Association of Professional Administrators

Minutes 2026 1

Date/Time: Friday, January 16, 2026, 10:00am-1:00pm
Location: Worcester MTA Office & Zoom Room

Present

APA Statewide

  • Rosa Di Virgilio Taormina, President
  • Rebecca (Becca) Ramirez-McKinley, Vice President
  • Mark R. Powers, Secretary
  • Aaron Childs, Membership Coordinator (Non-voting)
  • Julie Dunlap LePoer, Web Manager (Non-voting)
  • Sean Barrett, MTA Field Representative (Non-voting)

APA Chapter Presidents

  • Seth Bean, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
  • Brian Cahillane, Westfield State University
  • Kelly DeMello, Massachusetts Maritime Academy
  • Eric Feibel, Bridgewater State University
  • Michael Merriam, Framingham State University
  • Rebecca Shersnow, Fitchburg State University
  • Maggie Shirland, VP Massachusetts College of Art & Design
  • Rosa Di Virgilio Taormina, Salem State University

Guests

  • None

Absent

APA Statewide

  • Sherry Horeanopoulos, Health & Welfare Trust (Non-voting)
  • Sharon Francis, Treasurer (Non-voting)

APA Chapter Presidents

  • Peter Fenuccio, Worcester State University
  • Susan McNeil, Massachusetts College of Art & Design

Call to Order

  • January 16, 2026
  • Time: 10:08 am

Approval of Minutes

  1. Approval of December 19, 2025 Executive Board Meeting Minutes
    • Amendments: None
    • Motion 2026.01.16-00
    • Motion to approved the minutes of the December 19, 2025 Executive Board Meeting as amended made:
    • by: R. Taormina 2nd by: B. Cahillane
    • Vote: Unanimous Action: Motion Carries

Public Comments

  1. None

President’s Report –
Rosa Di Virgilio Taormina

  1. Northeast Meeting of Higher Education Unions
  2. Increase in GIC Costs
  3. APA Contract still not signed
  4. Sean Barrett
    • State level coalition regarding GIC
    • MTA Winter Workshop will cover GIC issue

Treasurer’s Report – Sharon Francis

Payroll due on Tuesday, January 20, 2026 by 12:00pm.

  1. Local Chapter Support Funds by Chapter FY2025
  2. Approval of December 2025 Treasurer’s Report
  3. Amendments: None
    • Motion 2026.01.16-01
    • Motion to approve Treasurer’s report as presented/amended made:
    • by: R. Taormina 2nd by: B. Cahillane
    • Vote: Unanimous Action: Motion Carries
  4. Mileage Reimbursement Rate increasing to $0.725 effective January 1, 2026. Please adjust your excel spreadsheet accordingly
  5. W2’s for 2025 being mailed out this weekend to respective members. If you don’t receive it by the end of January, please contact Sharon.

Higher Education (HELC) Updates – Rebecca (Becca) Ramirez-McKinley

  1. CHEQA Updates
    • Equity Study for all of Higher Ed
    • Discussion of Parameters among Massachusetts members at next meeting
  2. Contract Survey Timelines
    • Will be sent in February as a series of several shorter surveys
  3. Bargaining Silent Reps
    • Will be sending more information out by the end of the month. Hoping to increase overall participation for both APA and MSCA.
  4. Legislative updates – None for this month.

Membership and Data – Aaron Childs

  1. 1544 Overall Membership since December 2025. An Increase of 7.
  2. 291 Non-Dues Paying Member. An Increase of 12 since December 2025.
  3. Last month I reported an initial run of a new script I wrote to compare the report I get from HRCMS with our database and would verify those members are indeed missing from our database. It shows we are missing 137 members which is accurate. 15 members in the list we are receiving dues. About half are from this fiscal year. I emailed the locals of the missing members.

Website – Julie Dunlap LePoer

  1. Regular updates made to website.

Health and Welfare Fund Report – Sherry Horeanopoulos

  1. No report at this time.

Committee Reports

  1. Budget Committee – Bean, Cahillane, Francis, Ramirez-McKinley
  2. Committee on Professional Development – Vacant
  3. Special Committees:
    • Committee on Legislative Action – Vacant
    • Committee on Health & Safety – Vacant
    • APA/Management Working Group – Vacant
  4. Employee Relations Committee (ERC) as per the APA CBA – Powers/Ramirez-McKinley/Taormina

Old/New Business

  1. Forfeit of Vacation Leave Credits – Article VIII.C.2.a (Powers)
    • Mark provided an example of vacation leave forfeiture under the CBA, noting that he lost 239.422 hours of vacation when the “scrape” occurred at the end of January. He had accrued a total of 614.422 hours prior to the adjustment, representing an estimated $19,041.08 in lost pay, which would have been payable upon retirement or resignation. However, the contract language regarding payout in these circumstances remains unclear.
      Mark asked whether the Union could contest the loss, noting that he was not denied vacation time but had exceeded the maximum accrual of 375 hours under the CBA due to his more than 30 years of service, despite taking roughly three weeks of vacation each year.
      The item was raised as new business because many unit members across all nine campuses have exceeded the 375-hour vacation limit and are losing hours as a result of the annual “scrape.” Under the CBA, forfeited hours may be paid out in limited circumstances, but it is unclear whether those provisions could apply in these cases.
  2. Providing a stiped to the Web Manager for time spent on adding the new contract to the website. (Taormina)
    • Motion 2026.01.16-02
    • Move to provide the Web Manager a stipend of $500.00 for website work done in relation to the APA CBA and accessibility.
    • by: R. Taormina 2nd by: B. Cahillane
    • Vote: Unanimous Action: Motion Carries
  3. Discussion regarding increasing the Treasurer’s monthly stipend (Taormina).
    • Motion 2026.01.16-03
    • Move to increase the monthly stipend for the APA Statewide Treasurer to $400.00 per month retroactive to July 1, 2025.
    • by: R. Taormina 2nd by: B. Cahillane
    • Vote: Unanimous Action: Motion Carries

Institutional Issues

Information has been redacted.

Announcements

  1. None

Adjournment

  1. Motion to Adjourn made at 12:24 pm
    • by: R. Taormina 2nd by: B. Cahillane
    • Vote: Unanimous Action: Motion Carries

APA Meeting Schedule 2025-2026:

EventTimeDateFormatLocation
APA Executive Board10:00amFriday, September 19, 2025HybridZoom/Worcester
APA Executive Board9:00amFriday, October 17, 2025RemoteZoom
APA Executive Board10:00amFriday, November 21, 2025HybridZoom/Worcester
State University
Annual State-wide Membership12:00pmFriday, November 21, 2025HybridZoom/Worceste
State University
APA Executive Board10:00amFriday, December 19, 2025HybridZoom/Worcester
APA Executive Board9:00amFriday, January 16, 2026HybridZoom/Worcester
APA Executive Board9:00amFriday, February 20, 2026RemoteZoom
APA Executive Board9:00amFriday, March 20, 2026RemoteZoom
APA Executive Board9:00amFriday, April 17, 2026RemoteZoom
APA Executive Board9:00amFriday, May 15, 2026RemoteZoom
APA Executive Board10:00amFriday, June 19, 2026HybridZoom/Worcester
APA Executive Board Meeting Schedule 2025-2026

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