Meeting Minutes

Members present: Kevin Bertelsen, Sarah Egerstrom, Kimberly Gould-Speckman, Mark Kinders, Jason Neuhaus, Cara Rubis, Travis Tubré

Members absent: Alicia Acken-Cosgrove, Carmen Croonquist, Brad Gee, Gretchen Link

Substitutes: Jennifer Elsesser for Gretchen Link, Heidi Southworth for Brad Gee

Guests: Kathy Schultz, Director of Human Resources

Call to Order: 11:05 AM

Approval of 9/18/06 Minutes: Motion made by K. Gould-Speckman. Seconded by K. Bertelsen. Unanimously approved.

Chair's Report (S. Egerstrom)

Strategic Planning Update
The Strategic Planning Goals can now be viewed on the website at: www.uwrf.edu/strategy. Council will start to work on a resolution to submit to the Board of Regents on President Reilly's UW System Growth Agenda for Wisconsin.

Insurance Changes
No discussion was needed; council members had no questions.

Regents Award for Academic Staff
Council typically submits last year's on-campus award winner to UW System. Therefore, Alice Reilly-Myklebust's name will be submitted for this award.

LAB Report
Kathy Schultz updated the council on the findings of this report. UW System's information on usage does not match UW-River Falls' records. UW-River Falls' vulnerability in regard to reporting sick and vacation leave is minimal. It is extremely important for employees to hand-in leave reports each month. UW System is looking at sick leave to see if guidelines need to be established.

Nan and Ian Attending Next Meeting
These individuals will be attending the next ASC meeting to discuss orientation.

Representative's Report (K. Gould-Speckman)

Minutes from the 10/12/06 meeting of Academic Staff Representatives are available online.

Legislative Update (M. Kinders)

LAB Report
This report was requested by the Board of Regents and the Legislative Audit Committee. The result from the report indicates there is no obvious abuse. However, there needs to be a better method on monitoring this information. The benefit of being paid for all unused sick leave hours at retirement may be taken away or capped.

Elections
Mark Green, Republican candidate for Governor, said that if he is elected he will submit a TABOR-style budget, which could reduce UW System's budget by 1 to 2 % each year. Green has never been ahead in any polls while running against Governor Doyle. However, it is predicted that it will be a tight race with only a 1 to 2 point difference. If WI elects a Democratic Governor and a Republican Legislature, the budget process will take longer.

New Business (K. Schultz)
HR: Performance Evaluation
K. Schultz reviewed the updated Performance Review for Non-Teaching Academic Staff; the documents are attached. In the "Performance Goals" section, the employee and supervisor would discuss the performance goals for the employee, followed by an evaluation meeting in one year. The "Living the Values" section is more developmentally driven. The employee would complete a self-assessment and the supervisor would also assess the employee. From this assessment, the developmental goals would then be determined.

In regard to implementing this evaluation, HR personnel will meet with supervisors and review the documents to introduce them to the supervisors. These evaluations are mandatory; however, it is currently not being enforced. The old evaluation process was extremely complicated, and therefore, was basically abandoned. K. Schultz will make the suggested changes to these documents that the council presented and will forward the document to S. Egerstrom by the December 18th ASC meeting for approval. These documents would need to be approved by the ASC and then Chancellor Betz before they are implemented.

Criminal Background Checks
K. Schultz reviewed the new Criminal Background Policy. This new policy applies toward any new Classified, Unclassified, and LTE employees (not student employees). Previously, background checks were only performed for new Classified employees. These background checks will be performed by reviewing court records, dating back to 7 years.

Continuing Business
Handbook Updates & Mentoring Discussion
These agenda items have been postponed until the next ASC meeting.

Adjournment: 12:27 PM. Motion made by J. Neuhaus. Seconded by K. Gould-Speckman. Unanimously approved.