Collegewide Staff Council Meeting

Welcome

Dr. Stone welcomed everyone and thanked the Osceola Campus for hosting the meeting. The committee was in agreement that Dr. Stone should continue to chair the meetings.

Follow Up

The Committee discussed the visit in July by Cheryl Williams from Florida Community College of Jacksonville. The consensus was that she was able to share some valuable insights about the development and goals of the Staff Councils, activities, staff awards, SPD, funding, etc. Ms. Williams commented that support from the top is important and that Valencia seems to have an impressive organization, with support from Administrators. The Committee thanked Dr. Stone for funding her visit.

The idea of a Staff retreat was discussed and identified as a future activity. The Committee agreed that a brochure would be developed to share information about support available to Staff. College planning days were discussed, including office coverage to encourage Staff to be actively involved. The agenda for the Planning days was discussed and Dr. Stone said the framework for the Collegewide Planning will include ALL Staff.

Dr. Stone recommended that the Provosts from each campus allocate $300 for funding of Staff Council meetings to show a commitment to the development of Staff Councils, and to identify potential future funding that is specifically designated for Staff Councils. He will talk to each Provost. The question raised was: Does the Faculty/Senate have their own funding? Dr. Stone said he would follow up on that and report back to the Collegewide Council about this issue.

Collegewide Issues/Responses

Dr. Stone shared collegewide issues that have been raised and Executive Council responses to them. Also, Sharron Balic of plant operations contacted Bunnie Jackson about East Campus issues by telephone and Paul Matson replied by e-mail about specific issues.

SPD

Funding was discussed, including how the impact of all Staff using the funds available, the relevance of trips, how funding is determined and who determines it. The question was raised as to why the $800 cannot be increased. Dr. Stone shared the Staff and Program Funding Development Guidelines from 1991, and explained how the funds are allocated for SPD, including tuition reimbursement. He also explained the process of applying for SPD travel monies by going through your department supervisor/manager, and then on to your Provost.

Leadership Valencia

Ideas were shared, including how important it is to participate in the development of workshops to benefit Staff. A list of workshop proposals for the Osceola Campus was shared with the Council.

The Requisition User Group minutes of the meeting from July 31^st were shared.

Grievance Committee Membership

The College Policies that include Career Service Personnel Grievance were discussed. Each Campus Staff Council Chairperson was asked to identify a representative and an alternate and send their names to Lorraine Whipple by their next meeting.

Participation of Staff at Collegewide Functions

Staff participation was discussed for other activities including graduation, collegewide standing committees, Annual Ice Cream Social and the annual Staff Recognition dinner.

Other Issues Discussed

The impact/rotation of leased computers was discussed, as well as some of the conflicts with

programs like Word and WordPerfect.

Dr. Zapico stopped by to welcome everyone to the Osceola Campus.

Next Meeting

The next meeting has been scheduled at the DTC for October 15. The President has been invited to join the Council at 9:30 a.m.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:00 a.m.