Meeting Minutes:

Meeting Time and Place:
August 18, 2005
10:00 a.m. at the Greenblatt Library

Voting Members Present:

Cameron Andrews
Michael Budd
Danny Finn
Karen Yonce
Roxie Bush
Jo Johnson
Libby Poteet
Rita Lovering
Vickie Wang
Anita Herrington
Ralph Sapp

Non-voting Members Present:

Lee Little – Legal Office
Ale Kennedy – Human Resources

Excused absence:

Lynn Bill
James Murray

Guests:

Dr. Daniel Rahn, President of MCG
Susan Norton, Director of Human Resources
Ralph Sapp – Human Resources

I. Introduction and Greeting -Dr. Rahn

Each person introduced themselves and the area that they represent.

II. Expectations of the Employee Advisory Council - Dr. Rahn

Dr. Rahn shared briefly his excitement and support for the Employee Advisory Staff Council. Dr. Rahn described the Employee Advisory Council as a “ Formal avenue for communication that allows for staff to share their input”. Additional comments by Dr. Rahn: “EAC provides a forum to suggest improvements to operations”, “Recruiting, Rewarding, and Retaining”, “We cannot be better than the people that make up the organization”, “We need to capitalize on the intellect and talent of the people in the organization”.

III. Review of By-laws - Susan Norton

Susan provided the history and purpose of the Employee Advisory Staff Council. Prior to reviewing the by-laws Susan emphasized that council members are able to amend the by-laws if necessary. Susan also reviewed the Employee Advisory Staff Council By-laws, which covered the following:

• Membership
• Council member roles and responsibilities
• Terms of office
• Nomination process
• Removal from the council
• Meetings
• Susan offered her support to the council, and welcomed the opportunity to attend another meeting if needed.

IV. Roles and Responsibilities – Susan Norton

The Council consists of fourteen (14) members. Twelve (12) will be voting members elected by the MCG employees. The Council will also have two non-voting representatives, one from Human Resources and one from the Legal Office. Ale Kennedy will represent Human Resources, and Lee Little will represent the Legal Office. Ralph Sapp will attend meetings to record the minutes.

Susan reviewed the roles and responsibilities of the voting and non-voting members as stated in the by-laws. Voting members will represent their respective areas, and bring forward issues that face their areas in a positive manner to the Council. Member term selection- Susan Norton

V. Terms of Office- Susan Norton

Present voting members voted to proceed with the drawing for the term limit of council members. Six members would serve a one-year term and six members would serve a two-year term.

• Susan Norton and Lee Little drew for the absent members
• Each member drew a ‘1 term’ or ‘2 term’ slip of paper
• Each member signed the back of the slip
• Terms were recorded as follows:
  
  
  
  • 1-year term:
    • Roxie Bush
    • Rita Lovering
    • Jimmy Murray
    • Lynn Bill
    • Michael Budd
    • Karen Yonce
  
  
  • 2-year term:
    • Anita Herrington
    • Cameron Andrews
    • Vickie Hallden Wang
    • Jo Johnson
    • Danny Finn
    • Libby Poteet

VI. Council Chair selection- Susan Norton

Present voting members voted to proceed with the election of the Council Chair. Ballots with all member names were passed to each present voting member. Each vote was marked and ballots were tallied. No majority or quorum vote was received.
Members agreed to limit the selection to the top three vote recipients and recast votes. The three members with the highest number of votes were Roxie Bush, Rita Lovering and Jo Johnson. A blank ballot was distributed and no quorum was received. Rita Lovering and Jo Johnson received a tie (5 votes for each) for the most votes. Jo Johnson withdrew and Rita Lovering was elected Chair of the Council.

VII. University System of Georgia Staff Council- Susan Norton

Susan expressed to the group that there will be a Statewide Staff Council meeting on October 13 and 14 in Athens, GA. Susan said that she has money in her budget fund to send two MCG representatives to this October meeting. Susan will check to see if she is able to provide funding for additional council members. The Council was interested in future Statewide Staff Council meetings.

• Michael Budd, Cameron Andrews, and Anita Herrington are interested in attending this October meeting.
• Libby Poteet and Vickie Wang Mentioned are interested in attending future council meetings.

VIII. Meeting Skills- Ale Kennedy

Ale Kennedy discussed a Meeting Skills training session that is being funded by Beth Brigdon to provide MCG employees the skills to conduct effective meetings. Ale shared that she has been working with one of the facilitators for Meeting Skills, and asked the Council if they are interested in this training.
Members quickly shared their interest in this training. Therefore, members were asked to send an e-mail to Ale Kennedy indicating all the Thursdays and Fridays that they were in available in September or October for this training by Friday, August 28.

IX. Agenda Development- Staff Council Members

• All agenda items for meetings need to be sent to Rita Lovering, Ale Kennedy, or Ralph Sapp.
• Notifications of absences need to be sent to Rita Lovering, Ale Kennedy, or Ralph Sapp.
• Libby Poteet will not be able to attend the next meeting on October 12, 2005.

 

X. Future Meetings

• The next meeting will be held Wednesday, October 12 at 10:00am at the Greenblatt Library room 211.
• Wednesday, January 11, 2006 at 10:00am (Greenblatt room 211 has been requested, but can not be confirmed until December).
• Wednesday, April 12, 2006 at 10:00 (Greenblatt room 211 has been requested, but can not be confirmed until December).
  

XI. Review of Action Items- Ralph Sapp

• Susan Norton will find out if funding permits more than two members to attend the USGSG by Thursday, September 8.
• Susan will compile a query including a list of employees from each representative’s area by Monday, September 12.
• Ale Kennedy will send information distributed at the meeting to Lynn Bill and James Murray by Tuesday, August 23.
• Ale Kennedy will reserve the library for Council meetings by Wednesday, August 24.
• All members will e-mail Ale Kennedy regarding times and dates for the Meeting Skills training session by August 29, 2005.
• Council members are to review the Council member list and provide corrections to Ale Kennedy.
• Submit agenda items by September 21, 2005 to Ale, Rita, or Ralph.