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Minutes

Fall Meeting Nov 30, 2000/ 10:00 a.m. 220 Foy Union

Chair Debra Carey called the meeting to order. She encouraged everyone to respond to the Rapid Reader Response in the Montgomery Advertiser to lobby the governor to commit one third of the education budget to higher education. She then introduced President Muse.

Dr. Muse began by responding to questions that were submitted to him prior to the meeting. The first question pertained to who is responsible for ensuring that rules concerning personnel policies and procedures are followed.. He stated that the chain of command went from the department supervisers, to the personnel director, to the vice president. He clarified that there was only one Human Resources office for the whole campus including the Facilities Division. He said that some of the large units on campus required having their own personnel specialists.

Dr. Muse also stated that while there was only one Human Resourses Manual for the campus, facilities does have an additional manual due to the wide range of duties within the unit. In response to a question concerning personnel policy on why internal employees are not given an advantage when filling job openings, Dr. Muse said the current policy gives the option to the departments to either restrict searches to internal candidates or to go outside to fill positions. He said that the offical policy which gave priority to internal candidates changed twelve years ago due to EEO Regulations, and that there was confusion over this because the manual wasn't updated to reflect this until 1997.

Dr. Muse was asked why is there basically no dental plan available. He said that the Insurance and Benefits Committee is setting priorities, and it feels that holding down the cost of overall coverage is a greater concern than dental coverage.

There was a question concerning the partial tuition waiver for employee's families which was to be recommended to the Board of Trustees last Spring. Dr Muse said that the Insurance and Benefits Committee decided that an increase in the tax-deferred Annuity contribution was a higher priority.

Vice President Don Large was asked to comment on the suggestion that AU consider participating in the PEEHIP Insurance program. Mr. Large said that AU would have to pay $14 million to join. when asked if the university had looked into the possibility of using the "Supermarket" method for choosing employee benefits, Mr. Large said no, but that may be something to look into in the future.

Mr. Large was asked about the skyrocketing cost of health insurance and the disproportionate burden it place on the lower paid staff member. In response he mentioned the hard work our Chairperson Debra Carey had done on pushing for a pro-rated insurance premium based on ability to pay while serving on the Insurance and Benefit Committee. He also said while her suggestions had been passed over this time, it was something that should be looked at again.

The meeting was adjourned.