Present

Abraham Baldwin Agriculture College: Brenda Doss, Olga Contreras-Martinez

Clayton State University: Cheryl Garvin, Alina Brooks

Columbus State University: Wanda Campbell, Jay Knape, Ronita Powell, Eddie Woodhouse

Darton: Don Bragg, Erica Jackson, John Shalack

Fort Valley State University: Terrence Wolfolk

Gainesville State College: Stephanie Austin, Leora Myers

Georgia College & State University: Carol Brown, Neil Jones, Rose Murner

Kennesaw State University: Angie Nunz

Southern Polytechnic State University: Alberta Cook, Sharon Hodge, Ann Lay, Donna McPherson

University of Georgia: Brenda Keen, Margot Peter

University of West Georgia: Erma Shooks

The meeting was called to order by Rose Murner at 5:10PM and she called for approval of the minutes from June 2005. Margot made a motion to accept the minutes and it was seconded.

USGSC Budget Report: Budget update was not available. Check has not been received at UGA yet. It was Fed Ex-ed from Darton, will get tracking number to follow-up. We got $25 membership fee from a new member –Medical College of GA. There were no requests for scholarships to conference.

GDCP Issues: Margot asked members to keep up the pressure on the GDCP (GA Defined Contributions Program) as it is so unfair to members/staff. Brenda Keen agreed to be the point person. Rose asked for volunteers to help – Wanda Campbell volunteered to help. Brenda will use Listserv for updates.

House Bill 127: Sheila at GA State asked council to look into HB127. When Rose looked it up it did not seem to be a relevant issue. She thought perhaps it was confused with HB314 which has been approved to go into effect July 2006 pending funding. HB314 allows for a 2.5% multiplier to figure retirement. Margot said the problem would be the “pending funding” which could cause it to be dropped in the budget hearings in January. It was suggested that we as individuals write our legislators and the members of the retirement benefits committee to say “as a member of the TRS fund, we are asking legislators to support the increase.”

Five Year Vesting: Another member asked about the 5yr vesting proposal and it was decided that we would have to act as individuals in the proposal as well. Brenda will ask the UGA Legislative Committee to do the legwork on this issue and HB that suggests changing the retirement to whichever of 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 years. Because HB 177 has already been dropped we need to tell legislators how we feel.

Flu Shots: A request was made to have USGSC writ a letter to the BOR requesting the inclusion of pharmacies and student health center for flu shot reimbursement. Right now if you get your flu shot from the doctors office it will be paid but doctor’s offices are not getting flu shots right away. If you get the flu shot from pharmacy or student health you are not eligible for reimbursement as it is an out-of-service provider. It would be in the interest of BOR to include this since time away from work is expensive when several days work is lost to staff out with the flu. Rose will draft the letter and put it on the Listserv so everyone can look at it.

Sick Leave Bank: Groups that are planning to start a sick leave program were referred to the policies that are already in effect at UGA and GC&SU. Web sites are:

GC&SU: http://info.gcsu.edu/intranet/human_resources/sharedleave.html

UGA: http://www.hr.uga.edu/shared_leave.html

Scholarship Recommendation: A recommendation was made to fund a scholarship to be used for staff to go back to school. It could pay for books or fees for professional development. This topic was tabled until the February meeting to give members time to think about it and come up with suggestions.

Other Business:

1) UGA is trying to increase the number of seats on governing council. GC&SU got four spaces granted by President (discretionary spaces). BOR Policy says 75% of governing council will be made up of Faculty. The question is how to get staff on these councils.

2) Alberta Cook reminded everyone that each institution is supposed to have two representatives on the Listserv. She will be updating the Listserv from the meeting minutes and will be sending email to ask who to remove. Make sure responses go to acook@spsu.edu not the Listserv.

3) Members discussed how UGA got two extra vacation days when the Governor closed public schools because of anticipated gas shortages. No one was able to explain or answer how it was determined that UGA got two extra days.

4) Upcoming Conferences: Fort Valley will host the 2006 conference. Southern Poly and Kennesaw both volunteered to host the 2007 and 2008 conferences.

Campus Report:

Columbus State University: We recently gave away three Book Scholarship awards and awarded the Cougar Pride Award for Staff Appreciation. We will host Faculty/Staff Appreciation Event in November. We will host New Employee Welcome next week.

Abraham Baldwin Agriculture College: We are working on fund-raising for staff scholarships for the Staff Excellence Award. We are coming here to learn how to work with Staff Council.

University of West Georgia: Hosted staff appreciation in August, it was a great event. It was the first time for Staff Council to host the event. We are trying to get new member on Staff Council.

University of Georgia: The Conference has been the big thing lately. We are trying to get new committee chairs and to get members onto the University Council. An Ad Hoc Committee is trying to send something to the November University Council meeting.

Southern Polytechnic: The BOR held its monthly meeting at SPSU. There were cookouts and parties for staff during the time. It is the first time in 18 years BOR has been to the campus.

Gainesville State College: We have a new name – Gainesville State College – and are very happy about it. We recently hosted a Development Day for Faculty/Staff that was orchestrated entirely by Staff Council.

Darton: A month ago Staff Council held Katrina Relief effort – SC gave $500 and challenged other staff and faculty to meet amount. SC ended up with $3000 for effort. They are working on the online auction which is a big fundraiser on their campus.

Kennesaw State University: We are preparing for one of our fund raisers"The Chili Cook-Off". The winner will get to have their chili served at the President's annual Chili and Cheer in December. Our biggest fund-raiser is our concession stands during baseball and soccer season. We finally got a new HR Director – have not had one in five years. They are looking at benefits and how to help staff move up and how to improve.

Clayton State University: We also have new name and new logo. We were able to send about 20 representatives to this conference. Campus Connect program puts on a breakfast each month to help staff meet others around campus. It is hosted in a different building each time.

Fort Valley State University: Looking forward to hosting next the conference next year. Already holding fund raisers toward that end. We recently held a meeting with interim President who agreed to charge an extra $2 toward Pancake Breakfast to help with fund-raising. We will host a Collard Green Cookoff in February and will augment food services staff with volunteers to get 10% of football concessions.

GA College & State University: The shared leave policy is going really well. The Staff Development plan is doing exceptionally well, so well in fact that they may have to toughen requirements for monetary awards. We were able to increase our representatives on University governing body. We hosted a professional development program that went well and several staff participated in Katrina Relief.

There being no further business, Rose adjourned the meeting at 6:25PM. The next meeting will be in Macon in February.

Submitted by

Wanda Campbell

USGSC Secretary

Contact information provided at the meeting

Rose Murner	GA College & State University	rose.murner@gcsu.edu
Carol Brown	GA College & State University	carol.brown@gcsu.edu
Neil Jones	GA College & State University	neil.jones@gcsu.edu
Don Bragg	Darton College	braggd@darton.edu
Erica Jackson	Darton College	erica.jackson@darton.edu
John Shalack	Darton College	john.shalack@darton.edu
Erma Shooks	University of West GA	eshooks@westga.edu
Alberta Cook	Southern Polytechnic State University	acook@spsu.edu
Sharon Hodge	Southern Polytechnic State University	shodge@spsu.edu
Donna McPherson	Southern Polytechnic State University	dmcphers@spsu.edu
Ann Lay	Southern Polytechnic State University	alay@spsu.edu
Leora Myers Stephanie Austin	Gainesville State College Gainesville State College
Cheryl Garvin	Clayton State University	cherylgarvin@clayton.edu
Brenda Keen	University of GA	bkeen@uga.edu
Margot Peter	University of GA	margot.peter@gactr.uga.edu
Ronita Powell	Columbus State University	powell_ronita@colstate.edu
Eddie Woodhouse	Columbus State University	woodhouse_eddie@colstate.edu
Jay Knape	Columbus State University	knape_jay@colstate.edu
Wanda Campbell	Columbus State University	campbell_wanda@colstate.edu
Olga Contreras-Martinez	Abraham Baldwin Ag College	ocontrerar-perez@abac.edu
Brenda Doss	Abraham Baldwin Ag College	bdoss@abac.edu
Angie Nunz	Kennesaw State University	anunz@kennesaw.edu
Terrence Wolfolk	Fort Valley State University	wolforkt@fvsu.edu

ADDENDUM TO MINUTES

Issues from the Conference Basket

1) Would like the opportunity for staff to telecommute one day a week with department consent (UGA)

2) How many members of staff council? Is it based on numbers of departments, percentage of staff members? (North GA College & State University)

3) Please make all inclusive lists available to individual staff councils!

A) Strategies to address apathy among staff (i.e., bad economy, no raises, high staff turnover within units, etc.)

B) The vesting period of 10 years is too long

C) Faculty can choose to participate in TRS or ORP – why can’t staff have the same choice

D) in these years of low raises, who doesn’t the BOR offer benefits that staff would pay 100% - e.g., long-term care insurance, legal insurance, cancer insurance, pet insurance.

4) Question was brought up about hourly employees having to clock in and out. Problem is that only a certain part of the hourly employees have to clock in. This group is normally Plant Operations crews. Secretaries, other staff who are hourly are not required to clock in and out by electronic devices. How many schools have this policy? Is this problem/concern just a local problem? How can it be changed?

Staff concerns have been that staff does not have to clock in electronically that they can come and go without having penalty. Why are time sheets where time can be penciled in allowed? (Valdosta State University)