THE ADVISORY COUNCIL ON ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY
MINUTES OF THE
REGULAR MEETING
November 14,
2002
MEMBERS PRESENT: Elliott Willman (F), Bobbi Raub (F), Shaun Cooper (P), Maureen Camunez (P), Tim Nesbitt (Alternate for Terry Cook) (P), Monica Smiggen (P), William Glenn (P), Tina Byford (Alternate for Norma Ledesma) (P), Viola McCormick (C), Robert Medina (C), Ida Quinones (C), Nellie Rosales (C), Carla Casas (Alternate for Paula Ross) (C), Cathy Thomas (C), Linda S. Beavers (OLC), Ida Chavez (OLC), Phillip Wright (OLC).
VISITORS: Bob Howell (Personnel), Missy Giacomelli (Fringe Benefits), Brenda Shannon (Budget Committee), Kelly Brooks (Compensation Committee).
The regular meeting of the Advisory Council on Administrative Policy (ACAP) was called to order at 3:00 p.m. by Shaun Cooper in the conference room of the New Mexico Department of Agriculture Building.
Shaun called for additions or corrections to the minutes of the October, 2002 ACAP meeting. A motion was made and seconded to accept the minutes as corrected by email. Motion passed.
FRINGE BENEFITS COMMITTEE: Missy Giacomelli, chair of the Fringe Benefits Committee, reported that the committee had been informed that ACAP had voted to: 1) accept their recommendation that the …”issue of establishing a more appropriate funding mechanism be sought to cover the benefits offered to retirees by departments…” be brought to the President’s attention; and 2) accept their recommendation that “No change be made to the current policy regarding sabbatical leaves and professional staff”, and that Bob Howell would incorporate a statement about the possibility of professional exchange.
Missy also announced that Cathy Thomas would be assuming the duties of chair of the committee in January, 2003. The next committee meeting will be held Wednesday, November 20th, time and place to be announced.
INSURANCE COMMITTEE: Tina Byford reported that the committee met on October 31st. Representatives from Mercer and Blue Cross/Blue Shield attended the meeting. Mercer reported that the last three months have seen the greatest increase in claims since starting with BC/BS. Because our demographics are not exactly like any other structured group that BC/BS services for New Mexico, the most valuable comparisons will be to ourselves. The committee will continue to collect data and report the figures to ACAP. The next committee meeting is scheduled for December 4, 2002, at 1:30 p.m. in the Hadley Hall Large Conference Room.
COMPENSATION COMMITTEE: Kelly Brooks reported that the committee met on October 18th. David Boge, a professor in the management department in the College of Business, did a presentation on the concept of a “living wage” and how the calculation is made. More information and local data will be necessary to determine the “living wage” for Las Cruces. The committee will continue to look into the possibility of implementing a “living wage” policy at NMSU as well as research the impact of such a policy.
The compensation committee will meet again on Friday, December 6th, in the NMDA conference room. The committee is trying to schedule Dr. Gerald Burke to provide insight about what is happening with funding for next year. He is a retiree of NMSU, and a member of the Commission of Higher Education (CHE).
FACULTY SENATE: Elliott Willman reported that the Faculty Senate sponsored a memorial
moving the insurance cap to 90%. The
memorial was given a “Do Pass” and was sent to the President. There are several other proposals before the
Faculty Senate, three of which ACAP is also reviewing today, “Policy on
Consensual Relationships”, “Policy on Sexual Harassment” and the “EEO
Statement”. Other items before the
Faculty Senate are: a review of the
Academic Calendar because it is longer than other institutions; a proposal for
expanding the number of Board of Regents to 7; and revising provisional
requirements for enrollment to the university to help increase enrollment.
ATHLETIC COUNCIL: The committee did not meet but a draft of the NCAA Report is posted on the web and comments are requested by November 25th.
CAMPUS PLANNING: No meeting was held.
PAN AMERICAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE: No meeting was held.
NAMING COMMITTEE: No meeting was held.
BUDGET COMMITTEE: Brenda Shannon both emailed and distributed hard copies of the following report: At the ACAP meeting on August 15, 2002, we reported that the President had accepted the Budget Committee’s recommended priorities for New/Expanded Research and Public Service Projects for 2003-2004, and we shared those recommendations with ACAP members. The recommended priorities were approved by the Board of Regents on July 30, 2002 and forwarded to the Commission on Higher Education by the August 15 deadline. The CHE has held hearing, but has not yet made a final decision as to what they will recommend to the Legislature.
The committee met on August 19 and September 11, 2002 to finalize our recommendations for I&G operating funds for 2003-2004, and to finalize recommendations for the allocation if I&G equipment funds for 2002-2003. We forwarded two separate memos to the President dated September 16 and September 17, 2002 respectively. On October 29, 2002, the President concurred with the committee’s recommendations for I&G operating funds and approved the methodology for allocating I&G equipment funds.
Copies of the September 16, 2002 memo to President Gogue and the FY2002—2003 Formula for Distribution of Equipment Funds were also distributed (email copies had been sent to ACAP members before the meeting).
This finishes the budget cycle.
Brenda also reported that the Faculty Senate had introduced a memorial recommending that all colleges establish internal budget committees with faculty representation to review college budget requests before they are submitted. The memorial received a “Do Pass”. Shaun thanked Brenda for serving as the ACAP representative on the Budget Committee and for all her hard work.
REPORT FROM THE CHAIR: Shaun gave the following report:
Executive Board: Nomination
forms are in and the ballots will go out from Mail Services this week.
Board of Regents
Meeting: Attended the last Board of Regents Meeting on November 1st at
the Gadsden Branch Campus. It is a very
nice facility.
OLD BUSINESS:
Budget Committee Term Period: The Faculty Senate passed legislation changing the terms of representatives to the Budget Committee to run January – December. Shaun will send a letter to the President recommending that the term for the ACAP representative to the Budget Committee be changed to reflect these dates and if so requested, Shaun will make a presentation to Administrative Council.
Interim and Acting
Policy: The most recent draft of the Interim/Acting Policy (copies were both
emailed to ACAP members and available in hard copy at meeting) was presented at
the last Administrative Council meeting.
The draft was not well received and it was suggested that ACAP revisit
the policy again. Shaun stated that
ACAP did not volunteer to help write this policy, but did so at the request of
the President. After some discussion,
the ACAP members felt having spent much time and energy on this policy, no
changes need to be made and that it should go to the Administrative Council for
a vote “as is”. If this draft policy
fails, the policy on Interim Appointments approved by the Faculty Senate on
2/7/02 and signed by President Gogue in April, 2002, will be the working policy
of the university.
Maureen made the
recommendation that in the future, when committees are asked to write policies,
that they meet early on with the university general council to determine if
wording is acceptable before making any presentations to university
administrative committees.
Roles and Rewards
Task Force: This committee will be meeting for the first time next week. As ACAP chair-elect, Maureen Camunez will be
serving as the ACAP representative to this committee.
NEW BUSINESS:
ACAP was asked to
review some new and revised Personnel Policies. (Copies of these policies were both emailed to the ACAP members
and available in hard copy at the meeting.)
Bob Howell stated that all of the policies had been sent to the
university general counsel for review before being sent to the various
committees. The “Policy on Consensual
Relationships” is a new policy that is patterned after one in use at the
University of Texas. The “Policy on
Sexual Harassment” and the “EEO Statement” have had the wording changed
slightly.
Policy on Consensual
Relationships: A motion was made and seconded to accept this
policy. It was brought up under
discussion that the “Immediate Supervisor Responsibility” section was vague and
that perhaps a statement should be added to “contact the Personnel Office for
specific procedures”. Bob agreed to add
the statement. The motion was mended to
accept the policy with the wording changes.
The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
Policy Statement
Against Sexual Harassment: A motion was made and seconded to accept this
revised policy. It was brought up under
discussion that the wording under the “Grievances” section, line 2, be changed
to read “…whenever possible first approach the person or persons” instead of “…whenever
possible first confront the person or persons”. The motion was amended to accept the revised
policy with the wording changes. The
amended motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
Policy Statement on
Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action: A motion was made and
seconded to accept this revised policy.
It was brought up under discussion that the wording under the
“Grievances” section, line 2, be changed to read “…whenever possible first approach the person or persons” instead of “…whenever possible first confront
the person or persons”. The motion was
mended to accept the revised policy with the wording changes. The amended motion was seconded and passed
unanimously.
Citations Appeals
Hearing Representatives: ACAP received a letter from Mike Meeks,
Parking Department, requesting that ACAP provide two representative to sit on
the Citations Appeals Hearing Board.
They will serve staggered two-year terms. The committee felt more information was needed about the Board
before volunteers were asked for. ACAP
members with specific questions should email them to Maureen and she will
compile a list and meet with Mike Meeks before the December ACAP meeting and
bring back more information.
Classified Pay
Increases for Longevity: ACAP received a request from Janet McQueen, a
classified staff member, to review the policy on giving longevity pay increases
to classified staff. The present policy
states “Regular classified employees occupying positions at or below a grade 14
and selected administrative support positions above a grade 14 level will be
eligible for a service increase at the end of the calendar year in which 10, 15
and 20 years of regular consecutive service has been obtained. The increase will be effective on January 1
of the year in which the employee has met the criteria during the preceding
year.” This means that if a person
earns a service increase on January 2, he/she would not see an increase for a
year. At the same time, if someone
starts on December 29, he/she would see the adjustment just past the
anniversary. In essence, a person who
starts earlier in the year has to wait longer for the increase as compared to
those who start later in the year.
Bob Howell was asked
why the policy was written this way and he stated that when the policy was
first established there were a large number of people who qualified for this
increase and it was done to minimize the financial impact.
A motion was made
and seconded that ACAP send a letter to the President recommending that,
effective January 1, 2003 this policy be changed to reflect that the increase
will be effective the first day of the month following the anniversary date of
the employee. The motion passed
unanimously.
Shaun will make sure
that Janet McQueen gets a copy of the letter that is sent to the
President.
With no further
business to be discussed, a motion was made and seconded to adjourn. Motion was seconded and passed.
________________________ _____________________________
Cathy Thomas, Acting Secretary Shaun Cooper, Chairperson
The Council has approved these minutes.
NOTICE OF NEXT MEETING:
THURSDAY, December 12, 2002
New Mexico Department of Agriculture’s Conference Room
3190 Espina
3: 00 p.m.