Association of Professional Administrators

Minutes 2020-02

PRESENT

Catherine Santiago (MTA Field Rep), Charlie Cianfarini (Vice President, APA Statewide), Mark Powers (APA Rep for APA/BHE Working Group) 9:45 AM, Kathi Bradford (Secretary, APA Statewide), Aaron Childs, (Membership Coordinator, APA Statewide) Maribeth Wrobel (Worcester State APA President), Susan McNeil (MassArt APA President), Sherry Horeanopoulos (President, Statewide APA and Fitchburg State President), Seth Bean (MCLA APA President) 9:55 AM, Mike Storey (Bridgewater State APA President, Mike Pelletier (Salem State APA President) 9:45 AM, Jane Decatur (Framingham State APA President), Brian Cahillane (Westfield State APA President) 10:10 AM, Marissa Barrios (MMA Interim President) 9:45 AM,

ABSENT

Liz Novak (APA Web Manager), Edward Vacha (MMA APA President), Alan Jackson (APA Rep to Health and Welfare), Maria Brunelle (Treasurer, APA Statewide)

Call to Order at 9:42 AM by Sherry.

  • Approval of Minutes of Friday, January 17, 2020
  • Request by Maribeth to delete Colby as a guest, he was not present.
  • (minutes adjusted)
  • MOTION BY CHARLIE, second by Mike S to approve the minutes.
  • PASSED 7-0-0

Public Comments

– no guests present

President’s Report – Sherry

  • HELC Update – Sherry recommended that HELC take over the Higher Education Conference again. More focus on our issues.
  • Contract updates/issues – Survey – No new bargaining news.
  • Some Cherish Act news at Salem state with events, etc.
  • Catherine reported that HE Advocacy Day will be March 2 in Boston.
  • Sherry went to MASS ART last week and met with an engaged group. Some issues with interpretation of the contract. She would like to re-institute visiting campuses.
  • Catherine sent a demand to bargain with MSCA rep listed as part of our team. Caused a big stir but, all it meant was that we would have a person observing the process. Explained it was not open bargaining. Working to make it illegal to do. MSCA wants to do actual open bargaining. Jim did not respond to Catherine with a date but acknowledged it must begin by March 31. Sherry indicated group will be meeting more than once a month soon.

Treasurer’s Report – Maria

  • Payroll due on Tuesday, January 21, 2020 by 12:00pm to Maria.
  • See report in email but, will vote in March due to Maria’s absence.
  • Maria has accepted a position at HCC and should not remain as the APA Treasurer as it stands. Group discussed options including: Check with auditors, Keep Maria temporarily, Hire someone to do it like we do Membership, Bring Jim back temporarily. Group moved discussion to budget committee. Maria will remain as interim until the decision is made.
  • MOTION by Mike S, second by Susan – Move to allow Maria to continue to serve as APA treasurer until the budget committee returns to the board with a final recommendation. PASSED 10-0-0
  • Sherry thanked Kathi for her years of service in the APA.

Membership and Data – Aaron

  • 1383 members, down 46 since January
  • 111 members, down 3 since January
  • Aaron will add reports for exempt vs. non-exempt status
  • Aaron clarified military deployment. Member does not pay dues. Local membership coordinator tells payroll, Aaron alerts MTA.)
  • Aaron shared information about a member at Westfield State in International Programs. Recommend a CAS should be done since he is AFSCME but doing APA work with appropriate degree and they are not rehiring the Director who is leaving on a VSIP. Brian will work with member.

Website – Liz

  • No report but, group requests analytics from Liz.

Health and Welfare Report – AJ

  • No report – AJ not present but, Health and Welfare bylaws have changes on the horizon.
  • AJ will be resigning from this position in May. We will need to appoint a new person in April. Will be on the March agenda.

Committee Reports

  • Budget – Mike S
    • Call for reps to the NEA/RA in Atlanta, GA in July.
    • MTA Annual meeting information coming. We will be in Springfield on May 1 and 2. Friday dinner event, please let Sherry know if you would like to attend the conference. Reminder, must attend conference to come to dinner.
  • Employee Relations working group – Mark
    • Mark and the group have met two times and discussed a variety of topics including Flexible/Alternative scheduling and tracking of work time. Reviewed revisions to the text of the contract (grammatical changes) and we are looking at other payroll systems. (UMASS)
    • The last two dates are March 5 and 19.
    • On March 5 we will discuss Evaluations
    • Also discussed FMLA. Charlie shared that Katie has been working on this
  • Professional Development – Edward – No report
  • Negotiations – Sherry
    • Getting ready for negotiations. Thanked Mike S for reviewing and tabulating the survey.
    • We had a lower number responding and a lower number of people selecting individual issues.
    • Added additional topics to the list below – salary increases, Flexible scheduling, work from home, evaluations, tuition reimbursement.

Old/New Business

  • FAQ of the Month for the Website
    • February – Vacation time
    • March – Evaluation
  • Information for Operations Manual – Kathi will finish manual by March meeting. Still missing NEA/RA, MTA descriptions, etc
  • Sherry indicated we still have the MTA dues structure review for the May conference. Will discuss in March.

Institutional Issues

Adjournment

– Meeting adjourned at 1:20 PM
Next Meeting: 10:00am – March 21, 2020 EAW in Worcester

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