Civil Service Council Meeting Minutes | Civil Service Council | SIU

June 5, 2013

The June meeting of the Civil Service Council was called to order by Carolin Harvey, President.

Roll call of the members was taken by Patrick Brumleve.

Members Present: Matthew Borowicz, Regina Brown, Patrick Brumleve, Elizabeth Cheek, Mickel Cordes, Diane Frew, Shari Garnett, Tina Gerecke, Vera Gibbs, Carolin Harvey, Karin McClure, Jason Phillips.

Members Absent: Anita Eckhardt, Randy Lowe, Anthony Travelstead.

Others present: Jay Brooks, Bill Bruns, Rose Douglass, Janna Gharbawi, Dawn Legier, Tobias Merriman, Jane Meuth, Karla Rankin, Teri Stobbs Ricci, Jennifer Watson.

MINUTES

The minutes for the meetings on May 1, 2013, were approved as presented.

REPORTS

Council President
Carolin Harvey reported the constituency heads meeting was postponed because all the constituency
heads had yet to be elected.

Board of Trustees
Carolin Harvey reported she plans to attend the next Board meeting scheduled for July 11 in Springfield.

Annuitants Association
Jay Brooks reported on the May 15 meeting: 1) the Carbondale chapter added 10 new members, but lost 5; 2) at the time of the meeting, it was believed that Senator Cullerton’s pension legislation would be adopted. The State Universities Annuitants Association (SUAA) is backing SB2404, the Cullerton bill; 3) annuitants will receive a letter from SUAA requesting donations for SUAA’s legal fund for the purpose of litigating legislation that is harmful to retirees; 4) SUAA is discussing the possibility of sponsoring more public events; 5) the Association’s president-elect, Bruce Appleby, would like to revisit the Civil Service Council to discuss the benefits of joining SUAA6) in response to the question Carolin Harvey asked last month, membership dues begin at the time of application. The Association will contact annuitants when they are near the expiration of their membership. Jay also noted that nothing was done with pensions during this legislative session.

COUNCIL COMMITTEE ORIENTATION

Jason Phillips reviewed the roles of each Council standing committee.

Executive
Jason Phillips reported the committee met and set the agenda.

Budget
Budget reports were emailed to all members prior to the meeting.

Public Information
Patrick Brumleve reported the committee will plan to distribute a mini newsletter for the summer.

The following Council committees did not meet or had no report: Bylaws, Civil Service Benefits, Education Assistance, Elections, Range and Staff Excellence Award.

CONSTITUENCY COMMITTEE VOLUNTEER INTERVIEWS

Jason Phillips welcomed all the committee volunteers who were in attendance and distributed a handout outlining the responsibilities of Council committee representatives. Volunteers then introduced themselves and gave brief statements about their desire to serve on the committees for which they volunteered. Jason indicated that the Executive Committee will be assigning committee representatives at its next meeting and will be presenting those for Council approval in July. Carolin Harvey thanked all the volunteers for attending and expressed appreciation for their interest in serving.

CONSTITUENCY COMMITTEES

The following constituency committee report was submitted with the June 5 agenda: Chancellor’s  Advisory Review Board.

UWPA
Diane Frew reported that yesterday’s civil service luncheon sponsored by UWPA was very well attended. The Civil Service Connections chairs talked about those meetings. Anyone wanting additional information on the Connections groups can contact UWPA Director Melinda Yeomans.

The following constituency committees did not meet or had no report: Advisory Committee to Director of Public Safety, Affirmative Action Advisory, Computing Advisory, Honorary Degrees, Intercollegiate Athletics Advisory, Naming University Facilities, Parking and Traffic Appeals, Recreational Sports and Services Advisory, Student Center Advisory, Traffic and Parking and University Joint Benefits.

SPECIAL/OTHER COMMITTEES

The following special/other committee report was submitted with the June 5 agenda: Academic Calendar. Shari Garnett added that the only change to the calendar is that beginning academic year 2014-2015, the spring semester will revert back to classes starting the Tuesday after the Martin Luther King holiday. Those on the committee who are in the classroom believed it was easier to have classes begin without an interruption so soon after the start of the semester. Shari noted that graduation will now be a week later.

Legislative Advisory
Karin McClure reported there were two competing pension bills, one in the House and one in the Senate. The Senate called the House bill, and it was overwhelmingly rejected. The House declined to call the Senate bill, so both chambers adjourned without any forward movement. In other legislation, conceal carry did pass. In his email to the University, President Poshard reported that there is language in the legislation that universities had wanted. She assumed that meant universities would have some say as to how the legislation would be implemented on campuses. Mickel Cordes noted that there are some places that would be excluded, including universities, sporting events, bars and public rallies. Karin also reported that in the President’s email, he reported that the University’s state funding was restored to last year’s level.

Carolin Harvey reported she had heard that there was a month extension on the conceal carry. Karin McClure explained that normally, the Governor has a certain number of days to review a piece of legislation. Because of the impending June 9 deadline, Attorney General Lisa Madigan asked the court for an extension to give the Governor time to review the legislation.The following special/other committees did not meet or had no report: Employee Advisory Committee to the Merit Board and SURS Members Advisory.

OFFICER NOMINATION COMMITTEE

Mickel Cordes distributed the officer ballots and reported that there are two announced candidates: Carolin Harvey for President and Anita Eckhardt for Treasurer. Mickel called for additional nominations from the floor for President. Hearing none, he asked if there were additional nominations from the floor for Treasurer. Hearing none, all nominations were closed. Carolin then made a brief candidacy statement. Ballots were completed by Council members, and a brief recess was called to allow the committee to count ballots. The Council reconvened, and Mickel announced the results as follows:

President: 12-0 votes for Carolin Harvey
Treasurer: 12-0 votes for Anita Eckhardt

Karin McClure moved to accept the election results and destroy the ballots; seconded by Matt Borowicz. Motion carried.

OLD BUSINESS

Diane Frew reported that the committee planning for the 2014 Council of Councils meeting is moving along. She believes the dates for the meeting next year will be October 24-25, depending on when the Employee Advisory Committee to the Merit Board meets. The Council of Councils meeting generally coincides with those meetings. Diane indicated that the committee has put together some ideas and hopes to have a budget to submit to the Chancellor for approval by the next Board of Trustees meeting. Carolin Harvey asked that the budget be ready to submit by the first of July. Diane reported that she and Teri Ricci will be meeting to go over the budget items from the committee’s last meeting in May. The committee will meet again on June 13; all are welcome to attend and/or submit ideas. Teri commented that food will be the biggest expense, but because there is no campus food vendor, they cannot yet put it out for bid. Bill Bruns offered his help, noting there is a list of preferred food vendors on the Procurement Services website. Vendors can set up at the Student Center or can cater to another place on campus. Vendors not on the list can be easily added, but would first need to be cleared.

NEW BUSINESS - None.

NON AGENDA ITEMS

1. Patrick Brumleve announced that he will be collecting donations to the Card/Flower/Award Fund at the July 10 meeting.
2. Carolin Harvey asked Council members who have not yet submitted a bio for the website, or who would like to make changes to their current bio, to send them to the Constituencies Office before the end of the month. She also thanked Council members for their support in electing her Council President.

ADJOURNMENT