Administrative & Professional Assembly

unapproved Minutes of 7/20/2004 meeting

207 Comer Hall

Meeting called to order by Chair, Martha Taylor at 2:00 p.m..

Present: Cara Mia Braswell, Drew Burgering; Pat Derry, Amy Douglas, Maria Folmer, Kathy Harmon, Michael Harris, Phyllis Harris, Harriette Huggins, Missy Long, Melissa Morris, Julie Nolen, Liz Peel, Betty Reese, Melvin Smith, Martha Taylor, Mary Ann Taylor-Sims, Tony Ventimiglia

Absent: Lisa Fleming, Kale Hill, Vivian Miller, Cathy Ramey

Taylor explained that the April 6, 2004 minutes were not approved at the last Assembly meeting because the May 25^th meeting was a special called meeting to discuss the Intimate Relations policy which had been approved by the Senate. She asked for a motion to approve the April 6, 2004 minutes. A move and a second was made to approve the minutes with typographical and grammar changes.

Taylor called for a motion to approve the minutes of the May 25, 2004 meeting. A motion and second was given to approve the minutes with changes in typing and grammar.

Taylor indicated there would be a guest speaker to discuss old business at 3:00 and we would have to rearrange the agenda to accommodate the speaker.

Taylor indicated that a lot of committee work has been done, but some people could not be at today=s meeting to report. She indicated that the ad hoc committee to review the grievance procedures was ready to make its recommendation to the Executive Committee next week which will be discussed at the August Assembly meeting.

University committees have been rearranged/restructured a little. An AP employee who serves on a University committee by virtue of his/her job does not mean this person sufficiently represents the AP group as a whole.

Taylor welcomed John Varner, Chair of the Staff Council and Connor Bailey, Chair-elect of Faculty Senate. She indicated their presence was a good sign that all governing groups will be working together on issues that affect the campus as a whole.

Dorothy Cordell and Maria Folmer were asked to give an update on the work of the Professional Development and Welfare committees. Both of these committees have been working with representatives of the Staff Council on data collected from a survey done last year. Maria indicated that this charge has provided a unique challenge and responsibility for two AP committees to work with staff on projects. She indicated that eight recommendations were listed in the April 6 minutes posted on the AP website and anyone interested in working on any of these recommendations should let us know. Dorothy Cordell indicated that a final decision on which recommendations would be pursued jointly had not been made.

Taylor read a resolution commending Dr. William Walker for his service as President of Auburn University. She indicated that the Executive Committee believes people would remember only the last few months of Dr. Walker=s tenure as president and forget the good parts. A motion and second was made for the resolution to go back to the Executive Committee for changes.

Tony Ventimiglia, Chair of the ad hoc committee to review the AP=s constitution, distributed a copy of the committee report which listed recommended changes and reasons for the change. The following changes were recommended to the Executive Committee.

Change representation from VP/President areas to Aat large@ representation

Change language to have Chair-elect serve as Assembly=s Parliamentarian

Change to Quarterly@ meetings (editorial change, primarily)

Change membership of Calendar & Schedule Committee to secretary and three members

Change election of officers from Fall to Winter

Did not touch Grievance because of the ad hoc committee work

Ventimiglia indicated that if the Executive Committee accepts these recommendations, the recommendations would be distributed to the Assembly. The Assembly would have 30 days to review the recommended changes before voting. Changes must be approved by 3/4 of the Assembly members. Once approved by the Assembly, the recommendations would be forwarded to the President and Board of Trustees for approval.

The Assembly voted on each recommendation as follows:

Change in representation - sent back to the committee. Pat Deery volunteered to work with the ad hoc committee members to look at the level of distribution of employees below the VP/President Office since this tier seems to remain constant. The goal with this change is to get employees who are interested in serving on the Executive Committee active regardless of the area they work.

Change language to have Chair-elect serve as Parliamentarian - Approved recommendation and sent to Assembly for review and vote.

Change to Quarterly@ meetings - Approved as Aminimum of six meetings a calendar year with frequency of no less than one per calendar quarter@. Recommendation sent to Assembly for review and vote.

Change in Calendar Committee members - Approved recommendation and sent to Assembly for review and vote.

Change in elections - Approved recommendation and sent to Assembly for review and vote. Elections for 2004 will still have to be processed in August because even if the assembly approves this recommendation at our August meeting, it still needs to be approved by President and BOT.

Christine Curtis from the Facilities Division was our guest speaker who outlined changes in traffic and parking on campus. She indicated these changes had been recommended to the President and he has approved them. However, with the uproar from graduate teaching assistance, she emphasized that the President could also change their recommendations. Changes include stricter towing regulations, increase in fines and parking permits, and all graduate students receiving AC@ zone permits. Dr. Curtis discussed parking spaces being lost due to new construction and how the loss has been accommodated. She talked about improvements and increase usage of the transit system as well as the proposed parking deck.

Cara Mia Pugh, Chair of the ad hoc committee to revised the Intimate Relations policy, distributed the committee=s report and noted the biggest change was the wording from Aprohibits@ to Adiscourages@. A motion was made that since this policy applies to all employees, the ad hoc committee should form a working committee to include staff and faculty representatives and develop a policy together. A second was made and the motion passed with two objections.

Meeting adjourned at 4:45 p.m.