Chancellor's Staff Advisory Committee Meeting

Minutes

October 15, 1998

 

Members present: Steve Honeycutt, Kathy Higdon, Jan Scroggs, Mary Chakales, Mary O'Day, Nancy Williams, Melanie Rhodarmer, Roger Penley, Maggie Smith, Terry Bailey, Mike Honeycutt, Richard White, Delacy Bradsher, Elise Henshaw, Linda Franklin, staff liaison. Absent: Harold Johnson, Steve Parrott, Charles Shivers, Carolyn McElrath, Marilyn Lonon. Others in attendance: Chancellor Patsy Reed; William Bruce, Faculty Senate Representative; Kristie Sutterman, Human Resources Director.

The meeting was called to order at 1:30 in Room 37, Highsmith Center by the chair, Steve Honeycutt. Minutes of the last meeting were approved.

At the request of Vice Chancellor Arthur Foley, Kristie Sutterman, Human Resources Director, offered the following issue for CSAC consideration: the timing of the Annual Holiday Luncheon, which is seen as being in conflict with the Chancellor's Holiday Reception. CSAC was asked to look at this event for next year and the possibility of continuing it in a different format. Kristie suggested pulling the service awards out to be presented at a different time, possibly at the summer picnic or in conjunction with the Governor's Employee Appreciation Week.

Steve Honeycutt announced that he has been asked to serve on the search committee for a new chancellor. Chancellor Reed has invited him to attend the Board of Trustees meeting next week, at which he will present an update on CSAC activities.

Mike Honeycutt presented the following two proposals from the Parking Committee:

  1. Open Parking - "In order to avoid giving citations to community members visiting the campus for sporting events, concerts, etc. we recommend the campus adopt open parking after 7:00 p.m. each evening and all day Saturday and Sunday. All vehicles that are properly parked but do not have a UNCA sticker should not be ticketed at these times."
  2. Payment for Decals - "In order to help all university employees, it is our recommendation that all employees be allowed to pay for their parking decal on a monthly basis via payroll deduction. This will be strictly voluntary and employees can change their mind on an annual basis."

Mike reported that UNCA has a parking committee and moved that we pass along to that committee these two proposals. The motion was passed. Since it is the guidelines of CSAC not to duplicate an existing committee, Mike moved that the CSAC Parking Committee be dissolved. The motion was passed.

Reporting for the Staff Morale Committee, Terry Bailey presented following two proposals to be submitted to the chancellor:

Staff Policy Review

That university staff be represented on campus-wide committees which: 1) are charged with duties which will directly or indirectly impact staff, working conditions for staff, and/or the work environment for staff and the campus as a whole; 2) are attended by faculty representation; 3) relate to university planning.

 

Staff Participation on Campus-Wide Committees

The Chancellor's Advisory Committee respectfully submits for your review and approval, our unanimous recommendation that university staff be represented on campus-wide committees which:

  1. are charged with duties which directly or indirectly impact staff, working conditions for staff, and/or the work environment for staff and the campus as a whole;
  2. are attended by faculty representation;
  3. relate to university planning.

Guidelines that would differentiate between applicable committees and those which would have no bearing on staff will be discussed at future CSAC meetings. We welcome your counsel on these guidelines.

A motion that the proposals be accepted for submission to the chancellor was passed.

The chair called for discussion of in-range salary adjustments. A major concern is that the priority for allocation of salary reserves is not applied consistently. We have the opportunity to have input on a policy for awarding in-salary adjustments. The Chancellor's Council is waiting to get a policy in place before any awards are made.

The following issues were discussed:

It should be public knowledge who is on the list for an in-range salary adjustment and who is receiving it. The discrepancy between those who are on the list for years and don't receive a raise and others placed on the list more recently needs to be clarified. The whole process needs to be public.

The forms for applying for re-classification of a position are too complicated. Linda Franklin explained that we have no choice with these as they are mandated by Raleigh. It is essential that position classifications be correct for the in-range salary adjustment process to work.

Funds need to be made available for in-range salary adjustments or setting priorities for their distribution is not going to make any difference.

Staff needs to have an understanding of where university funds come from and why they can't be traded from one area to another. Where are other sources that could be tapped to create funds for in-range salary adjustments and how viable are those sources for tapping.

The university has two sources of funds: 1) Capital funds for buildings; 2) The monies allocated by the legislature, the distribution of which is approximately 80 percent to salaries and 20 percent for departmental budgets.

If salary reserve is the only place to raise money, we're out of luck.

Members agreed that we need to make concrete recommendations to the Chancellor's Council as quickly as possible.

Linda Franklin offered the following clarification: re-classification looks at the position; in-range equity looks at the person.

It was moved and seconded that CSAC recommend that the priority for allocation of salary reserves be as follows:

  1. Range revisions approved by State Personnel Commission
  2. Promotions
  3. Reclassifications
  4. Job change adjustments
  5. Equity adjustments
  6. New hires
  7. Labor market adjustments;

and that the Chancellor's Council look for other revenue sources for salary reserves; and that a list of those SPA and EPA non-teaching employees eligible for salary adjustments and those employees who are awarded adjustments, and the amount, be publicly maintained and available to all employees upon request. The motion passed.

It was noted that none of the other constituent institutions in the University System includes longevity pay in the calculations for in-range salary adjustments and when a new person is hired longevity payments are not a part of the factored salary. A motion was made and passed that CSAC recommend to the Chancellor's Council that longevity pay be removed from the list of calculations for in-range salary adjustments at UNCA.

A motion was made and passed that CSAC recommend to the Chancellor's Council that state service carry twice the weight of non-state experience and education when calculating in-range salary adjustments.

With the meeting already at three hours in length and critical issues still to be addressed, it was decided to advise the chancellor that we were not ready to make our final recommendations to the Chancellor's Council regarding the matter of in-range salary adjustments.

The next meeting will be November 19th at 1:30 in Highsmith 37

The meeting was adjourned at 4 p.m

Respectfully submitted,

Elise Henshaw, Secretary