Business Meeting
I. General
A. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by Willie Minor at 3:55 p.m.
Members Present: Jeff Andelora, Freddie Anttila, Judy Boschult, Tom Butler, Laura Cannon, Joanna Chamberlain, Gay Garesche, Rosemary Kesler, Willie Minor, John Nelson, Joe Ortiz, Mark Richard, Laura Ruiz-Scott, Dennis Shaw, Gail Shay, Vernon Smith, Sandra Stuebner, Larry Williams, Cori Wright.
Minutes were taken by Carrie Taylor.
B. Approval of Agenda
Gay Garesche added Dual Enrollment as Item D. under Old Business. The agenda was approved as amended.
C. Approval of the December 14, 1999 Minutes
Gay Garesche requested changes in the Meet and Confer and Dual Enrollment sections of the minutes. Laura Cannon requested that the EMCC report be amended, and Joe Ortiz requested that the SCC report be amended, both for clarification purposes. The minutes were approved as amended.
II. Old Business
A. Meet and Confer Report
Larry Williams informed Council that the Meet and Confer Team had met earlier to work on finalizing the packet of proposals for this year. Larry stated that there was one proposal sent forth for Council's approval. He said that the rest of the package will be given to Council for approval at the next Council meeting. Larry Williams stated that the proposal package has carry over items from last year as well as new proposals for this year. He said that the proposal which Council has received in their Council folders was a high priority issue for this year. Larry Williams informed Council that Mike Napier had been contacted for his comments on the proposal and that a copy of Mike Napier's response was included in each Council member's folder. Larry Williams reviewed the comments from Mike Napier. Larry Williams asked that Council approve the proposal as written. In researching the issue, he stated that he was surprised to find how little this issue was codified into policy.
Larry Williams stated that the Meet and Confer Team had met with the Board Team. The Meet and Confer Team is still waiting for the Board Team's response regarding the proposed ground rules for this year's Meet and Confer process. Larry informed Council that the next meeting with the Board Team is February 1, 2000.
Larry Williams was asked if the team would send the proposals to the AAUP for their review and comments. Larry Williams stated that the Meet and Confer Team had met with Mike Mauer of the AAUP in October and had discussed the proposals with him then. Mike Mauer had indicated that the issue of indemnification was currently a hot topic nationwide and shared with the Meet and Confer Team what information he had on that specific topic.
Larry Williams was asked if Phil Randolph was continuing as the Board Team's chief negotiator. Larry Williams responded that he had not heard otherwise, and the Meet and Confer Team wanted him to continue in that role. Larry Williams was asked when Council and other faculty will have the opportunity to offer ideas for proposals to include in this year's process. Larry Williams responded that the request for suggestions has already been made and the Meet and Confer Team has not received any suggestions yet. Gay Garesche stated that there is one suggestion regarding the time to file a grievance which some faculty feel is too short. Gay Garesche expressed that more time is needed when filing a grievance. Larry Williams asked Gay Garesche to write language for that proposal and to submit it to Janice Comer.
Larry Williams was asked if the Meet and Confer Team will prioritize the proposals for the Council to approve and for negotiations with the Board Team. Larry Williams stated that the Meet and Confer Team had prioritized the issues at its meeting earlier in the day. Gay Garesche asked if Council could get the proposals before the next Council meeting in order to carefully review the proposals. Larry Williams stated that it could be possible to send out the proposals. He admitted that the process has had a slow start and the team still wants to complete the negotiations before faculty leave for summer break. Willie Minor suggested that future Meet and Confer teams should start earlier in the academic year. Larry Williams informed Council that the Meet and Confer Team had discussed the possibilities of the Meet and Confer process being continuous, and rotating team members for continuity purposes. For example, the Meet and Confer Team for the 2000-2001 process should be elected soon and begin meeting to research the issues which need to be addressed in the faculty negotiations process. Mark Richard requested that the Council receive copies of the proposals by Thursday or Friday of the following week. Larry Williams responded that it was possible to get the proposal package to Council by then.
Joe Ortiz asked if there was any cost attached to the single proposal currently before the Council. Larry Williams responded that he did not see any cost as this proposal follows what the District has been saying verbally that it does for its employees. Council discussed the proposal and how the Board Team might react to it. Larry Williams reminded Council of the comments made by Mike Napier and asked that the Council approve the proposal as it is written. There was one suggestion to remove the part of the proposal that Mike Napier had commented might make it too broad. Larry Williams responded that there have been problems that the one part would cover and that the proposal should be approved as written. Larry Williams pointed out that a good course of action would be to take the proposal as written to the Board Team and then see if the Board objected to any part of it. Larry Williams stated that he felt it would be a disservice to faculty to weaken the proposal before submitting it to the negotiations process. Joanna Chamberlain made a motion to approved the proposal as it is written. John Nelson seconded the motion. A vote was taken, and the motion passed unanimously.
B. EBAC
Willie shared with Council the various views of the last Governing Board meeting on December 14, 1999. One CEC member had asked at the recent CEC meeting why the Governing Board action items for defining EBAC and its operational procedures were needed since EBAC was functioning fine and these actions were not happening with other district groups.
Willie Minor asked Council what it wanted to do now about the EBAC situation, and reminded Council that it was necessary to consider if Council wanted to send any proposal forth or not send anything forth. Rosemary Kesler stated that Phil Randolph had spoken with EBAC representatives and asked them to carefully consider what they wanted to do. Rosemary Kesler said that the Governing Board has asked EBAC for something at their February business meeting. One thing that could be said is that EBAC is responsible for reviewing and recommending health insurance coverage carriers. Rosemary Kesler stated that if language is brought forth and then is rejected or ignored by the Governing Board, at least it would be on public record that they rejected the recommended language from EBAC. She stated that Council should recommend that EBAC be a Board recognized committee. Freddie Anttila pointed out that EBAC was already a Board recognized committee since there was language in the RFP stating that faculty will have representation on EBAC. Gay Garesche stated that the Common Policies Committee is also a Board recognized committee since there is language about it in the RFP as well. Willie Minor stated that EBAC operates similarly to the Common Policies Committee and the reason that the administration doesn't like the Common Policies Committee is because of the voting structure which requires unanimity. Willie Minor stated that he had asked that there be no rush on writing something for EBAC. He reminded Council that all need to proceed carefully in this issue.
Rosemary Kesler was asked if the EBAC language was on the agenda of the new Vice Chancellor, Phil Randolph. Rosemary Kesler responded that Phil Randolph just said that EBAC needs to think about covering itself and its work. Larry Williams read RFP Section B.3. to Council and stated that if Council does not propose language for EBAC, then the next Vice Chancellor QED might try to define the charge of EBAC. He stressed that Council should submit a proposal to define what EBAC does now since the Governing Board has extended the opportunity to all groups to define EBAC and the charge of EBAC. Willie Minor stated that this issue needs to come to a close. Willie Minor asked Rosemary Kesler what will happen at the next EBAC meeting. Rosemary Kesler stated that EBAC will decide what it wants to do and bring any proposals back to the employee groups. It was stated that EBAC could now come up with language for what it has been doing in the past. Gay Garesche said that EBAC's role should not include everything that EBAC has done in the past, since that would include changes in the Leaves of Absence language. Those policies should have been handled by the Common Policies Committee, not EBAC.
Rosemary Kesler informed Council of a bill that has been introduced at the Arizona State Legislature which allows school employees to be included in the state health plan. She shared that the way the bill is written, school districts who choose to go with the state health plan have to take what is offered and cannot offer any other health insurance.
Rosemary Kesler shared with Council two other items which had been discussed at the last EBAC meeting. She said a Consumer Financial Network booklet will be made available to employees shortly. Also, the diversity group has asked that employees be allowed to use personal time, vacation or compensatory time for religious holidays and asked EBAC to write the language. Rosemary Kesler said that EBAC stated that the language should go into the employee group policy manuals since the District has no religious holidays on its calendar.
C. Common Pages
Joanna Chamberlain stated that there was no report at this time.
D. Dual Enrollment
Gay Garesche informed Council that Gene Eastin is planning a Governing Board Retreat on Dual Enrollment issues on February 8, 2000, and he wants faculty participation. Gay Garesche said that she has been asked to give a presentation. She said that Gene Eastin wants to discuss how faculty can ensure the quality of dual enrollment programs, and also wants to discuss institutions which do not accept dual enrollment credits. Gay Garesche asked if the retreat would be an all day retreat. She said it would take most of the day. Gay stated that Carl Samuels would be speaking on another topic at the retreat.
Vernon Smith stated that there are currently two bills on Representative Schottel's desk at the state legislature dealing with dual enrollment issues. He said that there is also language coming from the Governor's office which will adversely affect dual enrollment programs. He continued that there is language coming from Don Puyear and the state board on dual enrollment issues. Joanna Chamberlain stated that the Governor's bill has gone to the Legislature and that she understood that the bill would cut eighty percent of dual enrollment funding. Vernon Smith reminded Council that dual enrollment was now a statewide issue and not just a Maricopa issue.
Gay Garesche stated that she and Gene Eastin had asked at the last Board retreat in December how the double-dipping issue would be handled when it became a public debate. She was told at the time that the Board and administration hoped that the issue would not arise. The point was made that the administration has not dealt smartly with the double-dipping issue and other dual enrollment issues and has thus angered the Governor's office. It was stated that many are angered by the dual enrollment issue. Gay Garesche stated that part of the problem is that the Board had not been provided with the necessary information to make sound decisions on dual enrollment issues in Maricopa. She stated that Gene Eastin is now providing faculty the opportunity to give the Board needed information on dual enrollment issues especially quality issues. Judy Boschult stated that the retreat was on the same day as a scheduled Council meeting. Judy asked Gay if the Council needed to make an organized presentation. Gay Garesche stated that Council did not need to do a presentation. Willie Minor stated that the February 8th Council meeting could be canceled and then all Council could attend the retreat. Gay Garesche stated that the retreat would be an open meeting for anyone to attend. Gail Shay stated that the Dual Enrollment Finance Committee has another meeting before February 8th and could probably give a report to the Governing Board at the retreat. Willie Minor stated that the Finance Committee did not have to report to the Governing Board until March however. Council briefly discussed the "wash" plan.
III. New Business
A. Computer for Faculty Association Office
Mark Richard made a motion for Council to approve a new computer for the Faculty Association office with a maximum of $3500 to be spent on the computer and related equipment for connectivity purposes. Freddie Anttila seconded the motion. A vote was taken, and the motion passed unanimously.
IV. Information
A. Chancellor's Search
This item was referred by Willie Minor. The recommendation was for Council members to participate in the candidate forums and the discussions Willie has scheduled for January 12, 2000, and possibly January 13, 2000.
Discussion Points:
Council made no further recommendation.
B. Other
Willie Minor stated that Carl Samuels said thank you for the Get Well card from Council. Also, Willie Minor informed Council that there are some actions regarding the Whistleblower bill and stated that he wanted to give Council a "heads-up" on this issue.
VI. Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 5:05 p.m.
* * Next meeting, January 25, 2000 will be a Business Meeting * *