November 15, 2012
Highlights from Nov. 7 Classified Senate meeting
Here are the highlights from the Nov. 7 Classified Senate meeting. A draft of the meeting minutes is available at http://www.k-state.edu/class-senate/minutes/Nov12.pdf
President Kirk Schulz attended the meeting and updated the senate on several items and answered questions.
Gary Leitnaker reported that around 1,000 employees at K-State chose Plan C during the open enrollment period in October. Gary answered a question regarding Veterans Day pay/compensation. The decision whether classified employees will receive holiday pay or compensatory time is made by the individual departments based on their needs and budgets.
Dale Billam, Classified Senate president, and Lesa Reves, co-chair of the Legislative Affairs Committee, thanked everyone for voting in the Nov. 6 general election. Several members of Senate commented on how easy and efficient it was to do advance voting in the Union. Legislative Affairs Committee will be sending out a short survey to all classified employees. Responses to the survey are due by Nov. 16. Jan. 30, 2013 has been set as Day on the Hill, when classified Board of Regents employees will meet with legislators in Topeka.
Carol Marden, co-chair of the Campus Affairs Committee, reported that work on redesigning the Classified Senate website is 30-40 percent completed, and then will be available for Senate members to review for possible changes.
Alternative Service Committee is now meeting twice a month. New members have been appointed to the committee and will be undergoing orientation training. No definitive timeline has been established for the work of the committee.
An open house will be held at the February Classified Senate meeting. The meeting will be Feb. 6, 2013, in the Cottonwood Room of the Union, and the meeting will begin at noon.
After speaking with President Schulz, senate members will begin compiling a list of ideas to present to President Schulz of non-salary related items that could be implemented to improve classified employee working conditions and morale.