PSA Executive Council Meeting

Wednesday, October 18, 2000

District Office, Governing Board Room

 

The meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m.  A quorum was established and ground rules were recognized.

In regards to the September minutes, Ann Moss had a (grammatical) concern about the last sentence in the Lupe presentation.  It will be corrected.  The September minutes were approved.

 

 

Tickets were drawn for the on time gift.

 

Our guest speakers were Carol Myers, Manager  (Web Development, Network, Q/A), and Tom Bates (Security, & UNIX Systems Administrator), from ITS.

 

Carol talked to us about the Computing Resource Standards (handout), Internet usage at home, and remote connectivity.  Carol stated that with all the technology that has come forth, with all the freedom that we have sitting at our desktop (Internet usage, etc), there had been a need for a long time to put together standards to govern these use.  Carol worked closely with Pete Kushibab in the legal office. They also received input from several faculty members and staff.  After the administrative regulations process, the Computing Resource Standards were published.  The Standards are written general on purpose, in order to give people latitude. Carol said that although we each have our own technology departments, ITS provides assistance district wide.  If you have questions or need assistance concerning Web development or guidelines you may contact ITS.

 

Thomas Bates, System Security for the District, addressed questions concerning Web Express and Web Dial.  Web Express is in the process of being upgraded.  In the next month or two we will see a new version of Web Express.  Web Dial is in development.  There will be a meeting tomorrow (10/19) to discuss Web Dial replacement.  Tom answered a question regarding an upgrade to the server for MEMO.  The district is looking at upgrading the servers.  Currently, there are two e-mail servers handling all campuses.

In response to a question about viruses, Tom stated that we have a district wide site license for McAfee, which can be installed by your campus.  McAfee will take care of all the latest viruses when kept upgraded.  The district is looking at installing Web shield or Mail shield, this will scan e-mail for viruses before they come into MEMO.

 

Officers Reports

 

Treasurer

Ann Moss reported that we do not have a bank statement yet.  So, there has been no updating of the checking account.  Only one deposit has been made, which will be included next month. 

 

On the membership, Gateway just recently voted on the amount for their campus dues. They are in the process of submitting their membership forms. Ann reported that as of this morning,  (10/18) the membership dues list is correct.

 

President

Dorothy Strait reported that to date she has handed out 64 new employee welcome letters.  What this brings to mind is that each unit should elect one representative for every 15 professional staff employees covered under the Professional Staff policy manual.  Dorothy addressed a question concerning  representation/ employee numbers. She will take this to CPD for discussion.    In the three short weeks since our last meeting, Dorothy has attended the Faculty Executive Council Retreat.  A FAC meeting.  A FAC subcommittee meeting.   An EBAC meeting.  A Diversity subteam meeting.  A Strategic Planning Task Force committee meeting.  A VC-HR search committee meeting.  A CPD meeting, and attended part of a PSD meeting. Dorothy also stopped in to say "Hi" at a PSI meeting, and took one day of vacation.

 

Unit Visits: Dorothy has attended a luncheon meeting at Mesa, a PSA meeting at Paradise Valley, and the District Office. Dorothy will be attending the PSA meeting at Scottsdale later this month, and she is working with Gateway to attend one of their PSA meetings.  Dorothy plans to visit each of the campuses at least once this year, so let her know when it would be a good time to come.  

 

October's newsletter is on the Web with comments from the August Leadership Retreat.  Dorothy reported that the first OGF issue addressed, has been the notification time, before you are notified that a PO has not been cut.  A one-week turn around time was requested.  Dorothy would like to remind everyone that the due date for the November/December Newsletter is October 23rd.  Please let her know what you would like the rest of the District to know about your Professional Staff Association.  Each unit should be a little different.

 

Committee Reports

PEL - Nancy Musser.  PEL will have their first meeting on Thursday, October 26, 2000.  Currently, there are no representatives for District and South Mountain.  It was reported in the meeting that District has a representative.  Nancy will verify.  One of the meeting locations for PEL is City College, it seems to be a local place that everyone is able to get to.  So far, PEL has been successful in awarding all applicants.

 

PSI - Barbara Bentz.  The first meeting was last Thursday (Oct. 12).  The informational flyer and application packet was updated and will be out by the end of this month.  Barbara will be working with Dorothy Strait to get the application packet on the Web, so that employees can download it.  However, the packet will still be available through your campus representative.

 

PSD - Dorothy Strait read a memo from Deanna.  Currently, PSI is reviewing Appendix C of the PSA manual.  PSI will be preparing suggestions as a committee to make changes to the amounts that are funded for tuition, seminar, and travel. They hope to have the amounts increased by the next policy manual.  After review, a report will be presented. November 15th is the first day that PSD applications for spring 2001 can be submitted to campus representatives.  Summer II budget has been closed out.  As of October 17th the fall 2000 budget amounts are; tuition $1,650.00; travel (negative) $2,981.00; September seminar $2,363.00;

October seminar (negative) $560.00.

 

EBAC - Diane deCastro reported that the revised policy shows the age limitation was removed for eligibility into the Active Retirement Program.  Employees only need 10 years of service with Maricopa and must be receiving a pension from ASRS.  Page 2 shows it is the responsibility of the Chancellors, Vice Chancellors, and Presidents to make sure assignments are reasonable and necessary, and salaries are appropriate for the assignment.  The last page shows due process has been added.  EBAC is still trying to determine how best to allocate the remaining Cigna money.  Also, EBAC is looking into the language about religious/cultural holidays.  EBAC will meet again on November 13th.

 

FAC - Scott Kozakiewicz reported that at this stage, there's not a lot going on in terms of FAC, other than setting up committee structures.  Also, one thing that significantly changed was the college president (the CEC group), reduced (voluntarily) by five members to permit other representatives from coming on.

 

Summer Conference - No report.

 

Holiday Luncheon - The holiday luncheon will be at the Wigwam Outlet Mall on December 13th.  If you have pictures from past holiday luncheons, please send them to Mary Guriel at EMCC. Your pictures will be returned.

 

Unfinished Business

Ann Moss provided and update on the budget question from the September meeting concerning the odd amount (.75) for incoming dues.  This happens in the payroll deduction process (i.e., $25.00 divided by 4 =$6.25). By the time all payroll deductions are complete, we will have an even number.

 

 

Charity Project

 

Several charity options were discussed.  It was approved unanimously to have a canned food drive for the Senior Citizens Housing Project-City of Phoenix.  Every month we will bring canned goods (fruits, vegetables (low sodium), Tuna, paper products).  It was also approved unanimously, that on a rotating basis, (twice a year) we will support the following charity projects.

(1) Phoenix Children's Hospital-November.

(2) Sojourner Center (domestic violence shelter)-December.

(3) Papas School (homeless children/family) -January.

 

New Business

 

There is no room in the district building for our next meeting in November. Dorothy asked if someone would let her know if we could have the meeting at their campus.  A room will be needed for about 60 people, refreshment area, and mics.  Scott suggested Glendale, but there was concern about travel distance/time and the effect on attendance.  Other suggestions were RIO, GWCC, and SMCC.  The first person to get back with Dorothy will be the meeting location. 

 

Scott Kozakiewicz stated that the Administration in Human Resources has changed. He has some concerns about Human Resources interpretation of our policy manual and asked President Dorothy Strait if she would be addressing policy.  Dorothy said the issue will be addressed by CPD, and come back for ratification.  Dorothy also mentioned that the current Human Resources director and Vice Chancellor want more procedure because there has been a turnover in leadership and there will be again with the new Vice Chancellor in January.  The issue is experienced, and people coming in at a Step higher than a one (1)

if they're specially funded or long time OYO's.   Our policy manual now says, if you come in as Step 1, Human Resources may bring them in at a higher step and HR has chosen not to do this without guidelines.  So we need to set the guidelines or leave it up to Human Resources.  There is also a clause that says, Human Resources will review experience and bring them in at a higher grade, and Human Resources is choosing not to do this, which is a violation of our policy and they are aware of the violation. 

President Strait asked that we talk about this in CPD and get some real language that can be presented. 
Your suggestions can be forwarded to Dorothy Strait.

 

Unit Announcement

 

Pat Smith introduced Debbie Nichols, new employee at the Chandler-Gilbert satellite, and the new vice president at South Mountain. 

 

Our next meeting is November 15th.  Refreshments by Glendale.

 

Plus:  Good meeting, informative, good treats.

 

Delta:  Spell out acronyms for new people.

 

Meeting adjourned at 3:35 p.m.