Minutes of the Meetings:
Union 404 A & B
Present: James Akey; Hilarie Bain; Pam Barefield; Shannon Beeman; Debbie Bishop; Rachel Bost; Brenda Brannan; Joey Brent; Nina Cheshier; Kim Chrestman; Judy Fos; Corrie Free; Mary Harrington; Shellie Harrison; Carra Hewitt; Jeff Howell; Melissa Hudson; Buddy Kahler; Ron Kitchens;
Shannon Lovejoy; Judy Mills; Ardessa Minor; Traci Mitchell; Jennifer Pardoe; Paula Park;
Deidra Phillips; Randall Pinion; Bettie Puckett; Tony Seaman; Patti Welch
Excused: Paige Davis
Unexcused: Sue Hodge; Renee Moore; Kathy Sanders
Call to Order: The
meeting was called to order by President Mary Harrington. President Harrington thanked all members for
attending, and then introduced Terese Hanna, State
Insurance Administrator for the Department of Finance, as the guest speaker. Ms. Hanna’s PowerPoint presentation on “State
and School Employees’ Life and Health Plan” can be found on the Staff Council
website. ( http://www.olemiss.edu/orgs/staff_council/Presentation_Sept_04.ppt
)
After Ms. Hanna’s presentation, the Staff Council adjourned
until
Approval of Minutes: The August minutes were approved with two corrections: 1) James Akey’s absence from the August Staff Council meeting was changed from unexcused to excused; and
2) applications for the MASH program are available now, but are due in December.
Treasurer’s Report:
Rachel Bost
presented reports for July and August.
Both reports were approved with no corrections.
Introduction of New
Member: President Harrington
introduced Debbie Bishop, who is replacing Barbara Leeton
on the Council. Ms. Bishop has worked on
campus for 15 years, and currently serves as the Clinical Records Coordinator
for Communicative Disorders.
Vote on Theme for
This Year’s Activities: Ballots
regarding the theme for this year’s activities were distributed at the last
meeting. The winner of the theme
competition is Ron Kitchens, for his theme, “Staff Council: We’re Here for
You.”
Committee Reports:
·
Ron
Kitchens, coordinator of the Meet and Greet Program, thanked all Staff Council
members who participated in the program this year. Mr. Kitchens stated that suggestions for
improving next year’s program are welcome.
Currently, Mr. Kitchens plans to coordinate with the Office of Student Orientation
and to expand advertising of the program in order to inform more students about
this service.
·
Judy Fos, coordinator of New Employee
Orientation, reported that her committee held a joint meeting with the Staff
Council Awareness Committee in order to coordinate efforts to increase the
visibility of Staff Council.
Recommendations include: providing Staff Council t-shirts to new staff
members; sending letters to new staff; and updating the current Staff Council
brochure.
·
Ardessa Minor,
coordinator of the Staff Council Awareness Initiative, gave an update on 2004
Fall Staff Council Kick-off. This
program, scheduled for Wednesday, October 13, from
·
Jennifer
Pardoe, coordinator of the Publicity Committee, asked
that a volunteer sign-up sheet be passed around during the meeting. Staff Council members are needed to work on various
initiatives sponsored by this committee.
·
Mary
Harrington reported that the Executive Committee recently met with Chancellor Khayat. During the
meeting, the Chancellor stated that funding for the University will continue to
be tight, and asked that Council members encourage all staff to look for ways
to work more efficiently. The Chancellor
also suggested that the Council consider holding meetings at different
locations around campus. The Council voted
to keep the
Old Business:
·
A new
digital camera was purchased from
New Business:
·
The
Textbook Scholarship Committee has made several changes to its statement on textbook
scholarship policies and procedures:
o
Scholarship
eligibility will be limited to those employees earning a maximum of $50,000 per
year. Permanent, full-time employees who
earn $35,000 or less will still receive priority for scholarship disbursements.
o
The
policies and procedures now explicitly state that employees must go through
Staff Council if they need to order materials from a vendor other than the
Bookstore.
o
Guidelines
for appeals have been formalized.
Joey Brent will post the new application form and the revised policies
and procedures to the Staff Council website.
·
At last
month’s meeting, the Staff Council approved the proposed “Staff Council Member
of the Month” Initiative, which is designed to recognize members for their contributions
to Staff Council. President Harrington announced that September’s Staff Council
Member of the Month is Ron Kitchens.
·
Rachel Bost announced that all Staff Council members will soon
receive name tags, which can be worn at events such as the Fall Staff Council
Kick-Off and Staff Appreciation Day.
·
Mary
Harrington reminded everyone that the annual staff meeting will be held on
Thursday, September 9 at
·
Mary
Harrington read aloud an email she received from Lowell Wilson of the
Mississippi State University Staff Council.
Mr. Wilson offered his sympathy and support to the Ole Miss community in
the loss of our three students in the recent house fire.
Concerns
·
Joey
Brent reported that Al Fenger is working with
Printing Services to begin using secure envelopes for the mailing of check
stubs.
·
An Ole
Miss employee has expressed concern for custodial staff who work
in buildings without heat and air conditioning.
Chancellor Khayat has agreed that this is a
legitimate concern, and that it had been investigated in the past. At that time, the costs of running heating
and air conditioning during the early morning hours were too high to permit
heating or cooling in the buildings.
However, the Chancellor has agreed to revisit this issue.
Meeting adjourned,
/s/ Mary Harrington, President
/s/ Joey Brent, President-Elect
/s/ Shannon Beeman, Secretary
Staff Council e-mail address: staffcouncil@olemiss.edu
Staff Council Homepage: http://www.olemiss.edu/orgs/staff_council
Staff Council Webmaster: dptjb@olemiss.edu