IUB Professional Council
Business Meeting Minutes
Poplars 181
September 21, 2011
Council Members in Attendance: Mike Baker (AFSCME Ex-officio), Tracy Bee, Jeremy Bennett, Jennifer Brooks, Cindy Curvin, Craig Dethloff (BFC Ex-officio), Rosanne Dye, Karen Garrett, Tiana Iruoje, Maryanne McDonnell, Patricia Moser, Rich Nourie, Suzanne Ryan (UHRS Ex-officio), Katie Sewell, Grant Simpson, Patrick Smith, Kelly Thacker.
Proxies: Tiana Iruoje for Christina Lirot.
Guests: Rob Aspy, Office of Affirmative Action; Jeff Cummins, IUSA Ex-officio member-elect; Patty Hollingsworth, Director of IU Employee Health & Wellness; Sherry Kay, School of Informatics and Computing.
Council Members Not in Attendance: Lisa Cooper, Kimberly Goy (CWA Ex-officio), Mark Trotter.
Meeting Minutes
A motion to approve the August, 2011 minutes as written was made, seconded and passed.
Old Business
Confirmation of Ex-officio Member (IUSA Representative)
A motion was made to affirm Jeff Cummins as this year’s IUSA Ex-officio member to the BPC. Motion was seconded and passed.
Nominations and Elections Update
At today’s meeting, Sherry Kay (School of Informatics and Computing) and Chris Enstrom (21st Century Scholars Program) were nominated to fill the vacant BPC position in Unit 3. Any other names should be sent directly to Patrick Smith at smithpd@indiana.edu. Nomination statements will be presented to all BPC members prior to the October business meeting, A final vote will be taken at the October business meeting.
Election/Auction Applications Ad-hoc Committee
Although the committee has not yet assembled, Grant has spoken with both Dan Ondrik and Mike Halla, former BPC members, about participating in the ad-hoc committee. Although both declined to serve on the committee, each of them has offered to share pertinent information. In addition, Grant submitted a proposal to a SLIS graduate class to work on the project. He should hear next week whether the proposal was accepted.
Perks Page Administration
After some discussion as to how the BPC would like to carry the Perks Page forward, a motion was made to create a project plan to move the Perks Page to the BPC website and to create a maintenance plan for the site. The Professional Interests Committee would continue to monitor content on the page. The motion was seconded and passed, with two abstentions. Karen Garrett will craft the plan and present it to BPC members at the October business meeting.
RIF Support
In their regularly-scheduled meeting with Dan Rives and Suzanne Ryan, Grant and Kelly relayed the BPC’s interest in providing RIF support for PA employees. UHRs would like to partner on this project. The Executive Committee will continue to work on this.
New Business
Resolution to Recognize Retiring Professional Staff
A motion was made to adopt the following resolution:
Over the summer, 434 staff members retired as part of the Early Retirement Incentive Plan (ERIP), including many professional staff employees (PAs). Together, these employees represent thousands of years of experience supporting the mission of Indiana University (IU).
The Bloomington Professional Council (BPC) recognizes IU’s retiring staff for their dedication to providing high-quality service to students, faculty, and other staff. We extend our gratitude for their important contributions to both the daily operations and long-term planning of the university. We will miss them both personally and professionally.
Furthermore, we humbly thank the many retiring PAs who have served with the BPC as members and volunteers. Their guidance, passionate participation, and wisdom have made the work of the council possible.
We wish all retirees the best in their future endeavors.
The motion was seconded and passed, with one opposed.
“Know Your Professional Staff” Event
At the September Executive Committee meeting, an idea was discussed to introduce new PA employees to the campus and, specifically, to the BPC. The “Know Your Professional Staff” event would share information about IUB and brief new PA employees on benefits, as well as possibly sharing the IU Benefits video that is online. PA employees who started at IUB within the past six months would be invited to attend.
A motion was made to make the “Know Your Professional Staff” event a part of the November business meeting. Motion was seconded and passed.
Cost Benchmarking for Best Practices 2
A new benchmarking study is in the works, this time associated with other Big Ten universities. The study will evaluate areas of finance, payroll, procurement and research administration.
Results of the Benchmarking study that was conducted earlier this year can be found at:
Standing Committee Reports
Executive Committee
The committee met on Monday, September 12. In attendance were: Grant Simpson, Patrick Smith, Kelly Thacker and Teresa Spiegel. The following items were discussed:
IUSA Ex-officio member – Jeff Cummins has been recommended to serve as this year’s ex-officio member. A vote will be taken at the September meeting.
Perks Page Administration – Teresa has acquired access to the page in order to make some necessary changes. The Professional Interests Committee will examine further the possibility of garnering support from other IU groups (i.e. BFC, CWA, AFSCME).
Nominations and Elections – Patrick will send out a reminder to all BPC members asking for nominees to fill vacant seats in Units 1, 2 and 3.
Rosanne Dye provided a Treasurer’s report.
Developed the agenda for the September business meeting.
Ad-hoc and Campus Committees
Child Care Coalition – 9/13/2011 – Tiana Iruoje
Members Present: Carol Baynes (Environmental Health & Safety), Lori Dugan (Library), Linda Fields (Campus View Child Care Center), Katrina Reynolds (Office for Women’s Affairs), Christy Smith (Campus Children’s Center), Carol Spencer (Hoosier Courts Nursery School), Mary Waldron (Education), Tim Dunnuck (Early Childhood Education Services/Chair).
Welcome to our new members Lori Dugan (Library) and Mary Waldron (Education) who are this year’s representatives from Bloomington Faculty Council.
IUB Center Updates:
Enrollment – all of the IUB centers continue to be full with waiting lists for all ages. Our longest waiting list continues to be for toddlers. Total net wait list numbers for the three centers now exceeds 370 names (an increase of 20 from our May meeting).
Security Systems – the installation of the security systems has been completed at all of the five centers on campus.
Strategic Planning – we continue to work on Strategic Planning initiatives. Tim has completed a Marketing Plan for Early Childhood Education Services and the centers will be using it as a guide to compose a Marketing Plan for their respective center.
Teacher search – CCC is currently interviewing for an infant-toddler teacher.
NAEYC Accreditation updates:
CCC –The center submitted its candidacy materials today and should receive an assessor visit by the spring. More information on NAEYC accreditation can be found here.
CVCCC – CVCCC was reaccredited this winter. Their accreditation is good until 2016.
HC – HC received its visit from the NAEYC assessor this summer and is awaiting the decision. All indications are that the visit went very well and we expect the decision will be positive.
Lunch Vendor – we had been informed by RPS Dining Services that they would no longer provide lunches to the child care centers as of August 15th. We worked with Purchasing to produce an RFP for potential vendors and two local vendors returned proposals – Bloomingfoods/Foodworks and One World Catering. Both proposals were well above the budgets of the three centers and much more than they had been paying with RPS. With the help of Mark Kuchefski, (Auxiliary Business Services) we were able to negotiate a new contract with RPS Dining Services that is in line with the centers’ budgets. The cost of lunches increased somewhat with the largest increase being to transportation costs. After salaries and wages, food expenses are the next largest center expense so our ability to stay with RPS is very significant.
Benchmarking – each summer Tim does a benchmarking survey of other local child care centers to compare enrollment, ages served, teacher qualifications, fee assistance and any new classrooms/programs that may be opening. In addition, the IUB center fees are compared to three groups of campus centers – Big Ten universities, Midwest universities and peer institutions. Our fees continue to be at the bottom of both the Big Ten and peer institutions and near the average of other Midwest universities.
Fun Frolic – while most expenses have remained steady, the proceeds from the annual Fun Frolic have decreased steadily since our sponsorship started in 1994 with this year’s proceeds the lowest ever. In 1994 our gross check was just under $31,000 and the net profit for IUB was over $14,000. This year our gross check was $9,400 with an expected net for IUB to be about $3,000. In addition, this year’s event was problematic in a couple areas. First, because of problems encountered by the amusement company, the event did not open on Friday as usual. Friday is overwhelmingly the best night with over 25% of income derived from that one night. Delaying the opening decreased the profits. In addition, Cumberland Valley Shows left hazardous waste (used diesel fuel and anti-freeze) behind when they left, causing IU to have to clean it up. Given the decreasing revenue and the problems, we have terminated our contract with Cumberland Valley Shows and have made the very difficult decision to longer hold the Fun Frolic.
Business Continuity Planning – the university is embarking on an initiative to have departments compose a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) that would guide them after a disastrous event (flood, earthquake, tornado, terrorist attack, etc.). The point is to have a plan on how to continue business after such an event. Early Childhood Education Services is among the first group on campus to start this process. ECES is currently working on its plan while working through some issues relating to facilities and all of the regulations with which we must comply.
Cost of Care Analysis – each year Tim does a cost-of-care analysis to calculate the true cost of care for the children at the 3 licensed IUB centers. Since salaries and benefits comprise a large percentage of center expenses (up to 85%), the cost of care is strongly influenced by the salaries of the teachers in each age group’s classroom. The cost of care for each classroom changes annually with the looping of teachers in our continuity of care program but it is always the highest for the youngest age groups because of low group size numbers. As in past years, the weekly fees charged to parents do not pay for the true cost of care. Here is a brief comparison of the averages for each age group compared to the fees charged:
Classroom True Cost Annual Weekly Fee Annual
Infants $412 $20,600 $240 $12,000
Toddlers $308 $15,400 $229 $11,450
Twos $283 $14,150 $209 $10,450
Preschool $170 $ 8,500 $173 $ 8,650
The IUB centers are able to charge significantly less that the true cost because of the generous in-kind and financial support of the campus. Without such support, parents would have to pay the true cost.
Employee Code of Conduct – this summer, with the assistance of University Human Resources, the full time staff came together several evenings this summer to develop a Code of Conduct for employees at the IUB child care centers. The Code covers areas of ethics, compliance/audit, performance, customer service and communication/behavior. The Code is a supplement to the NAEYC Code of Ethics with which all center staff members are required to comply. The Code is currently being reviewed by the teachers and center advisory committees.
Internal Audit – this summer Early Childhood Education Services went through its second internal audit since 2003. Internal audit has submitted its initial report with three minor findings.
Computers containing sensitive information
Social security numbers on student discount application forms
2 revenue processors without revenue training
Our response with a plan of corrections was submitted on September 6th.
Computers with sensitive information
Sensitive information was removed
A technician from Auxiliary Information Technology will work with the centers to make sure all computers are configured to not capture sensitive data in the future
Old application forms containing social security numbers have either been shredded or had the social security numbers redacted.
Future discussion – at our next meeting I would like to have a discussion about how we might provide discounts for income eligible faculty and staff families as we do for students. I may initiate an email discussion before the next meeting to get us started.
Next meeting - the Coalition normally meets four times per year. Our next meeting will be near the end of the fall semester.
Special Guest: Patty Hollingsworth, Director of IU Employee Health and Wellness
Patty shared with the BPC some general information and goals of the newly-created office of IU Employee Health & Wellness.
The health and wellness program at IU will focus on awareness, skill building, and support for positive lifestyle choices. It will address physical environment and systems to support positive choices, provide resources and decision making at the local level, and address the whole person.
This October IU will offer its first Physical Activity and Nutrition Challenge – A Kickoff for Change. The event will take place across all IU campuses.
Healthy Change Grants will become available in 2012. These grants will be available for departments and/or campuses. Funding is up to $100 per benefit-eligible employee per year. The application process will begin in the spring semester, 2012.
Health screenings will be encouraged. These screenings will be voluntary and offered for informational purposes. They will be available on-site beginning summer, 2012, and will be offered at no cost. Screenings will follow National Heart, Blood and Lung guidelines.
Employees will be encouraged to offer input through various means, such as employee liaison groups, surveys, focus groups and town hall meetings. Programs will also integrate with existing sustainability initiatives.
IU employees will be invited to name IU’s Employee Health & Wellness Program. Look for information to come out soon.
Announcements
Our October business meeting will be held on October 19, from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in Poplars 181.
Meeting adjourned at 4:50 p.m.
Meeting minutes respectfully submitted by Teresa Spiegel.