Association of Professional Administrators

Minutes 2025-3

Date/Time: Friday, March 21, 2025, 10:00am
Location: MTA Worcester Office & ZOOM Room

Present

APA Statewide

  • Susan McNeil, Vice President
  • Mark Powers, Secretary
  • Aaron Childs, Membership Coordinator (Non-voting)
  • Julie Dunlap LePoer, Web Manager (Non-voting)

APA Chapter Presidents

  • Seth Bean, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
  • Junior Delgado, Westfield State University – VP
  • Sam Landry, Framingham State University
  • Peter Fenuccio, Worcester State University
  • Susan McNeil, Massachusetts College of Art & Design
  • Jenna Shales, Bridgewater State University
  • Rebecca Shersnow, Fitchburg State President
  • Rosa Taormina, Salem State University

Guests

  • None

Absent

APA Statewide

  • Seth Bean, President
  • Sherry Horeanopoulos, Health & Welfare Trust (Non-voting)
  • Sean Barrett, MTA Field Representative (Non-voting)

APA Chapter Presidents

  • Brian Cahillane, Westfield State University
  • Kelly DeMello, Massachusetts Maritime Academy

Call to Order

  • Mar 21, 2025 Time: 10:13am

Approval of Minutes

  1. Approval of February 21, 2025 Executive Board Meeting Minutes
    • Amendments: None
    • Motion to approved the minutes of the February 21, 2025 Executive Board Meeting as presented/amended made: by: R. Taormina 2nd by: R. Shersnow
    • Vote: Unanimous Action: Motion Carries

Public Comments

  1. None

President’s Report – Seth Bean

  1. Status of funding for the CBA Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)
    • Susan is in contact with Vince Padone and trying get the Governor’s Office to submit the monies in the supplemental budget requests.
    • For new business – create an Action Letter to the Governor regarding Contract Funding

Treasurer’s Report – Maria Brunelle

  1. Payroll due on Friday, February 21, 2025 by 12:00pm
  2. Approval of January 2025 & February 2025 Treasurer’s Report
    • Amendments: None
    • Motion to approve Treasurer’s report as presented made: by: S. McNeil 2nd by: P. Fenuccio
    • Vote: 6-0-1 Action: None

Membership and Data – Aaron Childs

  1. 1549 Overall Membership since February 2025. A decrease of 16.
  2. 303 Non-Dues Paying Member. An increase of 0 since February 2025.

Website – Julie Dunlap LePoer

  1. Regular updates made to website

Health and Welfare Fund Report – Sherry Horeanopoulos

Meeting on February 27, 2025.

The MTA/Board of Higher Education Health & Welfare Fund (The Trust or MTA Fund) was established in 1984 under collective bargaining agreements betweenwhat was then called the Board of Regents of Higher Education and MTA affiliates at the University of Massachusetts, the State Universities, and the Community Colleges. The purpose of the Fund is to provide supplemental benefits, i.e. benefits other than the health, disability, and life insurance programs offered under the aegis of the Commonwealth’s Group Insurance Commission. The Fund operates under a formal Trust Agreement and is governed by a 12- member Board of Trustees, six of whom are Labor Trustees representing the various MTA affiliates and six of whom are Management Trustees.

The Fund is a tax-exempt Taft-Hartley organization that is not subject to ERISA but operates in a manner generally consistent with ERISA. Although it provides benefits to membersof the Massachusetts public higher education system, the Trust is not subject to the regulations of the Commonwealth with respect to such matters as bidding procedures and open meeting requirements. The MTA/BHE Fund is financed entirely by employer contributions required under the terms of applicable collective bargaining agreements for full-time-equivalent members. Members are required to make no contribution to the funding of the Trust.

The Trust employs no staff but relies instead on professional consultants to carry out its day-to-day responsibilities. These include a benefit consultant (KD Consulting Group), legal counsel (McDermott Will and Emery LLP.), auditor (Lester Halpern and Company P.C.), and a Third-Party Administrator (KD/HPI).

The Fund’s focus is entirely on dental insurance benefits that are offered to eligible members at 29 campuses, as well as their spouses and dependents. The current dental provider, MetLife, has been with the Fund for 18 years. Its contract is subject to an annual renewal based on negotiations between the Fund and the company.

The fund does not have a formal open enrollment period. New subscribers become eligible for benefits as described below.

Commencing March 1, 2025:

  1. To shorten the dental plan waiting period for new hires and to conform to recent GIC changes, such that employees hired on the first of the month are covered immediately, otherwise, coverage starts on the first day of the following month.
  2. To truncate the dental plan waiting period for all existing employees/enrollees and allow all those currently in the waiting period to become eligible effective March 1, 2025

To the extent there is an open enrollment period, it is merely a period during which subscribers can change from single to family coverage or vice versa. At any time that a subscriber has a qualifying event, such as a marriage, birth or adoption, or a dependent loses their dental coverage, the subscriber may notify their HR office of their need to change their coverage from single to family or vice versa. They have thirty days to submit their request which becomes effective on the first of the month following receipt of the paperwork. Whenever a staff member transfers between units, or between a non-unit and a unit position, if they have previously been covered by any dental plan, there will be no waiting period, and benefits become seamless with the ending of their prior dental coverage.

The dental plan offered by MetLife is considered an open plan. Subscribers are free to use the dentist of their choice. If a member uses a dentist who participates in the MetLife network, the fees for each procedure are capped and the out-of-pocket costs for members is generally less than when a non-Network dentist is used.

Subscribers are required to make no contribution to the Fund. Each new employee is provided the Dental Plan marketing materials and a dependent enrollment form by their HR office, which they have thirty days to complete and return. As of 2014, the enrollment process for all eligible unit members has been conducted automatically via the submission of electronic files to KD/HPI.

Once their HR administrator has their dependent form, the administrator can log onto the KD/HPI portal or enrollment system to add the family members to the policy established for the subscriber by the monthly electronic file.

We hope this information is helpful and clarifies the Fund’s operations and how the Board of Trustees together endeavors to protect and maximize benefits for our collective members.

Committee Reports

  1. Budget Committee – Rosa Taormina, Jenna Shales, & Seth Bean
  2. Committee on Professional Development – Vacant
  3. Special Committees:
    • Committee on Legislative Action – Susan McNeil, Seth Bean
    • Committee on Health & Safety – Susan McNeil
  4. Negotiations – Contract Committee
  5. E. F. Employee Relations Committee (ERC) as per the APA CBA – Brian Cahillane, Rosa Taormina
  6. Nominations & Elections Committee – Jenna Shales

Old/New Business

  1. Bridgewater State University and MTA hosting a rally. (Shales) April 3, 2025 12:30pm – 1:30pm Rally Racial Equity & Justice. MTA/APA – supported by BSU Administration & President Point of rally is to show that the overall campus is supporting the entire campus – all in the campus community”.
  2. Action Letter to Governor regarding Contract Funding (McNeil)
    Need to send an Action from the APA Leadership and also provide a way for individual members to also send individual letters.
  3. Individual Chapter Elections Timeline & Committee Members (Powers) Statewide – APA Contract Ratified by membership as of January 22, 2025
    • Bridgewater (Must occur within 90 days of new contract ratification)
      • Committee Members:
      • Nominations Due no later than _________
      • Elections will be held on ________
    • Fitchburg (Must occur within 60 days of new contract ratification)
      • Committee Members:
      • Nominations Due no later than 5:00pm on February 28, 2025
      • Elections will be held on March 31, 2025
    • Framingham (Must occur within 90 days of new contract ratification)
      • Committee Members: Nastasha Bizanso-Ashe, Kathleen Brosnihan, Peter Chrisafideis
      • Nominations Due no later than 5:00pm on February 28, 2025
      • Elections will be held on March 31, 2025
    • Mass College of Art & Design (Must occur within 60 days of new contract ratification)
      • Committee Member(s): Lucas Dean, Catarina Coelho
      • Nominations Due no later than February 28, 2025
      • Elections will be held on March 13th @ 8:00am thru March 14th @ 4:00pm
      • Election Results:
        • MassArt APA Chapter President
          • Susan McNeil
        • MassArt APA Chapter Vice President / Grievance Officer
          • Maggie Shirland
        • MassArt APA Chapter Membership Coordinator/Treasurer
          • Craig Evans
    • Mass College of Liberal Arts (Must occur within 60 days of new contract ratification)
      • Committee Member(s):
      • Nominations Due no later than _________
      • Elections will be held on ________
    • Mass Maritime Academy (Must occur within days of new contract ratification)
      • Committee Member(s):
      • Nominations Due no later than _________
      • Elections will be held on ________
    • 7. Salem (Must occur concurrent with Statewide elections)
      • Committee Member(s):
      • Nominations Due no later than _________
      • Elections will be held on ________
    • Westfield (Must occur in the month of April – current chapter bylaws do not associate elections
      • with contract ratification)
      • Committee Member(s):
      • Nominations Due no later than _________
      • Elections will be held on ________
    • Worcester (Must occur within 60 days of new contract ratification)
      • Committee Member(s): Nancy Ramsdell
      • Nominations Due no later than _________
      • Elections will be held on ________
      • Election Results:
        • Worcester APA Chapter President
          • Peter Fenuccio
        • Worcester APA Chapter Vice President / Grievance Officer (?)
          • Karen Wigren

Institutional Issues

Information has been redacted.

Announcements

  1. None

Adjournment

  1. Motion to Adjourn made at 11:19am
    by: J. Shales 2nd by: R. Shersnow
  2. Vote: Unanimous Action: Motion Carries

APA Meeting Schedule 2024-2025:

EventTimeDateFormatLocation
APA Executive Board10:00amFriday, September 20, 2024RemoteZoom
APA Executive Board10:00amFriday, October 18, 2024RemoteZoom
APA Executive Board10:00amFriday, November 15, 2024HybridZoom/TBD
Annual State-wide Membership12:00pmFriday, November 15, 2024HybridZoom/TBD
APA Executive Board10:00amFriday, December 20, 2024HybridZoom
APA Executive Board10:00amFriday, January 17, 2025RemoteZoom
APA Executive Board10:00amFriday, February 21, 2025RemoteZoom
APA Executive Board10:00amFriday, March 21, 2025RemoteZoom
APA Executive Board10:00amFriday, April 18, 2025RemoteZoom
APA Executive Board10:00amFriday, June 20, 2025In-personTBD
APA Meeting Schedule 2024-2025

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