Staff at Carleton College

Thursday, September 23th, 2004, 1:30 p.m., Hill Lounge

Present: Lorie Tuma, Patt Germann, Tammy Anderson, Kathy Cooper, Jennifer Cox-Johnson, Jean Hayes, Carol Horan, Becky Krogh, Tami Little, Karen Moldenhauer, Linda Mueller, Vonnie Otte, Noel Ponder, Peggy Sellers, Mikki Showers, Carolyn Soule, Melissa Thomas, Diethelm Prowe, faculty representative

The meeting was brought to order by Lorie Tuma (co-chair). Stephanie Huston (co-chair) was absent.

The minutes of August 26, 2004 were approved and are posted on the SAC website (http://webapps.acs.carleton.edu/campus/staff).

Lifestyles Program information:

Mikki Showers, representing the Life Styles Program, handed out brochures and medical release forms. She reported that the program is very successful at Carleton, while limited to 120 participants per year. Non-exempt staff, who are enrolled in the program, will have the first two hours with a trainer treated as part of the normal paid work day. There is no need to specify these two hours (lifestyle hours) on your timesheet, much like regular infrequent attendance at Convocation or SAC meetings/luncheons. The time used in this way must not lengthen or shorten (increase or decrease) one’s regular paid work schedule. The shorter follow-up appointments (15-20 minutes) could be used on a flex-time basis at the discretion of each department supervisor. If you have any questions, contact Mikki Showers (mshowers@acs.carleton.edu).

Old Business:

SAC/Exempt Staff Co-Sponsored Events

SAC and the Exempt Staff Forum are co-sponsoring three events to welcome new staff members to Carleton. They are:

Wednesday, November 3rd from 4:00 p.m. -5:00 p.m. in the Alumni Guest House Library. Wine and cheese will be served.

Tuesday, February 22nd from 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. in the Alumni Guest House Library. Tentatively, cider and bars will be served.

Tuesday, May 24th from 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. in the Alumni Guest House Library. Tentatively lemonade and cookies will be served.

Watch for announcements in Currently at Carleton and at the President’s Quarterly meetings. President Oden assured SAC of funding for these events when the Executive Board met with him September 10th.

Committee participation:

There are committees who are still in need of participants:

By-laws

Nominations and Elections

Website

Special Projects (Jennifer Cox Johnson offered to work with Noel Ponder).

Anyone interested in serving may contact Stephanie Huston or Lorie Tuma.

New business:

Committee Reports:

Staff Development

Five information sessions have been scheduled for fall term:

Thursday, October 7th (10:00 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.): Printing and Mailing (with door prizes)

Thursday, October 21st: Members of the Career Center will be speaking during the regular SAC Meeting.

Thursday, November 4th (10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.): Payroll (tentatively scheduled - waiting for confirmation from Payroll)

Thursday, November 11th (1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.): Charlene Hamblin and Sandra Bartels will be speaking about Headley House at the regular SAC meeting.

All locations will be announced at a later time.

Website: Carolyn Soule will be maintaining the SAC website. To submit information, please send Carolyn an email with an attachment.

By-Laws: Committee has not met.

Benefits - the following information was presented by Becky Krogh:

The Benefits Committee presented their recommendations to Administrative Council on September 14. Administrative Council has gotten back to the committee that they had a couple of changes otherwise the recommendations were approved.

The following are some of the changes made:

Employee plus 1 option in addition to Single and Family coverage

Three-tiered plan structure for health care benefits

Aware Gold coverage remains the same with the exception that root canals will no longer be covered under the plan

80/20 Aware PPO plan (this will replace the current CMM plan)

Non-preventative services are subject to a 20% copay up to a maximum out-of-pocket expense of $2500 per individual and $5000 per family

This plan is less expensive than the Aware Gold plan

Preventative care and preventative cancer screenings are covered at 100%

Access to providers is the same as the Aware Gold

This is similar to a high deductible health plan with the exception that Carleton will fund a Healthcare Reimbursement Account (HRA) which is rollable from year to year if you don’t use all of your money allotted for the year in your HRA account.

This is the least expensive plan.

Preventative care and preventative cancer screening covered at 100% up to a certain dollar amount (I believe it will be $400) and then anything over that dollar amount will be applied to your deductible.

Access to providers is the same as the Aware Gold

The college will also be getting a new dental provider, Delta Dental, effective January 1. There will be two different plan options for Delta Dental with an open enrollment for 2005.

I strongly encourage everyone to attend one of the informational sessions that the Benefits Committee will be hosting in October. There will be BCBS representatives and a Delta Dental representative present at each of the meetings to answer questions that you may have regarding the policies, etc.

Informational sessions will be held at the following dates and times:

Monday, October 11th at 10:00 a.m.

Tuesday, October 12th at 1:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.

Tuesday, October 26th at 1:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.

Thursday, October 28 at 10:00 a.m.

The locations are yet to be determined. We invite your spouse/partner to attend these sessions also.

Prior to attending one of the informational meetings, you may want to think about your medical expenses from the past year, use the online website to review your charges, etc. When it is time to renew your health care plan you will want to consider the entire package (your medical usage, your premiums, etc.) to determine what plan is best for you.

Executive Board Meeting: Lorie Tuma reported on the September 10th Executive Board meeting with President Oden. He agreed to send out letters to supervisors encouraging their support for non-exempt staff serving on campus committees. A copy was also provided to the employees.

Lorie informed President Oden of SAC’s effort to revise the Committee Participation Guidelines document due to the lengthiness of the document.

Lorie also mentioned to President Oden that SAC had been asked to co-sponsor welcoming events with the Exempt Staff Forum but that funding is an issue. President Oden was supportive of the idea and noted that funding will be available.

President Oden also informed the Executive Board that Fred Rogers has indicated an interest in serving as the Administrative Representative to SAC.

Funeral leave: Lorie Tuma reported an update from Human Resources regarding funeral leave:

“We are currently in the process of modifying the wording on the time sheet for funeral leave. It will now state that if an employee uses the FNRL leave code you are not required to specify the relationship to the deceased beyond informing us whether the person was Immediate Family, Extended Family, Co-worker or Friend. We will also add wording defining who would qualify as Immediate family, Extended family, Co-Worker or Friend, so the employee will be clear on which term to use. Please remember that we are still in the process of making these changes, so it will not be reflected on the time sheet for at least a couple of pay periods.”

Vacancy in Leighton: Robbie Groth reported she hasn’t been able to find a replacement for the vacancy of an alternate in Leighton.

Fall Luncheon Update: Vonnie Otte reported that the SAC Fall Luncheon will be held on Monday, November 8th at 11:30 a.m. in Great Hall.

Human Resources Event: Co-Sponsored by SAC/Exempt Staff Forum/Human Resources

SAC, along with the Exempt Staff Forum was approached by Human Resources over the summer asking to co-sponsor an upcoming event they are planning. The training event will take place on Wednesday, October 20th, from 9am - 10am in the Concert Hall. The event is a theater based “Skit” production using various scenarios/issues many of us encounter in our everyday work, and how to deal with those issues. Some scenes include:

Dealing with a students’ irate parent

A maintenance worker being pulled in different directions and experiences burnout

Staff putting an event together and working with vendors

Dealing with students and not being able to answer their questions

We hope you will attend this entertaining, yet serious and sensitive training session.

The next SAC Meeting will be on Thursday, October 21st at 10:00 a.m. in the Shearer Dining Room (LDC 117).

Patt Germann, SAC Secretary

(http://webapps.acs.carleton.edu/campus/staff).