Minutes 2020-11 – Association of Professional Administrators

6:00pm, November 19, 2020 – Zoom Restaurant
10:00am, Friday, November 20, 2020 – Zoom

Present

APA Statewide:

APA Chapter Presidents:

6PM and 10AM

Friday, October 16th, 2020

None

Contract updates – Will provide that the 11:00 Annual State-wide meeting

Met with MTA about distribution of representatives for MSCA/APA at the 9 campuses

Health and Welfare Fund APA Representative – keep monthly stipend associated with this position.

Motion to approved the monthly stipend of $75.00 to be continued as compensation to the individual serving as the representative to the Health and Welfare Fund.
- Made by S. McNeil
- 2nd by C. Cianfarini.
- Vote: 7-0-1
- Motion Carries

Payroll due on Friday, November 20, 2020 by 12:00pm.

Auditors Report – Presentation of the various documents forwarded to the E-Board earlier in the week. The documents are not part of the minutes.

Approval of August report

Amendments: None
Motion to approve membership report
- presented/amended made by: S. Bean
- 2nd by: B. Cahillane
- Vote: 6-0-1
- Action: Motion Carries

Received bill from the MTA for FY20 in the amount of $11,318.50. – this is being researched to determine what this is based.

Need to determine the paraments/definitions of how chapter support dollars is determined, specifically to address post-Janis union membership.

1374 Overall Membership since October 2020. A decrease of 4.
120 Non-Dues Paying Member. An increase of 16 since October 2020
For the annual meeting:
- Decrease of 57 total members since November 2019
- Increase of 8 non-paying members since November 2019.

H&W Fund Facts and Figures:

Established in 1984, the MTA Higher Education Health and Welfare Fund represents 29 campuses in MA. They include the UMass system, all 9 State Universities and the 15 Community Colleges.
The Fund is operated by a 12-member Board of Trustees, six (6) of whom are Labor Trustees representing the various MTA affiliates which APA is on of and six (6) of whom are Management Trustees. -Consultants to the Fund include a benefit consultant (KD Consulting Group), legal counsel (Mintz Levin), auditor (Lester Halpern and Co), and a Third Party Administrator (KD/HPI).
The MTA/BHE Fund is financed entirely by employer contributions required under the terms of applicable collective bargaining agreements for full-time members. Members are not required to make contributions to the funding of the Fund.
The Fund’s focus is entirely on dental insurance benefits that are offered to members, as well as their spouses and dependents. The current dental provider is MetLife and has been with the Fund for 15 years.
MetLife plan is an open plan. Subscribers are free to use the dentist of their choice. If a member uses a dentist who participates in the MetLife network, the fees are capped and the out-of-pocket costs for members are generally less than when a non-Network dentist is used. 65-70% of MA Dentists are in the Network.

Notes from Oct 16 meeting:

At the October meeting all the consultants reported out to the committee
KD/HPI report: with the current pandemic environment we are in a bad economy overall. However, the stock market has rebounded and is up 6%. The H&W portfolio is up 5.5%. In October the stock market was around 2000 points lower than it is today so I would the portfolio is even higher now.
Also due to the pandemic the use of dental benefits has decreased over the last eight months. With that being the case there could be a “potential” credit in January to the Fund by MetLife
Campuses are still making regular monthly payments to the Fund even though enrollments and budgets have decreased across the state. Which is a good sign considering the fiscal climate with public higher education. The recent commitment of the Governor ant the state legislature to level-fund public higher education in the FY21 budget was also welcome news to the committee.
Our next zoom meeting is in December and we have scheduled future meetings every two months through the remainder this fiscal year.
Discussion among Labor Trustees about enhancing benefits to dental plan. Only way that would happen would be for employees to make contributions in addition to employer contributions. It would also deter employer contributions to increase in the future if employees start contributing. Not a lot support from our group but would bring back to our unions to discuss more.

Budget Committee – Mike Storey

Employee Relations Working Group – Mark Powers

Professional Development – Edward Vacha

Negotiations – Sherry Horeanopoulos

None

Motion to Adjourn made at 7:35pm and 10:59am
By C. Cahillane, 2nd by: S. McNeil
- Vote: Unanimous
- Action: Motion Carries
By C. Cianfarini, 2nd by: P. Fenuccio
- Vote: Unanimous
- Action: Motion Carries
Next Meeting: 10:00 – December 18, 2020 (Zoom)