NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY Fringe Benefits Committee

NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY Fringe Benefits Committee

Corrected Meeting Minutes Monday, March 15, 2004

Members Present: Cathy Thomas (Chairperson), Jim Anthony, Ethel Lynch, Gretchen Van Doren, and Richard (Dick) Waugh

Ex-Officio Members: Janet May

Members Absent: Cherri Lambeth, Charles Pfeiffer, Estela Guerra, and Diana Quintana, Tammy Anthony, and Tina Byford (Ex-Officio Members)

OPENING

The regular meeting of the Fringe Benefits Committee convened on Monday, March 15, 2004 in Breland Hall, Room 333. The chair called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m.

OLD BUSINESS

1 Minutes: The minutes of February 9, 2004 were approved as submitted.

2 Compressed Summer Schedule: The chair distributed a copy of the memo sent by ACAP to Interim President William Flores supporting the Fringe Benefit Committee’s recommendation to go to a compressed summer hour schedule effective Summer 2004.

3 Time Off for Fitness: A motion was made and seconded to forward the following recommendation to ACAP:

“The Fringe Benefits Committee recommends that the University administration form a committee to evaluate the feasibility of a Wellness/Fitness program for NMSU, to coordinate and promote both existing and new activities and facilities on campus.”

In relation to the fitness question, Janet May informed the committee that she, Lori McKee, Katrina Doolittle, Paul LaPorte, and Peter Maud will be meeting to organize a Health Fair, aimed at Faculty, Staff, and Students.

NEW BUSINESS

1. Aggie Panorama: Debbie Widger, Director, Alumni Relations, met with the committee to express the concerns of the Alumni Relations Office regarding the expected increase in the costs of mailing the “Aggie Panorama” to retirees once the format of the publication goes to a magazine. Currently, the publication is sent to all donors, alumni and the Pioneers (any employee who retires from NMSU or has been employed for 20 years). The current cost of mailing the publication is $20,000 (30% of this cost is to Pioneers) and when the format changes that amount will increase to approximately $24,000 to $44,000 contingent upon how many issues have to be mailed. To reduce this cost, the Alumni Relations Office proposes to send the publication to all donors, alumni and those Pioneers who have paid membership dues. The “Aggie Panorama” will be available on-line for those Pioneers who do not wish to pay membership dues to the Pioneer organization. If a Pioneer does not fall into one of the categories mentioned, and is unable to access the publication on-line, but would still like to receive the publication by mail they can contact the Alumni Relations Office to make other arrangements. After some discussion, the Fringe Benefits Committee agreed to support this change. Notice of this change will be included in the letter that Employee Benefits will be sending to all retirees at the end of March.

2. Miscellaneous:

A) Janet May stated that Larry Hardy, the new Personnel Director, will be starting his new position on April 19, but no one will be available as a representative from the Personnel Office for the next meeting of the Fringe Benefits Committee. As of the present time, the committee does not have any business to address, and so the next meeting could possibly be canceled.

B) Janet informed the committee that Delta Dental won the bid for next year, with neither an increase in premiums, nor a decrease in benefits.

C) Janet informed the committee that the health insurance premiums will increase by 4.6%, but the PPO250 plan’s preventative care coverage has been expanded.

NEXT MEETING

The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 19, 2004 at 1:30 p.m. in Breland Hall, Room

333.