Association of Professional Administrators

Minutes 2022-03

Date/Time: 10:00 am Friday, March 18, 2022

Location: MTA Office @ 12 E Worcester St 2nd Fl, and Zoom

Present

APA Statewide

  • Seth Bean, President
  • Susan McNeil, Vice President
  • Mark Powers, Secretary
  • Aaron Childs, Membership Coordinator (Non-voting)
  • Gerol Petruzella, Web Manager (Non-voting)
  • Catherine Santiago, MTA Field Representative (Non-voting)

APA Chapter Presidents

  • Seth Bean, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
  • Renee Bernier, Bridgewater State University
  • Brian Cahillane, Westfield State University
  • Jane Decatur, Framingham State University
  • Peter Fenuccio, Worcester State University
  • Sherry Horeanopoulos, Fitchburg State President
  • Susan McNeil, Massachusetts College of Art & Design
  • Edward Vacha, Massachusetts Maritime Academy

Guests

  • Jenna Shales, VP, Bridgewater chapter
  • Max Page, MTA Vice President
  • Erik Champy, Running for MTA President

Absent

APA Statewide

  • Maria Brunelle, Treasurer (Non-Voting)
  • Roberta James, MTA Field Representative (Non-Voting)
  • Mike Storey, Health & Welfare Representative (Non-Voting)

APA Chapter Presidents

  • Rosa Taormina, Salem State University

Call to Order

  • 10:11 am

Approval of Minutes

  1. Friday, February 18, 2022
  • Amendments: Corrections to II-A and to V A. & B.
  • Motion to approve membership report as presented/amended made: by S. Horeanopoulos
  • 2nd by: S. McNeil
  • Vote: Unanimous
  • Action: Motion Carries
  1. Friday, March 4, 2022 Emergency E-Board Meeting
  • Amendments: None.
  • Motion to approve membership report as presented/amended made: by S. Horeanopoulos
  • 2nd by: J. Decatur
  • Vote: Unanimous
  • Action: Motion Carries

Public Comments

  1. Max Page, MTA VP, presenting at 10:15 via Zoom presenting on
    1. Fair Share Campaign
      1. Public Education K-16
      2. Affordability to attend public higher education
      3. Public transportation
    2. https://massteacher.org/current-initiatives/fairshare-ma
    3. Signup for hour shift on the hubdialer: https://www.mobilize.us/massteacher/event/422466/..
  2. Candidates for MTA President
    1. Presenting at 11:00 Erik Champy, (MTA VP before Max) via Zoom. https://www.facebook.com/champyformta/posts

President’s Report – Seth Bean

  1. Candidates for MTA President to present today – Agenda will be interrupted as needed.
  2. Fair Share Amendment
  3. Contract Funding
    1. Supplemental Bill passed by House of Representatives and forwarded to Senate
    2. Senate Ways and Means Committee reviewing Supplemental Bill line by line
    3. Small Group Conference Committee to reconcile differences, if any
    4. Governor Baker signs Supplemental Bill
    5. Expected Timeline to “geterdone” is mid- to late-April.
  4. Contractual Raises Calculator – Excel Spreadsheet
  5. MTA Annual Meeting May 20 & 21, 2022 at Hynes Convention Center, Boston
    1. 25 Delegates allocated to APA. This includes APA E-Board plus dues paying members from campuses.
    2. May 20, 2022 APA E-Board meeting occurs in Boston
      APA has secured 15 hotel rooms (Sheraton Hotel) adjacent to the Convention Center with a April 2nd deadline to confirm.
    3. Motion 2022.03.18-01
      Move to have Chapters use Local Chapter funds to pay for overnight accommodations that exceed the one overnight room allocated to the Chapter for the purpose of attending the MTA Annual meeting.
    • By: S. Horeanopoulos
    • 2nd by: S. McNeil
    • Vote: Unanimous
    • Action: Motion Carries
  6. Catherine Santiago –
    MTA is doing a summer organizer workshop this year and is looking for summer help.
    Summer Member Organizer positions:
    https://workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/default/mdf/recruitment/recruitment.html?cid=d9144e7e-99f8-4221-8018-c879c0a769be&ccId=19000101_000001&jobId=437837&lang=en_US&source=CC4

Treasurer’s Report – Maria Brunelle

  1. Payroll due on Wednesday, March 22, 2022 by 12:00pm.
  2. Approval of February Report
  • Amendments: None
  • Motion to approve membership report as presented/amended made by: S. McNeil
  • 2nd by: S. Horeanopoulos
  • Vote: Unanimous
  • Action: Motion Carries

Membership and Data – Aaron Childs

  1. 1347 Overall Membership since February 2022. An increase of 0.
  2. 151 Non-Dues Paying Members. A decrease of 3 since February 2022.
  3. Google Suite account no longer a free service. 12 user accounts – $1700/year ($12.00/user/month).

Website – Gerol Petruzella

  1. February – 28 January 2022
    1. Website Overview – Users. During February 2022, maapa.org saw decreases in both users and sessions relative to January 2022 (Figure 1). The most popular days/times for users to visit the site were Tuesdays between 9a and 1p ET, then Thursdays 9a-2p and Mondays between 10a and 1p ET (Figure 2).
    2. Website Overview – Traffic. Traffic to maapa.org was predominantly direct traffic or the result of a Google search (Figure 3). The top 10 most visited pages are indicated (Figure 4).
    3. Website Overview – Other. I performed content updates on the site per request:
      a. Updated Officer Information for state-wide board and local chapters, responsive to most recent elections.
      b. Updated MTA consultant information.
      c. Updated the FAQ of the Month.
  2. I proposed to the board to move maapa.org from a Drupal to a WordPress instance (ref: email 02/24/2022). This switchover would improve long-term maintenance and security, as well as improve the site’s mobile-friendliness and accessibility.
  3. I began developing a WordPress instance and mirroring content of the live site. I invited the board to review, and offer any feedback for the design process.

Health and Welfare Fund Report – Mike Storey

  1. Next meetings – April 8th and May 13th in Worcester
  2. The financial group overseeing the Fund sent trustees information regarding divesting from any investments that involve Russia because of their invasion of Ukraine. This will definitely be on our April agenda and we could potentially take a vote to divest at that meeting.

Committee Reports

Budget Committee – Rosa Taormina & Seth Bean

Working Committee for Employee Relations Committee –

Professional Development – Sherry Horeanopoulos & Ed Vacha

Special Committees:

  1. Committee on Legislative Action – Susan McNeil, Seth Bean, & Sherry Horeanopoulos
    1. Nuts and Bolts of the Budgetary Process – April 20, 2022 (Need to confirm)
      This training/prep session will focus on the budget process and how things work, and includes hard asks for late February/early March meetings with legislators. Training will also include discussion on building effective relationships with legislators, and the importance of having champions for public higher ed in the legislature
  2. Committee on Health & Safety – Renee Bernier & Susan McNeil
    1. Collaborate with MSCA and with APA Chapter Vice Presidents

Negotiations – Contract Committee

  1. Employee Relations Committee – Brian Cahillane, Jane Decatur, & Rosa Taormina

Old/New Business

  1. FAQ of the Month for the Website for April
    Retroactive pay once contract is funded by the State and how it relates to any promotions/salary adjustments that occurred in the past two years
  2. APA Executive Board (E-Board) Monthly meeting locations (R. Taormina/Salem)
    Majority of monthly E-Board meetings need to be held at the MTA Worcester Office. Current exceptions are:
    May is held at the MTA Annual Meeting location
    June is typically held at Mass Maritime Academy
    November is held at the campus hosting the APA Membership Annual Meeting
    December is held at Sturbridge Inn.
    Permitting limited guest attendance at the E-Board meetings was discussed.
  3. Zoom link for local chapter meetings and shared calendar where these meetings are denoted? (R. Bernier/Bridgewater).
    Use the calendar feature in Zoom.
  4. Distribution lists for member communication – how are others communicating with members-at-large? (R. Bernier/Bridgewater)
    Trying to maintain accurate distribution lists between New unit members (for onboarding), Dues Paying Members, and Non-Dues Paying members is a challenge.
  5. How are contracts negotiated, specifically the parameters? (P.Fenuccio)
    Provide information to the membership as to what occurs prior to and during contract negotiations.
  6. Salary adjustments based on certificates rather than degrees? (R. Bernier/Bridgewater).
    Per the contract, if the certificate is relevant to position responsibilities, it

Institutional Issues

Announcements

  1. None.

Adjournment

  1. Motion to Adjourn made at 2:08pm by: B. Cahillane
  2. 2nd by: S. McNeil
  3. Vote: Unanimous
  4. Action: Motion Carries

Next Meeting: 10:00 – April 15, 2022 – MTA Office @ 12 E Worcester St 2nd Fl and ZOOM.

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