November 19, 2019 Executive Committee minutes
Attending (those who signed in): L.E. Alexander, Tiffany Carver, Phillip Edwards, Stephanie Forman, Clinton Miller, Arlene Medder, Katie Musgrove, Greg Smith, Rose Thorp
Excused Absences: Ashley Belcher, Jennifer DeNeal, Shayna Hill, Natiaya Neal, Jim Potts, Laura Pratt, Kevin Robinson, Tracy Wetherby Williams
Due to Chair Shayna Hill’s absence at a Chancellor’s Search committee meeting, Vice Chair Katie Musgrove chaired the meeting and called it to order at 9:15 a.m. She asked for a vote on a proposal to reserve the Rizzo Center for the Forum’s July retreat. At this point, however, the committee did not have a quorum. Matt Banks noted that the Forum’s Bylaws specify that the committee needs 1/3 of the total active membership to compose a quorum. In this case, the Executive Committee needs eight of its twenty-four delegates present to form a quorum.
Greg Smith asked that the proposal to purchase Hootsuite for the Forum’s social media needs be withdrawn. He said that social media could be limited to scheduled tweets. Musgrove asked about paying Carolina Creative to work on revising the Forum’s website.
Rose Thorp spoke about the electoral reform proposal from the ad hoc committee. Thorp said that the committee had agreed to add “at-large” votes to the ballot. Employees will vote within their electoral division then will be able to vote for up to five additional “at-large” candidates from other electoral divisions. The Forum will retain its current electoral system of divisions by job category.
Greg Smith favored redoing the voting criteria outright. Arlene Medder noted a general misunderstanding of the Forum’s divisional system. Katie Musgrove thought that the Forum could explain its divisional system as a precursor to the ballot. Rose Thorp said as part of the program of reforms, the Forum will produce a voter guide to candidates for employee reference prior to the ballot. Tiffany Carver thought that employees should be required to vote for at least one person in their division.
Members discussed the mechanisms for achieving the various reforms in Qualtrics software. Tiffany Carver noted that some candidates are generally popular across campus and would likely attract a great number of “at-large” votes. Stephanie Forman voiced her experience with programming Qualtrics in a way that could reflect the committee’s reforms.
Members discussed whether to implement “at-large” votes or candidates counted separately from divisional votes. There were questions about statistical inequities that might arise if these votes were counted differently. It was agreed that an employee could not vote for a candidate twice, once on the divisional ballot and once on the at-large ballot.
There was a discussion of candidate appointments versus candidate elections. Arlene Medder noted the common case of employees wanting to vote for someone who ended up not appearing on their ballot. Matt Banks agreed to summarize these discussions in a proposal to be submitted to the Forum in December.
Tiffany Carver discussed the plans for the December potluck. She said that the Forum would host Interim Chancellor Guskiewicz on January 8, 2020. She said that the Forum would not hold a potluck for the January meeting, but would have food.
Members were encouraged to sign up to donate or volunteer at the December 10th blood drive.
The Community Service committee will update the Toy Drive’s list of bins across campus soon.
Greg Smith said that InTouch will be published this week and will not publish again until February.
It was noted that the Book Club will meet again on November 21st.
Arlene Medder reported that this year will be the ten-year anniversary of the Carolina Community Garden.
It was noted that the Education & Career Development committee had selected twelve employees to receive the professional development grant. In addition, that committee will work as part of the Provost’s Strategic Initiative to discuss career development efforts on campus. Finally, the committee plans to hold a mini conference on higher education career development opportunities for staff in 2021.
Rose Thorp said that the Personnel Issues committee had discussed community shared leave statutory limits. Stephanie Forman said that the committee sought creative solutions to get employees needed share leave. Thorp noted that statutory constraints limit donation opportunities.
Katie Musgrove asked for an update on the University’s adverse weather policy. Rose Thorp noted the comment that there is no “appetite” for changing the policy among decisionmakers.
The committee asked Matt Banks to draft Massey Award nominations for James Holman and Shayna Hill.
Tyler Enlow presented a brief Human Resources update concerning open enrollment in the State Health Plan and NC Flex benefits. He noted that the midcycle performance review has been extended to the end of November.
In the absence of further discussion, the meeting adjourned at 1:01 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Matt Banks, Recording Secretary