March 21, 2007
Staff Senate Meeting Minutes
March 21, 2007
10:00 – 12:00 p.m. - ECC 1775
Present: Neely Benton, Rita Brenes, Karen Carmichael, Maria Corral, Gabriela de Anda, Crystal Dootson, Reuben Gutierrez, Beatrice Henson-O’Neal, Florante Ibanez, Elmo Johnson, Jim Kelly, Janet Lee, Nora Jayne Mallen, Elmira Melgoza, Mary Moore, Gwen Part, Faith Sauerwald, Renée Sikes, Tangee Smith-Hill
Absent: Mike Carty, Alexis Dolan and Terri Taylor
I. Call to Order
• President Henson-O’Neal called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m.
II. Nomination Results and Official Election for the Staff Senate Vice President Executive Board Position term ending 2008
• President Henson-O’Neal announced that the following candidates have accepted their nominations for the office of Vice President: Maria Corral, Reuben Gutierrez and Terri Taylor. The Staff Senate distributed ballots and conducted a formal vote to elect the new Vice President. After votes were tabulated, President Henson-O’Neal announced that Maria Corral had received the majority of the votes and was introduced as the new Vice President for the Staff Senate.
• President Henson-O’Neal announced that another election for Staff Senate Secretary needed to follow since Maria Corral had accepted her new position as Vice President and her previous position of Staff Senate Secretary was now vacant. The candidates for secretary were Reuben Gutierrez, Gwen Part, and Terri Taylor; Reuben declined nomination. The Staff Senate distributed ballots and conducted a formal vote to elect the new Secretary. After the votes were tabulated, President Henson-O’Neal announced that Gwen Part had received the majority of the votes and was introduced as the new Secretary for the Staff Senate.
III. President’s Report
a. E-Board Meeting
i. President Henson-O’Neal met with Rebecca Chandler, Vice President of Human Resources, to formally request a list of the entire LMU staff to assist the Staff Senate in ensuring that all communication regarding staff matters are conveyed accordingly to all staff. Rebecca Chandler agreed to provide the Staff Senate with a list and also indicated that H.R. would ensure that the list is maintained on a monthly basis and kept up to date.
ii. President Henson-O’Neal contacted Dr. Vicki Graf, President of the Faculty Senate, to request a meeting to discuss matters that affect Faculty and Staff Senate. Dr. Graf has been successful in tackling several matters with the Faculty Senate and would be a wonderful resource for the Staff Senate in providing feedback on what processes have worked for the Faculty Senate and assistance with pending Staff Senate matters. Dr. Graf and President Henson-O’Neal will be meeting on Monday, April 9, from 1 – 2 p.m.
b. Human Resources’ Health Benefits Fair
i. On Wednesday, April 4, the Human Resources Department will be having a Health Benefits Fair from 10 – 2 p.m., in University Hall. The Staff Senate suggested having a Staff Senate table available at the Fair to help promote the Staff Senate and allow the Senators to be visible to the faculty and staff. In addition, the Senate will bring a suggestion box and encourage the staff to share their ideas, opinions, concerns, etc.
c. Campus Climate Results
i. The results of the Campus Climate Survey did not seem to convey properly the concerns
that staff have with LMU. The Staff Senate may need to pursue this matter further and
challenge the statistics that were obtained as a result of this survey.
ii. The Senate expressed that the Facilities Management Department did not have an opportunity to participate in the survey because accommodations to translate the survey to Spanish were not made and a large group of employees within Facilities Manangement have language barriers and are limited to reading in Spanish. For future consideration, the staff is able to request for a professional translator to be available and accommodate their needs. Also, the survey was only offered online, and many Facilities staff do not have regular access to computers.
iii. The Staff that attended the Campus Climate Results sessions were not pleased with the statistics and left the sessions thinking that nothing will be done about the concerns that were expressed during the survey. In the interest of time, President Henson-O’Neal tabled this discuss and agreed to make this topic an agenda item for the next meeting.
d. By-Laws Committee Appointments
i. The Senators that have been appointed to the By-Laws Committee are Crystal Dootson as chair, Elmira Melgoza, Tangee Smith-Hill, Gwen Part and Jim Kelly. President Henson-O’Neal will email Crystal an electronic copy of the Staff Senate By-Laws to reference.
e. Identifying departments within divisions for the liaison model
i. It was suggested that communication guidelines be provided to all the Senators to ensure
that the Senators have a uniform way of communicating information to their divisions.
The Senate conveyed that is was important to keep all communication consistent and as
professional as possible.
ii. President Henson-O’Neal asked the Senate to consider conducting an Open Forum in mid May, before the end of the semester. The Senate unanimously agreed to move forward with the Forum in May.
IV. Liaison Reports – Postponed until liaison model is redefined.
V. Committee Reports
a. A follow-up report from the Staff Picnic Committee
i. The Staff Picnic will be held on Friday, June 1, in Leavey Field, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00
p.m.
• Fr. Lawton has prepared a statement and invitation to the staff for the upcoming picnic and it will be posted on ManeGate. Fr. Lawton’s message indicates that all staff can participate during the entirety of the picnic.
• Mary Moore and Janet Lee will have posters made announcing the picnic and will have them posted throughout campus.
• T-Shirts will not be purchased for the Staff Picnic this year and instead the staff will be provided with a choice to select a ball cap or a visor. In addition, the committee is looking into possibly purchasing water bottles to distribute at the picnic, but it will depend on the cost of the item. President Henson-O’Neal suggested to the committee to ensure that all staff (1,046), present or not, receive a ball cap as a token of LMU’s appreciation for their hard work and dedication.
• The Senate was informed that Sodexho staff was invited to attend the picnic last year as a trade off to have the service charges removed from the bill. The same arrangement will be implemented again this year.
• Nora Jayne Mallen will contact the Deans of the various colleges and ask if they would be willing to show their appreciation to the staff by donating funds from their budget to help pay for some of the expenses that will be incurred for the Staff Picnic.
• Tents have been ordered for the picnic.
• The committee decided to raffle one big prize at the picnic rather than having several prizes to raffle throughout the picnic because some staff that attended last year’s picnic felt that the raffles took up too much and caused a distraction. Some Senators expressed concerns about having only one big prize and indicated that most staff looked forward to having the opportunity of winning one of the prizes. If there is only one big prize it will limit the opportunities to win anything.
• It was suggested to the committee that they think outside the box. One creative idea that was suggested was that we encourage each divisional Senior Vice President to challenge each other in finding their own unique “rewards” that can be raffled to the staff in their division, such as a paid day off. This approach would be more meaningful to staff, give them an additional opportunity to win something and would be more cost effective to the Senate.
• The committee expressed to the Senate that they will need all the help they can get to set-up before the picnic, help with the various activities during the picnic and help with clean-up afterwards.
• The committee will ensure that pertinent information regarding the picnic will be communicated to the Law School accordingly.
• All staff will be required to RSVP for the picnic. Those that do not RSVP will be sent a reminder to please do so.
• The D.J. that was hired for the Christmas Party has also been hired for the picnic and Tres Morgan, Assistant Director for Special Events, will be the MC.
b. Follow-up report from the Raffle Prize Committee
c. Follow-up from the Staff of the Year Committee
i. Reuben Gutierrez will contact Rebecca Vizcarra to get more information about the process
that the Law School used to change the name of their Staff of the Year Award. The
information will be shared with the Senate at a later date.
VI. Old Business
a. Follow-up Leadership Retreat on 3/2/07 & Senate Priorities – refer to New Business
VII. New Business
a. Implementing Staff Senate ManeGate Channels – Janet Lee
i. Janet Lee has been working on the Staff Senate website and has been extremely helpful in
updating the information within the site.
ii. Maria Corral has been working with Marissa Contreras to create a Staff Senate Group to
help facilitate communication within the Staff Senate. This Group can only be accessed by
the Staff Senate by going to the ManeGate icons and selecting groups.
b. Update: Staff Night at the Theatre – Elmo Johnson
i. Elmo Johnson has drafted a flyer inviting the LMU community to attend a performance of
“Cinderella” on Saturday, December 8, from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m., at the Redondo Beach Civic
Center.
• President Henson-O’Neal suggested that the flyer be posted at the Staff Senate table during the Health Benefits Fair on Wednesday, April 4, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., to help promote this upcoming event.
• Tangee Smith-Hill, Florante Ibanez and Karen Carmichael volunteered to assist Elmo with this event.
c. Staff Senate Sub-Committees
i. Salary & Benefits
• The following sub-committees fall under Salary and Benefits: Equity in AMI, Silver Service Card/Staff Tenure, Staff Housing Assistance, Telecommuting, Flex Schedule, Comp Time, Over Time and Cashed Out Sick Days.
• These sub-committees will be represented by the following Senators: Tangee Smith-Hill, Gabriela de Anda, Renée Sikes, Jim Kelly, Rita Brenes, Elmo Johnson, Crystal Dootson, and Beatrice Henson-O’Neal (chair).
ii. Staff Morale & Incentives
• The following sub-committees fall under Staff Morale and Incentives: Staff Lounge, Loan Lottery Enhancements, Staff of the Year Enhancements, Development & Training and Staff Appreciation.
• These sub-committees will be represented by the following Senators: Florante Ibanez, Neely Benton, Karen Carmichael (co-chair), Faith Sauerwald (co-chair), Maria Corral, Mary Moore, Nora Jayne Mallen, Beatrice Henson-O’Neal, Elmo Johnson, and Reuben Gutierrez.
d. University Committees
i. University Standing Committees
• Beatrice received a list of university committees and asked for volunteers from the Senate interested in sitting on these committees. The following are the committees and the Senators who expressed interest in involvement:
• Academic Technology Committee (ATC) – Janet Lee and Maria Corral
• Center for Ignatian Spirituality Advisory Board – Nora Jayne Mallen
• Disability Support Services Advisory Committee – Janet Lee
• Enterprise Technology Committee (ETC) – Jim Kelly currently sits on this committee
• Frank Sullivan Social Justice Committee – Reuben Gutierrez currently sits on this committee; new volunteers include Maria Corral, Renée Sikes, and Faith Sauerwald
• Library Committee – Gwen Part and Florante Ibanez
• Committee on Sexual Harassment – Tangee Smith-Hill currently sits on this committee; Crystal Dootson expressed interest
• Status of Women Committee – Renée Sikes, Tangee Smith-Hill and Crystal Dootson
• Web Committee – Janet Lee and Neely Benton
• Westchester Budget Committee – Beatrice Henson-O’Neal
ii. Special Committees
• Benefits Advisory Committee – Beatrice Henson-O’Neal currently sits on this committee; Rita Brenes expressed interest
• Children’s Center Advisory Board – Tangee Smith-Hill
• Environmental Health and Safety Committee – Maria Corral, Mary Moore, Faith Sauerwald, Crystal Dootson, Elmo Johnson, and Gwen Part
iii. Staff Committees
• Staff Complaint/Grievance Committee – Maria Corral, Gwen Part, Gabriela de Anda, Mary Moore, and Faith Sauerwald
• Peer Counselors – Maria Corral, Renée Sikes and Rita Brenes
• President Henson-O’Neal will contact Belinda Vautrain, CAO’s Office, and determine which University Committees are still active and who the Chairs are for each one. Beatrice will contact the Chairs to submit the name(s) of the Staff Senators who volunteered for their specific committee.
• President Henson-O’Neal will report back on the status of the committees and the appointments at a subsequent meeting.
• The E-Board will compile a list of current Staff Senate Committees and will provide this list at the next Staff Senate meeting.
• Secretary Gwen Part will send a follow-up email to the absent Senators inquiring if they want to volunteer for any of the above committees.
e. Announcements
• Kesha Burton is on medical leave. Her return date has not been determined.
• Tangee Smith-Hill will not be able to attend the Staff Picnic due to a personal engagement.
• President Henson-O’Neal thanked the Staff Senate for their ongoing hard work and dedication and expressed her optimism with the new Senate and E-Board.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:00 p.m.
Prepared by: Rosa Calderon
Submitted by: Gwen Part