Dickinson State University
Staff Senate Minutes

November 16, 2006, 1:30 p.m. – Klinefelter Conference Room 107

Members Present:  Alicia Erickson, James Haaland, Tim Kreidt, Mary McDermott, Kathy Obritsch, Twila Peterson, Stuart Savelkoul, Shanna Schoch, Kelly Steffes, Cecilia Taylor, Kim Thiel, and Stacy Wilkinson.

Members Absent:  Laurie Beach, Christie Chernich, Sandy Klein, Kathy Lang, and Heather Meek.

Special Guest:  Hal Haynes, Executive Director of Student Life.

Call to Order:  Meeting was called to order at 1:36 p.m. by President Twila Petersen.

Adoption of Agenda:  Twila Peterson proposed to strike item H – Grievance Procedure Committee from the agenda.  Stuart Savelkoul made a motion to adopt the agenda with proposed change; Kim Thiel seconded; motion carried.

Approval of Minutes:  Shanna Schoch moved to accept the minutes; Mary McDermott seconded; motion carried.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Standing Committees:

Continuing Education Committee:  Stacy Wilkinson reported.  The Time Management and Multitasking training was held on Wednesday, November 8.  There were two identical sessions and 13 staff attended.  Dr. Lee Lundberg distributed surveys for the staff to complete.  He provided DSU with copies of the completed surveys.  Dr. Lundberg received 11 superior ratings and two above average marks.  The next training is being planned for early next year.

Social Committee:  Stuart Savelkoul reported.  He is attempting to set up an appointment with Faculty Senate to discuss a possible joint social.  Stuart will work with Heather Meek and Faculty Senate in putting an event together.

Hiring Process of Staff Committee:  Mary McDermott reported that the criminal records disclosure has not been adopted yet.  The revisions to the hiring process are slow due to the university wanting to include the criminal background provision.  Stuart Savelkoul inquired if criminal background checks will be retroactive.  Twila Petersen reported that the recent President’s Cabinet Minutes made reference to retroactive possibilities/concerns.  Alicia Erickson reported that a provision for students regarding criminal backgrounds is already in place on the applications for admission.

Emergency Management Preparedness Committee:  Kathy Obritsch reported that there is nothing new to report.  Dr. McClellan has been away.  Kathy will follow up with Dr.  McClellan within the next two weeks.

Bulletin Boards Committee:  Laurie Beach was absent.  Jim Haaland and Stuart Savelkoul had nothing to report.  Kim Thiel referred to the advertising policy and policy on use of campus bulletin boards listed in the 2006-2007 Student Guide on page 21.  This policy refers to regulations, logistics, and compliance.  However, it does not mention who maintains the bulletin boards.

Staff Handbook Committee:  Shanna Schoch reported that the Service Matrix is pending.  Shanna is retyping the Matrix and it is near completion.  The original document could not be found on the computers in University Relations.  Stacy Wilkinson reported that the Continuing Education Subcommittee binder houses a disk that holds the document.  However, Stacy was unsuccessful in retrieving the document from the disk.  Mary McDermott suggested that the Service Matrix also be put into the campus phone directory next year.  The staff senate members were in favor of adding the matrix to the directory.

Shanna distributed and discussed changes to the Survival Guide.  She presented different colors choices as well.  Some suggestions from staff senate members were:

1. The DSU logo should be more prominent on the front page
2. Use more narrow divider lines and check word spacing throughout the guide
3. Make reference to the number of classes staff can take each academic year
4. Separate health and wellness classes from the academic classes
5. Update procedure in requesting State Fleet vehicles.  Shanna will verify the procedure with Christie Chernich.

Shanna will take the suggested changes to Melissa in University Relations.  She will then bring another copy to the next meeting.  Staff Senate will then vote on color choices.

Parking Issues Committee:  Kim Thiel reported that the committee met with Alvin Binstock, Vice President for Business Affairs.  The fines have been increased across campus.  Congestion has been improved since last year.  Handicapped parking fines of $100.00 are posted on signs in front of each handicapped parking space.  Alvin informed the committee that he sent a letter of response to Staff Senate on April 7, 2005 regarding parking matters.  However, Staff Senate and the committee were unaware of the existence of said letter.  There is no letter in the Staff Senate files.  The letter denies converting the eight parking spaces located between DeLong Hall and May Hall to faculty/staff parking primarily due to excessive congestion of the area.  Alvin Binstock provided the committee with a copy of the letter and Twila Petersen has since placed the letter in the Staff Senate files.  Also, Alvin Binstock informed the committee that he had not seen the petition that was signed by faculty and staff regarding additional parking spaces.  Stuart Savelkoul reported that students now pay $30 each year for a parking sticker.  The students feel that the faculty and staff should pay to park on campus too.  After students reach $50 in parking fines, they are put on a tow list.  Jim Haaland reported that there seems not to be a parking problem on campus; therefore; he made a motion to remove the item from the agenda; Stuart Savelkoul seconded; motion carried.

Staff Senate Web Page Committee:  Kim Thiel reported.  Shanna Schoch will send the Staff Senate group picture to Kim for him to post on the website.

Children at Work Committee:  Kelly Steffes reported that Heather Meek was contacted by President Vickers to be on the task force for DSU.  Heather referred the call to Christie Chernich.  Item was tabled until next meeting.

Smoke-Free Campus Committee:  Stuart Savelkoul reported.  Stuart agreed to chair the committee since Garrett Wandler left.  Stuart asked for direction and verification of the purpose of the committee.  Stuart will research if DSU should become a smoke free campus.  Item was tabled until next meeting.

Old Business:

1. Staff Recognition Awards:  Mary McDermott reported that she drafted a letter which will be presented to President Vickers pursuant to the request by Kevin Thompson.  The letter requests that the dollar amount be increased from $1,000 to $1,500 for next year; allow nominees option to find out who nominated them; nominator needs to prepare a short paragraph as to why he/she is nominating candidate; and staff must be in current position for at least two years.  Staff provided a few minor changes to the letter.  Motion to approve the letter with changes was made by Stuart Savelkoul; seconded by Kim Thiel; motion carried.  Mary McDermott volunteered to revise the letter.  Twila and Stacy will schedule an appointment with President Vickers to discuss the letter and the proposed changes to the Staff Recognition Awards.
2. Monthly Staff Award-Moments of Excellence:  Twila Petersen reported that the committee will report to President Cabinet on December 4, 2006.
3. Staff Retiree Status: No report.
4. Staff Senate Officers Plaque:  Twila Petersen reported that the plaque is done.  She is waiting for Terry Mulvey to return from vacation to assist her with the best placement/location of the plaque.
5. Staff Senate Scholarship:  Hal Haynes reported on his proposal for a Staff Senate Scholarship.  Tuition and fees continue to escalate every year.  The tuition waivers are great; however, the fees and expenses continue to be cumbersome.  Hal’s idea stemmed from an athletic program by the name of IPTPY (I Pay Ten Per Year) hosted at a southern university wherein staff paid $10.00 each year to fund the program.  Hal proposes that each staff member at DSU pay $10.00 each year to go to a student, one of our children/spouses.  Hal believes that Staff Senate needs to be more proactive vs. reactive all the time.  This scholarship is one such way to be more proactive.  Hal mentioned that when Staff Senate was organized, a staff senate scholarship was an agenda item which did not get fulfilled.   The Barb Ganzer Scholarship is the closest scholarship to Hal’s idea.  Hal felt that this scholarship should be administered by Staff Senate, not the DSU Foundation.  Staff Senate thanked Hal for his efforts and for taking time to discuss his vision with the senate members.  Staff Senate felt that it would be more productive to have the assistance of the DSU Foundation in the development, gathering, administering, and disbursement of such a scholarship.  Mary McDermott reported that she saw somewhere that the staff/faculty campaign raised $16,000 so far this year.  Kelly Steffes reported that she spoke to Harmony Kolling previously.  Harmony informed Kelly that the staff could add a staff senate scholarship to the fund drive every year wherein staff could specify the Staff Senate Scholarship and a dollar amount.  A committee will proceed with this item and meet with the DSU Foundation on options, procedure(s), and criteria. 
6. Security on Campus:  No report.
7. Telephone System:  Twila Petersen reported on behalf of Mary McDermott that there are 319 paid business lines, 117 of these have voicemail.  This is under the contract with Consolidated since 1998.  It would cost an additional $3.00 per line per month to roll remaining lines to voicemail.  This is approximately $350.00 additionally per month, $4,200.00 per year.  Answering machines can be purchased for a lot less than this.  If staff need voicemail, they can go through their supervisor, and then to Alvin Binstock in Business Affairs.  Twila reported that this item is completed and removed it from the agenda.

New Business:

1. Staff Senate Vacancies:  Twila Petersen reported that there are three vacancies in crafts and trades.  She has passed out ballots, received nominations, talked to nominees and should have at least one staff accept the nomination.  The new senate member(s) will be invited to the next meeting.
2. Other:  Twila Petersen proposed a meeting date for December and if it would be inconvenient to hold.  There were no problems with her suggested date of December 21, 2006 at 1:30 p.m.

Adjournment:  Kim Thiel moved to adjourn the meeting; Shanna Schoch seconded.  Meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 21, 2006 at 1:30 p.m. in Klinefelter Conference Room 107.

Respectfully Submitted,

Stacy Wilkinson, Staff Senate Vice President