THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA STAFF SENATE Regular Meeting Thursday, November 6, 2008 BIRD LIBRARY AUDITORIUM GROUP MEMBERS PRESENT MEMBERS ABSENT

Transcription

1 THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA STAFF SENATE Regular Meeting Thursday, BIRD LIBRARY AUDITORIUM GROUP MEMBERS PRESENT MEMBERS ABSENT Ex-Officio Members Cynthia Clegg, Don Clothier, Joie Ken Rowe and Provost Designees White, Kevin Rinaldi Officers Casey Partridge, Brian Wilburn, Paije Fauser Andie Stringfellow, Patsy Kouhdari, Cheryl Williams Guests Arlene Baker, Sandy Heldenbrand, Tisha McGhee, Whitney Steele Group I Stephanie Odparlik, Cheri Elliott, Jennifer Springer Group II Group III Sondra Metzger, Heather Brandi Green Markgraf, John Oster Group IV Sandy Warner, Matt Cloud, Jeffrey Wetmore Patti Matney Group V Kimberly Hutchison, Paula Prevatt Benjamin Lawson, Jeff Hille, Tina Pekas, Brittany Scroggins Group VI Heather Hogan-Cline, Bobbie Tasiska Davis Brewer Group VII Patsy Johnson, Pat Vinson Katy Wandel, Jill Black Group VIII CeCe Robertson Group IX Mary Baisch, Sherri Moser Gail Chapman, Amber Hicks Group X Linnea Melton, Kasie Nichols Judy Kranz Group XI Lisa Suriano, Lori Bradley, Stacy Sery, Leah Lewis Eileen Blankenship, Debbie Scott Welcome: Casey Partridge, Chair, welcomed everyone to the Staff Senate Meeting. He announced that this month s Senator Spotlight features Brandi Green, a Group III Senator, who is an Assistant Manager in Financial Services/Accounts Payable. Casey also announced that on Tuesday, November 11 th at the Student Union there would be a service in honor of Veterans Day. The service will commence at noon. There will be cake served at the reception. Everyone is encouraged to come and honor our veterans. Guest Speaker: Doug Myers, Assistant Director, Parking and Transportation. Casey Partridge introduced the Staff Senate guest speaker, Doug Myers, who spoke on Rideshare and Commuting Opportunities. The Executive Committee of the Staff Senate had requested that the Parking Office investigate the options for employees to carpool to work. Doug reported that he had met with ACOG (Association of Central Oklahoma Governments), which has duties that include managing 911 emergency services, working with groundwater issues, serving as the metro transportation agency in the region, and more. ACOG put together the RideShare advisory committee that includes representatives from large corporations and entities in the OKC metro and includes OU/OUHSC, Dell, Devon, and UCO. The committee s efforts are aimed at reducing the use of single occupancy Staff Senate Minutes 1

2 vehicle traffic. When this can be accomplished, it can save people fuel, help reduce pollution, stress, and traffic congestion, and save people money in traveling back and forth to work. Right now it is estimated there are about 10 million empty seats in vehicles on the road. Doug Myers represents HSC on the committee. The next committee meeting is slated to be December 2 nd. Several cities have various programs which assist them in creating carpooling groups. ACOG is working with a software program, GreenRide, that allows a user to create a personal account and include if they would be willing to drive or if they would prefer to carpool just as a passenger. The software will then attempt to make matches with others in a user s local area. Once a possible match is set up, an will go to the respective users so that they can contact each other to establish a carpool. The web site for GreenRide can be found at ACOG will be setting up matching programs for specific locations, such as riders to OUHSC, riders to Dell, etc. Before the university can endorse the RideShare/GreenRide program, our Legal department will review it for liability issues. Another issue to be discussed is how to handle an instance if a carpooler ends up stranded. A question was asked about the cost of the parking permit if two people carpool and alternate each week on driving. Doug responded that the permits are issued to the person, not to the car. If both people ride together in a car, only one hang tag is required and can be transferred between the cars as these two drivers alternate. However, the Parking Office would need to have an agreement set up and signed as to who will be driving on which days and which lot would need to be used with the assigned tag. Both cars would need to be registered with the Parking Office. One service on the campus is the shuttle buses and Doug encouraged everyone to use them. When classes are in session, the shuttles run on a 7-1/2 minute route. When classes are not in session, the shuttle route stops are every 15 minutes. The VA route begins at 4:30 a.m. and run at specific times until to 6:30 p.m. More information about the shuttle service can be found at: Doug also announced that on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, as part of new employee orientation, the Parking Office provides shuttle tours to acquaint employees with the campus. The shuttle leaves the Service Center Building at 11:00 a.m. and the tour lasts about an hour. He encouraged those who might be interested in taking the tour to contact the Parking Office. He also reminded us about conference parking for events. It is considered conference parking when more than 10 people come from off campus and will need to park on campus. Event planners need to notify the parking office beforehand so that they can arrange for conference parking. An can be sent to the parking office for notification that includes the name of the event, the dates and times, where the event will be held, how many guests are expected and a contact person s name. The Parking Office also offers Metro bus passes in the Parking Office. The costs of the passes are $50 for a 30-day express bus (Edmond or Norman routes), and $40 for a 30-day pass for the other bus routes. Parking updates: Ambulatory Surgery Center construction will displace 200 parking spaces during construction of the center. Work could start as early as December Once the construction is completed, most of the parking spaces should be recouped. The new campus buses should be here in December with the para-transit vans arriving shortly after the first of the year. Staff Senate Minutes 2

3 In the area of Everest and 12 th Streets, OUHSC will be making street repairs. The Parking Office will cover half of these repair fees and Administration with cover the other half. Repair costs are estimated at approximately $280,000. Recently discovered problems at the Stonewall 5-story parking garage will cost about $52,000 and will bring the total for the repairs to this garage up to $250,000. Parking Rates: Doug stated that no State monies are received for parking upkeep and operations of the Parking and Transportation department. He stated that when he began with the HSC parking office, there was about $2,000,000 in debt and that they have been able to reduce the inherited debt down to less than $756,000. The largest single cost each year is the interest and service on this debt service (annually about $548,000). Because of this, and the need of repairs for the parking properties on campus, the Parking and Transportation department is requesting an increase in parking fees to begin in January They will then review the parking rates every 3 years. The proposed rates are $108/semester (formerly $100/semester) for student parking, $22/mo (formerly $20/mo) for regular employee parking, $65/mo (formerly $50/mo) for reserved spaces, and $50/mo for the new reserved area parking (areas that people rent access to rather than a particular spot.) The reserved parking areas will be located behind the new Allied Health building and on the bottom floor of the Williams Pavilion. The reserved areas will be monitored to see how full they stay and if it is found to consistently have empty spaces in any area of the reserved area parking, more reserved areas spots will be rented. I. Approval of the September 2008 and October 2008 Minutes - Several corrections were noted for the September 2008 minutes. A motion was made by Stacy Seri to accept the September 2008 and October 2008 minutes, as corrected, and was seconded by Stephanie Odparlik. Motion passed. II. Treasurer s Report Patsy Kouhdari, Treasurer Revenue Expenses Balance September 1, , Fall Craft Fair Fall Fundraiser 5, Wacky Games Sales Staff Week 2008 Shirts Total Revenue 7, Encumbered Funds for SW , Fall Fundraiser (Ret. Check) Fall Craft Fair (Ret. Check) th Anniversary (Water Bottles/Magnets) 2, Sales Tax (August 2008) Spring Fundraiser Refunds (Defective Umbrellas) Freezer Gloves for Events Total Expenses 4, September 30, , Staff Senate Minutes 3

4 III. Committee Reports: A. Committee on Committees presented by Brian Wilburn, Chair. Brian reported there had been a couple of resignations on the Senate and a few committees and replacements are being recommended. Overall the committees are doing well. Senate Resignations Rachel Langhor, Group VI, Senator, Anne Cuomo, Group VIII, Senator, Charla EchoHawk, Group X, Senator, Senate Recommendations Bobbie Brewer, Group VI, Senator, (Alternate, ) Carrie Kardaras, Group VII, Alternate, CeCe Robertson, Group VIII, Senator, Judy Kranz, Group X, Senator, (Alternate, ) Senate Vacancies Group I 1 Senator, ; 2 Alternates, Group II 1 Senators, ; 3 Senators, ; 2 Alternates, Group III 2 Alternates, Group IV 1 Alternate, Group V 1 Alternate, Group VI 2 Alternates, Group VII 1 Alternate, Group VIII 1 Senator, ; 2 Senators, ; 2 Alternates, Group X 1 Alternate, Group XI 3 Alternates, Committee Resignations Beth Orr, Staff Week, Charla EchoHawk, Employee Recognition, Committee Recommendations Carrie Kardaras, Special Projects, Sandy Warner, Staff Week, Committee Vacancies Copyright Committee, Copyright Committee, A motion was made to accept the Committee on Committees report by Lisa Suriano and was seconded by Mary Baisch. Motion passed. B. Employee of the Month Committee presented by Dave Clark, Chair The Employee of the Month for October was Bebe Gilpin from Nursing. The reception was last Tuesday. The November Employee of the Month is Deanna Haener, Business Manager for Allied Health Dean s office. Her reception will be on November 19 th at 1:30 at the College of Health Building, room #144. Staff Senate Minutes 4

5 C. Special Projects Committee presented by Matt Cloud, Chair The craft fair will occur on December 4 th. All 71 tables have been sold. The Special Projects Committee should clear about $1,000. It was noted that one of the chief attractions to the craft fair in the past has been serving Indian Tacos and we will have them again this year. November 6 th is the last day to place an order for the Christmas ornaments or preorder long-sleeve t-shirts. The first time we cleared $3,500 and we are hoping to make as much money as possible with this promotion. The Christmas tree set-up is going to be Friday, December 5 th and the KIPP Academy will be making the ornaments for the tree, like they did last year. The Christmas reception will be on Monday, December 8 th at 2:00 p.m. We are still in need of a person to be the Santa Claus. If anyone is interested in doing that or you know of someone, please let Cheryl know in the Staff Senate office. Right now the Special Projects Committee is taking ideas for the upcoming Cupid Express. If you have any suggestions, please contact Matt Cloud or Cheryl Williams. D. Staff Week Committee presented by Casey Partridge Casey let the audience members know that the money that is raised during these special projects, mentioned by Matt Cloud previously, are used to support events such as Staff Week. IV. Unfinished Business Don Clothier was asked to give an update on the recent Resolution from the Staff Senate about changing the hourly employee pay to biweekly rather than monthly. Don reported that Administration and Finance have formed a committee to look into the feasibility of this change. This does show that they are taking the Staff Senate Resolution seriously. He stated that for this change to occur it will take a great deal of time to implement. It would be unrealistic to think something could happen very soon. Don was pleased to report that the committee is looking into our request. V. New Business - none VI. Announcements Since the craft fair will be taking place on December 4 th, the December Staff Senate meeting date is being moved to December 11 th at 10:00 o clock. The December Staff Senate meeting will be held in the area outside the Bird Library auditorium. Heather Markgraf introduced Whitney Steele. Heather recently took a new position with the Budget Office and Whitney will be replacing Heather in the Administration and Finance office and will be the back up for the Staff Senate Office. Casey asked for a show of hands of audience members in which this was their first Staff Senate meeting. Several people raised their hands and were acknowledged. Staff Senate Minutes 5

6 Cheryl asked for all new Senators and Alternates to have their photograph taken by Sondra Metzger, Staff Senate Photographer, before they leave. Their photo will be included on the Staff Senate web site. VII. Adjournment A motion was made to adjourn by Lori Bradley and was seconded by Lisa Suriano. Motion passed. Next meeting will be Thursday, December 11, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Andie Stringfellow Secretary Handouts: November 2008 Agenda Senator Spotlight Brandi Green September 2008 and October 2008 Staff Senate minutes November 2008 (September) Treasurer Report Updated Staff Senate Roster Updated Staff Senate Committee Roster Staff Senate Minutes 6