THE ADVISORY COUNCIL ON ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY
MINUTES OF THE
REGULAR MEETING
May 8, 2003
MEMBERS PRESENT: John Mullen (F), William Lindemann (F), Elliott Willman (F), Bobbi Raub (F), Terry Cook (P), Monica Smiggen (P), Maureen Camunez (P), Tim Nesbitt (P), Norma Ledesma (P), Carla Casas (Alternate for Viola McCormick) (C), Robert Medina (C), Paula Ross (Alternate for Ida Quinones) (C), Cathy Thomas (C), Irene Fierro (C), Nellie Rosales (C), Linda S. Beavers (OLC), Ida Chavez (OLC) and Leman Taylor (Alternate for Phillip Wright) (OLC).
VISITORS: Pat Hynes (Member of the Roles and Rewards Committee).
ALTERNATES PRESENT: Tina Byford (Insurance Committee).
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 April ACAP meeting. A motion was made and seconded to accept the minutes as written. Motion passed. Paula Ross thanked Norma Ledesma for taking the minutes of the last meeting for her.
Maureen then introduced Pat Hynes, a member of the Roles and Rewards Committee and chair of the Staff Roles Sub-Committee. Pat gave a brief background on the Roles Sub-Committee by saying that the Roles Sub-Committee began its work in February of 2003. She said that by definition, roles are 1) expectations one has about social behavior in an organizational context, and b) as functions or positions that employees perform for the organization.
Members of the Roles Sub-Committee determined that they have no data on the current status of staff to help make recommendations to Drs. Franco and Flores regarding the main purpose of the (Roles and Rewards) task force which is to ensure congruence between what activities we are asking faculty and staff to engage in and the rewards system on campus. The Committee is studying staff at this stage in their work. The Committee is making the following recommendations:
Recommendations:
Survey all regular professional and classified staff. The survey process includes the following steps:
Broad categories of NMSU staff:
Professional/classified, EEO6 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
Justification:
There has never been a comprehensive study of NMSU staff.
Research indicates other universities have benefited from the use of survey results to guide them regarding which changes are important, wanted, necessary and supported by staff.
Next Steps:
The Roles Sub-Committee volunteers to continue to be involved in the next steps.
Begin interview process.
Map focus group process and determine participates.
Task Force on the Status of Women. The President and Provost have asked those involved with Women’s Studies to form a Committee on Women. The Committee is currently the people in Women’s Studies, an academic program on campus. If anyone on the ACAP Council would like to serve on this Committee, please e-mail Maureen and let her know of your interest.
Maureen thanked Pat for her report on the Roles Sub-Committee.
FRINGE BENEFITS COMMITTEE: Cathy Thomas, chair of the Fringe Benefits Committee reported that the Committee had met on April 30. New business discussed by the Committee included ACAP’s request that when recommending an item to ACAP that the Fringe Benefits Committee also provide a cost analysis. The Committee felt that it does not have ready access to financial data. A motion was passed by the Committee to add a representative from the Business Office as an ex-officio member of the Committee to attend and advise when such an issue arises.
ACAP had also asked the Committee to consider two items concerning the Sick Leave Bank. The first item asked the Committee to change the requirement from having to exhaust all sick and annual leave before utilizing the Sick Leave Bank to requiring exhaustion of sick leave only and leaving an individual’s annual leave intact. Discussion followed with Janet May explaining the composition of the Sick Leave Bank Committee and the process for applying to use the Bank. She stated that the purpose of the Sick Leave Bank is to cover the time period between the onset of a catastrophic illness and the waiting period before the beginning of coverage under long-term disability. The Committee unanimously decided that no change should be made to the Sick Leave Bank policy.
The other item ACAP asked the Committee to consider was an option for employees to donate sick leave to a specific individual in need. The Committee was told that the Sick Leave Bank has a balance of more leave than is currently being used so leave is available to those in need (after completing the request process). Concern was expressed that if enacted, these donations could result in a popularity contest or that there could be pressure placed on employees to make a donation. The Committee decided not to recommend a new policy of donating sick leave to a specific individual.
The Committee was asked to consider the feasibility of adding an Annual Leave Bank. Annual leave is “real money” and a liability to NMSU. If employees were allowed to donate annual leave to a bank, this would decrease the amount of excess annual leave lost each year. Money from excess (over 240 hours) annual leave that is turned back is currently used to fund fringes that go with annual leave and to make adjustments to the annual leave fund. It was felt that the tracking of this type of bank would be an accounting nightmare. The Committee unanimously decided that they would not recommend adding an Annual Leave Bank.
The Fringe Benefits Committee asks that ACAP examine the parameters of who receives and who does not receive benefits and that they send a letter to the Director of Personnel asking him to review the parameters of the Sick Leave Bank and to come talk to ACAP about the ground rules of the Sick Leave Bank. Over the summer the Fringe Benefits Committee will try to get more information.
A motion was made and seconded to approve adding a ex-officio member to the Fringe Benefits Committee. Motion passed. A letter will be sent to the President and to Personnel.
A motion was made to accept the recommendations from the Fringe Benefits Committee regarding change to the Sick Leave Bank and not adding an Annual Leave Bank. The motion was seconded and passed leaving things as is and not changing the Sick Leave Bank or adding an Annual Leave Bank.
One other item that the Committee discussed was that of the Floater position to assist departments when an employee needs to be out on annual or sick leave. Cathy encouraged ACAP to look at reinstating the Floater position. Bob Howell stated that the old Floater position was funded by I&G and services were only available to I&G departments. Cathy suggested that maybe the university could find a means of supporting a second Floater position to assist in non-I&G departments. We know that money is tight, but the position is needed and we are talking about maybe $25,000 a year. Maybe a temporary pool made up of retired secretaries that don’t want to work full time could be available. The Committee is asking ACAP for their support and maybe this could be presented to the Roles and Rewards Committee as a recommendation.
The next Fringe Benefits Committee meeting will be on May 21 at 9 a.m. if there is anything that needs to be discussed.
INSURANCE COMMITTEE REPORT: Tina Byford, Chair of the Insurance Committee reported that the Insurance Committee had met on April 24 and reviewed claims. They appear to be up about 22%. Janet May reported that meetings held across campus had good turnouts. Delta Dental has made a change in their requirements and as of July 1 you no longer have to re-certify your dependent children.
The Committee discussed retirees and how they affect our health insurance plan and, if it were feasible, to drop the retirees from our plan and move them over to the State supported insurance plan. Blue Cross/Blue Shield has promised to provide us with data about the cost of retirees on our plan. Actuarial studies need to be done and the Insurance Committee would like for ACAP to recommend to the administration that the University have the study done but it would cost about $30,000.
A motion was made and seconded to send a letter to the administration recommending that money be found for this study. Motion passes with one vote against the motion.
COMPENSATION COMMITTEE: The following is a report submitted by Dr. Greg Fant regarding the Compensation Committee.
For the 2002-2003 academic year, the Compensation Committee met throughout the 2002 summer and 2002-2003 school year. These meetings were primarily focused on information gathering. Faculty, classified staff and professional staff concerns differ and the committee continues in the process of attempting to address each group’s concerns appropriately. As a reminder, the Compensation Committee is charged with making recommendations on the distribution of raise dollars.
Specific actions taken this year included writing legislation that was passed by the Faculty Senate in support of changes to the law that would allow more flexibility in the amounts that the University might pay toward benefits. As you are aware, ACAP approved this effort as well. These changes to the law have not occurred. The second action was to support the University administration’s proposal to distribute the 70% of performance raise dollars to the colleges in proportion to their current salary pools for faculty salary increases. No changes were proposed in the distribution of professional or classified raises.
The third action is a continuing effort at information gathering. Topics have included the following:
1. Pursuit of more information in insurance issues. While one issue is the insurance caps, another issue is alternatives to taking care of retiree healthcare (e.g., the Retiree Healthcare Authority). Since the changes in insurance caps did not pass this legislative session, we plan on developing support for this proposal over the next two years.
hearing a report on a research project that investigated the living wage issues with NMSU employees. Conclusions from this study will guide our next steps in addressing this issue.
comparisons of alternative merit and compensation schemes. Some computations projecting the effects of different compensation schemes were conducted at the committee’s request by Bob Howell’s office. These efforts highlight the fact that the fundamental problem remains an across-the-board lack of resources. Quoting the committee’s August 26, 2002 progress report to ACAP and the Faculty Senate: A lack of adequate resources is the fundamental problem facing NMSU. Our faculty salaries are not only below peer institutions, but we have been losing ground over the past few years. In 1990 NMSU’s overall average salary was 91.5% of our CHE peers. In 2000, this percentage had dropped to 84.6%. Compared to UNM, our associate and assistant professors make approximately $4,000 less on average, but more alarming is that UNM full professors make $10,000 more than NMSU full professors. These type of differences in salaries are fairly consistent when compared to our peer institutions. These observations suggest that the administration’s current efforts in the arena of private giving to establish chairs and professorships may be one of few feasible approaches to addressing the fundamental resource insufficiency. Information gathering revealed that endowments, similar to the regent’s professorships, are widely used at some other instructions. The committee notes that while such efforts may appear to target on a small segment of underpaid employees, all employees should ultimately benefit from the increased resource pool.
FACULTY SENATE: Elliott Willman reported that originally raises for the 2003/2004 fiscal
year were set at 3% for Faculty and 2.5% for Staff. Because of the efforts and support of the Faculty Senate, Staff
will also receive a 3% increase.
This was the last meeting of the Faculty Senate until classes start again
in August. No new business was
introduced. A review of the work of the
various committees was held. Donna
Alden was re-elected Chair for another year.
New Faculty Senators were introduced and retiring Faculty Senators were
thanked for their service. Dr. Juan
Franco was also thanked for his service to the Faculty Senate. It was also announced that Gary Carruthers
would be the new Dean for the Business College.
ATHLETIC COUNCIL: No report.
CAMPUS PLANNING: Robert Medina reported that the scheduled meeting for the Campus Planning Committee had been cancelled.
The PAN AMERICAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE is no longer an active committee and will be removed from our reports.
NAMING COMMITTEE: Bobbi Raub submitted the following report for the Naming Committee for their meeting held April 22, 2003.
The meeting was called to order by Dr. Dukes, Chair. The primary purpose of this meeting was to review, discuss and vote on two proposals submitted by the College of Engineering.
1. Joe Creed, through Kenneth White, submitted a proposal to name the grass compound in the Engineering Complex after Professor Emeritus Sam Maggard. Dr. Maggard was with NMSU from 1964 to 1993 and he held various positions during his tenure. The plot under consideration has an estimated value of $30,000. Engineering is confident that by naming the grass compound, additional gifts will be made to the endowment.
2. Steve Castillo, through Joe Creed and Kenneth White, submitted a proposal to name the electronic circuits laboratory, Thomas and Brown Room 102, the George W. Lucky Electronic Circuits Laboratory. Dr. Lucky was with NMSU from 1964 to 1987 and he was considered to be an example of superior ability, exemplary conduct and true professionalism.
After much discussion, general questions and questions to Ben Woods regarding maintenance, signage, etc., both proposals were passed by the Committee.
BUDGET COMMITTEE: Tim Nesbitt reported that the Budget Committee would be meeting May 28, 29 and 30. John Mullen will also be serving on the Committee.
ALCOHOL COMMITTEE: Monica Smiggen reported that the Committee had received requests for three different dinners that were requesting permission to serve alcohol. The requests were all approved.
PARKING CITATION HEARING PANEL: No report.
REPORT FROM ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL AND REPORT FROM THE CHAIR: The Provost has asked for a couple of volunteers for the Task Force on the Status of Women’s Committee that we discussed earlier in the meeting. If anyone is interested in serving on this committee, Maureen asked that they let her know.
OLD BUSINESS: Smoking Policy. We need to look again at the change to the smoking policy. Discussion followed and a motion was made that we approve the new smoking policy. Further discussion followed. Many members of the Council felt that they were against the policy as submitted last February – especially about monitors and enforcing fines. The pending motion was withdrawn. The thing about the building monitor needs to be re-addressed. It was decided to take the matter back to our constituents and send any comments to Bob Howell.
NEW BUSINESS: Add an Ex-Officio to the Fringe Benefits Committee. This was taken care of during Cathy Thomas’ report from the Fringe Benefits Committee.
Volunteers for the Ft. Bliss Selection Committee. Maureen called for volunteers to serve on the Ft. Bliss Selection Committee. Norma Ledesma will serve as the Chair. Volunteers included Cathy Thomas, Bobbi Raub and Paula Ross.
Other. Maureen reminded Council members that the following people will have their terms expiring in January of 2004.
Maureen Camunez, Professional
Terry Cook, Professional
William Lindemann, Faculty
John Muller, Faculty
Phillip Wright, Out-side Las Cruces
Paul Robertson, Alternate Faculty
Keith Duncan, Alternate Out-side Las Cruces
She requested that these people be thinking about whether or not they are going to be re-running for their position.
Also, the following ACAP Committee appointments will also be expiring. Members currently filling these Committee appointments should be deciding if they want to run again for another term.
Phillip Wright – Athletic Council
Term expires August 2003 – term is for 2 years
Elliot Willman – Faculty Senate Liaison
Term expires April 2003 – term for 1 year
Paula Ross – Compensation Committee
Term expires August 2003 – term for 2 years
Cathy Thomas – Fringe Benefits Committee
Term expires December 2003 – term for 3 years
Gene Ott, Retiree Alternate – Fringe Benefits Committee
Term expires December 2003 – term for 3 years
Jim Strickland (has left NMSU) – Insurance Committee
Term expires December 2003 – term for 3 years
Quentin Ford, Retiree Alternate – Ex Officio
Term expires December 2003
With no further business to discuss, the meeting for adjourned for the summer.
_________________________ _____________________________
Paula Ross, Secretary Maureen Camunez, Chairperson
The Council has approved these minutes.
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NOTICE OF NEXT MEETING
THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2003
NEW MEXICO DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE BUILDING
3190 ESPINA
3:00 P.M.
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