Present:

Clayton State University – Alina Brooks, Cheryl Garvin

Columbus State University – Terri Abrams, Wanda Campbell, Linda Elder, Ronita Powell,

Teneka Wilson, Eddie Woodhouse

Darton College – Don Bragg, Erica Jackson, John Shalack

Georgia College & State University - Carol Brown, Rose Murner 

Georgia State University – Sheila Bradley

Southern Polytechnic – Bill Ketchum

University of West Georgia – Erma Shooks, Jo Hite, Delores Moore

University of Georgia – Margot Peter, Brenda Keen

Valdosta State University – Bobby Flowers

 

The meeting was called to order by Rose Murner at 10:10AM and called for approval of the minutes from October 2004 and February 2005.  Minutes were approved.

 

USGSC Budget Report - The financial report was provided to members present.  Balance remaining, effective April 2005, is $1394.33.  Dues letters were sent to member schools and 2006 dues payments should be coming in soon.  There are currently 21 dues paying schools.

 

Members discussed how to use the Treasurer Funds.  It was decided that each dues paying member school could submit a request for a scholarship to the annual conference.  The total scholarship would include the conference fee and a $50 stipend ($85 total) to help cover the lodging cost.  Applicants should submit their conference applications to Rose Murner, Georgia College & State University, Campus Box 52, Milledgeville, GA  31061.  She would request the stipend checks and pay the conference registration fees.  Stipend checks would be given out at the conference so that checks for members who were not able to attend at the last minute could be turned back in to the fund.

 

Statewide Conference Update – Margot Peter said the conference already has 15 registrations and everything was on track.  It was going to be a good conference with several very good panels rather than instructional program.  The conference has reserved 50 rooms at the GA Center.  The first 125 commuters will have the parking fee waived, but overnight attendees will have to pay the $8 parking fee.  They are working on some really good door prizes and member schools are asked to bring a school basket for a door prize as well.  Register early and hope to see everyone there.

 

The Statewide Conference usually rotates around the member schools.  The next conference is scheduled to be at Fort Valley but no representatives were at the meeting.  Rose Murner will call to make sure they still plan to hold the conference.

 

School Displays at Conference – schools that are interested in showcasing their activities at the conference should let Margot Peter know they will need space and bring a display board.  Table size will be about 6’x3’.  The Conference will absorb the cost of this space.

 

Georgia Defined Contributions Plan – Margot Peter submitted notes concerning GDCP and called for a discussion.  GDCP was implemented in 1992 during a time of budget issues.  Temporary staff pay a mandatory 7.5% of their salary into the plan.  It is treated as a retirement plan but the state does not pay into it and it does not count toward the staff members social security account.  Several temporary staff members work for years without earning social security benefits but the plan is mandatory and they don’t have another option.  If they get hired on as a permanent staff position, they can apply to get payments back but it takes up to four months to receive payment.  Members present agree we need a plan that better serves our temporary staff.   Margot asked members to write their legislators and the Retirement Chairmen for both sides of the legislature. 

                                    Senator Bill Heath, Chair

                                    Senate Retirement Committee

                                    304-B Legislative Office Building

                                    Atlanta, GA  30334

 

                                    Rep. Ben Bridges, Chair

                                    House Retirement Committee

                                    State Capitol

                                    Atlanta, GA  30334

 

Specific questions that have been asked:

1) How many participants are currently enrolled in this system and what is the $ value of those savings (in 2003, Margot was told that there were approximately 25000 temporary employee’s funds in the system but no valuation was forthcoming

 

2) The plan mandates an actuarial study every 5 years – has one ever been done, when will one be done, and what were the results of that study?

 

3) Has anyone ever retired from this plan?

 

4) At one point I was told approximately 7 employees are devoted to managing this plan – what is the labor and benefits cost to the state for this management team and how does the state reconcile it’s awarding of salaries and benefits to people to manage this when they cannot seem to get statements to their participants in a timely manner to even indicate what, if any interest has accrued (note that 1999 results weren’t mailed out until 2001 – see attachments)

 

5) If statements or notifications are returned, does the state turnover these funds as “escheat” funds to the State coffers.

 

6) Has a corollary study been done to track people of retirement age who do no receive Social Security benefits as retirement, and their use of other state welfare to survive since they have no retirement income?

 

 (From NOTES provided to members – attached to secretary original).

 

Other Business – 2005 Retirement Plan Limits - Bill Ketchum asked how schools are addressing the changes in the tax code concerning tax sheltered retirement accounts.  The 2005 tax code says that an employee can contribute up to $42,000 to a retirement plan.  His questions was does that mean a total for all plans or to each plan.  He provided a letter from Bill Wallace that did not completely address his questions and asked that those who thought they knew the answer to email him at wketchum@spsu.edu.

 

Campus Update

Valdosta State University – they are trying to get involved with USGSC again. Effective July 1, their campus will go to $6 minimum wage for all employees.  Council is working to try to prevent Dining Services employees from being lost when privatization occurs??.  They are going to privatize so that they can upgrade facilities and services.  They are adding a health and sciences building and a 400 bed complex.  Their staff council board changes July 1.

 

Southern Polytechnic – they are allocating $100,000 to get every employee at least the minimum salary that is indicated in the job classification study completed recently.  They are also in the process of adding staff that were lost but not replaced until now.  Officer elections are also happening in July.

 

West Georgia University – They are getting ready for their Staff Appreciation day and trying to get more staff involved in Staff Council. 

 

Clayton State University – They have a new name. The University started as a Junior College.  They are changing their Council Officers; new board voted in already and officers will be voted in July.  Their first year as a Staff Council they have several accomplishments.  They brought in a very good speaker for their Staff Appreciation Day – Barbara Glanz.  They developed a Professional Development Committee to pay for staff to attend workshops and seminars and they organize workshops for everyone to attend.

 

Georgia State University – This year they changed their name from Staff Advisory to Staff Council.  They gave out pins for staff appreciation.  They have begun working on a shared leave policy.  The Benefits Committee and the Women’s Leadership Committee are working together to develop a alternative work schedule plan. Today they were having an all day event for Staff Appreciation.

 

Darton College – In March they held their online auction – the primary fundraiser for their group.  They grossed about $6000 that will pay for scholarships.  They implemented $6.15/hour about two months ago.  Their sick leave policy is in place and lots are willing to participate in it.  They also provide permanent part-time with a direct deposit option now.  And, they have become a smoke free campus. There was some protest among students at first but everyone is okay with it now.

 

University of Georgia – Shared leave plan is at the end of a two year trial and they will reevaluate in January.  Since its inception they have 23,319 hours in the plan.  The only question so far seems to be the plan is for employees not family members but it is not expected to change.  They are trying to get more seats on faculty senate but still did not get any.

 

Georgia College & State University – Shared leave is going into effect this year.   They have four seats on the Faculty Senate. They recently got a new President of University who is very supportive of Staff Council.  She asked for six months to review the pay study then she put the recommendations into place over a three year plan beginning this year.  They don’t have to have fund-raisers.  They get a $10,000 from the President and $3000 from Foundation.  They use the money for staff development and staff interests.  Since their communication system works with email, they bought two computers for the physical plant staff and put them in areas they could use to check their email.  They plan to get two more computers this year.

 

Columbus State University – We recently installed new officers and opened a new building on campus.  We also recognized the Employee of the Year and the Employee of the Quarter.   

 

Officer Elections – Rose opened the floor for nominations for officer positions. The following were nominated and approved unanimously.  The new slate of officers include Rose Murner – Chair, Eddie Woodhouse – Chair Elect, Wanda Campbell – Secretary, Brenda Keen – Treasurer.

 

There being no further business, Rose adjourned the meeting at 12:30PM.  The next meeting will be at the Conference in October.

 

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

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

Jo Hite

University of West GA

jhite@westga.edu

Delores Moore

University of West GA

dmoore@westga.edu

William Ketchum

Southern Polytechnic State University

wketchum@spsu.edu

Bobby Flowers

Valdosta State University

bflowers@valdosta.edu

Cheryl Garvin

Clayton State University

cherylgarvin@clayton.edu

Alina Brooks

Clayton State University

alinabrooks@clayton.edu

Brenda Keen

University of GA

bkeen@uga.edu

Margot Peter

University of GA

margot.peter@gacntr.uga.edu

Neil Jones

GA College &  State University

neil.jones@gcsu.edu

Terri Abrams

Columbus State University

abrams_terri@colstate.edu

Ronita Powell

Columbus State University

powell_ronita@colstate.edu

Eddie Woodhouse

Columbus State University

woodhouse_eddie@colstate.edu

Teneka Wilson

Columbus State University

wilson_teneka@colstate.edu

Linda Elder

Columbus State University

elder_linda@colstate.edu

Wanda Campbell

Columbus State University

campbell_wanda@colstate.edu

Shelia Bradley

GA State University

shelia@gsu.edu