Employee Advisory Council Bylaws:

ARTICLE I: NAME

The name of the Council shall be the Medical College of Georgia Employee Advisory Council.  (Hereafter in this document, the term Council shall refer to the Medical College of Georgia Employee Advisory Council and the term Chair shall refer to the Chair of the Council).

ARTICLE II: PURPOSE & FUNCTIONS

The Employee Advisory Council will serve in an advisory capacity to the President, and/or his designee, on issues that affect classified employees as a whole and about matters that affect the general welfare of all employees of the Medical College of Georgia. The Council will act to facilitate communication among employees and the President of the Medical College of Georgia and act as a liaison between the Medical College of Georgia employees, the employees of other University System of Georgia institutions, and the University System of Georgia Staff Council. The Council will not serve as a substitute for the formal grievance procedure of the Medical College of Georgia.  The Council will have no operational responsibility.

ARTICLE III: MEMBERSHIP

The Council shall consist of fifteen (15) members from employees defined as classified employees (professional/administrative and staff) and will not include “leased” employees. Thirteen (13) will be voting members elected by the Medical College of Georgia employees to serve as representatives. An employee is defined as a benefits eligible employee. Membership will generally be by major academic and administrative area based on the number of classified employees to be represented.  The allocation of the representatives will be as follows, with an expectation that each council member will generally represent not more than 300 employees:

• At Large Representative: 2
• General Institution: 1
  • (President’s Office, Institutional Research, Legal Affairs, Audit, Academic Affairs, Enrollment & Student Affairs, University Advancement & External & Government Relations) (190)
• Administration (292): 1
• GCHC (employees at Augusta sites): 1
• GCHC (employees outside of Augusta): 1
• GWVNH (182): 1
• Schools of Allied Health Sciences, Graduate Studies & Research, Nursing (65): 1
• School of Dentistry (168): 1
• School of Medicine - Basic Sciences plus Admin units (259): 1
• School of Medicine - Clinical Sciences (463): 2
• Finance (105) & Information Technology (64): 1

The Council will also have two non-voting representatives, one from Human Resources Division and one from the Legal Office to serve as administrative resources. These two resource representatives will be appointed by the President of the Medical College of Georgia and not be subject to any provisions as outlined in Section I and II of this article.

Section I. Elected Representatives

Qualifications
Representatives must be regular, classified employees with benefits eligibility status.

Representatives must have completed one (1) year of continuous service in a regular, benefits eligible position at the Medical College of Georgia by May 1 of the election year.

Representatives must have a positive performance appraisal on file for the current year with an overall rating of proficient or higher.

Duties
Representatives shall attend all regular meetings as well as special or called meetings.

Representatives shall serve on committees of the Council and may be requested to serve on ad hoc committees as requested by the President’s Cabinet.

Representatives shall make themselves known to their constituents and shall inform their constituents of how they can be contacted.

Representatives shall encourage comments and suggestions from their constituents concerning staff related matters and forward them to the Council.

Representatives shall be allowed time to attend Council meetings as well as a reasonable amount of time to devote to Council work.

Terms of Office
The term of office for representatives shall begin with the July meeting of the Council. Terms shall be for two (2) years and a representative can be elected for a maximum of two (2) consecutive terms. However, if a representative fulfills an unexpired term vacated by another representative, the individual may serve up to one year in that capacity and be elected to two (2) additional consecutive terms (a combined maximum of five (5) successive years). In the initial year of the Council, half of the members will be appointed for a 1 year term and the other half for a 2 year term to facilitate a rotating membership in future years.  The determination on the period of appointment for the initial terms will be done by random selection.

Chair
The Council will elect a chair at the first meeting of the fiscal year.  The Chair should be elected from those members who are beginning their second year of service on the council, with the exception of the first year of the Council’s inception.

Vacancies
If a vacancy in a Council seat occurs through resignation or expulsion from the Council or termination of employment, the staff member who was runner-up in the General Election in the departing members’ area shall assume the duties of the vacating member. In the event of a tie for runner-up, a runoff election shall be held within thirty (30) days of the vacancy.  In the event that there is no runner up, then an election will be held within sixty (60) days of the vacancy. 

(Comment:  60 days is recommended when there is no runner up since we will have to go through a nomination process, etc.  The runoff can be handled in a shorter timeframe since we will already have the runners-up identified.)

Removal from the Council
His or her constituents can remove a representative from Council membership. A signed petition from at least half the representative’s constituents shall be presented to the Council. Following validation of the petition, a special vote by the constituents shall be
held. A two-thirds majority shall be sufficient to remove the representative. Possible causes of expulsion shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Non-attendance (more than two (2) unexcused absences)
• Failure to report Council activities to constituents the representative is elected to represent

Section II. Nominations, Elections, and Voting

General
The Council will have an Elections Committee consisting of 3 members of the council as selected by Council members by March 15th of each year.  The Elections Committee shall handle the nominations, elections, and voting processes. The nomination process will begin no earlier than May 1st and end no later than May 15th.  Representatives from the academic and administrative units will be qualified nominees of those units. Representatives will be elected by a simple majority from their respective unit and take office on July 1.  The At Large Representative will be elected by a simple majority of all campus staff who are running for seats during the election.  In the event of a tie, a runoff election shall be held.  (In the first year of the council, the Director of Human Resources and appointed staff will serve as the Elections Committee.)

Nomination & Voting Procedures
The committee will request staff printouts from Human Resources Division to identify employees eligible for membership.

The committee will issue a request for nominations not later than April 20 of each year to Deans, Directors, Department Chairs, & Vice Presidents.  A general campus announcement will also be distributed to encourage nominations from any level employee.

Nominations will be accepted during the nomination period of May 1 to May 15. 

Ballot Forms with voting instructions will be mailed to all staff members by the last working day of May; ballots will be returned by mail to the committee (HR in the first year of inception) by the 15th of June.

Ballots will be kept confidential as permitted by law.

After the voting deadline has passed, the ballots will be counted. Ballots not received by the deadline will be voided.

Notification of results will be mailed to staff members within eight (8) days of the voting deadline.

ARTICLE IV:  COUNCIL MEMBER RESPONSIBILITIES

Members of the Staff Council will be responsible for the following:

ARTICLE V:  MEETINGS

Regular meetings will be held quarterly on the second Wednesday of the first month in the Quarter (January, April, July and October).  Requests for agenda items will be made to Council Members and to the President’s Cabinet at least fourteen (14) days prior to each meeting.  Notification of the date, time and place of the meetings with a copy of the agenda will be mailed at least seven (7) days prior to the scheduled meeting. 

Special meetings may be called as the need arises.  Human Resources Training & Development staff will initiate the calling of special meetings upon request of the President’s Cabinet or if the Director of Human Resources identifies a need for a meeting.  Notification of the date, time and place of called meeting must be sent to each Council Member as soon as is reasonably possible.

ARTICLE VII: AMENDMENTS TO THE BYLAWS

Staff members may propose amendments to these bylaws at any time by submitting a petition with the proposed changes to the Council for consideration at a regular Council meeting. The petition must be signed by at least twenty (20) percent of all staff members. Proposed amendments in conflict with Medical College of Georgia policies, the University System of Georgia policies, or state or federal laws shall be so documented and returned to the petitioners. The Council will review the proposed amendment and, if endorsed by a majority of the council members, forward to the President’s Cabinet for consideration and approval.