Association of Professional Administrators

Minutes 2025-9

Date/Time: Friday, September 19, 2025, 10:00am
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
  • Peter Fenuccio, Worcester State University
  • Susan McNeil, Massachusetts College of Art & Design
  • Michael Merriam, Framingham State University
  • Rebecca Shersnow, Fitchburg State University
  • Rosa Taormina, Salem State University

Guests

  • Heather Gahagan, Financial Aid, Salem State
  • Paul Rowe, Financial Aid Counselor, Salem State

Absent

APA Statewide

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

APA Chapter Presidents

  • N/A

Call to Order

  • September 19, 2025 Time: 10:03am

Approval of Minutes

  1. Approval of June 20, 2025 Executive Board Meeting Minutes
    • Amendments: None
    • Motion 2025.09.19-00
    • Motion to approved the minutes of the June 20, 2025 Executive Board Meeting as presented/amended made:
      • by: S.McNeil 2nd by: P. Fenuccio
      • Vote: Unanimous Action: Motion Carries

Public Comments

  1. N/A

President’s Report –
Rosa Di Virgilio Taormina

  1. APA Merchandise – Monies from the MTA need to be spent by June.
  2. Listening Tour – Hoping to visit each campus over the next few months.
  3. Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) Finalization Status. Salary Tables still being reviewed and any members falling below the new hire minimum will have salary adjustments.
  4. Labor Management Meetings a.k.a Employee Relations Committee (ERC).
  5. Monthly Office Hours
  6. Reminder about MTA Membership packets
  7. APA E-Board decision not to pursue arbitration in Wang case and related member concerns
  8. HELC Updates – Rebecca (Becca) Ramirez
    • Higher Ed Leadership Council has asked that we report any program cuts to the MTA. Currently they are pushing the DRIVE Act, which proposes up to $200 million to combat federal cuts ($400 million if the governor makes good on her promise). Max Page is on the committee that will help drive where these funds go, so it is important that we report anything that comes up as it pertains to our union members. Right now everyone is reluctantly fighting everyone else for funding, so we are hopeful that this alleviates some of that.
    • Can you please send me any programs that have been cut, or are under threat of being cut within our membership (IE TRIO, grant funded student support programs, research programs). I know SSU has committed to making sure these do not get cut but the money is the money and I have heard from other Universities that they are doing things like not filling crucial positions to keep these programs. I will have more information on Friday, and I think this is a great opportunity to make sure APA does not get lost in the shuffle of fighting for funding.
  9. MTA Updates – Sean Barrett
    • Joanne Marcon (sp?) new Higher Ed Retirement Consultant.
    • HELC Bargaining sessions for Higher Education only.
    • All MTA Local Presidents Meeting, September 20, 2025
    • MTA Emily Kibble (sp?) regarding coaches in APA and salaries of female coaches.
    • HB2843 – House Bill to provide retirement incentives in public higher education (Early Retirement Bill) Hearing Scheduled 09/22/2025 1:00pm Committee Hearing (Public Service), State House Room A-2 and Virtual.

Treasurer’s Report – Sharon Francis

  1. Payroll due on Friday, September 19, 2025 by 5:00pm
  2. Approval of May 2025, June 2025, July 2025, August 2025 Treasurer’s Report.
    • Amendments: None
    • Vote Postponed until October 2025

Membership and Data – Aaron Childs

  1. 1552 Overall Membership since June 2025. An Increase of 4 .
  2. 282 Non-Dues Paying Member. A Decrease of 7 since June 2025.
  3. FY26 Membership Dues Rates
    • The MTA has sent me their updated dues structure. It is as follows:
Membership TypeNEAMTAAPATotal
Regular full-time membership (AC1-100)$219.00$573.00$85.70$877.70
Three-Quarter Time (0.51 – 0.80%) (AC1-80)$219.00$429.75$85.70$734.45
Part-time (<50%) membership (AC1-50)$121.00$286.50$42.85$450.35
FY26 MTA Dues Structure

For full-time members:

  • NEA increased their dues by $6
  • MTA increased their dues by $17

Website – Julie Dunlap LePoer

  1. Fitchburg HR requested that the APA Union post the new Annual Evaluation forms to the public web site. The answer is no.
  2. Regular updates made to website.

Health and Welfare Fund Report –
Sherry Horeanopoulos, Susan McNeil

  1. Updated MetLife Blue Benefits

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 – Vacant

Old/New Business

  1. July 2024 Request to Move to Westfield Grievance to Arbitration (Cahillane/Taormina)
    • Results of the vote and following actions.
    • Vote was Affirmative to Move to Arbitration and Attorney has been hired
  2. Guidelines for “Request to Move Grievance Arbitration” Meeting (Ramirez)
    • Motion 2025.09.19-02
    • Move to adopt to the “Guidelines for Member Request to Move Grievance Arbitration” Meeting.
    • by: R. Ramirez-McKinley 2nd by: M. Powers
    • Vote: Unanimous Action: Motion Passes
  3. APA Dues Increase (Taormina)
    • The current dues rate of $85.70 has remained unchanged since 2011 (and possibly earlier). As a result, we have been spending down our funds without replenishing them.
    • Motion 2025.09.19-03
    • Move to refer to the Budget Committee the review of a potential increase in the APA Annual Dues.
    • by: R. Taormina 2nd by: B. Cahillane
    • Vote: Unanimous Action: Motion Passes
  4. 2025 Annual Meeting Location (Taormina) – Worcester State University
    • November 20 would be an E-Board meeting in the evening.
    • November 21 would be the Auditors in the morning with the Annual Statewide meeting at Noon.
  5. Monthly Issues Report (Taormina)
    • Currently done at Salem. Should we consider a Statewide Monthly Issues Report? Or an annual report?
  6. Converting Non-Dues Paying Members (Taormina)
    • Seth has looked at the numbers per Chapter with Framingham having the highest number of Non-Dues Paying Members.
  7. Stipend for Sharon Francis, APA Treasurer (Taormina)
    • Motion 2025.09.19-04
    • Move to award Sharon Francis an additional one-time stipend of $500.00 for conversion of Financial Documents from the previous treasurer.
    • by: R. Taormina 2nd by: S. McNeil
    • Vote: Unanimous Action: Motion Passes
  8. New Evaluation forms and HR (Shersnow/Taormina)
    • The HR office at all 9 campuses should push out the APA evaluation form as they have done in the past.
  9. APA E-Board & Chapter Directory Information (Powers)
  10. Request to Move to Salem Grievances to Arbitration (Taormina)
    • Information has been redacted.
    • Motion 2025.09.19-05
    • Move to Executive Session.
    • by: R. Taormina 2nd by: B. Cahillane
    • Vote: Unanimous Action: Motion Passes
    • Motion 2025.09.19-06
    • Move to have the APA Executive Board to send to Arbitration the Grievance (information has been redacted.)
    • by: R. Taormina 2nd by: S. McNeil
    • Vote: 7-0-1 Action: Motion Carries
    • Motion 2025.09.19-07
    • Move to have the APA Executive Board to send to Arbitration the Grievance (information has been redacted.)
    • by: R. Taormina 2nd by: S. McNeil
    • Vote: 7-0-1 Action: Motion Carries
    • Motion 2025.09.19-08
    • Move to leave Executive Session and extend E-Board meeting to 2:00pm.
    • by: R. Taormina 2nd by: S. McNeil
    • Vote: Unanimous Action: Motion Passes

Institutional Issues

Information has been redacted.

Announcements

  1. Commonwealth HRCMS Pay calendar https://www.mass.gov/doc/hrcms-pay-calendar-2025/download

Adjournment

  1. Motion to Adjourn made at 1:45pm
    • by: R. Taormina 2nd by: P. Fenuccio
    • 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/TBD
Annual State-wide Membership12:00pmFriday, November 21, 2025HybridZoom/TBD
APA Executive Board10:00amFriday, December 19, 2025HybridZoom/Worcester
APA Executive Board9:00amFriday, January 16, 2026RemoteZoom
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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