THE COUNCIL ON STAFF AFFAIRS

Minutes of July 12, 2005

1)        Call to Order

Chair Bobby Flowers called the meeting to order at 9:06 am in the University Center Rose Room.  Members present: David Bennett, Denise Bogart, Sharon Butcher, Bobby Elston, Steve Fesler,  Bobby Flowers,  Diane Guess, Mike Hamm, Ann Holland, Stanley Jones, Bob Lee, Michael McKinley, Beverly Sharpe, Angela Steele, Trisha Taylor, Gerald Winningham, Shana Yorkey.  Members absent:   Leann Boyd, Honey Coppage,  Marshall McLane, and Rebecca Taylor.  Proxies: None.  Quorum attained.  Guest: Marsha Krotseng

2)             Special Orders of the Day

a)       Dr Marsha Krotseng, Associate Vice President for Strategic Research and Analysis

She commended all COSA representatives and welcomes the new COSA members.   She looks forward to working with COSA during the coming year and said her staff is there to work with us.    The job for her area is to supply accurate data so that we can have good comparisons to use in our Strategic Planning.  A good illustration is the goal to increase student success (numbers of students who graduate).

                                      i)      Goals of Excellence in Student Learning and Retention:  She used a chart to illustrate this goal.  This chart shows that VSU’s graduation rate (red bar) is going up.  It is important to compare this with Georgia Southern rate (blue bar) since we are the only two regional schools.    This is a good thing.  However, VSU’s rate is still low compared to our national peers.

                                    ii)      Quality Staff & Faculty:   What kinds of data are available for staff comparisons in our Strategic Planning?  There are a number of different analyses we can look at.  For example, training was mentioned as an area of interest, and we could compare the number of training sessions or the number of staff attending training session with data from other schools.

3)             Approval of Minutes From June 14, 2005

            The June 14th meeting minutes were approved as submitted.

4)             Approval of the Treasurer’s Report from April

The beginning June balance of the Fund 10 Discretionary Account was $2603.00.  Fund 10 charges of $568.27 processed during the month included $492.00 to KD Kanopy (1/2 of the charge for the new COSA tent; charges for printing and postage $36.15.   The VSU Foundation Discretionary Account expenditures catering $380.80, Gift Cards/T-shirt contests/SAD $50.00; Harmon’s Gavel Plaque $55.00.  The VSU Foundation balance is $2753.47.  The VSU Foundation Retirement Walkway Account received $1310.00.32 in deposits and expended $986.90 for VSU Catering/Ret. Luncheon, ending June with a $14030.18 balance.  Treasurer’s Report was approved as submitted.

5)             Committee Reports

a)       Membership Committee

b)       Staff Appreciation Day

c)       Welfare Committee

                                                              i)      Retirement Walkway/Luncheon-Employee Recognition-  Chair:  Vacant

                                                            ii)      COSA on the Move

ii)Staff Development Committee:

d)       Policy & Procedures Committee  -Bob Lee

The Public Relation Officer is not a voting member.  He would like to see this changed to a voting member.  Go to the VSU Web site for Policy Committee Bylaws.  A proposal was made for members to think about it.  The decision was tabled until the next COSA meeting.

6)        Ad Hoc Committee Reports

a)     Benevolence Committee:  Shana Yorkey stated that there were 2 deaths.

b)     Parking Appeals Committee: Michael McKinley’s report indicated that 178 tickets were issued during June; 68 (38%) were upheld and 110 (62%) were dismissed.  Of the 3 tickets issued to staff, 2 were upheld. Of the 1 ticket issued to reserved decal holders, 1 was upheld.  Three COSA members volunteer to be on the parking appeals committee (Beverly Sharpe, Angela Steele, Gerald Winningham). 

c)     Holiday Scheduling Committee:   Bob Lee reported that the Committee will submit three proposals for each holiday year under consideration at the July meeting for COSA to share and review with constituents.

e)       Recycling Committee:   No Report

f)        Wellness/Safety Committee – No report

7)        Miscellaneous Reports

a)     Faculty Staff Campaign:  Whit Chappel

        Faculty/Staff Campaign kick off is September 1 – November 1, 2005

        COSA does have a spot to help with our discretionary account.

b)     State Charitable Contributions Campaign   Materials already ordered to make packets

        Dates November 1 – November 30, 2005

8)        Report from the Chair

a)     Academic Scheduling/Procedures   No Report (Start back the end of August 2005)

b)     Faculty Senate   Mike Michim- (next meeting September 15^th)

c)       University Planning Advisory Council   No Report

9)            Unfinished Business

                a)     Revised Policies & Procedures Manual & Position Descriptions – Bob Lee

                b)     Refilling of Vending Machines – Alice Carter

                         You must go through our One Card office to complain about the vending machines not being stocked. 

10)         New Business: 

a)     Holiday Schedule Recommendations – Bob Lee

                b)    Creation of Environmental Issues Committee – Bobby Flowers

                      Smoking and recycling

               c)    Committee Assignments – Bobby Flowers

               d)    Training Session for New Members – Bobby Flowers

                       Training session for new members July 22, 2005 in UC/Rose Room 9a-10:30a.m. and 10:30-1p.m.  Lunch will

                       be provided for COSA members.

               e)     Planning Session for All COSA Board Members – Bobby Flowers

               f)      Sick Leave Bank – Bobby Flowers and Denise Bogart

                        A committee needs to be formed to look into the possibility of having a sick leave bank.  Other schools like

                        University of Georgia, Georgia Southern & State University College, and West Georgia.

11)                Other Business

Look into the possibility of setting up an Emergency fund for staff.  Maybe it could be included in the faculty/staff campaign.  Example –someone gets burned out.

12)                Adjournment at 10:38 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Beverly F Sharpe

Beverly F Sharpe

Secretary, Council on Staff Affairs