January 2007 Minutes

Call to order

A regular meeting of the Staff Senate of Missouri State University was called to order at Plaster Student Union, PSU 315 at 1:35 p.m.

Roll call

Present: Ben Boslaugh, Marline Faherty, Steve Mills, Sheilla Morris, Myril Stewart, Ginni Andrews, Lenord McGownd, Pat Day, SuzAnn Ferguson, Cindi Barnett, Guy DeVault, Jason Rhea, Norm Griffith, Steven Lowery, Edward DeLong

Absent: Casey Comoroski, Dale Moore, Wendy Ferguson, Robert Duclos, Nancy Harris, Terrill Harvey, Patrick Byers, Dennis Perry, Thomas Norrell, Steve Lowery, Barb Jones, LaDonna Hansen, Carter Allen

Guests: Pat Cole

Note: Ben Boslaugh, Chair presided and Marline Faherty recorded the proceedings of the meeting.

Minutes

The minutes of the open regular meeting of December 12, 2006 were not approved because they were not available due to the absence of the Secretary, LaDonna Hansen.

Officer report

Ben reported on the December BOG meeting; the Board thought the Veteran’s Day was a good event and paid high compliments to the Committee. Ben also reported on the joint resolution of Faculty and Staff Senates on committees which was received favorably by the Board.

Committee reports

  • Health Care Committee – Myril Stewart

    • Myril stated this is an on-going process and that there have been some misconceptions on the waiver of contribution for this year and the way the plan will work. The Wellness Fair in January was mentioned and all were encouraged to attend.

Ben stated that we need to get more people involved in committees and to make sure Staff Senate Activities are what staff want so more people are involved. We need to use our time and talents wisely to accomplish “great things.”

New business

Ben asked that the Budget and Priorities Committee head up the recruitment efforts for Staff Senate. Myril agreed to do so but asked for assistance. There should be a push for recruitment in February or March since new officers begin their term in June.

Ben will ask the Bylaws Committee to change the election date to May rather than July.

Ben discussed several potential events for 2007 and asked for ideas from Senators. The Executive Committee is putting a calendar of events together and will have posted in the Staff Senate Office.

SuzAnn Ferguson discussed Denim Days; if Staff Senate wants to continue to support this event, more effort and budget needs to be put into its success. This past October’s event was not nearly as successful as previous years. She suggested that the Senate vote on what event it wishes to support in order to get more involvement in the future.

The Staff Senate web site was discussed. It is out of date and needs to be updated, but we need people to do it. Lenord McGownd volunteered to work on this.

Myril Stewart brought up staff surveys. He stated that Staff Senate will have access to the data from the survey Steve Thomas is conducting. The information will be unidentifiable, but hopefully helpful. We need to coordinate efforts with what others are doing (survey-wise) as to not duplicate efforts. It was suggested that perhaps we could do a joint faculty/staff survey in order to get a broader sense of opinions as some topics are important to both factions.

Jason Rhea brought up the evaluation process and asked if the potential for growth in jobs is a part of this process. Ben expanded on this discussion by including job family classifications and the process of the compensation plan, which could address a “career ladder” which would address job growth to some extent.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 2:15 p.m.

Note: The next regular meeting is at 1:30 p.m. on February 1, 2007 in Plaster Student Union Room 313.

Respectfully submitted:

Marline Faherty

Chair Elect, Staff Senate