Staff Assembly Minutes

February 14, 2013

Echo Bay/Blue Creek Room, SUB

 

Call to Order: 2:00 pm

 

New Employee Introductions:

·         Laura Hill introduced Jett Dougherty, our new Assistant Human Resources Director.   Jett previously worked at Northern Virginia Community College. 

·         Lila Tatum introduced Rayann Bounds, our new Student Accounts Technician. 

Welcome!

Guest Speakers: 

Pam Noah—NIC Foundation Employee Giving Campaign:  

We have a lot of excitement generated with the race between Faculty Assembly and Staff Assembly to see who achieves a higher participation rate in the Employee Giving campaign.  Remember, you don’t have to donate money to participate in the Giving Campaign; simply login to the Employee Giving website by February 28th to show your participation.  Last year the Foundation awarded $700,000 in scholarships; this year we are at $800,000 in scholarships. 

 

Stacy Hudson—Mother’s Nook

The Mother’s Nook is a room set aside for nursing moms, located on the second floor of Lee-Kildow Hall in what used to be a faculty break room.   Bill McElver’s crew did an excellent job revising the area and it’s very warm and inviting.  Moms can check-out the key from the Registrar’s Office and it’s your space while you have the key.  Many thanks to Linda Michal and Bill’s McElver’s crew and the many people on campus who made this happen.

 

Reports:

Senate Report—Jon Totten

Jon reported that we are still looking for your comments on committees, but the deadline is tomorrow.  We are looking at making some serious changes to committee structure.  Even if you miss the deadline, feel free to send your comments to me.  Regarding the Reduction in Force (RIF) policy that was tabled, we will be hearing back from the Board this year so we’ll have some direction on that.

 

Board Meeting Report—Garry Stark

January’s meeting was rather brief.  Topics included the dike restoration and beach annexation to the city.  Terry Jones was featured in Celebrating Success, talking about NIC’s Jazzfest.

 

Information/Updates:

Dike Update—Garry Stark

Both Bill McElver and I served on the city’s selection committee for RFQ respondents to do a study on the dike.  A company from Oregon was selected and they will start the process of certifying the dike next month.   We are currently working on our path to the Boathouse and two trees were taken out to accommodate that, but that wasn’t part of the dike project.  Everyone agrees that we are going to save as many trees as possible with the dike project.   The cost for this project is estimated to be somewhere between $200,000 and $300,000.

 

Diamond Parking Update—Garry Stark

Most of you are probably aware that we contracted with Diamond Parking for parking enforcement over the past year.  Our current full-time NIC employee working in Parking will be retiring in the fall, so going forward we will strictly contract with Diamond for parking services.  We are going to institute online registration for parking permits starting next fall; after you register and pay, you will receive your permit in the mail. 

 

Employee Day, February 19th—Erin Norvell

Employee Day activities start at 8:00 am with our Welcome activity followed by our Keynote speaker.  Don’t forget to bring a can of food to vote for your favorite presentation from NIC’s president’s cabinet.  All food will be donated to the food bank.  Please be sure to take our post-events survey.

 

Biggest Loser Competition—Teresa Henderson

We have very exciting prizes for the Biggest Loser competition, with the grand prize of a Kindle Fire.   The prizes are awarded based on the highest percentage of weight loss achieved. There are also monthly prizes; the top three losers each month win movie tickets.  Watch NIC Now for more information.

 

Calendar Committee Survey—Kelly Lyons

Just a reminder that tomorrow is the deadline for participating in the calendar committee survey and we would appreciate your input on upcoming scheduling.  Just go online to the Calendar Committee Survey link.

 

Campus Signage--Bill McElver

You may have noticed our eight new campus maps in the parking lots, at entrances, along River Avenue, and on the campus proper.  All the maps mark “You are here” so that visitors can find their way around campus. 

 

Staff Sabbatical—Nancy Edwards

We have one applicant for the Staff Sabbatical.  It has gone through the committee and Alex will talk to Joe next Friday, and then it will go to PC.  We will announce the results by mid-April.

 

Shout-Outs

·         To Garry Stark from Lynn Covey for doing such a great job of representing Staff Assembly at the Board of Trustees meetings .  You make us all look good! 

·         To Jordan Ramsey from “anonymous”; You always have a smile on your face and go out of your way to help the students!

·         To Rhonda Smalley from Barb Downey—thank you for finding an unusual sized box to ship a mannequin arm.  Also thanks for your positive attitude and wonderful smile.

·         To Christa Bella from Adam Mortensen—she works hard every day while working outside every day exposed to the rain and snow.   Christa has provided safe and clean entryways to students and staff all winter!

 

Adjourned:  2:50 pm