Classified Conference (CC) General Meeting - Minutes - 2003 May 21
Guests: Stella Bentley, Lynn George, Sandy Gilliland, Gaele Gillespie, Rachel Miller, Michiko Ito, and Jenny Mehmedovic
Group I: Jesse Bryson (Group I Rep.), Kurt Blythe (Secretary), Mike Rusche, Monica Claassen-Wilson, Nancy Rake, Verna Froese, Angie Rathmel, Pamela Bonham, Chantel Guidry, Billie Conway, Bob Marvin, Elizabeth Mendoza
Group II: Kevin Fussell (Group II Rep.), Al Mauler, Geri Slater, and Laura Horne
Group III: Janet Revenew (Group III Rep.), Helen Dee (Vice-Chair.), Rita Wilson, Jonell Proctor, Barbara Woodruff, Barbara Gorman, Bayliss Harsh, Denise Swartz
Group IV: Lynn Koenig (Group IV Rep.), Mary Ann Baker (Chair.), Toni Taylor, Jane Hoyt, Jim Smith, Ann Snow, Jan Altenbernd

Mary Ann Baker, Chairperson of CC, opened the 30th Annual year-end CC General Meeting with an invitation to one-and-all to help themselves to refreshments.

Following this, Mary Ann announced that there are still positions needing volunteers to fill them on the Planning & Resource Committee (PRC), the Staff Development Committee (SDC), and the CC Personnel Committee (CCPC).

Mary Ann then introduced this year's guests of the General Meeting: namely, Stella Bentley, Dean of the University of Kansas Libraries, on hand to deliver a PowerPoint presentation of the "State of the Libraries"; Lynn George, Employment Manager from KU Human Resources, in attendance to discuss the new evaluation process; Sandy Gilliland, Personnel Officer for KU Libraries; and, Gaele Gillespie, representative of Library Faculty Assembly (LFA). Mary Ann then informed the attendees that representatives from SDC would be on hand later in the program to present a restructuring plan for that committee. These representatives turned out to be Rachel Miller, Michiko Ito, and Jenny Mehmedovich.

Mary Ann then introduced the members of the old CC Executive Board. Upon the introduction of the Secretary, Kurt Blythe, that worthy announced the results of the recent CC election for Executive Board. Taking Mary Ann's place as Chair. is Jeff McAdams. Supplanting Helen Dee as Vice-Chair. is Mike Rusche. Kurt Blythe will remain Secretary for another term. Monica Claassen-Wilson will take over the representation of Group I from Jesse Bryson. Kevin Fussell will stay on as Group II representative. Denise Swartz will become the new representative of Group III in place of Janet Revenew. And, Mary Ann Baker will move from Chair. into Lynn Koenig's old post as Group IV representative. Rita Wilson, Nancy Rake, Alex Slater, Laura Horne and Kathy Lafferty are the new Grievance Committee.

Group representatives then announced the turnover within their respective groups. Group I has added 4 new people since the last General Meeting to offset the retirement of 4 people. Group II has added 4 new people and lost 1 person to retirement. Group III has seen 2 new people start and 1 person retire, in addition to 2 people who resigned. Group IV has hired 3 new people.

Al Mauler, Chair of CCPC and head of the Classified Employee of the Year Award committee (CEYA), then stood to announce the winner of CEYA, Barb Woodruff; well-deserving and roundly congratulated.

Dean Bentley then took to the podium for the delivery of her comprehensive "State of the Libraries" presentation. Her PowerPoint notes may be viewed at the PowerPoint section of the CCEB website. http://www.lib.ku.edu/staff/committees/cceb/powerpoint.shtml

Lynn George rose, at this time, to congratulate the Library for being one of the few units on campus not to have suffered any layoffs. She went on to explain that the 1.5% raise is, in fact, a COLA. The longevity bonus is stifled. Evaluations will be redesigned because the state agency that oversees Human Resources was cut in half by the ongoing budget crunch. The state government is saying that the employee rating system is wide open at this point, but that it must conform to the 3-point state system in the end.

Al Mauler spoke in accordance with his role as Chair. of CCPC. He acknowledged the hard work that Ann Snow has contributed to the CC in her role as purveyor of relevant headlines. He went on to relate that internships do not currently qualify for tuition assistance because they are deemed to unstructured. This question has been referred to Classified Senate, who are engaged in surveying KU's peer institutions to find out how they might be handling this question. Al then explained the results and intent of the cross-training survey that he conducted at the behest of CCEB.

Helen Dee informed the assembled meeting that the Diversity Committee is hoping to acquire and plant a seed from the sycamore tree under which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood before embarking on the march to Montgomery, AL.

Bayliss Harsh, for Instruction Council, related the intent of bibliographers to work more closely with teachers to design research plans for specific assignments. She noted that work with English 101 and 102 courses, and with Communications 130 courses is of interest to the Instruction Council. Library tours continue to be a priority. Information fairs for incoming students are something wherein the Library will be represented and slots for volunteers to serve at the fairs are still available. In addition, Instruction Council continues to work on "The University of Kansas: A Reference Guide."

Sue Hewitt reported for Resource Development Council that they are hard at work in the analysis and decision-making process of obtaining resources and setting the budget.

Sue Hewitt also reported for Classified Senate that they are engaged in compiling a short survey, which asks Classified staff what changes and/or clarifications are needed to pass the Alternative to Civil Service proposal. They are also investigating whether or not a simple majority will be enough to pass any future measure on the above topic.

Bob Marvin, for PRC, demonstrated exactly where budget cuts had come from in 2002/2003 and provided organized information regarding how the departments may want to spend student money. PRC is working on an update of the most recent Library strategic plan.

Rachel Miller attended the meeting as a representative of SDC. She presented the new face of SDC as an extension of Human Resources development and a facilitator of an expanded climate of learning, relating in the process, SDC's evolution into this new form from its previous incarnation as an allocator of travel funds.