THE ADVISORY COUNCIL ON ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY

 

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING

September 11, 2003

 

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

 

VISITORS:  Janet May (Employee Benefits), Steve Helmreich and Carrie Hamblen.      

 

ALTERNATES PRESENT:  Carla Casas, Candice Guzie 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 the Conference Room of the New Mexico Department of Agriculture Building.   

 

Maureen introduced Steve Helmreich and Carrie Hamblen who were attending our meeting to hear our discussion about Domestic Partners. 

 

Maureen called for additions or corrections to the minutes of the August ACAP meeting.  A correction was requested on the Faculty Senate report.  The change was to name Elliott Willman as the Faculty Senate Representative and not John Mullen.  A motion was made and seconded to accept the minutes with the correction.  Motion passed. 

 

FRINGE BENEFITS COMMITTEE:  Cathy Thomas, chair of the Fringe Benefits Committee, reported that the Committee had met on September 3rd to discuss two items – reduction of summer hours and allowing students of employees to use the free class if the employee or his/her spouse does not use the class.  After much discussion, the Committee felt that they didn’t have enough information on either of the subjects.  The Committee will be doing further research on both items. 

 

DOMESTIC PARTNERS AND BENEFITS REPORT FOR ACAP – PRESENTED BY THE PERSONNEL OFFICE.  Maureen asked Janet May to give her presentation on Domestic Partners and Benefits.  Janet began her presentation by presenting a handout to the Council. 

            According to the Governor’s executive order, effective July 1, 2003 all domestic partners (same and opposite sex) will be entitled to the same benefits as spouses.  A domestic partnership occurs when two individuals are in a mutually exclusive, committed relationship; share a primary residence for 12 or more consecutive months; jointly responsible for the common welfare of each other and who share financial obligations.  The employee and domestic partner must complete and execute an affidavit of domestic partnership. 

            University of New Mexico.  In 1994 the University of New Mexico (UNM) began to recognize domestic partners (same and opposite sex).  Their definition of a domestic partner is very similar to the State of New Mexico’s definition.  All domestic partners of employees and retirees are afforded the same benefits as spouses of eligible employees/retirees.  Dependents of domestic partners are also entitled to the same benefits as dependents of eligible employees (i.e., reduced tuition, health and dental benefits).  Of the 7,000 eligible employees for benefits, approximately 2.7% of the population has enrolled their domestic partner in health benefits, 2.9% in the dental benefits and .3% use the free course benefit (a total of 121 spouses have used the free course this fall semester). 

            What Are Other Universities Doing?  Approximately 54 universities and colleges responded to surveys distributed via the list service through the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources Based on the responses, there is almost a 3 way split between organizations that offered domestic partner benefits to both same and opposite sex relationship, same sex only partners and who did not recognize domestic partner relationships.  A majority of the organizations that recognized domestic partners gave them the same benefits as any other spouse of an eligible employee and dependents of the domestic partners were given the same benefits as dependents of an eligible employee.  All of the universities and colleges had between 1-4% of their total eligible employees use the benefits offered to domestic partners. 

            Cost Impact to New Mexico State University. 

1.      Health, Dental and Supplemental Life Insurance – The plans would each experience a projected 1% premium increase based on current rates. 

2.      Free Course Benefit – The cost impact is hard to project since the number of domestic partners who would use the benefit is difficult to estimate.  In the fall of 2002 and the spring of 2003, spouses of employees and retirees received $74,261 in free tuition. 

3.      Reduced Tuition for Dependent Children – The cost impact for this benefit is also hard to project since the number of dependent children of domestic partners using the benefit is difficult to estimate.  In the fall of 2002 and the spring of 2003, dependents of employees and retirees received $127,269 in free tuition. 

4.      Other Departments that Offer Benefits to Spouses of Employees – The cost impact is difficult to project.  Some of these departments include the Natatorium, Theater and Music Department.

Cost Impact to Employees Adding Domestic Partners.  The Internal Revenue

Service and the State of New Mexico Taxation Office do not recognize domestic partners.  Therefore, any premiums that an employer pays for the domestic partner is considered taxable income and the employee is subject to federal and state tax withholdings.  Since the IRS does not recognize domestic partners, the employee may not pay the employees portion of the domestic partner’s premium with pre-tax dollars or be reimbursed for health care expenses through health care flexible spending accounts. 

            Janet answered questions from the Council members and discussion followed.  Maureen said that Administrative Council and Deans’ Council will be getting our recommendation.  She emphasized that we would only be making a recommendation and that they want it as soon as possible.  Whatever our recommendation is, they will recommend that the policy not go into effect until next July.  If we do make a recommendation today, it would take at least 6 months to get everything done and in place so that if could go into effect by July. 

            Discussion followed about the pros and cons of drafting a new proposal through the Fringe Benefits Committee and having it ready for review and possible approval at the next ACAP meeting.  Another suggestion was that the Chair takes the UNM policy forward after “cleaning it up” and including the effective date of July 1, 2004. 

            A motion was made that Maureen write a letter to the Provost including a proposal that would mirror the benefits of UNM’s policy and include the effective date of July 1, 2004.  Motion seconded.  Motion passed unanimously. 

            On October 1 there will be a reception for the Gays and Lesbians.  The reception will be from 3 to 6 in the Dona Ana Room at Corbett Center.  ACAP is invited to attend. 

            Steve and Carrie thanked ACAP for their help in recommending this policy. 

 

INSURANCE COMMITTEE REPORT:  Tina Byford, Chair of the Insurance Committee, was unable to attend our meeting but asked that we announce that the next Insurance Committee meeting will be held on September 25th at 1:30 p.m. in the large Hadley Hall Conference Room.                                                                                                  

 

COMPENSATION COMMITTEE:  No report.  The committee has not met.   

 

FACULTY SENATE:  Elliott Willman has served as Faculty Senate Representative and now that position will be taken over by Oscar Perez.  The Senate had their first meeting on September 4 and had many things to discuss, including the Presidential Search and who the members of the Search Committee will be.  Three things the Faculty Senate will be looking at this year are a Salary Review Board, Interim/Acting Policy and expansion of the Board of Regents.   

 

ATHLETIC COUNCIL:   Phillip Wright reported that the Athletic Council would meet on September 16 at 5:30 p.m. 

 

CAMPUS PLANNING:  Robert Medina, representative to the Campus Planning Committee, reported that the Committee had met on September 3rd and Captain Lopez of the NMSU Police Department presented the only item on the agenda.  He presented a handout with a diagram on how the parking area around McFie Circle (west of Milton Hall) will change.  The changes would be temporary but would help alleviate the problem of vehicles being blocked in and will allow for more landscaped green space adjacent to the International Mall.  A motion to pass the changes was made.  The motion was seconded and passed. 

 

ALCOHOL USE COMMITTEE:  No report. 

 

NAMING COMMITTEE:  Bobbi Raub, representative to the Naming committee, had no report. 

 

BUDGET COMMITTEE:  Tim Nesbitt, representative to the Budget Committee, reported that the Budget Committee had not met. 

 

PARKING CITATION HEARING PANEL:  There were no appeals heard.   

 

REPORT FROM ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL AND REPORT FROM THE CHAIR:  At the Regents’ Meeting, the Regents gave their approval to apply for a liquor license for a Faculty Club, private parties, etc. at the new football annex. 

9/11 Events.  Late in January or early in February, the city and the University are planning a celebration -- hopefully a celebration for the return of the troops. 

Maureen will serve on the President’s Search Committee.  A brief description of the charges to the Committee was given out.  A Personnel Search Committee is being formed and the job announcement is being prepared.  The Vice President for Research Committee is being formed. 

Maureen handed out a copy of a memo to Dr. Juan Franco from Bob Howell and Maureen Camunez, Co-Chairs, of the Roles and Rewards Professional and Classified Staff Committee recommendations.  Since there is no money for rewards, the Classified and Professional Staff Roles and Rewards Sub-Committee has made the following recommendations: 

The Committee recommends that a specific office or individual coordinate the nomination process for university-wide awards.  This office/person could create a common format for the submission of nominations and could encourage managers to submit nominations to alternate awards if nominees are not selected to receive the award for which they were originally nominated. 

The Committee also recommends that units throughout the university develop reward and recognition programs for their employees.  The Physical Science Laboratory, the College of Agriculture and Home Economics and the Office of the Vice President for Business and Finance have documented their programs and can be used as models for other areas. 

Lastly, the Committee recommends the Personnel Office develop a workshop on reward techniques that can be used in individual units to recognize employees on an informal and ad-hoc basis.  There are many techniques available that can be used to convey appreciation and motivate employees. 

The Staff Roles Sub-Committee recommendations are as follows:

Survey all regular professional and classified staff.  The survey process includes the following steps:

Interview people in broad categories listed below, to determine research questions for the survey.

            Broad categories of NMSU staff:

                        Professional/classified, EE06 categories

                        Academic/non-academic/extension

                        Hard money/soft money

                        Main campus/branch campus

                        Data weighted by job category, gender, location

Develop survey instruments and processes, analyze results, create reports and recommendations.

            Steps include:

                        Allocation of resources for pre-survey research including interviews, focus groups, translators, instrument development, translations, data collection and analysis

                        Consideration of allocation of resources for external consultants to advise and or design, administer and analyze the survey

Take action based on survey results. 

 

Time frame for the survey process:

Spring/Summer 2003:  Interview people in broad categories to formulate research

  questions. 

Summer 2003:              Hold focus groups and interviews to refine key topics

Fall 2003:                     Conduct survey and analyze results

Spring 2004:                 Present results and develop implementation strategies. 

           

 

OLD BUSINESS:  Filling Committee Positions. Norma said that the following committees needed volunteers to fill vacated positions or positions where terms had expired. 

            Alcohol Use Committee – position vacated due to Monica Smiggen’s retirement. 

            Athletic Council --  term held by Phillip Wright expired 8/2003

            Compensation Committee – term held by Paula Ross expired 8/2003

            Faculty Senate – term held by Elliott Willman expired 4/2003

           

Bernhard Leinhauer volunteered to serve on the Alcohol Use Committee, Phillip Wright agreed to serve another term on the Athletic Council, Paula Ross agreed to serve another term on the Compensation Committee and Oscar Perez will be the new Faculty Senate Representative. 

           

 

NEW BUSINESS:  Electronic Voting.  ACAP will soon be starting the process of nominating and electing new members to the Council.  Shaun Cooper has suggested to the Executive Board that ACAP consider having an electronic election rather than a paper ballot.  Shaun explained to the Council how the procedure would work and that the most painful part for Faculty and Staff would be that they would have to use a PIN number and most Faculty and Staff don’t know their PIN number or if they even have one.  He explained to the Council that it would not be difficult for him to build a program so that we could have our election electronically. 

            Discussion followed.  Council members were concerned about the PIN number and also about computer accessibility for some employees.  It was decided that a question would be included on this year’s ballot as to whether or not the Council should change to an electronic election for next year. 

            Election Committee.  Norma Ledesma will chair the Fall Election Committee for the election of new members for ACAP.  The following ACAP members will serve with Norma on the Election Committee – Bobbi Raub, Mark Medina, Christie Padilla, Cathy Thomas and Paula Ross. 

 

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

 

           

_________________________                                  _____________________________

Paula Ross, Secretary                                                          Maureen Camunez, Chairperson

 

 

The Council has approved these minutes. 

 

 

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NOTICE OF NEXT MEETING

 

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2003

NEW MEXICO DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE BUILDING

3190 ESPINA

3:00 P.M.

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