Minutes of the Meeting of Tuesday, December 14, 1999

Minutes of the Meeting of Tuesday, December 14, 1999, 2:00 p.m., Octavia II

PRESENT:

Michelle Andrews
Jay Calamia
Catherine Comiskey
Bob Gross
Charlotte Harris
Gail Howard
Dave Huffman
Robert Reed
Paula Ruiz-Saurage
Karen Shields
Jay Sonier
Arthur Stern

ABSENT:

Al Alcazar
Debbie Diliberto
Avia Morgan
Germayne Turner

PROXIES:

Tim Albert for Germayne Turner

I. Arthur Stern called the meeting to order at 2:04 p.m.

II. Approval and/or correction of the Minutes of the November 9, 1999 meeting

MOTION was made and seconded to approve the minutes of the November 9, 1999 meeting. MOTION passed.

III. Old Business

A. Staff participation at university events - Mr. Stern would like to hold discussion on this item until the committee reports.

B. Spring 2000 semester guest review suggestions - It was agreed that upcoming guests would be: January - Fr. John Weling; February - Debbie Stieffel and Lydia Voigt; March - Jerry Hernandez; April - student reps from the Black Student Union, Panhellenic Council and Interfraternity Council; May - Pat Bailey.

IV. New Business

A. Committee Reports:

1. Rec Sports & Athletics - R. Reed - No meetings have been held and none are scheduled. Mr. Reed will check with Dr. Eiseman to determine if the committee will continue.

2. Parking - R. Reed - At the last meeting, Roger Pinac reported he was developing new policies concerning passes, and reserving of spaces. More tickets are being billed and enforcement is up.

3. Fringe Benefits - J. Sonier - At the meeting of November 17, the guest speaker was Butch Passman of the La. Health Care Alliance. He discussed the results of Loyola’s recent health insurance survey and stated that employee satisfaction is as good as any and better than most. For this type of survey, a response rate of 20% or greater is considered good. Loyola’s response rate was 25%. After reviewing the recommendations of our consultants, Bearden & Guibault, he felt that their recommendations were appropriate, but commented that they would probably impact employee satisfaction. Results are as follows: In the area of Total Organization - Overall Satisfaction: for the health plan, Loyola was slightly less satisfied than the state average (average of the LBGH data base) and in the medical care area, Loyola was almost exactly even with the state average. In the area of Plan Comparisons - Overall Satisfaction: Loyola employees using SMA rated their health plan and the medical care satisfaction level slightly higher than the state average. Employees using Blue Cross rated their health plan and the medical care satisfaction level lower than the state average. Each member of the Fringe Benefits Committee was given a complete copy of the 28-page report. A question was raised regarding the changes taking place at SMA. He stated that the new parent company is doing the things that they need to do to survive and the LHCA would be watching them closely.

Blue Cross is doing well financially. In other matters, it was reported that Fr. Knoth approved the committee’s motion to increase the medical flex spending accounts from the $2,000 maximum to $4,000 maximum.

Charlotte Harris reported that packets regarding insurance and open enrollment information are being sent to all employees. Open enrollment for the health plan takes place November 29 - December 10. She also reported that the voluntary dental plan will be increasing 10% effective January 1, 2000. Earl Richard stated that the University Senate passed a resolution to reintroduce the insurance proposal for part-time employees that Fr. Knoth declined to accept from the committee last year. The next meeting is to be held in January 2000.

4. Jesuit/Catholic Identity - D. Huffman reported that the committee met twice. New employees are being introduced to our Jesuit heritage at orientation. There was also a meeting with students on the Catholic experience. The next objective is to ask about doing something for existing employees.

5. Board of Trustees - Mr. Stern reported on the meeting of November 19. Fr. Knoth reported on the dedication of the Boggs Center in the Monroe Library, the success of the Loyola at the Met fund-raiser for the College of Music, the large freshman class, accreditation of the College of Business, the United Way campaign (which brought in 6% over last year’s total) and an update on the old Library renovation plans to become a fine and performing arts center. Biever Hall is on schedule for completion next summer. Reports were also given from Academic Affairs and Student Affairs. There were also reports from the Finance committees, Institutional Advancement and Trusteeship committees.

V. Guest - Rhonda Cartwright, Vice President for Business and Finance

Ms. Cartwright distributed handouts that she created to explain the endowment. She pointed out the restricted and unrestricted parts. She talked about different kinds of stocks and why we have money managers.

She then continued with explanations of revenues and expenses, and how we try to project revenue from enrollment. The drawdown from the endowment is necessary to balance the budget and cover expenses. For several years, enrollment projections were not met. As a non-profit University, the goal is to achieve balance between profits and deficits.

A Plant Fund is not yet established; plans are being developed as all old buildings are being audited. The amount of endowment drawdown must be limited to insure a good bond rating. In making projections, a new system will be used for academic year 2000-2001. Part of the revenue numbers will be frozen, so, rather than submitting a balanced budget, there will be more in revenue than expenses.

6. UPT - A. Stern spoke on Ongoing Institutional Objective #5: Staff Responsibilities, which is to be discussed at the February meeting. The subcommittee will meet again soon and must have the report prepared in January for the Steering Committee. Mr. Stern prepared a 5-page report for this group to look over during the Christmas break. These samples were distributed and he explained each section. It begins by repeating the original statement and then includes a proposed, revised statement that was suggested by Gail Howard. Mr. Stern asked if we should institute a small subcommittee of the Senate to investigate ways to foster more participation with the students. The group agreed this was a good idea and five volunteers chose Ms. Howard as their leader. The subcommittee will include Ms. Howard, Dave Huffman, Catherine Comiskey, Michelle Andrews and Karen Shields.

Mr. Stern again urged the members to spend some time reading the handouts on the Objective and to respond to him after the holidays.

VI. Open Forum

Ms. Harris announced that a calendar on more training sessions will be sent out in early January. There will be a few more sessions on the Customer Service training, which was very successful. There will be training for faculty and staff on Sexual Harassment, workshops for existing employees on available benefits, and seminars for administrators who do hiring on how to interview applicants for new jobs.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:35 p.m.