MEETING DATE & TIME: 2:30-3:40 pm, Friday, 27 Jan 2012
COMMITTEE CONTACT FOR QUESTIONS: Krista Young, 235-6299, youngkri
MEMBERS PRESENT: Krista Young, Bonnie Painter, Ramanda Hicks, Elgie Garner
MEMBERS ABSENT: Brenda Bethman, Jara Stewart, Alicen Lundberg, Sarah Reape
DISCUSSION ITEMS: We reviewed what has been done for previous elections and looked at how we can apply that history to the new method since the bylaws were ratified (without having to completely reinvent the wheel). The call for nominations is mostly unchanged — it’s the actual election process that will be wildly different. Any University staff member may nominate any other staff member for a Staff Council seat, and self nomination is allowed. We have a new requirement this year that nominees must have been employed with UM for at least one year.
Krista explained to the others just how different this election process will be since anyone can nominate, but seats are division specific and only those from that division can vote. For example, Krista, in Finance & Administration, could nominate Elgie, Sch of Nursing, for a Staff Council – but only staff members within the Sch of Nursing would be able to vote for her (Krista could not cast a vote). This election process is going to take place via Blackboard and Brenda will be assisting us in that capacity. We had several questions about how the process will work, but will have to follow up with Brenda on those later. Since this is our first year for using Blackboard, and many people have not used it before, we will need to write up directions on how to log in and navigate so that people can vote. Also, if they have problems with voting, who will they contact? IT help desk, or one of the elections members? Will we need to have a method of recording votes outside of Blackboard (in the outgoing election process, we provided hardcopy ballots to UMSYS employees because the electronic voting system, not Blackboard, could not acknowledge them).
In order to complete the election process prior to the April meeting, we have tentatively scheduled about a week between close of nominations and opening of elections. We are hoping that we will be able to load the names and pertinent information into Blackboard as we confirm nominees, so there isn’t a mad rush to get it all done. Will have to check with Brenda on this point.
We also have a unique problem to solve in this first year under our new bylaws. The new term is two years (instead of three) and each year will fill half our seats. For the 2012 elections, half the seats will need to be one year terms and the other half two year terms. But how do we decide who gets the longer term? Solutions we discussed:
- By # of votes – greatest number of votes gets longer term(s), second greatest gets shorter term(s). Adjusted accordingly where a Division has more than two seats
- Ask them – given the option, some users may opt for a one year term.
- Both of the above could result in ties, or disagreements about who gets which term. Ramanda presented a great idea for ties . . .
- Hire date – The chance that two people have the exact same hire date is going to be very slim. If we ask, then the one with greater seniority would get first choice. If we’re using number of votes, greater seniority gets the longer seat (or gets the seat if the tie is on the bubble between seat or no seat).
Nominations & Elections Timeline
- 7-28 Feb 2012: Nominations open
- UMatters article for initial announcement (7 Feb)
- Use flyers on bulletin boards where possible
- Provide flyer copies to CFM business office to circulate among custodial and shop staff with limited computer access.
- Nominations reminder email to All Staff (22 Feb), and focus PR at any Division missing nominees
- UMatters article “Nominate TODAY” (28 Feb)
- Nominations to be received by Krista, who will contact nominee for acceptance.
- Confirmed nominees to be passed on to Bonnie, who will work with HR to confirm hire date and Division.
- HOPING names can be loaded into Blackboard as we confirm them, in the interest of time. Otherwise load en masse once nomination period ends.
- 7-21 Mar 2012: Elections
- UMatters for initial announcement
- Election reminder email to All Staff
- If needed (low response rate), election deadline may be extended to 28 March
- 29-30 Mar 2012: Contact nominees with Election results
- 4 Apr 2012: Staff Council Meeting
- Optional attendance for newly elected Council members
- 2 May 2012: Staff Council Meeting
- Required attendenace for newly elected Council members
- Will serve as an orientation meeting for new members to learn about Council itself, committees, Executive officer duties
- 1 Jun 2012: Term of Office begins for newly elected Council members
- ?? Jun 2012: Staff Council Meeting (nothing on calendar yet)
- Election of Executive Officers who official assume the new office at the end of this meeting. New officers will meet with outgoing officers immediately following meeting.
Side Note: We briefly discussed the possible future of the Staff Council meeting schedule. Historically they have always been the first Wednesday of the month at 9 am. Bonnie says further back they were 8:30. At one time there was at least the discussion of having meeting at Hospital Hill, but parking was an issue. Now that there’s a parking structure AND because appx one third of council members will be from HH, the scheduling and location of meetings is likely to change once new members take office. Elgie indicated the Sch of Nursing has a staff meeting the first Wednesday of alternate months, so those council members would likely miss every other council meeting if scheduling remains the same. It will be for the new council members to determine.
ACTION ITEMS:
- Decide how to determine who gets one-year seat versus a two-year seat
- Get the master list of Divisions and number of seats as discussed by the StratPlan group
- Update the Nominations website with 2012 details and timeline
- Write and submit UMatters article to announce the opening of nominations
- Create flyer to be distributed to bulletin boards and CFM mailboxes
- Check with Student Involvement on getting approval for hanging flyers on student boards too (greater visibility)
FUTURE ITEMS:
- Find out how nominee names are loaded into Blackboard (all at once? as we confirm?)
- For voters that have problems trying to cast a vote, determine where they go for assistance
- Find out if all staff will need to be “enrolled” in the election, or if it will be automatic