MARSHALL UNIVERSITY CLASSIFIED STAFF COUNCIL MINUTES
THURSDAY,  SEPTEMBER 20, 2001
DRINKO LIBRARY – 349

 President Barrett called the meeting to order at 1:07 pm.  President Barrett asked if anyone had anything to discuss about the  previous minutes.  Motion was made to approve the minutes, accepted and seconded.  Council unanimously approved minutes as written.

 President Barrett  advised that Mr. Stephens was running a little behind schedule as he was in a luncheon meeting.  Senator Redd had called right before lunch and informed Mary that she had a medical emergency and may not make the meeting.  President Barrett felt we should go ahead and begin with several minor issues to address.    She noted that the upcoming Faculty Senate Meeting scheduled for September 27th had been cancelled and at this time a rescheduled date had not been given.  She would notify Council as soon as this information became available.  

Charles Harless addressed President Barrett with the issue that he felt our campus was not displaying our patriotism sufficiently, apparently our number of American flags seem to be lacking  in showing our support due to the horrific attack New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania received on the 11th of  September.  President Barrett advised that even though our campus may not be adorned as one would think with flags;  one could look anywhere in the  campus office  situations  and see  various  signs of support with flags on doors, people wearing ribbons, screen savers of the American flag, etc..  After further discussion President Barrett ask that Mr. Harless check into the situation and see how we may address getting more flags around the campus area.  It was also noted that the memorial service for Dr. Paul Ambrose would be held Sunday at 2:00 pm in the Joan C. Edwards playhouse. 

President Barrett asked if all had received the recent information regarding our raises.   The general consensus was that it had not been favorably received by  Huntington or Charleston campuses.  President Barett was hopeful  when Mr. Stephens arrived he would be able to give us a better understanding of the formula used in calculating ones raise.   She advised that Marshall remained the only institution that had not committed to a time frame in completing the funding of the salary schedule.  Most schools throughout the state had committed to  2 to 6 years with most going for 4 years to complete funding .    President Barrett’s understanding from the recent  legislative session was that  we are guaranteed to receive some kind of allocation of money for the next four years.  President Barrett noted also that this was probably one of the most difficult formulas they had presented to use in calculating the raises.  Many factors such  as longevity, date that you hired in, calculating your time of service,  etc., came into play in the computation of this.  Probably the easiest way for some people to figure their raise would be to meet individually with President Barrett or Jim Stephens as it seems to be that difficult to understand.

GUEST: MR. JIM STEPHENS, DIRECTOR, HUMAN RESOURCES:

 With the arrival of Mr. Stephens President Barrett asked him to give us an overview of the salary and any other issues needing to be addressed.  Mr. Stephens thanked Council for the opportunity to attend the meeting.  First item was the need to recruit additional hearing examiners for level 3 hearings that we conduct under the new  grievance statute 296A , which became effective July 1, 2001 this, is replacing the old level 2 hearing.   The purpose being that the active list of examiners has depleted greatly and we seem to be using the same examiners over and over.  This is becoming inconvenient for them as we call upon them with increasing frequency.     Mr. Stephens advised that earlier in the morning an orientation meeting had been held for perspective examiners to give an overview  of  what the duties would entail .  His hope is to go back to these individuals and ask if they would be willing to serve as examiners .  Those committing to serve would then attend a workshop with the Attorneys General  and job shadow a present examiner to have hands on experience.  He would also like to see classified staff serving as examiners or nominating a fellow associate that would be a good perspective candidate.   He feels it would be greatly beneficial to have more classified staff serving in this position and hopes that we can possibly submit some names or if we are interested individually just contact him.  He also invited  anyone from the Charleston campus that may be  interested in serving to let him know immediately and he would be in contact with them. 

Mr. Stephens advised he did not feel he was the best person to talk to us about the salary schedule.  He understands the process under which they have calculated the raise.  The salary increase process for Classified Employees for FY 02 consists basically of two parts: 

For the first part, the University has  established entry rates effective October 1, 2001, for the Classified Employee grades.  These entry rates are 25 percent of the way from the entry rates on the old classified salary schedule to the entry rates on the new schedule.  Recruiting Bulletins will reflect these new rates as appropriate.  These rates are published on the web at: http://www.Marshall.edu/human-resources/employ/clasrates.htm. 

For the second part, each regular-status Classified Employee is scheduled to receive a salary increase that is equivalent to 15 percent of the difference between where they are on the old classified salary -schedule and where they ought to be on the new schedule.

After the second part above is applied, anyone who is then still below the October 1, 2001 entry rates will be boosted to at least the new entry rate for their grade.  If, after the second round, an individual is at or above the October 1 entry rates there will be no further adjustment in their salary for this fiscal year. 

Although there may be a redlining constraint in effect, it appears that all regular-status Classified Employees get some increase effective October 1, 2001. 

Mr. Stephens reported that a salary information letter would be sent from his office but would probably be after we receive our paycheck on the 16th of October  this check will reflect our raise.   So we should be able to calculate without too much difficulty what we will receive.   Mr. Stephens addressed the directive Governor Wise had issued about offices remaining open until five o’clock .  He felt this pretty much had to be a decision made by the individual offices as to how they chose to maintain this time frame even though we operated on an 8:00 – 4:30 pm work schedule.  As in many areas the offices had started a rotation basis of someone remaining until  5:00 pm  but not coming in until 8:30 am.  He felt it also depended on whether the office was of high profile – meaning if  they should be open to accommodate any one coming in or phoning into the office such as the Human Resource office, which is complying with the directive.  It appears that a definite decision on whether this operative remains in place is still in question.  Overall it seemed the round robin rotation to be the most effective method of use in offices even though other factors and issues may have to be considered.    If anyone had a concern or problem with this matter Mr. Stephens noted he would be glad to meet and discuss this with them.

 GUEST: SENATOR MARIE REDD:

President Barrett thanked Mr. Stephens for attending and addressing our issues.  She introduced our guest Senator Marie Redd. 

Senator Redd gave a brief overview of the issues addressed during the last legislative.  In this overview she gave explanation of the role and the power these positions would hold: 

      President Barrett addressed the complaint received from the classified representative on the Board of Governors was that the Chancellor  continued to send materials down that he wanted reviewed and feedback within a two day time period.  This was not allowing any time to meet, review,  or gather information to respond appropriately to the matter at hand.  Senator Redd  said this was not the first she had heard on this matter  of the Chancellor trying to micromanage and advised that she would respond to the Chancellor by letter on this regard. 

Senator Redd was asked about salaries.  She said this is very difficult issue every time with the legislature because we never really have an idea of what money will be available or how much we will have.  This is an issue that is addressed accordingly by the legislature during its session. 

Senator Redd asked if she could answer any questions or if we may have any issues she could take by and address on our behalf.  She thanked Council for allowing her to meet with us and again asked that we stay in contact if she could be of any help.

 GRADUATE SCHOOL

President Barrett asked Martha Pierson if she had a report from the Charleston campus.  The only notation was that everyone had the same concerns over the salary schedule.

INSTITUTIONAL BOARD

 President Barrett advised that Tanya Bobo was leaving the university for another position and that we would probably be holding an election to replace Tanya.  She would be in contact with Carla Cook  as soon as she returned from vacation.  President Barrett advised that staff council would send notifications out as soon as details had been worked out regarding this matter.

 ACCE:  STEPHANIE NEAL:

 President Barrett advised that Stephanie was away attending the ACCE meeting and that she had forwarded materials for our review. 

OLD BUSINESS: Nothing was brought forth on the floor for discussion. 

NEW BUSINESS:  President Barrett had some concern that we may have a possible change of dates because our guest speaker may have a conflict with her schedule.   Martha Pierson is to check on this and report back ASAP so that we may try and arrange another date or possibly another guest speaker.  Also, the Council office would notify everyone as soon as arrangements would be completed.  Right now we would continue looking at October 25, 2001 for our trip to the Charleston campus.  Also, Joe Wortham and Muhammad Chaudhry have offered to drive the vans.  We hope to have good attendance. 

No further business meeting adjourned.