September 24, 2009

Business 144

Members Present: Javid Afrasiabi, Rebecca Anderson, Vini Angel, Garen Baghdasarian, Espy Bolivar-Owen, Chuck Brinkman, Greg Brookins, Ken Buckner, Laura Campbell, Katarina Cerovic, Fran Chandler, Tom Chen, Steve Contarsy, Rebecca Curtis, George Davison, Abbas Dehkhoda, Guilio Dellarocca, Gail Edinger, Tracey Ellis, Blue Fier, Dennis Frisch, Elena Garate, Claudia Garcia, Martin Goldstein, Keith Graziadei, Matt Hotsinpiller, Ben Jimenez, Josh Kanin, Steven Kaufman, John Kennedy, Richard Lavallee, Ming Lu, Ed Markarian, Jim Martin, Mario Martinez, Suzanne McDonald, Marilyn McGrath, Colleen McGraw, Mitra Moassessi, Eric Oifer, Jim Pacchioli, Nick Pernisco, Pauli Peter, Franklyn Phillips, Paris Poirier, Bill Price, Jenny Resnick, Saul Rubin, Audrey Sandoval, Michael Schwartz, Jackie Scott, Elisha Shapiro, Lantz Simpson, Howard Stahl, Kathy Sucher, Joy Tucker, Sal Veas, Alicia Villapando, Carol Womack, Lisa Willaims, David Zehr

Excused: Sandi Burnett, Tom Peters, Lesley Kawaguchi, Kym McBride, Michael Strathearn, Kathy Sucher, Odemaris Valdivia, Judith Remmes

Absent: Terrin Adair-Lynch, Eve Adler, Maria Alvarado, Troy Cardenas, Gayle Davis Culp, Anna Collier, Ian Culbertson, Michael Dixon, Jim Downs, Brian Dunniway, Heather Eisenhardt, Mark Foster, Ken Mason, Joan Mills, Feresteh Mobasheri, Sue Moisin, Juan Quevedo, Michelle Scholefield, Christine Schultz, Jim Smith, Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein, Nina Theiss, Holly Thiercof, Kayli Weatherford, Ventris Woods, Anne York-Herjeczki.

Guests: Jim Stramel, Bill Nault.

The meeting was called to order at 11:20 a.m.  A quorum was present.

I.  Approval of Minutes, September 10, 2009

http://www.smcfa.org/index.php/meetings/66-minutes-and-agendas-fall-2009/1162-draft-minutes-september-10-2009

 It was moved by Fran Chandler to accept the minutes as read: approved unanimously.

II.   President’s Report –Mitra Moassessi

2009-10 budget report:  Board of Trustees approved the 2009-10 adopted budget on September 15^th.

• For the 2009-10 adopted budget, total unrestricted revenue is $2.1 million less that the total actual revenue for 2008-09.
• 2008-09 actual unrestricted ending balance (Reserve) is $17.4 million which is 12.98%– the Chancellor’s office recommends a reserve of 5 %.

• Based on the adopted budget, 2009-10 unrestricted ending balance will be 11.6% -- ending with $15.6 million in the reserves.

• In the 2009-10 adopted budget, there is $2.2 million dollar reduction in total faculty salary (instruction, non-instruction. FT, PT) compared to 2008-09 actual.  This is mainly due to the planned 50% cuts in winter 2010.

• In the 2009-10 adopted budget, there is $720,016 increase in academic and classified manager salary compared to 2008-09 actual.

• In the 2009-10 adopted budget, there is $1.36 million reduction in contract services compared to 2008-09 actual.

The Federal government contribution (ARRA) has gone down from $130 million to $37 million.

The college fill rate is at 99.7%; many departments are over 100% fill rate because faculty have over-enrolled their classes.

Report to the Assembly of the Executive Committee discussion of the gift for the Executive Secretary for Fifteen Years of Service.

Mitra Moassessi asked David Zehr to read from the Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure on Fairness and good faith: “All meetings must be characterized by fairness and good faith. Trickery, overemphasis on minor technicalities, dilatory tactics, indulgence in personalities, and railroading threaten the spirit and practice of fairness and good faith. If a meeting is characterized by fairness and good faith, a minor procedural error will not invalidate an action that has been taken by an organization.  But fraud, unfairness, or absence of good faith may cause a court to hold any action invalid.  In 1776 John Hatsell, the famous British parliamentarian, wrote, “Motives ought to outweigh objections of the form.” The interpretations of courts make it clear that the intent and overall good faith of the group are of more importance than the particular detail of procedure used in a given instance.  The effectiveness and, in fact, often the existence of an organization are destroyed if its officers or members condone unfairness or lack of good faith.”

Mitra Moassessi then read four questions, which were discussed with the Executive Committee, and she also explained the responses:

1.     Did the previous Executive Committee approve the gift for the Executive Secretary? 

Yes, 13 out of 19 members voted yes, there was no “No” vote.

2.     Does the current Executive Committee want to re-affirm that action?

The current Executive Committee did not feel a need to re-affirm that action. The consensus from the Executive Committee, however, was that there was no fraud, no absence of good faith, no trickery, and that the intent and overall good faith of the group was evident.

The Executive Committee also found that a violation of the confidentiality of the Executive Secretary’s compensation/ gift might constitute a hostile work environment under Federal and State statutes on equal employment, and according to the Faculty Association By-laws the Executive Committee is required to make decisions regarding the Executive Secretary compensation.

3.     Was the process followed?

While the process might not have been precisely followed, the Executive Committee found that the gift was approved in the spirit of fairness and good faith.

4.     What can be done to avoid a similar situation in the future?

The Faculty Association Leadership will look into revising the By-laws to define process for decisions during the winter and the summer sessions.

The FA also encourages members to contact the officers if they have any concern or question.

 It was moved by Elisha Shapiro “that the Representative Assembly vote to thank Janet Watts for her 15 years service to the Faculty Association; and it was further acknowledged that the Assembly recognize that the Executive Committee acted in good faith to approve this gift.”

It was moved by Sal Veas “to split the above motion”

Motion failed with 12 yes, 29 nays, 2 abstentions.

Vote was taken on the original motion:

Motion carried with 1 nay, 5 abstentions.

III. Motion from the Executive Committee: The Executive Committee recommends that the FA contribute to the Christian Hart in memoriam scholarship fund in the amount of $100.

It was moved by Howard Stahl “that the Faculty Association contribute to the Christian Hart in memoriam scholarship fund in the amount of $500.”

 Passed unanimously.

IV. Motion from the Executive Committee: The Executive Committee recommends that the FA donate $1000 to SMRR in honor of their 30 year celebration, and also in honor of Sheila Kuehl.

Passed unanimously.

V. Benefits Committee Report – Fran Chandler:  The Benefits Committee agreed to conduct a study to research/find equivalent coverage for benefits for less costs. The committee also agreed to look into the extensive study conducted during the last contract negotiations.  The committee is also working on sick time reporting.

The Benefit Committee would like the FA and CSEA to pass a motion to make the Employee benefits website more functional.

VI. Motion from the Benefits Committee: The Faculty Association Representative Assembly recommends that, in conjunction with the College-wide Benefits Committee, the Human Resources website and Employee Benefits website be upgraded and brought to currency by the end of Fall 2009, if not before.

Passed unanimously.

VII. Government Relation Report – Dennis Frisch

Assembly Bill 381, which allows Districts to offer SDI programs to Part-time faculty passed the legislature and is on the Governor’s desk.

Accreditation – The consultation body for the Chancellor’s office proposed a Task group to look into irregularities in the way accreditation is currently being conducted; there are 23 community colleges on some sort of warning or sanctions; this is highly unusual.

Categorical cuts: the Chancellor’s office is advising districts how they can implement the cuts and avoid further cuts in funding.

The CCCI Conference will be held in Manhattan Beach on October 16 and 17; Faculty Association members will be attending. CCCI passed a resolution and voted no-confidence in the accreditation commission. There will be a major discussion about health benefits.

VIII. Negotiations Report – Howard Stahl:  Contract changes for the 2009/2010 academic year include: changes in the salary schedule; salary schedules are posted on the faculty association website. PT faculty checks (load factor one) will look different; there will now be one line item for both salary and office hours. Part-time (load factor one) salary equivalents rise to 81.25% of the Full-time rate during Fall and Spring semester; office hours represent 6.25% of part-time compensation. Office hours are now required for all part-time (load factor one) faculty at the rate of 10 minutes per unit. Office hours are not paid for any faculty during the summer and winter semesters.  For more information, please see:   http://bit.ly/3ubxF

In the spring Part-time faculty were paid for 17 weeks of office hours instead of 18 weeks; this mistake was corrected by a supplemental check faculty received recently.

Respectfully Submitted,

Becky Curtis

Recording Secretary