THE ADVISORY COUNCIL ON ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
April 13, 2006
MEMBERS PRESENT:
ALTERNATES PRESENT: Ann Bock,
Susie Loera
EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS PRESENT:
Diana Quintana
VISITORS: Katrina Doolittle,
Ellen Bosman, Agustin Diaz
CALL TO ORDER AND MINUTES:
Tammy Anthony called the
regular monthly meeting of the Advisory Council on Administrative Policy (ACAP)
to order at 3:03 pm. The meeting was held at Gerald Thomas in room 297.
The meeting minutes from
March 9th, 2006 were presented and approved. The meeting minutes
from the April 4th, 2006 were presented and approved with changes of
the meeting start time and some AFSCME clarification.
Genevieve
(representing Sandra Moreno) indicated that the meeting was called to order at 9:30am
instead of 3:30pm and that she was unclear on the AFSCME issue. She understood
that we were putting everything back on admin. and that ACAP need not be concerned
or involved.
Tim
Nesbitt clarified and explained that after considerable discussion at the April
4, 2006 meeting it was decided that not all employees of NMSU had the facts
needed to make an informed decision about AFSME representation. It was agreed upon unanimously that ACAP would
recommend distribution of a fact sheet through NMSU administration. After this explanation and correction of the
meeting time a motion was made and seconded by Phil Wright. Motion passed
unanimously.
INTRODUCED NEW ATTENDEES:
Ellen Bosman -Department Head
of the Library
OLD BUSINESS:
Naming Committee: Genevieve- Confirmed that everything she was going
to send out was covered by the administrative council under Naming Approvals by
Rebecca Dukes. Unresolved issues have not been added yet by Genevieve.
Parking Citations: Genevieve and Jane were contacted by a woman in the
parking office to schedule a training session for the Parking Citations
Committee.
Faculty Senate: Faculty Senate is attempting to change the by-laws
and possibly do away with the liaison position which is currently held by Mary
Hoke. Tammy requested to Larry Creider that we keep the liaison position and
require that it be a faculty member of the ACAP group. Also, if needed the ACAP
Chair or Chair-elect may still attend as needed.
Personal Grievance Board- has changed names to Human Resources Appeals Board. As meetings begin again ACAP decided
that “short-term” will be listed as the Primary and “long-term” will be listed
as the Alternates, therefore if it is your third year serving you would be
considered a Primary.
Jan 2008 Primaries (Regular) will be Russell Hardy (Exempt)
and Tom Rubadeau (Non-Exempt)
Jan 2009 Alternates will be Bill Glenn (Exempt) and
Sandra Moreno (Non-Exempt)
Budget Committee: Presented by Tammy in Maureen’s absence. Budget
committee met, reviewed and approved the 2% budget cuts (equivalent of 2.3
Million) across the board for NMSU campus wide (I&G permanent Budgets) for
main campus only. This will occur beginning with the new fiscal year for
purposes of reallocation to be requested by the Deans and Vice Presidents.
Budget Committee approved this
matter March 27th, 2006.
By-law Committee: Deferred until May.
Committee Members: Norma,
Phil and Jane- To meet with Tammy for feedback and drafts will be done for May
meeting.
Background Check Policy:
Issue was presented by Diana
Quintana. The policy was approved by Admin. Council and will go into affect in
the future when an applicant tracking system is developed, which will be done within
the next year.
Changes are: (1) Clarification
to promotions, faculty promoted from rank to rank no longer will require a background
review.
(2) Decision made to exclude
all 4-H volunteers from Background Review Policy and they will conduct their
own review through the department of safety to ease their budget.
(3) Student employees associated
with sensitive duties checklist (includes graduate assistants, undergrads and volunteers):
All temporary or affiliated/associated employees will have an initial background
review and will not need another one unless they leave the University for
longer than a year and return.
Note: The initial cost is $35 standard review,
additional reviews require additional costs.
The previous topic by Mary
Hoke that external events are taking precedent over internal needs was
discussed. Tammy informed ACAP that there is a task force which includes the
Student Regents and the ASNMSU President that are currently reviewing this
issue. Tammy initiated that we ask Dr. Martin or the ASNMSU President if
someone from ACAP can be invited to talk through the issues that ACAP is
concerned about or to be present on the task force for review.
* Tim Nesbitt motioned that ACAP
decide to request one of our members to join the review committee. Phil Wright
seconded it. Motion passed unanimously. Mary Hoke was appointed as the ACAP
representative to be recommended.
Fact Sheet: Currently, it is with the attorneys. The next step is
for administration to distribute it.
Ballot Mailings: Diana Q. signed a consent agreement (prior to this
meeting) outlining timelines for election process. May 4, 2006 ballots will go
out by mail to residences. They will be returned to legal council for the labor
board. They are to be returned to Rita Segal with a postmark date of May
22. Count of votes is May 31st.
Tammy extended a “thank you”
from President Anaya of the Regents to ACAP for their efforts to keep employees
informed. Another “thank you” was extended from Regent Gallagher who indicated that
unanswered questions should still be listed on the fact sheet because it is
important to know that questions have been raised and we can hopefully get
answers for them in time.
Policy Manual:
-Ellen Bosman expresses that
it is difficult for Supervisors to issue written reprimands and that it is
required to receive HR’s permission. She indicates that this is a problem
because it escalates things to the highest level (HR) and many times the
permission is denied. Her peripheral concerns are that progressive discipline
or corrective action is not defined as an option in the manual, things go straight
to oral reprimand, written reprimand and termination for resolution. Ellen
provided copies of other institutional peer manuals for review.
-Diana Q. stated that the
policy hasn’t been revised since the 1980’s. Written reprimand is considered
disciplinary action because it’s punitive. These are filed in employee records
and can affect many aspects of the employee. Supervisors are not consistently
providing oral reprimands which are the first step. Written reprimands are the
2nd step. It is stated that written reprimands are being sent to HR
and the issues aren’t being presented to the employee on what they’ve done
wrong. The manual needs to define a process of action to fill in these gaps so
that we protect the employees and the supervisors. Actions need to match the
offense. Diana agreed to points made, and that the policy is in the need of
revision.
-Paul Ponce proposed that we
create a form for supervisors to follow to determine if all appropriate steps
have been taken. Diana agrees that that is a good idea.
-Agustin on discipline- Some
supervisors don’t know the steps to take and that they are even violating any
procedures or state law.
This subject is somewhat
summarized when it comes to this point of the meeting. Ellen B. indicates that
she thinks that supervisors should get counsel from HR not permission. Diana Q.
contends it is appropriate to receive permission (and not counsel) to issue a
written reprimand because it comes down to what legal issues may occur that HR
would be responsible for representing.
-Ellen would like statistical
data from Diana to on how often written reprimands are issued.
It was decided that more
defined guidelines are needed to protect employees and University supervisors. ACAP
agreed that there is a great need to “fill the gap” in the policy manual with
some procedural steps and that there needs to be a “disconnect” of disciplinary
action and termination.
ACAP agreed overall that they
want to be involved in this matter and asked personnel to bring it back to the
table when Lisa is finished with phase 1 sometime in June.
The policy is a “re-write” as
clarification per Diana and will include more description to better understand
the gaps in the policy.
Tim Nesbitt suggests
leadership development team to train managers on following policy and
procedure.
* Dr. Silva made a motion to
recommend a review of policy by ACAP. This was seconded by Phil W. The motion
was unanimously accepted.
NEW BUSINESS
WELLNESS PROGRAMS:
Concern is that wellness
programs will be potentially eliminated due to the change in funding for
employee Health Services.
Katrina Doolittle- The
programs have been going on for 11 years. The yoga program was cut. Eighty (80)
people were affected by it closing. One hundred and seventy-five (175)
employees attended these 3 to 5 classes. Katrina gave copies of 24 letters to
Tim and Tammy that were drafted by employees who are concerned about this issue.
Katrina proceeded to present the positive aspects of the program and conveys
her hope for ACAP to step in front of this issue as it is being considered.
Dr. Silva clarified that has
to do with insurance plans switching to the hands of the State and then they
take the savings whereas before the savings was used to fund the programs. He
then refers to the “
* Tim Nesbitt moves for ACAP send
a letter to President Martin strongly recommending continuation of the program
at its current level and expanding the availability to NMSU faculty and staff. Dario Silva seconds. Motion was unanimously
approved.
OPENINGS:
1. Recording Secretary
Retiree
from last month has resigned. Dr. Martin provided money for 10 hrs a month to
help with minutes and sending out mailings. Tammy’s proposal is for each chair
of each term to appoint a person from their department to provide the support. An
NMSU staff member is beneficial because they have access to keep up with
electronic needs and are on campus to fulfill duties of scheduling, etc… Tammy
has received approval from Personnel
Maureen
suggests a full-time position as a retiree that is from Faculty Senate to do
part-time ACAP duties.
The
opening is discussed and a motion made by Phil and seconded by Tim for Tammy’s
proposal.
Motion
was unanimously approved.
2. ACAP Committee Member and Secretary
ACAP
Member Phil Wright is moving branch locations to
Tim
wants to consider a waiver to let Phil remain on the committee.
* A
motion was made by Tim and seconded by Norma Ledesma.
Motion
was taken off the table for future review.
A
final decision was made to send an email notification to the off-campus office
to inform them of the idea that Phil would remain on the committee representing
their interest. If ACAP does not receive any feedback or objections, the issue
will come back to the table for a vote on the waiver.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST FORMS- not on agenda but brought up by Bill Glenn.
Bill wanted to know the response
rate on the forms. Diana Q. said that were not asking for them back yet. The salary
process has been delayed due to Banner conversion.
REPORT FROM CHAIR:
The Administrative Council is
tackling the smoking policy issue.
If there are concerns about
policy please address them to Katrina Doolittle or through comments on safety
website.
* Motion to adjourn by Phil
Wright.
Meeting adjourned at 4:43pm.