Santa Monica College Faculty Association

Representative Assembly Meeting

September 15, 2005

Present: Maria Alvarado, Barbara Baird, Fariba Bolandhemet, Espy Bolivar-Owen, Sara Brewer, Alan Buckley, Sandi Burnett, Lydia Canalita, Troy Cardenas, Tom Chen, Steve Contarsy, Ronn Davis, Gail Edinger, Tracey Ellis, Kathy Flynn, Dennis Frisch, Claudia Garcia, Peter Geltner, Martin Goldstein, Carolyn Holmes, Richard Lavallee, Ken Mason, Kym McBride, Suzanne McDonald, Melissa Michelson, Mitra Moassessi, Julie Morgan, Launa Nelson, Brenda Ness, Jeffrey O'Connell, Eric Oifer, Jim Pacchioli, Pauli Peter, Toni Randall, Brian Rodas, Jacqueline Scott, Elisha Shapiro, Lantz Simpson, Eleanor Singleton, Leon Singleton, Howard Stahl, Michael Strathearn, Kathy Sucher, Sumy Takesue, Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein, Joy Tucker, Robert Tyler, Bob Ware, David Zehr.

Absent : Vini Angel, Lee Axelrod, Fletcher Beasley, Sharon Bell, Ken Buckner, Brandon Ceballos, Fran Chandler, Susie Chapman, Elizabeth Chavez, Gwen Dophna, Don Emery, Pierre Goueth, Julie Greenfield, Patricia Halliday, Christian Hart, John Kennedy, Emily Lodmer, Fran Manion, Colleen McGraw, Walter Meyer, Joan Mills, Ernie Padilla, David Phillips, Kathryn Pope, Juan Quevedo, Ruth SanPietro, Michael Schwartz, Peter Sheridan, Linda Sinclair, James Smith, Rita Soshnik, Steve Soucy, William Van Benschoten, Sal Veas, David Wu.

Guests : Michael Kerze, Ed Markarian, Lesley Kawaguchi.

Excused : Becky Curtis.

•  President's Report – Lantz Simpson

Bylaws – The recently approved bylaws were reviewed and circulated. In addition, a sign-up sheet was circulated so that all Representatives could sign-up for one duty (participation in a standing committee, attending one Board of Trustees meeting, attending the FACCC conference in October, writing a letter to an elected representative, and other duties as outlined in the bylaws).

FACCC conference -- All representatives are invited to attend the October 6-9 FACCC conference in San Francisco . All conference fees, hotel, and travel will be paid by the Faculty Association.

AAUP – American Association of University Professors: A chapter has now been established here on the SMC campus. The first meeting will be Sept 15 at 1:30 in the Loft. All are urged to join.

Special Election – Ken Mason. An outline of the Propositions on the November '05 election. Many labor groups, and our Political Director, are urging NO votes on Propositions 73, 74, 75, 76, 77 and 78. YES votes are urged on 79 and 80.

DPAC met this week to address the set of recommendations--from the Technology Planning Committee—which would create an advisory committee to guide the project of revising the college website.

Website Upgrade Report – Kathy Sucher reported on the redesign of the SMCFA website and implementation of several technical upgrades including a sitewide search tool and an interactive online forum (the Flog).

CSEA Contract was settled below COLA; COLA was 2.41% for 04-05 and 4.23% for 05-06. Administrators and managers received the same salary increase as classified which was 2.0% starting Jan. 1, 2005 and 3.5% starting Jan. 2006.

Special Guest Marcus Harvey of AAUP was introduced.

•  Approval of 2005-06 Executive Committee -- Approved Unanimously.

See attached.

•  Election of At-Large Executive Committee Members

Michael Strathearn, David Zehr and Juan Quevedo were nominated and then elected by acclamation.

•  Benefits Committee Report – Sandi Burnett

Benefits for the calendar year of 2006 will be exactly the same. The committee has been exploring how to encourage members to migrate from PERSCare to PERSChoice. The District said it could create Section 125 accounts ($500/individual and $1,000/family) for members who switch. The Section 125 account money could be used towards yearly deductibles incurred under PersChoice or other reimbursable expenses. There may be an MOU on this.

There will be a Health Benefits Forum on September 22 from 11:00 – 12:00 pm , 11:30-12:30 , or 12:00-1:00 at which differences in PERSCare and PERSChoice will be described.

Open Enrollment started today and will continue until Oct. 15.

•  Negotiating Report – Mitra Moassessi

The Negotiating Committee met with District Negotiator Robert Sammis about the possible PersChoice/Section 125 Account MOU. All Representatives are encouraged to attend the Health Benefits Forum.

There is table agreement on the Associate Faculty provision.

Regarding salary, the District proposed 0% for 04-05; 0% for the first half of 05-06; and the District is soliciting Association input for the second half of 05-06.

•  Motion from the Executive Committee

Because of the unprecedented nature of Hurricane Katrina and its impact on our fellow citizens, the Executive Committee recommends that the Representative Assembly approve a $10,000 donation to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

Motion passed, with one abstention.

Motion: M/S Geltner, Mason – The President shall appoint an ad-hoc committee to determine where the $10,000 for the hurricane relief should be pledged.

Passed unanimously.

•  Motion from the Executive Committee

The Executive Committee recommends amending the reassigned time approved last spring for Fall '05 to reflect 20% for Sandi Burnett and to increase Dennis Frisch's reassigned time from 80% to 100%. Passed unanimously.

•  For the Good of the Order