THE ADVISORY COUNCIL ON ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY
MINUTES OF THE
REGULAR MEETING
November 13,
2003
MEMBERS PRESENT: William Lindemann (F), John Mullen (F), Elliott Willman (F), Bernard Leinauer (Alternate for Bobbi Raub) (F), Shaun Cooper (P), Maureen Camunez (P), Mary Berry (Alternate for Terry Cook) (P), Tina Byford (P), Tim Nesbitt (P), Norma Ledesma (P), Viola McCormick (C), Robert Medina (C), Ida Quinones (C), Nellie Rosales (C), Cathy Thomas (C), Paula Ross (C), Linda Beavers (OLC) Phillip Wright (OLC).
VISITORS: Janet May (Employee Benefits) and Diana Quintana (Employee Benefits).
ALTERNATES PRESENT: Bernard Leinauer.
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 October 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 October 15th in Breland Hall. The Committee discussed condensed summer hours and use of free class by dependent children.
Condensed Summer Hours. Brenda Shannon, from Audit Services, attended the meeting to provide information she had obtained through research after learning about alternative summer work scheduled from the International Group of Auditors list serve, of which she is a member. She had presented this information to the Provost’s Council and to President Gogue, both of which were supportive of the idea. Janet May provided information she had gathered from a survey conducted by CUPA-HR (College and University Professional Association of Human Resources) on Reduced Summer Work Schedules.
After much discussion, the committee felt that employees should be surveyed in order to evaluate interest and/or concerns that may arise out of changes to the university’s hours of operation. Questions will be posed to employees possibly through an independent survey sent out by the committee with assistance from Miram Meyer (Diana Quintana is checking on this), or if the question could be included on a comprehensive university-wide survey to be distributed by the Roles and Rewards Task Force in early spring.
Cathy has contacted Mike Zimmerman, Registrar, to see what concerns there might be and how this would effect the summer schedule of classes. Mike has forwarded this to the Academic Deans Council for review and deans of each college have been asked to poll their faculty regarding going to a 4-day teaching schedule for summer. The results have not yet been forwarded to the committee.
Use of Free Class by Dependent Children. After much discussion and review of financial information provided by Leland Kiehne and Tina Byford, the committee felt that more of a benefit would be obtained by changing the policy on the current reduced tuition to include part-time students.
The Fringe Benefits Committee recommends for consideration by all campuses that the reduced tuition option be extended to include part-time students that are dependent children of NMSU employees and retirees, to be effective Fall 2004.
A motion was made and seconded that Council accept the Fringe Benefits Committee’s recommendation regarding extending the reduced tuition option to include part-time students that are dependent children of NMSU employees and retirees. The motion passed.
The next meeting of the Fringe Benefits Committee will be on November 19th in Breland Hall. The Committee will continue their discussions on summer hours and anything else that comes up.
INSURANCE COMMITTEE REPORT: Tina Byford, Chair of the Insurance Committee, reported that the Insurance Committee had met on October 16th and that a representative from Delta Dental attended their meeting. Delta Dental is currently paying out $1.07 for every $1.00 that they collect from us for premiums so we should probably expect a raise in our premium for next year. We will be going out for bid for our dental insurance next year.
Delta Dental did make a bid to provide insurance coverage for our retirees but we were not able to contract the plan because we didn’t have enough retirees that were interested in the plan.
COMPENSATION COMMITTEE: Paula Ross reported that the Compensation Committee had met on October 10. Greg Fant, Chairman of the Committee, had visited with Interim President/Provost Flores regarding the insurance caps and requesting the Legislatures to consider legislation to raise the caps. Dr. Flores felt it was not the right year to push this issue because the economic condition of the State is not good. The top priorities for the University Council of Presidents are as follows: 1. Full formula funding, 2. Total compensation and 3. Low tuition credit. The committee has been talking about building a coalition with NMSU and the other universities across the state and meeting with Pat Quintana at some point. Diana Quintana said to hold off on the issue because the funding situation is difficult. There may be a shortfall this coming year.
The committee discussed how this is not a monetary issue. We are just asking for flexibility in the percentage since the cap is maxed out. The proposal is to change the cap so that when funds are available, they could be used for this purpose.
The Interim President wants the Compensation Committee to look at the issues of the Base 10 System and verbal communication of raise dollars. There is a policy in place that Faculty have to be given verbal notification by the end of the semester of next year’s salary and there is concern that this policy may lead to legal problems.
The next meeting of the Compensation Committee will be held on Friday, November 14, at 9:00 a.m.
FACULTY SENATE: Policy Statement on Dual Career Couples.
Proposition 01-03/04 was introduced in the Faculty Senate regarding a
Policy Statement on Dual Career Couples.
The proposed statement says that dual career couples comprise an
increasing percentage of university professionals. To recruit and retain diverse employees, NMSU supports efforts to
accommodate the needs of dual career couples.
Assistance in identifying employment opportunities at NMSU and in the
southern New Mexico and El Paso, Texas area is available to aid in family
relocation to our community.
The proposed policy statement would appear in a new brochure that could
be provided to anyone who is a candidate for a position at NMSU in either hard
copy form or via a series of links from the NMSU webpage. While we will not guarantee jobs for
partners, providing this information that candidates need to begin their own
search and relocation process is likely to be viewed in a positive way by
candidates. It also allows candidates
to be proactive in requesting assistance from departments – it opens the door
for a discussion of partner issues at the request of the job candidate.
NMSU has always been supportive in trying to assist a spouse in finding a
job but there is no guarantee of a position at the university. NMSU will try to help a spouse who needs
help finding a job to find that job after they arrive.
There was some discussion about changing the Thanksgiving break to
include the Monday and Tuesday before the usual Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
that students usually receive for the holiday.
ATHLETIC COUNCIL: Phillip Wright reported that the
Athletic Council met on October 30th. Discussion was held on NMSU joining the WAC. In 2004 we will be adding a Women’s
Equestrian Team. Athletic Council will
meet again on November 17th at 5:30 p.m. in the Pan Am.
CAMPUS PLANNING: Robert Medina, representative to the Campus Planning Committee, reported
that the Campus Planning Committee met on November 5th. The Committee discussed road networks
(east/west thoroughfares – not just roads) for the east side of campus. The Committee decided they need more
information before continuing their discussion.
The Committee heard a proposal from
the Ag. College regarding the moving and displaying of a Case 1919 tractor that
Dean Jerry Schickedanz would like to put on display in the triangle in between
Skeen Hall and Gerald Thomas Hall.
The Committee heard an update
presented by Dr. Rick Scott on the Children’s Village. The Children’s Village cost was
approximately $1.2 million dollars but will help the University’s staff with
care for their children. The Children’s
Village has caused a traffic problem in the area and caution lights or
something is needed to slow the traffic.
Vice President Ben Woods gave an
update on the on-going and planned construction, remodeling and building
projects and those projects nearing completion on campus.
ALCOHOL USE COMMITTEE: Bernard Leinauer, representative to the Alcohol Use Committee, reported that the Committee heard one request since our last meeting. Their next meeting will be on December 3rd.
NAMING COMMITTEE: No report.
BUDGET COMMITTEE: Tim Nesbitt, representative to the Budget Committee, reported that some information has been circulated about a proposed upcoming change with the distribution of overhead. The Committee was asked not to discuss it at this time but it’s out and about and being discussed but the Budget Committee has not released it. The Budget Committee has not scheduled another meeting.
PARKING CITATION HEARING PANEL: They have met and another meeting is scheduled for December.
REPORT FROM ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL AND REPORT FROM THE CHAIR: Maureen handed out copies of several informational handouts she has received. The first handout was entitled “The Admissions Angle” and talks about combined/accelerated degree programs to attract motivated students, get an ‘edge’ and help families fight soaring costs. The second handout was entitled “The Little Department that Could” and talks about Auxiliary Services that are no longer the black hole of campus expense and how they can not only be self-supporting but also generate revenue to fill institutional budget gaps. The third handout was “A Preliminary Report of the Faculty Subcommittee of the Roles and Rewards Taskforce” and the last handout was a copy of the “Proposed Policy on Domestic Partners”.
Maureen reported that there had been two suggestions left in our “Suggestion Box” on our webpages. One suggestion was that “we would like to have bi-monthly pay periods.” We already have bi-monthly pay periods unless the employee is Professional or Faculty. It may be possible with a new accounting system that the University is buying that the bi-monthly pay periods will be available to all employees but this has not yet been determined.
The second comment was that the half hour spent by some employees exercising should not have to be made up.
Maureen also handed out a copy of the Charge to the Presidential Search Committee. A part of the charge is as follows:
The 17-member Presidential Search Committee, assisted by three non-voting members, is formed for the purpose of conducting a national search for the most qualified candidates for the 21st President of New Mexico State University. The Committee should be guided by the following charge:
OLD BUSINESS: None.
NEW BUSINESS: Election of New Members to the Insurance Committee and the Fringe Benefits Committee. Ballots were handed out with the names of nominees to fill the openings on the Insurance Committee and the Fringe Benefits Committee. ACAP members voted and selected Denise Walsh and Quinton Ford to serve on the Insurance Committee and Cathy Thomas and Richard Waugh to serve on the Fringe Benefits Committee.
Election of New Members to Serve on ACAP. Norma announced that the ballots will be going out in the mail in the next few days for electing new Faculty, Professional and Outside Las Cruces representatives to the Council. No Classified members have terms that are expiring this year.
Maureen said that Diana Quintana will be giving us a report on the Sick Leave Bank and the Smoking Policy soon.
Interim President Flores will not be meeting with ACAP at our December 11th meeting as scheduled. He hopes to be able to meet with us in January and we have asked him to talk about the legislative business and state of the legislature.
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, December 11, 2003
297 GERALD THOMAS HALL
3:00 P.M.
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