THE ADVISORY COUNCIL ON ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY

 

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING

December 11, 2003

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:  Bernard Leinauer (Alternate for William Lindemann) (F), John Mullen (F), Elliott Willman (F), Bobbi Raub (F), Maureen Camunez (P), Terry Cook (P), Tina Byford (P), Tim Nesbitt (P), Norma Ledesma (P), Viola McCormick (C), Robert Medina (C), Nellie Rosales (C), Cathy Thomas (C), Paula Ross (C), Linda Beavers (OLC), Ida Chavez (OLC) and Phillip Wright (OLC).   

 

VISITORS:  Janet May (Employee Benefits).     

 

ALTERNATES PRESENT:  Bernard Leinauer, Tammy Anthony, Kelly Brooks and Oscar Perez. 

 

Maureen Camunez called the regular meeting of the Advisory Council on Administrative Policy (ACAP) to order at 3:00 p.m. in room 297 of Gerald Thomas Hall.     

 

Maureen called for additions or corrections to the minutes of the November ACAP meeting.  A motion was made and seconded to accept the minutes as written.  Motion passed. 

 

FRINGE BENEFITS COMMITTEE:  Cathy Thomas, chair of the Fringe Benefits Committee, reported that the Committee met on November 19th  in Breland Hall.  The Committee voted to have the Institutional Planning and Research Office send out a two question survey to all NMSU regular employees to determine what interest there is (if any) in going to a compressed summer schedule.  The survey will be sent the first part of January with a short return date.  The Committee hopes to have a recommendation to ACAP in January or February. 

In October, Dr. Flores forwarded a newspaper article pertaining to “Paid Time Off” and asked the Committee to look into it.  This would amount to combining our current systems of annual and sick leave and having one leave system.  It was decided that more information was needed and Diana Quintana volunteered to check with Bruce Kite on the legalities of using this type of system in New Mexico.  At the November meeting Diana informed the Committee that Bruce Kite indicated there is nothing in the State of New Mexico law that would prohibit such a change.  After much discussion it was decided that a system such as this would require major changes to the current annual and sick leave system and that this would also affect the Sick Leave Bank.  The Committee voted unanimously that no change to the annual and sick leave system be made at this time. 

The next meeting of the Fringe Benefits Committee is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, December 17th at 9:00 a.m. in Breland Hall, Room 333. 

 

INSURANCE COMMITTEE REPORT:  Tina Byford, Chair of the Insurance Committee, reported that the Insurance Committee had not met in November.  The United Concordia insurance plan for retirees did not make so we still do not have a retiree dental plan.  The next meeting of the Insurance Committee will be on December 18th in Hadley Hall. 

 

COMPENSATION COMMITTEE:  Kelly Brooks reported that the Compensation Committee met on November 14th and talked about three issues: 

  1. use of university average salaries to calculate the Faculty 30% (base salary) distribution.  Would it be better to use college average salaries?  Diana Quintana will do reports to compare these two options based on last year’s data. 
  2. Possibility of redirecting some raise dollars prior to allocation to the Provost to distribute towards issues such as market equity. 
  3. Possibility of doing away with the initial Base 10 calculation based on estimated dollars and just doing with actual dollars.  The purpose of the initial Base 10 calculation is to make it easier to do actual Base 10 calculations.  Doing away with the Base 10 calculation would possibly affect notification timeline of salaries to Faculty and would eliminate need for verbal notification so that an official written notification could be sent. 

The next meeting of the Compensation Committee is scheduled for January 30th at 9:00 a.m. in the NMDA Conference Room. 

 

FACULTY SENATE:  Oscar Perez, Faculty Senate Liaison, reported that the Faculty Senate had met on December 4th.  Rich Macrorie and Ben Woods reported on the utility problems that NMSU is facing.  NMSU is in a real financial crisis in regards to our utility costs.  They were asking for suggestions on how to cut costs for utilities and outlining some steps that may be taken but no decisions have been made at this point.  They are asking people to conserve as much as possible.  Other items discussed were the upcoming Legislative session, possible modifications to the College Calendar, establishing an Honors College and new Master’s programs.  There was also a lot of talk about copyright issues. 

 

ATHLETIC COUNCIL:   No report. 

 

CAMPUS PLANNING:  Robert Medina, representative to the Campus Planning Committee, reported that the Campus Planning Committee had met.  The Committee discussed needed modifications to the microwave tower in order to meet FCC standards.  The tower modification would be to increase the tower from 30 feet to 60 feet.  A motion was made and seconded to implement the modification.  Motion passed. 

         The Committee continued discussions on plans for future road development on the east campus land holdings.  Robert presented information regarding on-going research and proposed concepts that would build an east campus road network that has a long planning history.  Robert requested that anyone having any comments about the information presented on plans for future road development e-mail him with their comments. 

         The next meeting of the Campus Planning Committee will be held on January 7th.  

ALCOHOL USE COMMITTEE:  Bernard Leinauer, representative to the Alcohol Use Committee, reported that the Committee had met on December 3rd in the HRTM Conference Room.  Dr. William Flores attended the meeting.  He thanked everyone for their efforts related to the duties of the Alcohol Review Committee.  He also discussed the importance of alcohol education for students and the public perception of university life and student drinking and how the Committee members have an opportunity to make an important contribution on the issue of alcohol and students. 

         The Board of Regents will be meeting Friday, December 12, to vote on the issue of allowing the Student Club to obtain a governmental license to sell beer/wine.  The Committee will be advised when word is received on the Regents’ decision.  Diana Quintana asked if the request was approved, how would that increase the risk management premiums of the University.  Janet Green responded that, according to University attorneys, it would not significantly increase the liability.  If this particular request is approved, it is expected that additional requests to obtain a license would be forthcoming – probably from the Fulton Athletics Center, the Pan Am Center and perhaps Corbett Center. 

         A report from the Committee’s Ad Hoc Committee brought the following suggestions to the Committee for consideration: 

  1. Twenty percent of net profits from events serving alcohol would go to NMSU’s Alcohol Awareness Program  “Choices”.  Currently there is no official funding for alcohol education.  The Committee may put out a recommendation for obtaining funding through net profits or application fees.  This will be an ongoing discussion. 
  2. Application fee for events – at what level and how would it be assessed.  Outside agencies cannot be required to donate a percentage of their net profits to an on-campus account, therefore, if an application fee were assessed, it would be allowable for a portion of that fee to go to an on-campus source, i.e. “Choices”.  One of the suggestions about a sliding scale fee; due to the fact that the number of attendees at an event is sometimes unknown in advance, a pre-event and post-event rate could be a possibility.  Janet Green will create a draft of a proposed sliding scale application fee for the Committee to consider.  This will be available sometime in January ’04.  Lou Cabot offered to contact other Universities to inquire about their use of an application fee. 
  3. Role of Alcohol Committee when and if there are several governmental licenses on campus.  There is a question as to what role the Committee will play when approval is no longer needed for events that will be held in a location that holds a license.  At this point in time, and until the Regents vote on the first request for a governmental license, the future role of the Committee is unknown.  This topic will be for discussion in future meetings. 

The purpose and procedures of the Alcohol Review Committee were discussed earlier in the meeting.  It was agreed meetings will be held once at the beginning of the semester and once at the end of the semester unless special circumstances requires additional meetings. 

     Dr. Leinauer said that most letters and e-mails are in favor of allowing the license for the Corbett Student Club. 

 

NAMING COMMITTEE:  Bobbi Raub reported that the Committee has not met this semester.  Their next meeting is scheduled for January 13th.   

 

BUDGET COMMITTEE:  Tim Nesbitt, reported that the Committee has not met. 

 

PARKING CITATION HEARING PANEL:  Several terms on the Parking Citation Hearing Panel are due to end in January.  We will need to get some nominees to fill the positions.  At our next meeting, we will ask for volunteers. 

 

REPORT FROM ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL AND REPORT FROM THE CHAIR:  Maureen reported that again the Administrative Council has heard a lot about the utility shortage.  The Council is encouraging everyone to turn off appliances, computers, copiers, etc. the last working day before the University closes for Christmas vacation.  The heat will be turned down and while they will not let a building freeze, they will be turning the heat way down.  Electricity is scheduled to be turned off December 27th and 28th for maintenance and repair so they also suggest that refrigerators be cleaned out ahead of time. 

Search Committees.  The Presidential Search Committee will be doing screening in January and hope to make recommendations in February to the Regents so that interviews can begin as soon as possible.  The EEO Director – Personnel Director Search Committee hopes to have a short list ready and to send it to Ben Woods soon.  The Engineering Search Committee is ready to start interviewing in January. 

When these interviews start, it is hoped that ACAP members will attend as many of the interview sessions as they can. 

 

OLD BUSINESS:  Election.  Norma reported that the Election Committee had met and counted the returned ballots for election of new members to the Council.  Two Professional openings were available and Maureen Camunez and William Glenn were elected to serve three-year terms.  Their terms will begin in February 2004 and continue through February 2007.  Two Faculty openings were available and Roger Hartley and   Karin Wiburg were elected.  Mary Hoke was elected to fill an Alternate Faculty opening.  These are also three-year terms beginning in February 2004.  One Outside Las Cruces opening was available and Phillip Wright was re-elected to the position.  Woods Houghton was elected to serve as an Alternate.  Their terms are also for three years and begin in February, 2004.  There were no openings for Classified Staff this year.  All of these new Council members will be invited to our January meeting. 

         Election of Officers for 2004.  New officers will be elected in February.  Norma Ledesma will become our new Chair and Tim Nesbitt has volunteered to serve as Chair-Elect.  Paula Ross has again agreed to serve as Secretary.  Maureen will serve a one-year term as Past Chair.  These four people will make up the Executive Board of ACAP.  Anyone else who would like to be considered for any of the offices should contact Maureen and either volunteer or nominate someone who has agreed to serve as an officer. 

 

NEW BUSINESS:  None. 

 

With no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned. 

 

        

_________________________                          _____________________________

Paula Ross, Secretary                                     Maureen Camunez, Chairperson

 

The Council has approved these minutes. 

 

 

************************************************************************

NOTICE OF NEXT MEETING

THURSDAY, January 8, 2004

New Mexico Department of Agriculture Conference Room

3190 Espina

3:00 P.M.

************************************************************************