THE ADVISORY COUNCIL ON ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR
MEETING
FEBRUARY 10, 2005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Roger Hartley (F), Steve Hussman (alternate for Bernhard Leinauer, (F), Kurt Anderson (F), Tammy Anthony (P), Maureen Camunez (P), Dario Silva (P), William Glenn (P), Norma Ledesma (P), Tim Nesbitt (P), Sandra Moreno (C), Christie Padilla (C),Tom Rubadeau (C), Nellie Rosales (C), Paula Ross (C), Cathy Thomas (C), Phillip Wright (OLC) and Russell Hardy (OLC).
ALTERNATES PRESENT:
Steve Hussman, Linda
Beavers, Kelly Brooks, Roseanne Bensley, Ida Chaves, Yolanda Baca, Bea Pacheco
and Annette Esqueda.
VISITORS: Sharon Bloom, Lona Baldauf, Robert
Medina, Mack Adams, Agustin Diaz and Doris Gleason.
Tim Nesbitt called the regular monthly meeting of the Advisory Council on Administrative Policy (ACAP) to order at 3:00 p.m. in room 210 of Corbett Center.
Tim called for additions or corrections to the minutes of the January meeting. A motion was made and seconded to accept the minutes from the January meeting as written. Motion carried.
Tim handed out Certificate
of Membership to all ACAP
members. The certificates are in
recognition of the member’s election to the Advisory Council on Administrative
Policy and signed by President Michael Martin and Provost William Flores. Tim encouraged members to frame them and hang
them in their office so their fellow employees will know that they are members
of ACAP.
Because of the presentation that is being presented to ACAP today by staff from Human Resources on Broadbanding, all Committee reports were submitted in writing and are posted here.
FRINGE BENEFITS COMMITTEE: Cathy Thomas reported that at the December Fringe Benefits Committee meeting the Fringe Benefits Committee was asked to review the Sick Leave Bank Policy in light of a scenario brought up by an employee. The scenario was that of an employee who had exhausted all annual and sick leave, and upon returning to work, had follow-up doctor’s appointments or physical therapy scheduled, but no leave to cover those visits. Also, the Sick Leave Bank Policy states that long-term disability covers total disability only after 100 working days. The maximum allowable withdrawal from the Sick Leave Bank is 70 days, leaving the first 30 days not covered unless the employee has enough annual and/or sick leave to carry them through those 30 days. The committee was asked to consider two options:
1. Alter the current policy to assist the employee in covering the first 30 days rather than the employee having to utilize “Leave without Pay” for that period of time; and/or,
2. Consider some means to donating additional sick leave to the employee who has exhausted all annual and sick leave, but needs incremental time off after returning to work for follow-up doctor’s visits, physical therapy, etc.
After a lengthy discussion at this meeting, two members of the committee agreed to form a sub-committee to meet with Janet May and possibly Tina Byford to explore the possibilities and ramifications of such a change and report back to the committee.
At the January meeting, the sub-committee made the following report:
A discussion followed the report and topics included but were not restricted to: NMSU policy description of the SLB; Section A.7 of the general program requirements; and Section B.3 and B.8 of the Application Procedures.
A motion was made and seconded that no changes be made to the Sick Leave Bank policy at this time. ACAP will be advised that at the request of a university employee, the committee has reviewed the current Sick Leave Bank Policy and has unanimously agreed that no changes should be made to either the policies or procedures at this time. The Chair of the committee will contact the employee regarding the decision of the committee.
The election of new officers was conducted. Jim Anthony will be the new chair and Gretchen Van Doren the new secretary.
The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for February 16, 2005 at 1:30 p.m. in Breland Hall, Room 333.
INSURANCE COMMITTEE: The Insurance Committee met and reviewed the synopsis of the replies provided by the Bidders for the Health Insurance Contract. NMSU received six replies.
On February 11, 2005 with the assistance of Mercer, the committee will evaluate the responses and select vendors for visits to campus.
COMPENSATION COMMITTEE: Paula Ross reported that the Compensation Committee had not met.
FACULTY SENATE: Roger Hartley reported that he had attended the Faculty Senate on February 3, 2005 and listened to two presentations. One was from President Martin on the news from the Legislature. He stated that the process was going well so far for NMSU but that there was still a lot of uncertainty in funding some of the large projects. There will be some reform of the lottery scholarship to make it easier for qualified students to use the money. He confirmed that the CHE would almost certainly be abolished to be replaced by a Secretary for Education in the State Cabinet.
The other presentation was from Jennifer Taylor from the Business Office. She explained the problems with the changeover to Banner and the twice a month pay schedule as it affected, in particular, nine month faculty previously on the 12 check schedule. Even though her explanation (and for not making it clearer earlier) made perfect sense, several senators pointed out that, in fact, those people affected would receive a half-month less salary in 2005 in order to make the academic year salary come out correctly. She confirmed that this was the case. A more general comment was made by some faculty that the changeover to Banner seems to be more for the benefit of central administration rather than faculty and staff.
AHLETIC COUNCIL: Phil Wright reported that Athletic Council has not met.
CAMPUS PLANNING: Mark Medina submitted the following report.
The Campus Planning Committee met on Wednesday, February 2nd. Five items were on the agenda.
1. Review of minutes from November’s meeting. Minutes were approved.
2. Discussion on the proposed signs for the Children’s Village
· Sign made out of wood and the lettering would be vinyl
· Print shop at OFS would make them
· Signs have a 5-7 year life
· Signs would also be directional to specific entity
· Issues that were brought up were future way-finding and branding issues
3. Presentation by the President of the Engineers Council (Mr. Duran)
· Bench to be dedicated to the engineering students on February 23, 2005
· Made out of real expensive rock or marble
· To be placed between Goddard and Jett Hall
· Cost was $600.00
· All arrangements for transport and set were going to be done by Engineer’s
· Motion was made and passed
4. Presentation by Greg Walke – signage for Pete’s Place at Corbett Center
· There would be approximately four signs
· The largest sign would be on the East exterior wall facing Alumni Residents
· The sign would be 10 ft by 2 ft and illuminated
· The signs inside the Corbett Center would be smaller and non-illuminating
· Once again the issue(s) are future way-finding and branding issues
· Austin Fulmer (ASNMSU) president said this was a student-initiative and the guidelines do not have to be followed at this time
· No time limit was given on proposed installment of the signs
5. The Astronomy/Regents 600 Additions – Greg Walke presentations
· These are two ADA proposed project for installing elevators and remodeling the restrooms
· The concern is which one of the projects would be done first
· The committee felt both projects should receive enough funds to complete both
· No set date when the monies will be available to begin these projects
NEW BUSINESS;
Ben Woods spoke to us about the Comprehensive Campaign for the Fine Arts/Performance Center to be put on the upcoming Master Plan. Basically he wanted input from the committee on the location, what type of entities should be included in the center, etc. He will bring forward more factual and physical information in the future. The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
ALCOHOL USE COMMITTEE: Bernd Leinauer is out of town.
NAMING COMMITTEE: Bobbi Raub reported that the Committee had not met since January.
PARKING CITATION HEARING PANEL. No report.
ENERGY TASK FORCE: Bernd Leinauer is out of town.
CHILD CARE COMMITTEE: Tammy Anthony reported that the Child Care Committee met on February 2nd to review RFP comments from Committee members. We will meet again soon and review survey responses, additional RFP comments from committee members (last chance to make changes) with goal to finalize the FRP.
ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL: Tim Nesbitt provided the following report:
The minutes of December 14, 2004, were approved with a correction to item #5 to reflect that Michael Hites will work with Jim McDonough’s office (rather than with Brenda Shannon) on a guideline checklist for use in determining the need for home internet service.
Proposed Conflict of Interest and Ethics Policy (Shannon)
Brenda stated that she had not received any questions or comments following last month’s discussion. Faculty Senate and ACAP have both approved the policy, although the form still needs to be developed. The Council voted to approve the policy effective with the 2005-06 academic year.
Post-tenure Review of Faculty (Martin and Flores)
Dr. Flores said it was brought to his attention by General Counsel that a law has been on the books for many years that deals with post-tenure review of faculty. We do not follow this process, but we do have an annual review process. A committee has been formed to review the law. Jack Thomas will represent the faculty. The committee will report back to the Council and will also update the Board of Regents on their findings.
Naming Committee Approvals (Dukes)
Rebecca stated that the Naming Committee had requested approval to rename five buildings on the main campus as follows:
Current Name: Proposed New Name:
English Building Clara Belle Williams Hall
Williams Hall Dan W. Williams Hall
Williams Hall Annex Dan W. Williams Hall Annex
Agriculture Institute Campus Police
Police Department Alumni and Visitors Center
The Naming Committee also voted to name the Abe M. & Viola Pena Endowment for Farming and Ranching Collections at the Library.
The Council approved the recommended name changes as presented.
NMSU Proposal for University-wide Research Clusters (Birx)
Dr. Birx stated that research clusters are a concept that allows us to begin to frame and encourage administratively, what is expected to be a largely faculty-driven and shaped process for evolving areas of NMSU strategic, cross-disciplinary research, education, and service. The clusters build on our inherent strengths and resonate strongly with current and future community, state, and national needs, thereby enabling us to fulfill our mission as one of the leading land-grant institutions in the nation.
The Research Cluster Proposal is a beginning, or starting point, recognizing that throughout the coming year our areas of emphasis will evolve and grow in depth and definition as we begin the process of deciding what will characterize us as a 21st century land-grant institution.
He said he appreciated the effort put into this proposal by President Martin, Provost Flores, faculty members from across campus, the Council of Research Centers, and the University Research Council.
Dean Castillo stressed the need for rewards and incentives to encourage faculty participation. Brenda said it is appropriate for this body to set the overall direction and focus, and then leave it up to others to work out the details. Dean Brandon said that since the previous review involved the deans and faculty, he was in favor of endorsing the concept. Dean Cruzado-Salas said some faculty in her college have expressed concern with the proposal.
President Martin said the proposal is not about where we’ve been. It’s about where we want to go. The incentive for faculty is to be part of a much bigger and growing enterprise. We need to find some other areas in which to find our strength. We need to grow the research enterprise by 100 percent over the next three or four years. We deeply appreciate the great work that is currently being done, but the proposal is about building additional strengths for the future that includes current strengths and adds to them. Also, our Congressional Delegation has asked that we focus on several key initiatives, rather than presenting a variety of funding initiatives.
After discussion, The Council voted to approve the concept of research clusters, without defining what the research clusters should be. The objective will be to define the research clusters within the next month or two and to add another cluster, perhaps for biomedical research.
Broadbanding (D. Quintana)
At the last meeting, the decision was made to go forward with broadbanding and to provide follow up information about it to President Martin. Additional discussions have taken place with various groups around campus. Dr. Martin stated that broadbanding is a way that allows managers and administrators to reward people for good work and strong commitment.
Albuquerque Center Open House (Gonzales)
Carmen briefed the Council on the open house which will take place on Saturday, January 29, from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Update on President Martin’s Inauguration (Chavez Kelley)
Christina distributed and reviewed the schedule of events for the inauguration and encouraged Council members, faculty, staff, and students to attend the various events. The inauguration will be webcast so everyone will have an opportunity to view it. Dean Titus requested a copy of all of the planning memos and arrangements for the event be placed in the Library Archives.
Update on Las Cruces Day in Santa Fe (Chavez Kelley)
Christina will be contacting those who have reserved a table in the rotunda and will provide additional information shortly. Registration for Las Cruces Day in Santa Fe is through the Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce. Response from this group has been good.
Banner Update (Hites)
Michael distributed a handout and described the many changes that have taken place with the conversion to Banner. Two of the goals of Banner implementation were to be more responsive to academic and administrative needs and to allow employees to be more self-serving, and both of these goals have been achieved. A Tsunami donation page was prepared in a very brief amount of time under Banner.
Banner Q&A Session (D. Quintana)
Open forums will be scheduled at the end of January and beginning of February with representatives from ICT, the Business Office, and Personnel to answer any Banner-related questions.
Introduction of ACAP’s New Chair (Ledesma)
Norma introduced ACAP’s new chair, Tim Nesbitt from the College of Agriculture and Home Economics. Tim’s term will begin February 1, 2005.
Update on Bond Election for Dona Ana Branch (Woods)
Ben briefed the Council on the upcoming bond election for Dona Ana Branch Community College on February 1, 2005 and encouraged members to exercise their right to vote.
Next Meeting: February 8, 2005, 8:30 a.m., Corbett Center, Room 210.
OLD BUSINESS: None.
NEW BUSINESS: Election of Officers. Council needs to elect new officers for ACAP. Positions that are open and needing nominees are Chair-Elect and Secretary.
Tammy Anthony was nominated for Chair-Elect. A motion was made and seconded to elect Tammy Anthony as the Chair-Elect. Motion passed by acclamation.
Paula Ross was nominated for Secretary. A motion was made and seconded to elect Paula Ross as Secretary. Motion passed by acclamation.
Voting Over the Web. Discussion followed about the possibility of voting through our website for voting members of ACAP. Phil Wright and Norma Ledesma will work together to explore the possibilities of adding this feature to our website.
Logo Selection. At our last meeting, ACAP members were asked to go to our new website and select a logo for ACAP. Logo number 5 received the most votes and will become ACAP’s official logo.
PRESENTATION ON BROADBANDING
A memo came out today from President Martin regarding Broadbanding. In the memo he states that NMSU is considering a reform of our staff personnel system. In his memo he wants to clear up some confusion and misinformation about the prospective change. He summarizes briefly the realities of the potentials of broadbanding.
Despite allegations by some to the contrary, it is our intention to make this an exciting, rewarding, and productive place to work for every member of the NMSU family. We will continue to seek improvements and to monitor the process for any problems or concerns that may develop. Questions and feedback from employees are welcomes at broadbanding@nmsu.edu.
Delores Gleason, Augustine Diaz and Mac Adams from the Human Resources Office gave the presentation.
Dates for the public presentations and training sessions are as follows:
February 17 Corbett Center Auditorium 9-12 a.m.
February 24 Corbett Center Auditorium 9-12 a.m.
March 1 Corbett Center Auditorium 1-4 p.m.
March 4 Corbett Center Auditorium 9-12 a.m.
March 7 Corbett Center Auditorium 1-4 p.m.
Faculty are not a part of broadbanding – only exempt and non-exempt staff are affected.
Each band is broken into zones. Positions are placed in to the zones. Band definitions are as follows:
LEADERSHIP: examples include Directors and Division Heads
MID-MANAGEMENT: examples include Managers, Assistant Directors
PROFESSIONAL: examples include Accountants, Engineers
ADMINISTRATIVE/OPERATIONAL SUPPORT: examples include Administrative/Departmental Secretary, Records Tech, and Carpenters
Each zone will have a minimum salary, a control salary and a maximum salary. Market studies will be done to determine the control and maximum salaries. Maximums are not set in stone. You could make more than the maximum salary for your band. For what used to be called Classified Staff, local markets would be used. For what used to be called Professional Staff, regional markets would be used and for higher-level executives, the market would be national surveys.
These market surveys would be used to provide more flexibility in saying you are eligible for a pay increase. Supervisors will have more say in what kind of raise you should get. But if there’s no money in your department to put towards the suggested raise, you still don’t get the raise.
Instead of your position being a Grade 6 or a grade 12, you would now be a Band ___, Zone ___.
Question: How can you move forward in your band or zone? Market changes, job changes, and more complex work assignments.
They will be moving and changing job titles as well. Jobs will be placed into “job families”. There will be a chance to appeal if you don’t feel you are being put into the right “family”.
Definition of Roles: The Human Resources Office will be doing more specific things. They will be spending much more time researching salaries then what they have been doing in the past. Each college will have a Human Resource Liaison. Supervisors will be working with the liaisons. Your questions will go to them first.
When we change over to the system, you will get a new job title. Your pay will not change. From the beginning of the implementation, it is hoped all employees will see improvement.
There’s no wonderful pot of money that will make this all happen but the availability will be there.
Service and longevity increase will not be taken away.
At our next ACAP meeting we hope to have some representatives of the test groups (PSL, ICT and Carlsbad Community College) at our meeting to talk about how they feel about the new system.
Question: What type of evaluation form will be used for our performance evaluations?
For now the same forms that we have been using in the past will be used again. We hope to revise the evaluation form at some point in time.
Why wasn’t there a pilot test done with an academic department? They tried to test departments that had positions that were universal. Since Faculty are not included in the broadbanding and most academic departments are made up of Faculty, these three (PSL, ICT and Carlsbad Community College) were selected as test groups.
Target date to start the new system is July 1, 2005.
With no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned.
___________________________ ________________________
Paula Ross, Secretary Tim Nesbitt, Chairperson
The Council has not approved these minutes.
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NOTICE OF NEXT MEETING
THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 2005
ROOM
333 of BRELAND HALL
3:00 P.M.
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