EMPLOYEE COUNCIL MINUTES
September 19, 2002

APPROVAL OF MINUTES
WELCOME TO THE NEW DELEGATES AND ALTERNATES AND THANK YOU TO THE OUT-GOING DELEGATES AND ALTERNATES
INTRODUCTION OF NEW OFFICERS
EMPLOYEE COUNCIL PURPOSE, STRUCTURE, AND DUTIES OF OFFICERS
CONTINUED DISCUSSION OF CALL TO SERVICE MEMO FROM THE PRESIDENT AND VPS
DISCUSSION AND BRAINSTORMING SESSION TO ACKNOWLEGE GROUPS AND EXPAND APPRECIATION
DISCUSSION AND BRAINSTORMING SESSION TO PROMOTE UNIVERSITY
DISCUSSION OF GOALS FOR THE NEW YEAR
SELECTION OF EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH
EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH NOMINATION FORM
ADJOURNMENT/NEXT MEETING
HR ANNOUNCEMENTS/TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT

APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The Selection Committee names were stricken from the minutes.  The minutes were approved as amended.

WELCOME TO THE NEW DELEGATES AND ALTERNATES AND THANK YOU TO THE OUT-GOING DELEGATES AND ALTERNATES
Judy McNeil will take over for Cheryl Winston as Delegate for Dining Services.
Monica Wallace will take over for Al Edler as Alternate for Facilities Management.
Cheri Lince will take over for Adrian Naranjo as Delegate and Uriel Hernandez is the new Alternate for Financial Services.  
James Lees will take over for Janette Goodwin as Alternate for the University Centers.

INTRODUCTION OF NEW OFFICERS
Chair: Laury Berner, Facilities Management
Vice Chair: Dorothy Tenney, Facilities Management
Publicity Coordinator: Kirsten Garland, Business Support
Secretary: Crystal Whitaker, Computing and Telecommunication Services
Assistant Secretary: Nancy Bradshaw, University Relations & President’s Area

EMPLOYEE COUNCIL PURPOSE, STRUCTURE, AND DUTIES OF OFFICERS
The basic purpose of the Employee Council is to provide civil service employees with a forum for sharing timely information and facilitating employee recognition.  It does not perform any functions of organized labor.

The Employee Council consists of one delegate and one alternate for each of the following eleven (11) designated groups.  A group has an additional delegate and alternate for each additional fifty classified staff.  (Names of this year’s delegates and alternates are shown below next to their group.)

Business Support:  Kirsten Garland & Pam Coppersmith
Computing & Telecommunication Services:  Crystal Whitaker & Tina Klampher
Dining Services:  Judy McNeil & Sharon Hull
Facilities Management:  Dorothy Tenney, Bob Pieters, Laury Berner, Monica Wallace, Pedro Garcia, Shelly Voshal.
Financial Services:  Cheri Lince & Uriel Hernandez
Instructional Support A:  Lisa Stowe & Cynthia Kuhlken
Instructional Support B:  Barbara Sisko & Carol Mellergaard
Library Services and Academic Computing:  Donald O’Brien & Cheri Bader
Student Affairs and Enrollment Management:  Shirley Hood & Patti Minshull
University Centers:  Kathleen McDaniel & James Lees
University Relations and President:  Rob Lowery & Nancy Bradshaw

The Employee Council Executive Committee consists of a chair, a vice chair, a publicity coordinator, a corresponding secretary, and an assistant secretary.  

The chair of the Employee Council prepares agendas and notices of meetings; presides over council meetings, represents the council at official university functions, and attends Board of Trustees meetings on a rotating basis with the union president and the chair of the Exempt Employees Association.  The vice chair serves as liaison with subcommittees of the council, chairs the employee of the month committee, and acts in the absence of the chair.  The publicity coordinator coordinates the process of disseminating information regarding awards received by civil service employees and other pertinent information of interest to civil service employees.  The secretary works with the chair to set the council meeting agenda and prepares the minutes/newsletter after Employee Council meetings.  The assistant secretary acts in the absence of the secretary.

For the complete description of the executive committee’s duties and responsibilities, please visit: http://www.cwu.edu/~hr/minutes/Purpose.doc

CONTINUED DISCUSSION OF CALL TO SERVICE MEMO FROM THE PRESIDENT AND VPS
Council members agreed that a letter should be written to the President and the VPs regarding the conversation questions presented in the Making Way for Service Memorandum.  With the ideas presented at this meeting a letter will be written and presented at the next Council meeting.

DISCUSSION AND BRAINSTORMING SESSION TO ACKNOWLEDGE GROUPS AND EXPAND APPRECIATION
It was discussed and agreed upon that the Employee Council would take part in the Campus Community Building Program, pending approval from the CCBP Steering Committee, by creating a project that will acknowledge teams and groups on campus.  The CCBP Kickoff is on October 2 from 2-4 pm in the SUB Yakima room and will last for 2 hours.  We are able to determine when and where we want to meet until the Roundup in April. The maximum time dedicated to the project is 16 hours.

DISCUSSION AND BRAINSTORMING SESSION TO PROMOTE UNIVERSITY
Involvement in the Campus Community Building Program will allow us to promote the University.

DISCUSSION OF THE GOALS FOR THE NEW YEAR
Goal 1: Employee of the month selection.
Goal 2: Acknowledging teams and groups within the Campus Community Building Program.

SELECTION OF EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH
Dawn Webber, Office Assistant III for Residential Services, was selected as the Employee of the Month for September 2002.  The following statements were taken from the nomination forms:

Dawn has the awesome task of assigning over 2,000 students for fall quarter into the residence halls.  Once assigned, Dawn keeps track of them, reassigns students and generally keeps everyone happy.  Dawn reassures students and parents that there are no “dumb” questions.  As one of the first contact people, Dawn gives accurate information and portrays the University and housing in a very positive manner.  Dawn is a caring professional who strives to meet the needs of our student residents at all times.  Her refreshing approach to the work place is open communication, honesty and making a welcoming environment for out students.  Dawn is everything that an employee of the month represents.

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH NOMINATION FORM
Click here for the Employee of the Month Nomination form
http://www.cwu.edu/~hr/forms/nomination_form.doc

ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 3:45 p.m.

NEXT MEETING
The next meeting of the Employee Council will be Thursday, October 17, 2002, at 2:00 p.m., in Black Hall, room 113.  

ALL DELEGATES OR ALTERNATES WERE PRESENT EXCEPT FOR:
Pedro Garcia, Facilities Management
Judy McNeil, Dining Services

ALSO PRESENT
Ona Youmans, Human Resources



HUMAN RESOURCES ANNOUNCEMENTS

BENEFITS FAIR
The annual Benefits Fair will be held on October 30, from 11am to 6pm, in the SUB.  Changes in the amount of payroll deduction premiums and the payment structure for prescription drugs makes it more important than ever to attend the fair and compare insurance plans and their cost.

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM
The survey on Civil Service reform was redistributed via email to all civil service staff on Monday, October 7. Printed copies were sent to areas with employees not using computers during their regular workday. As of October 8, 100 surveys have been returned to Human Resources (this includes surveys submitted since the first distribution on July 29).

These responses will be forwarded to the Department of Personnel in Olympia for their consideration as they move forward with changes to the Civil Service system.

Human Resources would like to thank those CWU employees who took the time to complete the survey. Your input is valuable and much appreciated.

SHARED LEAVE DONATIONS
CWU employees may donate leave to a fellow employee who is severely ill or injured (or who is caring for a family member who is severely ill or injured) and who is off work and has exhausted all personal paid leave.  

The following individuals are in need of shared leave:  William Cummings (Facilities Management), Maxine Ryan (University Store).

You may donate annual (vacation) and sick leave in eight-hour blocks.  A minimum balance of 80 hours of annual leave must be maintained, and excess annual leave (that over 240 hours) that will otherwise be lost may not be donated.  No more than 6 days of sick leave may be given during a 12-month period and a minimum balance of 480 hours must be retained.  The personal holiday may also be donated.  

The shared leave donation form can be downloaded from the HR forms section of the Human Resources home page:  www.cwu.edu/~hr/forms/hrforms2.htm or requested from the HR office by calling 1202.  Requests to donate leave must be approved by your supervisor before forwarding to HR and are subject to approval by your department head and Human Resources.

TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT

The Office for Equal Opportunity develops and provides educational programs on request.  Topics include, but are not limited to:

Equal employment opportunity laws – an overview

Affirmative action – history and current applications

Sexual harassment prevention

Valuing diversity – what does it mean, and how is it practiced?

Call 963-2205 for further information or to schedule a program.

The Ombuds Office provides training, upon request, though CWU Direct.  CWU Direct provides skill-building sessions to departments, or groups, designed to help employees learn to resolve workplace conflict.  Sessions include:

Active Listening

Dealing with Difficult People

Raising the Issue

Myers-Briggs self-assessment

More details are available at http://www.cwu.edu/~ombuds/direct.html .  For more information, call 963-1466, or email ombuds@cwu.edu  

Campus Community Building Program - Faculty, staff, and student volunteers work together to improve our university climate.  Volunteers are given instruction and guidance in communication skills, work together in teams to reach a commonly agreed upon goal, and have some fun in the process.  See their web page at:  http://www.cwu.edu/~ccbp/ or call Jani Niner at 2972 for more information.