MARSHALL UNIVERSITY CLASSIFIED STAFF COUNCIL MINUTES
THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2001
MEMORIAL STUDENT CENTER 2W22

President Nina Barrett called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. Motion was made by LuAnn South to accept the March minutes as written and seconded by Doug Franklin. Council unanimously passed.  

ACCE – Ms. Neal reported that they learned on Wednesday afternoon that the House came up with its own version through the Education Committee of the Higher Education bill. There was nothing in that bill for classified staff. The bill was then sent on to the House Finance Committee who totally threw the bill out and came up with their own version of it which still did not include classified staff. We (ACCE) met with Jerry Mezzatesta, chair of the House Education Committee to try and find out why the language concerning the staff had been thrown out. His response to us (ACCE) was that he had an agreement with the Senate leadership that this year’s education bill would only include clean-up language of Senate Bill 653 and since he did not consider the classified staff provisions to be merely cleanup language, he took us completely out of the bill.  This would not only take out our new salary schedule that was being proposed, it would also take the current salary schedule out of State Code. When it was discovered that classified staff had been taken out, they (ACCE) went to Senator Plymale and expressed their concerns.  Senator Plymale assured us (ACCE) that the classified staff was back in the Education Bill and was going to stay there.  Ms. Neal also spoke about a handout concerning the Institutional Board of Governors and the classified staff position. The bill is written in such a way that it does not prohibit the same person from holding both positions. However, the institutions can elect a different person for each office if they so choose.  

There is nothing in SB703 that provides funding for the new salary schedule; however, the Finance Committee is working on the budget bill. What we (ACCE) were told Saturday night was that all of the language concerning salary increases like the $756 across the board raises the governor had proposed for state employees were taken out of the budget bill and put into the gray machine bill. The gray machine bill passed the House last night.  

President Barrett read the section in SB703 concerning merit raises. Merit raises may be granted only pursuant to a rule adopted by the Board of Governors and approved by the Chancellor which provides a fair and equitable basis for granting merit raises pursuit to regular evaluation based upon reasonable performance standard. Several questions were asked and answered.  Discussion continued. 

President Barrett met with the President this morning and he said that if the gray machine bill passes, higher education expects to get roughly 11 million dollars.  President Barrett asked if the Classified Staff would receive a raise.   He indicated that Classified Staff would, but it depends on how much money Marshall receives.  Basically, any salary increase is tied to the gray machine bill.  Discussion continued at length. 

President Barrett mentioned that there is a new salary schedule and it passed in Senate Bill 703. She reminded Council that there is no funding mechanism tied to the salary schedule. 

MEMBERSHIP/ELECTIONS - President Barrett reported for Vice President Joe Wortham.  This legislative session is making the election of Institutional Board of Advisors and State Advisory Council of Classified Employees (ACCE) very difficult. By state law the office of the Governing Board member and the ACCE member has to be held by April 30. We did not know until SB703 passed, what version of the language it contained--whether one person is to be elected for both seats or one person for each seat. We waited to get that information and that is why this election is moving at such an accelerated pace. There will be two positions up for re-election. The nomination letters have already gone out and today is the deadline for nominations to be received. Friday we will contact the people who have been nominated to make sure that they are going to run. Monday we will mail another letter informing everyone who the candidates are and where the ballot locations will be. The election will be held on Friday, April 27, 2001.  The Graduate School can vote for the Board of Governor’s position and for their own ACCE member. President Barrett discussed the placement of the ballot boxes and asked if a new box location was necessary.  Council discussed where the present ballot box locations are: Old Main, Prichard Hall, Sorrell Maintenance, VAMC, Medical School and the Graduate School. Council continued to discuss this issue at length but ultimately decided to leave things as they are because it was deemed that the existing geographic ballot box locations are sufficient. President Barrett mentioned that either next month or early June the Staff Council elections would be held. The seats that are up for election are: Jack Blake, Douglas Franklin, Charlene Hawkins, Ken Reffeitt, and Cora Westmoreland.  We also have four vacant offices open. 

LOGO COMMITTEE REPORT -  John Winters and Stephanie Neal from  Keith Spears’ office have developed an identity sheet for the committee to see the different logos that had submitted to CLC. CLC are the ones that approved our logo. Everything is now licensed. It has been submitted to CLC to make the necessary arrangements to insure the unveiling of the logo in early August 2001. The department chairs should have received letters indicating that they need to start weeding out their old letterhead or anything that has the old logo on it.  After August 2001 it cannot be used.  

STAFF DEVELOPMENT- Ms. Winkfield reported that there are no waivers available for the summer terms as all the money was used for the spring semester. The committee will be meeting Wednesday to try to redesign the application form to make it simpler to fill out. They would like to combine waivers for the fall and spring semesters instead of each individual semester.   Ms. Winkfield spoke about using AVI money for a scholarship fund instead of waivers. 

OLD BUSINESS 

PARKING FEES – President Barrett announced that they would begin building the new parking garage across from Henderson Center in September 2001.  In order for Marshall to build this parking garage we will have to sell bonds that must be retired. She has spoken to Mark Rhodes several times over the last couple of weeks. If they do what Capt. Rhodes has proposed, the parking fees will raise $25 this year, $25 next year, and $5 every year up to 10 years. Ultimately after 10 years the spaces will cost approximately $200 per year. Salaries and lot maintenance are paid out of the parking fees. A plan has been  worked out for parking fees to be taken out by payroll deduction over a 12-month tax sheltered period.  You must use the payroll deduction option to get the tax shelter benefit. There was discussion and concern over the increase in parking fees especially for those who make around $15,000.00 or less a year.   

NEW BUSINESS  - None 

With there being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 2:50 p.m.