MINUTES

Spring 2008 Staff Forum

March 26, 2008

Health Science Building Room 237

 

 

Welcome and Invocation - Ms. Brenda Doss, Chair, called the meeting to order at 3:00 PM in the Health Science Building room 237.  Ms. Sandra Sellers, Senior Administrative Assistant in Student Support Services, gave the invocation.

 

Guest Speakers – Dr. David Bridges

Comments and updates from President Bridges:

1.      Discussed the legislative budget session that will end next week.  The Governor has reduced his original budget recommendations due to decrease in revenues. The non-personal services area will have the largest decrease.  The original raise recommendation of 2.5% has been reduced to 2%.  At ABAC, the full 2% will be given for raises and not reduced to include degrees, awards, and promotions as it was in FY08.  No hiring freeze is anticipated at this time, there could be a slow down in filling vacant positions but critical positions will continue to be filled. 

2.      Budget directives for the FY09 budget should be received in the next 2 weeks.

3.      Staff evaluations should be done by this time.  Remind your supervisors to do your evaluation if they have not already. 

4.      Discussed changes taking place in the Meadows.

5.      Pratt Cassity, a renowned design architect from UGA, will be on campus March 28th – March 30th, with a group from his office to meet with various groups to get ideas and opinions on what to do with the front of the campus.   Please try to meet with this group on Friday, March 28th.  Planning money has been put in the current budget for the Tift, Lewis, Herring project.

6.      Bowen Hall will be under-going heating and air-conditioning work between May and August.  Plans are for this project to be complete by Fall Semester.

7.      Options for some sort of retail dining are being researched and hopefully will be in place by Fall Semester.  This will be located in the north end of the Dining Hall possibly where the Magnolia Room currently is located.  Also, a coffee shop will be in place in the very near future and be located somewhere in The Carlton Center.

8.      Announcements within the next few weeks will be made regarding upper division level classes that will be offered on campus.  Beginning this Fall ABAC will experience a significant growth in enrollment due to these classes being offered.

 

 Dr. Bridges encouraged all staff to participate in Staff Forum. 

 

New Personnel and Changes:

 

New Personnel:

James Andrew Jackson –Public Safety Office/Public Safety Officer; Grabiela Ramirez, CAMP/HEP Office/ Retention Counselor.

 

Approval of Minutes

Minutes from the January 23, 2008 Staff Forum meeting were distributed and reviewed. The minutes were approved and will be filed as written (Nancy Anthony, Bam Pirkle).

 

Old Business

  1. Valentines Day fundraiser profit was $252.88.  This is much lower than last year.  Pre-sale of baked goods went well and balloon bouquet sales were good.  Suggestions were to 1) move the baked goods sale to Easter  2) have during finals.  Other suggestions were to have a Saturday morning yard sale on the front lawn or have yard sale items donated to the Staff Forum and set up for sales in a location on campus during the week.  Any other new ideas or suggestions are welcomed.
  2. Account balances were given: Expendable account balance is $3,926.00, Scholarship account $30.00, Jackson Award for Staff Excellence balance is $5.00, Endowment earnings $1,095.00 and the Endowment fund account balance is $40,902.00.  

 

New Business

A.    Nancy Anthony gave an update on the Staff Council meeting that she and Brenda Doss attended February 15th.

B.     Because of changes in the organizational chart the make up of the Scholarship and Awards Committee needs to be changed.  In order to update the By-Laws Article VI will have to be suspended.  Motion to suspend article VI passed (Sandra Sellers/Billy Purcell).  Proposal to amend Article I, Section A, sub-section 1.c passed (Chris Kinsey/Nancy Anthony).  The amended section will read as follows:

1 c. The committee shall include members based on the following      areas of representation:

·         Area I – Vice President for Student Affairs (Admissions, Registrar, Financial Aid, Housing, Student Development, Student Activities) – 2 representatives

·         Area II – Vice President for Academic Affairs  (Academic Divisions, Library, Federal Programs, PSBOC, Moultrie Center) – 3 representatives

·         Area III – Vice President for Fiscal Affairs (Business Services, Human Resources, Police, Post Office) – 1 representative

·         Area IV – Chief Information Officer (OITS, Institutional Research, Information Center) – 1 representative

·         Area V –  President’s Office,  Office of College Advancement, Public Relations – 1 representative

 (Committee membership is based on one representative per each 15 members of an area of representation). 

 

The scholarship and awards committee will be selected based on the above criteria.

 

 

Adjournment & Refreshments -  The meeting was adjourned at 4:10 P.M and refreshments were served..  Refreshments were provided by Emily Cheek, Caren Gladin, Amy Willis, Theresa Clemens, Teresa Williams, Pathelyn Smith and Keisha Spears.