Chancellor's Staff Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes November 19, 1998   Members present: Steve Honeycutt, Jan Scroggs, Mary Chakales, Nancy Williams, Melanie Rhodarmer, Roger Penley, Maggie Smith, Mary O'Day, Mike Honeycutt, Richard White, Delacy Bradsher, Elise Henshaw, Harold Johnson, Steve Parrott, Charles Shivers, Marilyn Lonon, Terry Bailey, Kathy Higdon, and Linda Franklin, staff liaison. Absent: Carolyn McElrath. Others in attendance: James Johnson. The meeting was called to order at 1:35 in Room 37, Highsmith Center by the chair, Steve Honeycutt. Minutes of the last meeting were approved. Hard copies of the CSAC newsletter were passed around and it was agreed that it would be desirable for all staff to receive a hard copy of the newsletter. Several members volunteered to assist with the mailing. In the absence of Terry Bailey, the chair distributed copies of the Staff Morale Committee Report. The two recommendations from this committee, which were submitted to the chancellor, were approved. At the chancellor request, Tom Byers generated a list of campus committees on which staff should have representation. We will examine the list at the December meeting and determine to which committees we would like representation. Maggie Smith reported that we do have faculty support for granting staff permission to attend a class of their choice once each semester as long as prior approval is obtained from the appropriate faculty member. Kristie Sutterman advised that Human Resources cannot track this as official leave time. If it is approved by the chancellor, the individual supervisor will grant the class time as excused work time for professional development and personal enrichment. Maggie will work this request into a formal proposal and submit it at the December meeting. The chair reported that we have not heard anything yet from the campus parking committee regarding the proposals we submitted to them. Kristie reported that Molly Broad, University System president, wants an employee appointed on each campus to help other employees through the grievance process. Kristie asked for suggestions as to how we would like to see this implemented at UNCA. At issue is would it be preferable to allow the employee to choose anyone or to have a couple of people who are knowledgeable about the process and have had some training. The suggestion was made to have three to five people who have been trained and that they be permanent employees. Kristie will draft a policy and bring it back to us for approval. If accepted, it would then be submitted to the Chancellor's Council, State Personnel, and finally to Molly Broad. The chair will retain the comments received on the survey for awhile and then destroy them. Regarding the In-Range Salary Adjustment issue, Linda Franklin reported that she took current information on real employees and generated information on what it would take to bring them to their goal, defined as either the factored salary amount or the maximum of their current grade. She used current salary, excluding longevity, and ranked state service at twice the amount of non-state and education. If $100,000 were available for two years and the maximum 10 percent raise were given, 40 employees could be funded during the first year. In the second year, the number funded would be 37, and in the third year, 29. Since some people are so far from their goal, the same people would be receiving the funding for those first three years. After the third year, new people would begin to be funded. To give everyone the maximum 10 percent raise to begin to bring them in-line with their factored salary goal would take $750,000. Assuming that amount is unlikely to be available, the committee discussed the pros and cons of funding as many people as possible at 10 percent or funding those farthest from their goal at 10 percent and some at five percent. The majority of the committee voted for funding 10 percent to each individual until the available monies ran out and for excluding longevity from the calculations for in-range salary adjustment. The committee also approved the following schedule for awarding the adjustments: February 1st - the Chancellor's Council notifies Human Resources how much money is available March 1st - Human Resources has determined which employees receive the awards May 1st - Awards are made A formal proposal on the In-Range Salary Adjustment will be prepared and submitted to the full committee for approval at the December meeting before submitting to the chancellor. Also discussed was the best method for making this information (who is on the list, how far away from their goal, and the amount awarded) available to the campus. Suggestions were made to put the information on the WEB site and/or in the library. All agreed that as much information as possible on the whole process needs to be available , but not necessarily published. Linda suggested that, once a policy is approved, Human Resources organize a campus-wide meeting to inform SPA employees. Another suggestion was for each vice chancellor to inform the employees in his/her area. CSAC feels strongly that the Chancellor's Council should make every attempt to find monies for to fund in-range salary adjustments. One committee member cautioned that the only way to accomplish might be through diminished departmental budgets. The committee addressed the suggestion that the Service Awards Luncheon be moved to a different time. The consensus was that the luncheon and the chancellor's reception do not create a duplication. The committee voted to recommend that the luncheon not be moved from the holidays; that the service awards continue to be given at that time; and that the luncheon be free to employees. William Bruce suggested that a CSAC representative come to a Faculty Senate meeting to help give faculty a greater understanding of staff issues. Nancy Williams volunteered to be the CSAC representative to the Return to Work Committee. Nancy is on the Emergency Loan Committee. They are concerned about the lack of funds to meet so many needs. She would like to discuss other sources for funds for this committee. The matter will be on the agenda of the December meeting. Also on the December agenda is the summer picnic. The next meeting will be December 17th at 1:30 in Highsmith 37. The meeting was adjourned at 3:10 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Elise Henshaw, Secretary