Denesevich suggested looking into teleconferencing technology.

The Employee Education committee did not use their money. G. Osborne asked if it could be budgeted as a scholarship but A. Epstein explained that was not the purpose of the money and differs from the EA’s mission. The Executive Committee did not spend money either. Elections did not spend much but will need to if they plan on expanding the EA. G. Osborne suggested they revisit the budget quarterly. T. Grove said to send any changes to G. Osborne so that changes can be made and revisited at the next meeting. Amy O’Donnell is who will buy EA items, charges, etc., so let her know what your committee needs.

VII. Old Business

K. Coldren asked to revisit the parking issue. They need an alert system before things like this happen. Twenty people is a small number, the EA could be potentially involved in too many things. L. Morris asked how resolutions were publicized. Nancy Doolittle, from PawPrint, said that the EA Newsletter and Pawprint both publicized them. She said if the EA wanted them publicized in the Chronicle, it would have to go through Tommy Bruce.

VIII. New Business

The President’s Address is Friday, November 12 at 12:00 noon, and will be held in the Schwartz Center.

The President can’t make any regularly scheduled EA meetings this semester. He could phone in on November 3rd, reschedule or add a meeting. Amy could try to find a slot for them from 8:30–9:30 before November 12th if possible.

The Middle States Accreditation was discussed. B. McKinney explained that she was on the committee and there are parts of it affecting staff. G. Stewart says that pre-information would be helpful. Nancy said to keep her in mind for all issues to communicate. Beth McKinney said she has heard there are big changes coming to PawPrint. Nancy says that they are committed to providing information to staff who do not have computers. They also need more contributors. A. Epstein said that there are a lot of changes in University Communications.

IX. Open Forum

Jim Blair talked about the first UA meeting, which was happening later in the day. He will report on the charter changes that will be happening. He wants to clarify and strengthen the role of the UA. If there are any charges to bring up, please speak with him.

XI. Adjournment

C. Ferguson motioned to adjourn. D. Brooks seconded. The meeting adjourned at 1:30 pm.