THE ADVISORY COUNCIL ON ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY

 

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING

August 14, 2003

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:  John Mullen (F), Elliott Willman (F), Bobbi Raub (F), Shaun Cooper (P), Maureen Camunez (P), Tina Byford (Alternate for Terry Cook) (P), Monica Smiggen (P), Tim Nesbitt (P), Norma Ledesma (P), Viola McCormick (C), Robert Medina (C), Carla M. Casas (Alternate for Ida Quinones) (C), Nellie Rosales (C), Cathy Thomas (C), Linda Beavers (OLC) and Ida Chavez (OLC).   

 

VISITORS:  Janet May (Employee Benefits) and Diana Quintana (Personnel).      

 

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

 

FRINGE BENEFITS COMMITTEE:  Cathy Thomas, chair of the Fringe Benefits Committee, reported that the Committee had not met since the last ACAP meeting.  The committee has a new member, Estella Guerra, who will replace Holly Shinault, who has resigned from the university.  Janet May reported that the Retiree Dental Plan will not be offered because they did not have the required 20% of employees enroll.  The Employee Benefits Office is still looking at other alternatives for retiree dental coverage. 

 

INSURANCE COMMITTEE REPORT:  Tina Byford, Chair of the Insurance Committee, reported that the committee had not met over the summer.  The committee has a new member, Joy Lynn Watkins (replacing Holly Shinault) and a new ex-officio member, Diana Quintana, Interim Personnel Director.  The next meeting is scheduled for September 25 at 1:30 p.m. in the Hadley Conference Room.  A representative from Blue Cross/Blue Shield will be there. 

 

COMPENSATION COMMITTEE:  No report.  The committee did not meet over the summer. 

 

FACULTY SENATE:  Elliott Willman, Faculty Senate Representative, reported that the Senate did not meet over the summer. 

 

ATHLETIC COUNCIL:  The council did not meet over the summer.  A written report was submitted by Phil Wright.  In the report he states:  Construction continues on the Fulton Stadium Annex.  The Pan American Center will get a 12 million dollar renovation including improved fan amenities, new ticketing areas, additional concession stands, a team retail store and new men’s and women’s restrooms.  In addition, there will be new loading docks and drive-on floor access. 

The new women’s basketball coach is Darin Spence.  Coach Spence spent the previous six seasons at Cowley County Community College in Arkansas City, Kansas. 

            The new women’s softball coach is Kathy Rudolph.  Coach Rudolph spent the previous two seasons at Angelo State and was previously the softball coach at El Paso Community College. 

            A copy of the Aggie Home Sports Schedule for Fall 2003 was also handed out. 

 

CAMPUS PLANNING:  Robert Medina, representative to the Campus Planning Committee, reported that the committee did not meet over the summer.  The next meeting is scheduled for September 3, 2003. 

 

ALCOHOL USE COMMITTEE:  Monica Smiggen, representative to the Alcohol Use Committee, reported the committee had received several requests over the summer mostly for donor receptions, wedding receptions, etc.  She will send Paula copies of the requests.  The next meeting will be held on August 19 and Monica will attend that meeting. 

          An ACAP member asked if Monica could approximate how many requests the committee received and of that number, how many are turned down.  Monica reported that the number of requests has increased slightly, but most of the requests are standard in nature.  No requests were turned down in either the spring or the summer and only one request was tabled. 

            It was asked if the number of requests was burdensome to the committee and if there might be a way to streamline the process for standard requests.  Monica explained that the process is very efficient as it is.  The committee handles most requests through e-mail and the committee usually only meets twice a semester, unless there is an unusual request. 

            It was announced that Monica would be retiring from the university on August 26th to join her husband in California.  The committee thanked Monica for her years of service and wished her well. 

            ACAP will need to appoint another representative to the Alcohol Use Committee to replace Monica.  Volunteers will be accepted at the September ACAP meeting. 

 

NAMING COMMITTEE:  Bobbi Raub, representative to the Naming committee, reported that she had sent the report of their last meeting to Paula via e-mail and did not bring a copy with her.  The report is as follows:

            At the May 27 meeting, a request was made by the College of Agriculture and Home Economics to have the Agronomy and Horticulture Department Conference Room in Skeen Hall named the Dr. Bernard Lowenstein Conference Room.  In documentation provided, it was noted that Dr. Lowenstein’s gifts to NMSU exceeded $165,000.  A motion was made and seconded to approve the request.  The motion passed unanimously. 

            Bobbi also reported that the committee had met on August 5th and that she had been unable to attend the meeting.  She will provide a full report of that meeting at the September ACAP meeting. 

 

BUDGET COMMITTEE:  Tim Nesbitt, representative to the Budget Committee, reported that the Budget Committee had met over a three day period in May to hear budget requests from various units on campus.  He distributed two items, 1) FY2002-2003 Formula for Distribution of Equipment Funds and 2) NMSU New/Expanded Research and Public Service and Other Line-Item Project Requests for FY2004-05 To Budget Committee for Ranking Purposes. 

1) Tim explained a little about how the formula for distribution works.  A recurring distribution of Instruction and General Equipment funds is distributed using a base amount of $25,000 plus a portion based on college inventory values.  The balance of available student fee equipment funds are then distributed based upon requests submitted by each academic college.  The undistributed funds available for consideration by the committee for fiscal year 2005 is $1,040,000.  The Budget Committee has been instructed by the administration that allocation of the equipment funds should be based on how the funds requested will be used to benefit the whole university, not just a single unit. 

Another issue brought to the Budget Committee from VP McDonough was the lack of security on campus for buildings, equipment and electronic data.  This is a very serious issue and the Budget Committee feels that a significant amount of the $1,040,000 available for distribution for equipment funds should be earmarked for increasing security on campus.  The committee will have appropriate security experts and university administrators come to their next meeting to discuss what exactly is needed in the way of updating the university security system and what options are available and discuss cost estimates. 

2)  The committee listened to presentations by the various colleges and units and then ranked the projects proposed for Research, Public Service, and Instruction and general programs.  The budget committee membership individually ranked all presented projects.  The top ten ranking items on this report will be presented to the CHE for consideration for funding in fiscal year ending 6/30/05. 

Tim encouraged anyone with questions regarding the specific budget requests or about the process to give him a call or e-mail him at tnesbitt@nmsu.edu. 

 

PARKING CITATION HEARING PANEL:  There were no appeals heard over the summer.  

 

REPORT FROM ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL AND REPORT FROM THE CHAIR:  There have been a lot of personnel changes at the university and numerous search committees are being established.  Administrative Council will only be meeting once a month or when needed. 

The issue of the Interim/Acting Policy has come up in relation to the appointment of the interim president and the interim personnel director.  Legal council has stated that the policy does not pertain to positions appointed by the Board of Regents and therefore Dr. Flores will be allowed to apply for the position of president.  There was also a question about whether the policy applied to the personnel director position.  It was determined that it doesn’t and that Diana Quintana, interim director, will be allowed to apply for the position.  Maureen reminded Administrative Council that the policy submitted by ACAP which expanded the Faculty Senate Policy to include administrative positions was never passed by Administrative Council and therefore, the only policy in effect is the policy established by Faculty Senate.  This policy pertains to academic positions only. 

Maureen received a letter from President Gogue stating that the policy on retiree benefits for the theater submitted by the Fringe Benefits Committee through ACAP has been approved and will be enacted.  Cathy Thomas asked if a copy of the letter had been sent to Professor Cantrell, the Theatre Department Head.  Maureen said she wasn’t sure but that she would send a copy of the letter to the Fringe Benefits Committee and the Committee could forward a copy to Professor Cantrell. 

Maureen submitted a letter to the President requesting that an ACAP member be put on the search committee for the new personnel director.  Maureen has been appointed to the committee and Tina Byford will also be serving on the committee.  She has not heard about any other ACAP members being appointed to any of the other search committees. 

The Fort Bliss Award Winners for this year were:  Sam Encinias, Health and Social Services; Matilda Evaro, Arts and Sciences Research Center; and Delores Wilson, Admissions. 

The State of New Mexico passed Executive Order 2003-010 Establishing Benefits for Domestic Partners of State Employees.  ACAP has been asked to review this policy and make a recommendation as to whether NMSU should institute a similar policy.  After some discussion as to the appropriate way to approach this request, it was decided that Employee Benefits/Personnel will obtain a complete copy of this Executive Order and will bring more information back to ACAP at the September meeting. 

A request was submitted to ACAP that the issue of shorter summer hours/alternate work schedule be looked into as a way to save money on utilities and as a fringe benefit.  The request was forwarded to the Fringe Benefits Committee for review. 

The Roles and Rewards Committee for Classified and Professional Staff has a new co-chair.  Diana Quintana will be working with Maureen on this committee.  The committee has sent a request to Administration that a survey be done by a professional outside firm.  The survey would address such items as benefits, training, professional development, etc.  The committee noted that it would like to see an office established in Personnel to oversee managerial training for new managers, etc. 

Faculty Senate has submitted their own set of recommendations on Roles and Rewards for Faculty. 

It was asked if Maureen could provide a copy of the recommendations sent to the Administration from the Classified/Professional Staff Roles and Rewards Committee.  She said she would have them at the September ACAP meeting. 

At the ACAP meeting in May, volunteers were requested to serve on the Commission on the Status of Women.  Two people volunteered but both these individuals have either left or will be leaving the university.  Volunteers are again being requested.  If you are interested, contact Maureen. 

At the September meeting representatives will be appointed for the following committees:  1)  Alcohol Use Committee;  2) Athletic Council; 3) Compensation Committee; 4) Faculty Senate.  Everyone was asked to consider if they would like to serve on one of these committees. 

Maureen received a request that ACAP consider letting children of employees take advantage of the free class if the employee was not using the benefit.  This item was passed on to the Fringe Benefits Committee for consideration. 

On behalf of ACAP, the Executive Committee purchased a duffel bag, sweats, a travel coffee mug and an NMSU blanket to present to Bob Howell at his retirement reception. 

On behalf of ACAP, the Executive Committee sent a card to President and Mrs. Gogue.  

 

OLD BUSINESS:  None.   

 

NEW BUSINESS:  Irene Fierro, classified staff representative, has left the university.  An election is needed to replace her.  A ballot with the names of the alternates interested in taking this position was distributed for a vote. 

            Monica Smiggen’s replacement will be voted on at the September meeting. 

It was suggested that Maureen invite Interim President/Provost Flores to address ACAP at one of our meetings to give the committee some direction. 

 

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

 

           

_________________________                                  _____________________________

Cathy Thomas                                                              Maureen Camunez, Chairperson

 

 

The Council has approved these minutes. 

 

 

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NOTICE OF NEXT MEETING

 

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2003

NEW MEXICO DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE BUILDING

3190 ESPINA

3:00 P.M.

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