Advisory Council of Classified Employees

Minutes of ACCE Meeting
September 30, 2009
New River Community and Technical College
Summersville, West Virginia

ATTENDANCE

Members in attendance:

Excused:

Unexcused:

Guests:

CALL TO ORDER

Chairperson, Ms. Amy Pitzer from Concord University, convened the meeting at 9:05 am followed by a welcoming of members to the meeting. She acknowledged the presence of Ms. Mary M. Igo, ACCE representative from New River Community and Technical College as well as expressing to her the appreciation of ACCE for her willingness to host the meeting. She subsequently introduced Dr. Ted D. Spring, President, New River Community and Technical College. President Spring welcomed ACCE members to the Summersville campus. He advised the group of the significance of recent enrollment growth within the five campus locations and his appreciation for the excellent support that has been given by faculty and staff to serve the additional students. He wished ACCE a productive day as the group addresses critical issues facing classified employees.

Ms. Pitzer recognized Ms. Terri M. Wells from Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College and Mr. John Piscitelli from Fairmont State University, two new ACCE representatives.

MINUTES

Ms. Pitzer asked Mr. Robert E. Long, Secretary from the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, to report on the minutes from the ACCE Retreat that was held at the Resort at Glade Springs. Mr. Long reported that he transmitted draft minutes via the ACCE LISTSERV on September 14th. In those draft minutes he reported making reference to the omission of item number 12 on page 24 relative to the Compensation Structures/Livable Wage Issues. Unfortunately, no response was received from any member relative to any modifications of the draft minutes. Mr. Kenneth Harbaugh from Shepherd University made a motion to accept the minutes with the proviso that item number 12 on page 24 be deleted and the remaining items renumbered. Mr. Paul Martinelli from West Virginia University seconded the motion.

MOTION UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED

Ms. Pitzer acknowledged the attendance of Ms. Susie B. Atkins and Ms. Lori Midkiff, classified employees at New River Community and Technical College. She asked ACCE representatives to introduce themselves and their institution for the benefit of the two classified employees.

LIAISON REPORT

Ms. Pitzer reported that Ms. Margaret Buttrick, Human Resources Administrator at the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, would be unable to attend. She reported that Ms. Buttrick had informed her that the data request that she had submitted in reference to the tertile issue in the Personnel Study had not been updated since the previous data was provided. Ms. Pitzer informed members that the Higher Education Policy Commission will be collecting the 2009 data from institutions in October with a likely reporting in November. Thus, the revised statistics are not expected to be provided to ACCE until November at the earliest.

ACCE COMMITTEE REPORTS

LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE

Mr. Harbaugh, Co-Chair of the Legislative Committee distributed a list that was composed of legislative committees and its members that will have direct influence on the outcome of the Personnel Study. Those committees are the Select Committee on Higher Education Personnel, Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability-Interim, House and Senate Education and Finance Committees and House and Senate Government Organization Committees. He distributed a second document on initiating contact with members of those various committees but especially contacting those members who are in your district or contiguous districts. He emphasized the importance of initiating those contacts prior to the beginning of the legislative session in January.

Mr. Mike Dunn from Marshall University and Co-Chair of the Legislative Committee reiterated the critical importance of inviting members of the Select Committee on Higher Education Personnel to your campus. He advised members to provide those individuals with the Mission Statement on the Personnel Study. He also encouraged ACCE members to schedule a meeting with their local Boards of Governors or if not the total Board at least the Board Chair to discuss the Personnel Study legislation. Mr. Dunn stated that the Personnel Study will be the major focus of ACCE for the 2010 legislative session. Ms. Pitzer advised members that West Virginia Code permits ACCE representatives to attend Board of Governors meetings. She reminded members of their responsibility to provide monthly reports on ACCE activities to their Staff Councils as well as activities from the Board of Governors meetings.

BENEFITS COMMITTEE

Mr. William H. Porterfield from West Virginia State University and Chair of the Benefits Committee reported that discussions have taken place with police and fire fighters organizations as it relates to the Teachers Retirement Fund. He indicated that no policy decision pro or con has occurred at this point. The issue may be of more considerable importance to long term higher education employees as a greater number of those employees may have opted to participate in the Teachers Retirement system. Mr. Porterfield reported that the Public Employees Insurance Board (PEIA) recently approved the extension date from January 2010 to July 2010 at which time new hires will not be eligible for PEIA benefits at retirement. Ms. Pitzer advised members that beginning in 2002 new hires both classified and non-classified higher education employees were denied the option of utilizing accumulated sick leave days for use in retaining continued PEIA coverage at retirement whereas faculty members who were hired after 2001 continued to be granted such option. Thus, an inequity exists among the three major employee categories within higher education. Based on her discussion with staff within the Attorney General's Office there is nothing in code that exempts faculty from the same provision that applies to both classified and non-classified higher education employees but the higher education systems have elected not to interpret the code similarly for all categories of employees.

RETREAT COMMITTEE

Ms Ellen L. Moore from Blue Ridge Community and Technical College and Co-Chair of the Retreat Committee reported that the committee had received a suggestion to consider holding the 2010 retreat at Hawk's Nest State Park. She indicated that she had contacted the facility but learned the site was unavailable on July 19 to 21, the dates previously approved by members. She did indicate that the facility was available for July 26 to 28. Mr. Kenneth Harbaugh from Shepherd University made a motion to permit Ms Moore to explore the possibility of holding the 2010 ACCE Retreat at Hawk's Nest State park on July 26 to 28 and to report on those discussions at the October meeting of ACCE.

Mr. Timothy Beardsley from West Virginia University at Parkersburg seconded the motion.

MOTION UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED

WEB/COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE

Mr. Verne Britton from West Virginia Network for Educational Telecomputing (WVNET) and Co-Chair of the Web/Communications Committee reported that Ms. Pamela Woods, Co-Chair from West Virginia Northern Community College, was considering the possibility of developing an ACCE Facebook page. He indicated that her initial concerns involved the issue of access to the site. She is weighing the option of making it available to anyone to participate versus restricting the site to only ACCE members. He also stated that she is weighing the option of creating two sites, an open site and an ACCE only site. Mr. Britton indicated that further discussion will take place by committee members prior to submitting a recommendation.

OLD BUSINESS

COMPENSATION PLAN FOR CLASSIFIED EMPLOYEES

Ms. Pitzer reported that she raised the issue of the essential components in a compensation plan with classified employees on her campus. The following points were recommended for inclusion in the compensation plan:

The following points were recommended for exclusion from the compensation plan:

Ms. Pitzer informed members of the need for their input on specific items to be incorporated in the compensation plan so that those ideas can be shared with the Personnel Study consultants. The following items were recommended:

UPDATE ON MEETINGS WITH PERSONNEL STUDY CONSULTANTS

Ms. Pitzer reported that the Select Committee on Higher Education Personnel, a legislative committee, has hired two World@Work consultants, Mr. Jerry T. Edge and Mr. James R. Beatty to assist with certain aspects of the Personnel Study. She indicated that the consultants have already met with a number of individuals such as both Chancellors and the Human Resources Administrator at the Higher Education Policy Commission as well as with members from several Personnel Study Committees. The consultants will be meeting with additional Personnel Study Committees in the months ahead. It was reported that the ACCE organization will be meeting with the consultants on October 16th. Thus, it is imperative that ACCE members come to some consensus on both the type of plan and the factors to be incorporated within the plan.

Ms. Pitzer asked members as to which institutions have fully funded the current salary schedule as of September 30, 2009. The following eight institutions reported that full funding had occurred as of the above date:

Pierpont Community and Technical College and Fairmont State University will address the issue at their November Board of Governors meeting with the expectation of being fully funded. Shepherd University will likewise address the issue in November with full funding the likely scenario. In the latter case Shepherd University will incorporate an additional step, moving from Step 16 to Step 16 plus.

REDUCTION IN FORCE

Ms. Pitzer encouraged ACCE representatives from previously linked community and technical colleges to contact institutional staff on their campuses for the express purpose of working on the development of a policy to address the reduction in force issue. On the issue of furloughs Ms. Pitzer reminded members of the need to formulate an action plan should the Governor re-introduce his plan for furloughs for all state employees.

LEGISLATIVE AGENDA

Mr. Dunn advised members that the two major legislative items for ACCE in the 2010 session will be:

JAMES SKIDMORE, CHANCELLOR FOR COMMUNITY AND TECHNICAL COLLEGE EDUCATION

Ms. Pitzer introduced Mr. James Skidmore, Chancellor for Community and Technical College Education. Chancellor Skidmore advised members that state funding for the community and technical college system in the current fiscal year was reduced by three (3) percent but the reduction was back filled with federal stimulus funds. A similar scenario is expected for the 2011 fiscal year but the state funding level will be reduced by five (5) percent but will once again be back filled with federal stimulus funds. Unfortunately, the accounts for both the Higher Education Policy Commission and the Council for Community and Technical College Education will be subjected to similar cuts for both years but no federal stimulus funds will be available to absorb such cuts. At this point he indicated that the September revenues were running close to projections and that no mention has surfaced regarding mid-year budget cuts. Chancellor Skidmore reported that fiscal year 2012 will be the critical year for higher education as no federal stimulus funds will be available to replenish any loss in state funds. He did reference a reduction in the agency line item account for work force development activities. Mr. Harbaugh advised Chancellor Skidmore of the need for institutional policies to be developed at the administratively linked community and technical colleges as it pertains to furloughs in preparation for such activity should the Governor reintroduce such legislation in 2010.

Chancellor Skidmore reported that the Master Plan as prescribed by Senate Bill 595 is scheduled for 2010 along with institutional compacts. The target date is July of 2010 with a presentation to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability (LOCEA) in January 2011 preceding the start of the session. He provided the names of the committee members who are working on the Master Plan. The committee has met once with the next meeting scheduled for October. Mr. Harbaugh asked Chancellor Skidmore about the inclusion of the Personnel Study recommendations into the Master Plan. Chancellor Skidmore expressed his concerns over the time line of the Personnel Study. He stated that the consultants will be meeting with the presidents of the community and technical colleges on October 22nd.

On the issue of the Personnel Study the Chancellor indicated support as long as the general concepts were easily understood by everyone and the compensation goals were realistic and achievable. Mr. Long asked the Chancellor about the inclusion of accountability measures into the process. The Chancellor was in total support of such accountability measures but questioned the prospects of obtaining consensus on the repercussions for failure to comply.

On the issue of the status of the Vice Chancellor for Administration position, the Chancellor reported that four (4) individuals had been interviewed and the committee has recommended a candidate. That candidate, who is from out-of-state, has been interviewed and a back ground check is currently taking place with the hopes that the person will be on board in the foreseeable future.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Ms. Pitzer providing the following dates for upcoming activities:

Ms. Pitzer distributed copies of the attendance matrix for both 2008-09 and 2009-10. She emphasized the importance of attending the meetings during the upcoming year due to the significance of the Personnel Study. Should any member be unable to attend a meeting, that individual should send a notice via the ACCE LISTSERV of the intended absence prior to the meeting. Three (3) consecutive unexcused absences or five (5) unexcused absences over a twelve (12) month period may necessitate disciplinary action be taken by ACCE.

Mr. Harbaugh expressed his sentiments to Ms. Mary M. Igo for her effort in both hosting the meeting but for the excellent food, condiments and facility.

Mr. Long discussed the Orientation Program that has been instituted at the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission. He stated that the Program has existed for a number of years and has been very successful. A mentor is assigned to a new employee for the purpose of assisting the employee in getting acquainted with staff and the agency. The mentor schedules meetings with various staff and assists the employee for several weeks. Ms Stevenson discussed the new employee orientation program that has been instituted at her institution.

NEW BUSINESS

ESTABLISH BY-LAWS REVIEW COMMITTEE

Ms. Pitzer reminded members of the need for a revision in the By-Laws relating to the nomination and selection process for the Officers of ACCE. The issue surfaced at the July Retreat when neither Mr. Dennis Taylor, prior Vice Chancellor for Administration nor Ms. Margaret Buttrick, Human Resources Administrator was in attendance to conduct the selection process. In reviewing the ACCE By-Laws, it was determined that the By-Laws were silent on this issue. Thus, a committee needed to be formed to specifically address the aforementioned issue but to also review the entire document for other needed revisions. She asked for volunteers to serve on the committee. Following are the committee members:

Ms. Pitzer requested that the committee present their report at the December meeting of ACCE.

OTHER

Ms. Pitzer requested that the minutes indicate that ACCE wishes to express our sincere appreciation to Ms. Mary M. Igo, representative from New River Community and Technical College, for the excellent arrangements and the fine food and condiments. There being no further business to come before the members, Mr. Verne Britton from West Virginia Network for Educational Telecomputing (WVNET) made a motion to adjourn. Ms. Cathy Stevenson from Bridgemont Community and Technical College seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned at 3:52 pm.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

Robert E. Long, Secretary

UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED