MEMBERS PRESENT: Nina Barrett, Lisa Beckett, Jack Blake, Tanya Bobo, Jill Burcham, Jill Chapman, Sonja Cantrell, Muhammad Chaudhry, Betty Cook, Brian Coutras, David Cremeans, Judy Damron, Elizabeth Graybeal, Charles Harless, Charlene Hawkins, Ken Reffeitt, Lu Ann South, Leah Tollivery, Cora Westmoreland, Janis Winkfield and Joe Wortham.

EXECUSED ABSENT: Marilyn Armentrout, David Blackburn, Rena Napier, Martha Deel and Martha Pierson.

MEMBERS ABSENT: Lahoma Weekley, Douglas Franklin and Verlin Hughes, Jr.

GUESTS: Jim Stephens and David Harris

The meeting was called to order by President Nina Barrett at 1:00 p.m.

The minutes of the June meeting were discussed. A motion was made to accept the minutes and seconded. Minutes were approved.

INTRODUCTION OF NEW MEMBERS: President Barrett announced that Council has eight new members. All council members introduced themselves. President Barrett stated that she feels it is going to be an exciting year. She then turned the floor over to Mr. Stephens.

Mr. Stephens approached President Barrett a while back about doing some things that would facilitate the relationship between Classified Staff employees and the HR Office. He asked President Barrett what issues are of concern about the relationship with the HR office. President Barrett sent the following issues of concerns to Mr. Stephens that is listed below. Mr. Stephens mentioned that he and Mr. Harris met with President Angel (President Angel had been given this list of concerns as well), and unreservedly President Angel is emphatic in directing HR to cultivate a good relationship with the Classified Staff Council and Classified employees.

The following are excerpts from Mr. Stephens' report to Council:

Issue: PIQs

Stephens: Human Resource Services is taking steps to ensure that the Job-Evaluation Process is conducted in a courteous and professional manner and the PIQs are processed within the time limits provided in policy. I am confident that the Classified Staff Council will see improvement in this area. This issue has received a lot of feedback and deserves a response. I am working actively to ensure courtesy is extended in order to establish a comfortable relationship with all clients. The Compensation Analyst has been instructed to move into compliance with Policy 62. We are also gathering information on any PIQs presently pending that may have exceeded the time limit. There are several potential exceptions to the thirty-day rule that clients need to be aware of. One is the case in which a PIQ needs to be sent outside the University to the system Job Evaluation Committee. We are unable to control when the response will come back from the JEC. The other circumstance is one in which a group of jobs are being evaluated together. The evaluation process cannot begin until the last PIQ in that group has been properly completed and submitted. 

 Issue: Better counseling methods

Stephens: There has been feedback to the effect the persons could not get ready answers out of the HR Services office about retirement, insurance and other kinds of benefits elements. We are working to improve our customer service skills, knowledge, and responsiveness in the area of benefits. I want to work with you to revise the chapter on benefits in the Classified Staff Handbook as it is somewhat out of date now. We want to improve our ability to present benefits information locally and in real-time perhaps through web functionality. Dr. Angel has encouraged us to develop reusable videotape or web-based media that people can call up at any time for basic benefit information. We agree this is a good idea, and we are pursuing it.

Question: Is it possible to have someone from your office in the Student Center on a certain day for half a day to answer questions?

Stephens: It is a good idea to set aside some time specifically for customer contact around benefits. We can make some time available on a regular basis in our HR Services conference room. We also need to provide information to the other Marshall units outside the main campus.

Stephens: Any qualified interested person in the University should be able to have a chance to make a bid on a job. We have had some instances where Classified Staff positions have been posted on a departmental only basis. Such postings were not publicized beyond the host department, so the impression was gotten that jobs were not posted. I was not aware of this until recently, and it has happened only very infrequently. However, we are stopping this. I have a draft policy pending that states that every Classified Staff job announcement will appear in at least one edition of the recruiting bulletin to be seen by all potential bidders. Discussion continued with additional comments.

Stephens: We in Human Resource Services can do better in the area of oversight of the interim reclassifications. Those that are undertaking temporary increased duties and responsibilities must be capped at no more than one year. We now have a better way of tracking interim reclassifications that we did not have before. However, if an individual is out on medical leave of absence, Workers' Compensation disability, etc., the interim reclassification of the person who performs their work can last as long as the individual is out on leave and does not have to end at one year. This is the only circumstance where the interims can last longer than one year. Question: What happens when a person comes back to resume their normal duties? Answer: We will expect the interim reclassification to end and the individual return to his/her original position and classification. This issue was discussed at length.

Issue: "If you don’t like it, grieve it."

Stephens: I am unable to track down who is saying this or when it occurs, but please if you hear of any instances of this happening, contact me immediately. I will deal with it as I feel it is totally inappropriate. Human Resource Services is going to try to do better in this area, but it should be pointed out that there are some circumstances in which we have to advise a person of their right to grieve. It does not mean that we would prefer that they grieve, but that in order to preserve due process they should know of their right to grieve.

Issue: Friendliness

Stephens: We in HR Services are working on this issue and hope that it is more perception than substance. However, it is a matter of changing the culture of an office. This will take time, but we want all persons in the University to feel comfortable in contacting us, interacting with us, and visiting our office.

Issue: Confidentiality

Stephens: President Angel is concerned about all the issues that appear on the Classified Staff Council's list of HR concerns, but he is especially concerned about this issue. I have written to staff with very specific instructions to preserve the confidentiality of our client's contacts with HR. If anyone feels that confidentiality was not protected, contact me immediately. Discussion continued.

Issue: Mandatory Safety Training

Stephens: We (HR) are working right now on the issue that David Cremeans has brought to our attention of potentially legal required safety training that we might not be doing. Judy Blevins has a meeting on Monday with Jeff Ellis on this issue and she will report back to me. We will take steps to put in place legally required training if such requirements exist as we want to ensure that we are in compliance. On the more general issue of the development opportunities, we will come in this fall with policy required announcements of workshops. We are under some severe constraints, because we have zero dollars for our training budget. Suggestion was made (depending on the training), there are some people here at Marshall who can do some of the training. Several other comments were made in regard to this issue.

Mr. Stephens ended his remarks by stating that a Director of Human Resource is not a director in the typical sense - certainly not a boss. He or she is more of a servant. He stressed that he wishes to approach his work in the role of servant and ensure that everyone at Marshall feels they are important and that they have an opportunity to do outstanding work. He stressed that he wishes to move away from any perceptions of possible distrust, poor communications, and not feeling served properly and toward an open and trusting relationship and a candid dialogue about improving the Marshall employment experience. He forecasts that the relationship between HR Services and Marshall's Classified Staff will improve.

President Barrett thanked Mr. Stephens and Mr. David Harris for answering Staff Council questions about the above concerned issues. Several other comments were made to David Harris who clarified them to Council. 

COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS:

President Barrett announced the committee appointments:

Financial Affairs - David Blackburn
Legislative Affairs - Ken Reffeitt
Membership Election - Joe Wortham
Personnel - David Cremeans
Physical Environment  - Charlie Harless
Service - *Bernice Bullock
Staff Development - Janis Winkfield
AD HOC:Constitution - Jill Chapman

In accordance to the constitution, President Barrett submitted these names to the Council for approval. Motion was made, seconded and approved. 

Faculty Senate Representative:

President Barrett submitted the Faculty Senate Committee appointments as follows:

Athletic Committee - Sonya Cantrell
Budget and Academic - David Blackburn
Legislative Affairs - Ken Reffeitt
Physical Facilities - Charlie Harless
Student Conduct and Welfare - LuAnn South
University Functions - Charlene Hawkins

Motion was made, seconded and approved to accept these Faculty Senate Committee members.

President Barrett stated that every five years we review our Constitution. The fifth year is here. Since Jill is an original member of Staff Council, she was asked to Chair this Ad Hoc Constitution Committee. She agreed. Basically the committee will review the Constitution and make changes if needed. President Barrett asked Jill to assemble a committee as soon as possible, go over the Constitution and come back to Council with any changes.

Institutional Board: Tanya has no report at this time. President Barrett mentioned that she checked with Layton Cotrill's office and found out that Tanya will be the representative for staff on the Governing Board. President Barrett again explained the changes in the governing structure brought about by SB653. She clarified the roles of the Policy Commission and the Governing Board. Tanya Bobo will be the Classified Staff representative on the Governing Board.

OLD BUSINESS: Council has been focused on the above personnel issues for a long time. This has been a hot topic of conversation on Council for the entire Council year. President Barrett mentioned that she and Vice President Joe Wortham met with Jim Stephens last Friday and got a very positive feeling that they are sincerely trying to meet the concerns of Council and will deal with them. Several suggestions were made on how to best advise Classified Staff of changes in the HR Office. One suggestion was a web site for Council.

NEW BUSINESS: No new business.

OPEN FORUM: Every July we have a tradition of having an open forum for Council to freely make comments of concerns. The concerns of Council members were Prime One, the lack of a new Salary Schedule, changes in the Board structure, PIQs, and progress of staff council in the past years.

With there being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 2:00 p.m.