MINUTES
Employee Assembly Meeting
Wednesday February 20, 2013
12:15 −1:30pm
401 Physical Science

1.  I. Call to Order

T. Grove called the meeting to order at 12:30 p.m.

Voting Members present: J. Ambrosetti, R. Blanco, J. Boodley Buchanan, L. Croll Howell, B. Esty, T. Grove, M. Kitchen, E. Lee, G. Mezey, L. Morris, G. Osborne, B. Schaffner,

Voting Members absent: N. Bell, D. Brooks, A. Capogrossi, B. Cristelli, C. Ferguson, L. Sayam, M. Stefanski Seymour

Also present: A. O’Donnell, A. Epstein, P. Thompson, A. Mittman, A. Bazinet

2.  II. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

There were no late additions to the existing agenda.

3.  III. Approval of Minutes from last meeting

T. Grove made the motion to approve the minutes from February 6. Seconded with no dissent. The minutes were approved.

IV. Business of the Day — Welcome new EA members - Pilar Thompson and Joe Rogan

P. Thompson introduced herself and said she worked at the Veterinary Hospital and is eager to become more involved in the Cornell community.

J. Rogan was the other member elected, and he was unable to attend.

4.  V. Report from the Chair

4.1  a) Open forums

T. Grove described the topics discussed at the last open forum at the Vet College. She said it was well attended with around 30 people there. Some of the people there were from facilities, grounds, and tech sectors, and they wanted to know where they fit in. The next forum will be held tomorrow in G10 Biotech and there will be another one on February 26th in Mann Library. The chair also presented to the Leadership Strategy Group and received a positive response. One of the issues they discussed was communication across campus, as there are few email lists that are subscribed to by everyone.

T. Grove also spoke with someone about Workday and the photo issue. The photos will only be available to those who currently work at the university. Right now, they are looking at other photo options, but they will likely use the staff ID photos that are on file. The WorkDay group is very busy, but said they could do a short demo at a future EA meeting.

5.  VI. Old Business

5.1  a) Resolution to request EST progress reports from Colleges and Divisions- Greg

There were a few minor grammatical and syntactical errors and additions mentioned.

L. Croll Howell also made a few edits. T. Grove and B. Schaffner said they would like to sign on as co-sponsors to the bill.

The resolution was passed by a vote of 12–0−0.

5.2  b) Budget check — Bob

R. Blanco discussed the state of the budget and his suggestions. So far, the EA is on target for their budget. For next year, he suggests reallocating funds from the elections budgets. T. Grove asked if it would be more beneficial to have sub-accounts for EA committees or if a lump budget for all EA committees would be better.

A. Epstein said it is routine for assemblies to have these sub-accounts for each individual committee.

T. Grove asked if it is possible to move money from unused sub-accounts to other committees. A. Epstein said yes, you can reallocate money however you want.

J. Ambrosetti asked if there has ever been a situation where the EA wanted to fund an event, but didn’t have any funding at that point. T. Grove said there is always some recourse to have funding increased for some events.

A. O’Donnell said there was only one year in recent memory when the EA went over budget because they hosted an energy fair as part of the President’s Address.

L. Morris wondered whether the EA’s representation of the Tech Campus would present some new budgetary issues. T. Grove said there may be a cost issue for WebX or other video services that would be necessary to incorporate the Geneva and Tech campuses into EA meetings. A. O’Donnell said the EA might have to pay for long-distance calls or other things.

T. Grove then noted how another budgetary issue is how the President’s Address to Staff is constantly increasing in price. G. Mezey wondered why the EA pays to sponsor the President to come speak to the employees. Would it be a stronger message if the President’s Office sponsored the event, in collaboration with the EA? L. Morris said the event is good publicity for the EA. T. Grove said she thinks the EA should continue owning the event like they have in the past, but perhaps they could look toward reallocating some funds. G. Mezey asked about whether the EA would consider hosting a larger event in Barton with a nicer lunch so employees could sign up and sit amongst senior leadership. T. Grove said they could look into how much it costs to do something like this. G. Mezey said the EA shouldn’t be afraid to spend money if they have it in their budget. T. Grove said they need to consider putting more money forth for the Kudos Lunch.

L. Morris asked about the possibility of creating EA-sponsored scholarships that could be budgeted.

B. Schaffner said the Kudos Lunch needs to be improved, as attendees should receive better food than just a sandwich. J. Ambrosetti agreed the EA should be involved in hosting a small number of events, but they should do a great job with each. T. Grove said it would be nice to get more administration and leadership involved in the lunches and other EA events.

A. Epstein said the budget for next year will be due around the end of February and he would submit deadlines to the EA soon.

5.3  c) EA Positions to fill, 3 Exempt and 1 Geneva

There was a brief discussion on this, some current members have decided to re-run, and will turn in paperwork soon.

5.4  d) Follow-up on the workday photos question

Was discussed earlier.

6.  VII. New Business

6.1  a) UA report — Greg

G. Mezey said the UA has been discussing available and affordable housing. They are also looking for help from Community Relations. The housing resolution was not voted on, it was forwarded to a committee to address. He noted some other Assemblies reports addressed Skorton’s support for the “Green Revolving Fund”, and follow up for crisis management situations. Finally, the Faculty Senate is working on an issue that happened on Ho Plaza last semester regarding the Israeli Palestinian conflict. The CJC will need to make some adjustments to the Code of Conduct in response.

T. Grove said A. Mittman has set up breakfast with the Executive Board of the Board of Trustees on March 27th at 7:30 in the Statler. Email to let her know if you can attend. She will send bios in on the members in advance.

B. Schaffner said the Soup and Hope event will be held on March 28th.

G. Osborne asked about the EA taking a trip to the Geneva campus. There was a discussion and members decided upon June 19th as the date.

A. O’Donnell and G. Mezey will look into setting a Kudos event date in May.

Members began to discuss a resolution to thank all the committees. Additionally, it was announced two GPADS events are coming up in the Spring.

B. Esty said there will be an exciting concert in Bailey on Friday. There are many seats left!

J. Ambrosetti said he is looking to find a way to endow a CARE fund. Auctions are lots of work for little yield. He is doing research now to get a proposal together. L. Croll Howell said they have never had to turn away a deserving application.

7.  VIII. Adjournment

B. Schaffner motioned to adjourn the meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:23 p.m.

Future Guests: April 3rd

Future Events: February 21st 12:15–1:15pm March 27th 7:30–8:30am March 28th 11:45 −12:30pm

David Skorton and Mary Opperman

Employee Survey Open Forum — G10 Bio Tech Employee Assembly and Board Leadership Breakfast Soup & Hope - Sage Chapel

Respectfully submitted,

Allison Bazinet