Staff Council - January 2000 Minutes

Minutes of January 5, 2000 meeting

2:30 p.m., Room 404 A/B Union

Attending:
Julie Andrews, Woodson Boyden, Joni Camp, Onice Carter, Cherry Douglas, Laura Gillom, Willie Hilliard, Clay Jones, Buddy Kahler, Floyd Klepzig, Theresa Knight, Jerry Moore, Conny Parham, Donna Patton, Lamar Pickens, Lucienne Savell, Sherry Wall, Larry Weeden, Martha Woolfolk

Excused:
Betty Brown, Mary Chrestman, Buster Clark, Thelma Curry, Mary Harrington, Denise Knighton, Jonnie Manning, Etta Miller, Lynn Mills, Traci Mitchell, Barbara Smith

Unexcused:
Shirley Fisher, Judy Fos, Kirk Purdom, Michael Vanderlip

President-Elect Clay Jones presided in the absence of President Traci Mitchell, who was ill.

Minutes

A discrepancy in the December minutes was announced--Etta Miller's absence should have been excused. The minutes were approved as amended.

Project Discover Update

In the absence of Buster Clark, Clay Jones gave an update on the project. The Payroll Office is working on getting everyone on payroll converted to SAP. Payroll and Human Resources staff worked most of the holidays and are continuing to work on the conversion to the bi-monthly payroll system. Sometime during the week of January 3-7, all departments should receive a list of exempt and non-exempt employees and a list of student workers, with information regarding how to record their time. Monday, January 10, is the due date for the first time period in January. On January 14, the first payroll under the new system will be paid.

Onice Carter announced that employees are in the process of testing and verifying data. A session for questions and answers regarding the first payroll is planned for Friday, January 14, probably to be located in the Human Resources Office. Staff are working on budget statements for November and December.

One possible change which may create questions about the new payroll/leave system is that leave accumulated each month will be updated/credited only at the end of each month. Leave balances will be now be shown on the pay stub. No decision has been made about which will be the next departments to go live on the SAP system. Staff will use the month of January to assess the operation of the system and work out any problems that have occurred. Anyone with questions regarding the new payroll/time keeping system can call Clay Jones in Human Resources.

Insurance Update

Hospitals in Memphis and Tupelo have signed contracts with AHS. Additionally, the NMPA (North Mississippi Physicians Association) has endorsed the contract being offered to their physicians. Most of the Oxford area physicians are members of this organization. It is now anticipated that the majority of physicians in the Oxford area will eventually sign on with AHS. There is no deadline for physicians to sign up. However, there is a 60-day out for physicians, that is, they can notify the network and withdraw after 60 days. The Web Site for AHS is not up-to-date at this time. The Tupelo Hospital has signed a contract and there are many physicians actually affiliated with the hospital who are included in that agreement.

One problem area is Memphis, where the number of physicians signed up with the network is far behind previous numbers.

Staff should note that even though a physician has signed a contract with AHS, the physician will not be considered to be in the network until AHS has completed the credentialing process, so patients should be careful to check with AHS to ensure that their physicians are fully credentialed before incurring costs, or the charges will be out-of-network. The phone number for AHS is 1-800-294-6307. Their web site is http://apps.dfa.state.ms.us:90/ahsprov/ .

Staff Council Elections

Current members' terms expire on February 28, and an Election Committee is needed to handle the upcoming elections. The following members volunteered to serve: Sherry Wall, Clay Jones, Lucienne Savell, Onice Carter, Donna Patton, Cherry Douglas, Floyd Klepzig and Conny Parham, who will be chair. The committee will meet soon to begin planning for the elections.

Committee Reports

The Executive Committee did not meet in December. The Committee did meet with the Chancellor on December 8. Traci Mitchell submitted a report earlier on that meeting by e-mail. Clay Jones provided a brief report on the meeting:
1. insurance update,
2. gave Chancellor proposal on staff development,
3. gave Chancellor report on the Customer Workshops held during the fall semester.
There was no Treasurer's Report due to the delay in receipt of budget statements.
Clay Jones reported that the Concerns Committee had received a concern regarding why faculty/staff cannot charge textbooks at the Bookstore. Answer: Because the bookstore currently has a $15,000 outstanding balance of unpaid charges by faculty/staff from several years ago, they are not able to allow such charges.
Clay Jones reported that the exam breakfast went well. Several hundred students attended and many UM administrators, including the Chancellor, came to greet students.

Announcements

It was announced that Fred Laurenzo, chair of the Faculty Senate, has asked if the Staff Council would like to co-host an Insurance Forum, possibly in March. He plans to invite legislators, Teresa Hannah, chair of the State Insurance Office, and other interested parties. The Council indicated that there is interest in this suggestion and Clay will discuss the plan with Dr. Laurenzo.
Clay reminded the Council that Traci Mitchell has requested suggestions for speakers for upcoming meetings.

The meeting was adjourned.

/s/Traci Mitchell, President
/s/Clay Jones, President-Elect
/s/Conny Parham, Secretary

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