Minutes 2021-01

10:00am, Friday, January 15, 2021 – Zoom

Present

APA Statewide:

Sherry Horeanopoulos, President and Fitchburg State President
Charlie Cianfarini, Vice President
Mark Powers, Secretary
Maria Brunelle, Treasurer
Aaron Childs, Membership Coordinator
Liz Novak, Web Manager
Catherine Santiago, MTA Field Representative
Roberta James, MTA Field Representative

APA Chapter Presidents:

Seth Bean, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
Brian Cahillane, Westfield State University
Jane Decatur, Framingham State University
Susan McNeil, Massachusetts College of Art & Design
Mike Pelletier, Salem State University (Joined at 11:05am)
Mike Storey, Bridgewater State University
Edward Vacha, Massachusetts Maritime Academy
Peter Fenuccio, Worcester State University

Call to Order

10:04AM

Approval of Minutes

Friday, December 18, 2020

Amendments: None
Motion to approve membership report as presented/amended made: by M. Storey
2nd by: E. Vacha
Vote: Unanimous
Action: Motion Carries

Public Comments

None

President’s Report – Sherry Horeanopoulos

Local Chapter President increases – discuss while Maria is attending the meeting today
Ratification and Bylaws – Passed by 97-98% of voters (34% of Ballots sent out). Was the word passed to all the locals?
Electronic elections – My opinion – it went pretty well. Some things to be aware of:
- We still do not have an accurate email database. There were several issues, however easily corrected within the application. Westfield State had “greylisted” the ballot email.
- We had 474 members participate in the electronic election. This was a good opportunity to give electronic voting a trial run. We have confidence that this can be a viable option for future votes and brings the ballot directly to the member in a particularly easy format. If you have comments about electronic voting, please share your thoughts with your local leadership so that we, as a Board, can address your ideas and suggestions.
- APA Agreement extension:
  - Yes. 459 (97%)
  - No. 15. (3%)
- Bylaw approval:
  - Yes 464 (98%)
  - No. 10. (2%)
- Ballots cast per campus:
  - Bridgewater – 110
  - Salem – 68
  - Fitchburg – 54
  - MassArt – 53
  - Worcester – 50
  - Framingham – 47
  - Westfield – 41
  - MCLA – 28
  - Maritime – 23
MTA is bargaining an Early Retirement Incentive – 25,000.00 for employees with 20 years or more service – Intent to retire by March 31 – Retire by end of semester or before Fall semester. Some campuses may try to apply this to a specific Union and not all – we need to investigate if this isn’t an unfair practice of some kind.
CJ and I questioned why MTA had legislation in the works that only offered ER to K-12 and not Higher Ed. They may be changing that language
MTA Dues – Our Bylaw has been accepted – the committee that has been working on an alternative to Dues structure has asked us to add onto their Bylaw instead (“MTA committee has more clout”). CJ and I were leaning toward presenting out own language
COVID Vaccines for Higher Ed employees – CJ is serving on a committee of MTA to push this program along to coincide with K-12
Campuses will be re-opening this Spring. Are employees still being given the chance to work remotely, rotating into the office?
Resume Bargaining? State finances will still not be looking good this Spring. Delay? Coordinate with MSCA.

Treasurer’s Report – Maria Brunelle

Payroll due on Tuesday, January 19, 2021 by 12:00

Approval of November report

Amendments: None
Motion to approve membership report
- presented/amended made by: S. McNeil
- 2nd by: E. Vacha
- Vote: Unanimous
- Action: Motion Carries
Discussion of raising Local Chapter President Monthly Stipends by $25.00. An increase of $25.00 for the stipends of 9 Local Chapter Presidents would be an increase of $225.00 per month on the payroll or $1,350.00 for this fiscal year (if we start in January). For an entire year, the increase to the payroll would be $2700.00. Current Stipend is $225.00 per month for Local Chapter Presidents. The workload of the Local Chapter Presidents has increased over the past year
- Motion 2021.01.15-1
- Montion to change monthly stipend for Local Chapter President to be 250.00 per month effective January 2021
  - made by B. Cahillane
  - 2nd by: S. McNeil
  - Vote: 6-4-1
  - Action: Motion Carries

Membership and Data – Aaron Childs

1361 Overall Membership since October 2020. A decrease of 2.
120 Non-Dues Paying Member. An increase of 1 since November 2020

Website – Liz Novak

Published the approved December minutes

Health and Welfare Report – Mike Storey

No updates.

Committee Reports

Budget Committee – Mike Storey

No updates

Employee Relations Working Group – Mark Powers

Will invite Charlie, Susan, and Brian to meet to discuss topics to have ready to present the Working Group.
Maybe do a new survey listing the top 10 concerns of the membership but also review items on “Negotiations List” [see end of this document]

Professional Development – Edward Vacha

No updates.

Negotiations – Sherry Horeanopoulos

Nothing to report at this time.

Old/New Business

FAQ of the Month for the Website for January
MTA Winter Skills Workshops – January 30th. Followed by additional workshops in February. See massteach.org/events
E-Board Roster – Information to be updated. Will be a shared document in the Google for each E-Board member to update for themselves and their chapter.

Association of Professional Administrators