Business Meeting
I. General
A. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by Willie Minor at 2:45 p.m.
Members Present: Jeff Andelora, Freddie Anttila, Judy Boschult, Laura Cannon, Joanna Chamberlain, Gay Garesche, Donna Gaudet, Karen Hardin, Rosemary Kesler, Willie Minor, John Nelson, Joe Ortiz, Jim Reed, Mark Richard, Laura Ruiz-Scott, Dennis Shaw, Gail Shay, Denny Sheehan, Scott Silberman, Vernon Smith, Sandra Stuebner, Larry Williams, Cori Wright.
Minutes were taken by Carrie Taylor.
B. Approval of Agenda
Joanna Chamberlain added Common Pages as Item F. under Old Business. Mark Richard added MAPS as Item D. under Information. Jim Reed added Free Speech of Students as Item E. under Information. Gay Garesche added Peerpoint! as Item F. under Information. Judy Boschult requested that the Executive Committee meet in Executive Session after the regular Council meeting. The agenda was approved as amended.
C. Approval of the November 9, 1999 Minutes
Gay Garesche requested a change in the EBAC Action Item section of the minutes. The minutes were approved as amended.
D. Committee Reports
1. Professional Growth
No report.
2. EBAC
Rosemary Kesler reported that EBAC has to meet with one more insurance company on November 29, 1999. Then, EBAC will make the decision on which company to recommend for the health benefits plan for the next five years. EBAC is working on tentative proposals for how to distribute the Flex Benefit Credits. She stated that it appears that OYOs will get benefits and will have the option to purchase benefits for their families. The waivers will be cut more. The District will use up the Cigna fund of 2.7 million dollars in the next five years. EBAC will ask the Governing Board to come up with one third of the money needed for the health care premium. One third of the money needed will come from the Cigna Fund. The last one third will come from cut backs in employee Flex Benefit Credits. Rosemary Kesler was asked what she meant by cut backs. Rosemary Kesler stated that all employees will eventually have reduced Flex Benefit Credits. During the first year, no one will have reduced Flex Benefit Credits. Then, the Flex Benefit Credits for employees' families will be cut back and finally the employees' Flex Benefit Credits will be reduced. After this five years have passed, if there is no national insurance plan, EBAC will have to look at different types of insurance. The suggestion was made for EBAC to look at joining with other employee groups. Another suggestion was to propose that all state employees be put under one umbrella to reduce the cost for all. It was stated that HMOs used to cost less than health plans with a deductible, however that was not the case anymore as HMOs are just as expensive, if not more expensive.
Rosemary Kesler reminded Council about the A1 she and Oscar Hardin had sent out asking for support for the health care plan which EBAC will soon recommend so that EBAC can move forward with the process for getting health benefits for the next five years. A concern was voiced about EBAC changing coverage for different employee groups. Rosemary Kesler responded that EBAC wanted to make certain that full-time employees were covered first. She stated that the fairest recommendation was to cut OYO dependent benefits. It was stated that health benefits issues should go through the employee groups negotiation processes. The point was made that Maricopa is a large district with lots of money, thus the District should be able to transfer money from other budget areas to cover the increase in health benefits costs. Rosemary Kesler was asked if the numbers from ten years ago were still being used. Rosemary Kesler replied that the Flex Benefit Credit amount for employees has increased to $3800. Also, the amount of Flex Benefit Credits for families has increased also. Willie Minor stated that Council could make a statement saying that faculty do not agree with cutting benefits for anyone. Gay Garesche stated that EBAC could make a recommendation for a company and also include that EBAC is not the appropriate group to make a decision to cut OYOs' benefits.
Council discussed domestic partner benefits and the fact that there is nothing in writing in any of the employee group policy manuals saying that domestic partners get benefits.
Willie Minor reminded Council that the agenda was full. Rosemary Kesler reviewed again how the cut backs in benefits would likely take place. A suggestion was made for Council to be proactive in getting the State or other employee groups involved in joining to reduce benefit costs for all. Rosemary Kesler stated that she would keep Council updated on further EBAC issues.
3. Meet and Confer
Larry Williams stated that in New Business the Council will be asked to approve the salary proposals which must be submitted to the Governing Board by December 10, 1999. The first meeting with the Board Team is being scheduled, and the agenda for the meeting will include introductory information and the salary proposals. Also, the ground rules will be established for this year's Meet and Confer Process.
4. FAC
Willie Minor informed Council that they had copies of the minutes from the last FAC meeting. He stated that he has heard different things about the budget from different people. Willie Minor asked that Council review the minutes and submit any questions to him. Willie Minor asked if Council would like to have the FAC faculty representatives come to a Council meeting to give a report. Council asked that the FAC faculty representatives report at the December 14, 1999 Council meeting. It was stated that point number four under Item Four in the FAC report could be used as a reason not to give employees a step. Willie Minor stated that he believes that the employees are being conditioned not to ask for a lot of money this year.
5. Legislative
Willie Minor informed Council that some redistricting has occurred and affects the Governing Board. With the new districts, Linda Rosenthal will be in District 3 where Gene Eastin used to be, and Gene Eastin will be in District 4 where Linda Rosenthal used to be. The other three Board members will stay in the same District numbers. Willie Minor reviewed the November 9th Board hearing regarding the EBAC Action Item. Gay Garesche asked if redistricting occurs after a census is taken. If so, then the redistricting would not occur until after the 2000 Census. Gay Garesche stated that the Council needs the new map to see exactly where the redistricting has taken place. Willie Minor stated that he had seen the new map but has not obtained a copy of it yet. It was suggested that the County Commissioner's office be contacted. Willie Minor was requested to ask the Legislative Committee to start the process of identifying potential Board candidates.
II. Old Business
A. EBAC Action Item
Willie Minor thanked the Council members for their responses to his A1 on the new proposed EBAC Articles of Operation. He informed Council that he had talked with Mike Napier. Mike Napier told Willie that EBAC should limit themselves to just identifying an insurance carrier and then send their recommendations to the various employees groups' negotiations processes. Council discussed Article 13 of the proposed EBAC Articles of Operation which would leave Faculty Meet and Confer out of the process for benefit recommendations. Willie Minor asked for direction from Council.
Council reviewed the proposed EBAC Articles of Operation and voiced their many concerns about the document. Council discussed that the proposed three new voting members on EBAC would need to be removed. It was stated that the proposed Articles of Operation should state that EBAC only identifies the insurance carrier for the District. The point was made that EBAC has operated fine without formal Articles of Operation, therefore, the question was asked why they were needed now? Rosemary Kesler stated that the proposed Articles of Operation were the same as the by-laws written five years ago; however, there were additions that needed to be removed. Gay Garesche stated that EBAC needed to go back to the original charge it was given. The point was made that EBAC was the only District Committee being changed.
Joe Ortiz asked if the EBAC representatives had put together the proposed EBAC Articles of Operation as the document says EBAC made the recommendation to the Governing Board. Rosemary Kesler responded that EBAC had gone with the old by-laws and then added one statement - the Statement of Values which was written about six years ago. EBAC wanted to make sure that any recommendations went to the employee groups for their input first. Rosemary Kesler stated that when the proposed Articles of Operation were sent out on A1 to EBAC members, the Chancellor and the Governing Board, there were changes and additions to what the EBAC representatives had recommended, She said that the changes were made unilaterally by Dr. Waechter. Rosemary Kesler was asked if the Vice Chancellor will be allowed to submit items to the Board over EBAC's objections like he did with the first EBAC Action Item. It was stated that Linda Rosenthal had directed EBAC to write the Articles of Operation, and thus, she should be told that the full document is not from EBAC and that EBAC did not agree to the changes from the Vice Chancellor. The point was made that no directive was given at the November 9th public hearing, but rather just a statement. Two Board members opposed the proposed EBAC action item and the other two Board members said nothing. The consensus from the employee groups was to withdraw the proposed EBAC Action Item altogether and not revised. It was stated that only Linda Rosenthal asked for revisions to the proposed EBAC Action Item.
Rosemary Kesler was asked if EBAC had met since the A1 regarding the proposed EBAC Articles of Operation was sent out. Rosemary Kesler responded that EBAC had not met since the meeting on November 22, 1999, was canceled. The point was made that the statement from Dr. Waechter was erroneous that the proposed EBAC Articles of Operation comes from EBAC. The revised proposal comes only from Dr. Waechter.
It was stated that the Board will expect an objection over this document from the faculty. Rosemary Kesler stated that she did not know what the position of the other employee groups is on the proposal since EBAC did not meet. Rosemary Kesler reviewed what had occurred at the EBAC meeting where the Articles of Operation were first discussed. Council asked Willie Minor to request that the proposed EBAC Articles of Operation be removed from the Governing Board's agenda, because the document does not represent what EBAC representatives had recommended.
It was stated that one faculty member had asked Linda Rosenthal to clarify her statement at the end of the November 9th public hearing. Linda Rosenthal responded only to the faculty member asking the question and not to all faculty. Willie Minor stated that he had held discussions with the MAT and PSA presidents regarding the impact of the proposed EBAC Articles of Operation. Willie Minor suggested that the employee group presidents meet with Mike Napier who can better inform them of the ramifications of the proposed EBAC Articles of Operation if it is approved. Council again discussed the old EBAC by-laws and the new proposed language. Concerns were raised regarding the voting membership and the consensus model for recommendations. It was stated that the proposed EBAC Articles of Operation were on the Board agenda for a first reading and thus no action would be taken later at the Governing Board meeting. Council stressed that the Board needs to be aware that the proposal is not representative of what EBAC members had agreed to. Willie Minor informed Council that he had just received a message that the MAT group will request that the proposed EBAC Articles of Operation be tabled at the Governing Board meeting. Willie Minor stated that he and the MAT group president to attempt to meet with Dr. Cardenas after the meeting to request that the proposal be pulled from the Governing Board agenda. A suggestion was made that Council should come up with a counterproposal along the lines of what Mike Napier had recommended. Another suggestion was to just have the proposal withdrawn. Willie Minor reviewed what Council had directed him to do and got confirmation on those directions from Council.
B. Dual Enrollment
Jim Reed reminded Council that there are two District Dual Enrollment committees. One focuses on the financial aspect of Dual Enrollment, and the other focuses on the quality issues. He said that the finance committee had discussed three financial plans, the tuition plan, the "wash" plan, and the hybrid plan. As a result of a November 15th meeting on dual enrollment where it was discussed that the "wash" plan was apparently illegal, Homero Lopez said that the finance committee should start from scratch and work on a better financial plan for dual enrollment. Jim Reed stated that Carol Scarafiotti, Homero Lopez, and Anna Solley as well as others are doing the research for other financial plans.
Gay Garesche informed Council what had occurred at the November 15th meeting which was organized by a state legislator who was considering sponsoring legislation to prevent double-dipping with respect to dual enrollment. At the meeting, there were three faculty representatives from Maricopa, one faculty representative from Pima, and one faculty representative from Central Arizona College as well as Don Puyear and Jack Lunsford. When the "wash" plan was discussed, Don Puyear from the State Board stated that the "wash" plan was not possible, because the colleges could not charge no tuition. Council was told that Don Puyear said that the State Community College Board must approve tuition rates and has never allowed no tuition.
Gay Garesche told Council that the Dual Enrollment Quality Committee has not yet met and neither has the FEC Dual Enrollment Committee. She emphasized that now was the time to move forward on the Dual Enrollment issues. Gay Garesche requested that the FEC Dual Enrollment Committee at least create a common application form that can be used district-wide for dual enrollment students who are under 18 years of age. Jim Reed stated that the Finance Committee is open to all suggestions. Vernon Smith stated that the Governor's Office as well as the Legislature's Joint Budget Committee were reviewing the dual enrollment issues.
Jim Reed stated that there is a tremendous amount of money attached to Dual Enrollment. If the money is decreased, two colleges in Maricopa could be adversely affected. Gay Garesche asked when the FEC Dual Enrollment will meet. Jim Reed responded that he would contact the subcommittee via A1 to set up a time after the Thanksgiving holiday. He said that the FEC committee needs to discuss what occurred at the State Board meeting, and the committee needs clarification of what Don Puyear was told about the "wash" system. Gay Garesche stated that at the State Community College Board meeting last April, dual enrollment funding was not mentioned.
Vernon Smith stated that funding was the big issue in dual enrollment. He said that Don Puyear had suggested one possible solution could be that dual enrollment courses in high schools could only be funded after the fourth hour. Gay Garesche reviewed the Corbin advisory opinion and then asked Council if anyone had seen the discussion regarding dual enrollment on Horizon. Council continued discussion of dual enrollment issues.
Willie Minor stated that there was an opportunity to have two more faculty on the Dual Enrollment Finance Committee and two more faculty on the Dual Enrollment Quality Committee. Joanna Chamberlain requested that one of the additional seats on the Finance Committee be reserved for a Mesa faculty member to be named later. Sandra Stuebner asked that one additional seat on the Quality Committee be reserved for one faculty member from Chandler-Gilbert. Laura Cannon requested that the second additional seat on the Quality Committee be reserved for a faculty member from Estrella Mountain. Judy Boschult asked that one additional seat on the Finance Committee be reserved for a faculty member from Phoenix College.
C. Bank One Savings Account
Mark Richard stated that he needed more information before he made a recommendation regarding the Bank One Savings Account. He reviewed the amounts in the Bank One and Desert Schools accounts. Council discussed how much could be in one bank and still be FDIC insured. Mark Richard asked if Council would be interested in having all money located at one bank. Council replied no. Mark Richard asked that this item be tabled until the first Council meeting in January.
D. Professional Growth Reassigned Time
Willie Minor informed Council that Reinhold Kiermayr had requested that Council approve using the remaining Professional Growth funds for sabbaticals to compensate the Professional Growth representatives who currently are not being given reassigned time for their work on the Professional Growth Committee. A concern was voiced that approving the request would establish a precedence to use Professional Growth funding given for sabbaticals, projects and travel to compensate the committee representatives. It was stated that the Professional Growth representatives now do the work of the administrators who are on the committee but do not attend the meetings. Another concern was voiced that the colleges whose representatives are not being compensated are in danger of losing those representatives. Council discussed the issue further. It was stated that a member of the Professional Growth Committee should write an article for Peerpoint! regarding the problem to inform all of the amount of work that each representatives handles. Larry Williams made a motion for the Professional Growth representatives to be funded with campus or District funds and not with Professional Growth funds. Dennis Shaw seconded the motion. A vote was taken, and the motion passed unanimously.
E. 1999/2000 RFP Printing
Willie Minor stated that he had contacted Dr. Waechter about printing hard copies of the RFP for faculty. Dr. Waechter had replied that no money was put aside for printing the RFP as it could now be accessed on the Web. The point was made that there was language in the Common Policies stating that the RFP would be printed at the District's expense. Council agreed to this point and directed Willie to contact Dr. Waechter with the Council's response.
F. Common Pages
Joanna Chamberlain informed Council that she, Sandra Stuebner, Willie Minor and Marie Fenske were reviewing the Common Pages. She said that the timeline for comments was extended to January 15, 2000. Joanna Chamberlain stated that faculty should send concerns to Joanna Chamberlain, Sandra Stuebner, Willie Minor and/or Marie Fenske. Marie Fenske will keep Council updated on future items regarding the Common Pages. Joanna Chamberlain was asked what was happening with the "Y: grade situation. Joanna Chamberlain responded that the "Y" grade changes will be discussed and will likely be changed back since the Deans of Instruction were not originally consulted. Willie Minor reminded Council that he had met with the Deans of Student Services who had told him that the D.I.s were inadvertently left out of the "Y" grade discussion. Joanna Chamberlain asked Council to review the Common Pages and send any comments or suggestions to the subcommittee.
One concern was voiced that the Common Pages had nothing in writing on how to handle disruptive students. Also, there was a concern that some people had their job descriptions written in the Common Pages and others do not. It was asked if the AAUP had anything in regards to the aforementioned issues. It was suggested that when writing the disruptive student policy to include an on-line policy as well. Council discussed the Common Pages further.
III. New Business
A. Meet and Confer Proposals
Larry Williams distributed copies of the salary proposals to Council. He asked that Council approve the proposals to send to the Governing Board on December 10, 1999. Larry Williams reviewed the proposals for Council. He stated that the Meet and Confer Team were still working on the justifications for the proposals. One Council member stated he that could give information to the Meet and Confer Team to use as justification for one of the proposals. Larry Williams was asked about a proposal for horizontal movement for Ph.D.s. He stated that the Meet and Confer Team was working on that issue in terms of Professional Growth opportunities. It was stated that salary opportunities would be preferred. Freddie Anttila made a motion to approve the salary proposals. Gay Garesche seconded the motion. A vote was taken, and the motion passed unanimously.
Larry Williams was asked about the timeline for this year's Meet and Confer process. It was stated that the faculty should have the opportunity to vote in a timely fashion before they leave for the summer. A suggestion was made to have two ratification ballots, one for the salary proposals and one for the other proposals. Larry Williams stated that two ballots would be a good idea and will take the suggestion back to the Meet and Confer team. He stated that the Meet and Confer Team is dealing with difficult issues this year.
IV. Information
A. Student Scholarships
This item was referred by Jim Reed. The recommended action was to request that the District use the interest it gained from the delayed payment of the October 8, 1999 payroll for scholarships for students.
Discussion Points:
Council recommended that this item be put on the December 14, 1999 Council agenda.
B. 1999/2000 Membership Count
This item was tabled.
C. Other
Meet and Confer Team Reassigned Time
Willie Minor stated that he would ask for a vote for reassigned time for the Meet and Confer Team at the next Council meeting.
D. MAPS
This item was referred by Mark Richard. The recommended action was to name two more people to sit on the committee.
Discussion Points:
Council made no further recommendation.
E. Free Speech of Students
This item was tabled.
F. Peerpoint!
This item was referred by Gay Garesche. There was no recommended action.
Discussion Points:
Council made no further recommendation.
V. Significant Happenings/Presidents' Reports
CGCC
There was nothing to report from CGCC.
EMCC
There was nothing to report from EMCC.
GWCC
The GWCC faculty had a fall luncheon. Thirty-five faculty came, and Red Devil catered the luncheon.
GCC
The GCC faculty have been instrumental in getting numerous things done at GCC.
MCC
There was nothing to report from MCC.
PC
There was nothing to report from PC.
PVCC
There was nothing to report from PVCC.
RIO
Donna Gaudet will be leaving Rio. Vernon Smith will become the new Faculty Senate President and a search has commenced for a new Faculty Senate President-Elect.
SCC
SCC has a governance committee looking at philosophical issues regarding the college plan, faculty participation and governance. Another issue concerning SCC faculty is how to standardize faculty participation in the search committees for top level administrative positions. Joe Ortiz ask for ideas from other colleges. It was stated that faculty usually find out about the hiring of top level administrators after the fact. It was stated that the faculty should grieve this practice as the RFP states that faculty shall participate in searches for top level administrators. One suggestion was to set up one committee at the beginning of the year to sit on all search committees for top level administrators.
SMCC
Jayni Flores had resigned as SMCC Faculty Senate President-Elect. A search has commenced for a new President-Elect. The Program Review Committee has convened. One issue that is problematic is finding a definition for program. Cori Wright asked other college representatives for ideas for a definition.
VI. Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 4:55 p.m.
VII. Executive Session
The Executive Committee met to discuss personnel issues.
* * Next meeting, December 14, 1999, will be a Business Meeting * *