MGEC Board Minutes 11.16.20

President Forrest Hasty			Director Corey Mathisen
Vice President Blake Nelson			Director Steven Oswald
Past Pres. Mohammad Dehdashti			Director Alex Barley
Secretary Jerry Kotzenmacher			Director Heather Gardner
Treasurer Gene Hicks			Director Jason Hedeen
Director Bridget Miller			Director Laura Lyons
Director Mike Kronzer			Executive Director Dana Wheeler
Director Victor Vasas			Robert Haag, Labor Relations
Guest Jason Radde Guest Mark Trogstad-Isaacson			Kari Torkelson  AA/ Membership Manager

Call to order:  The virtual meeting was called to order at 3:37 p.m. by President Forrest Hasty.

Introduction to new elected members

Director 2021 Mark Trogstad–Isaacson – Principle engineer 31 years, project management in Rochester.

Director 2021 Jason Radde – Metro MnDOT State aid project management. Worked at PCA.  Lives in Bloomington.

Approval of Agenda: A motion was made to accept the agenda by Vice President Blake Nelson. 2nd by Director Alex Bartley. Motion approved by voice vote.

Secretary’s report – Jerry Kotzenmacher

The board reviewed the October 26th, 2020 meeting minutes. Spelling error corrected. A motion was made to accept the meeting minutes by Vice President Blake Nelson. 2^nd by Director Victor Vasas. Motion passed by voice vote.

Presidents Report – Forrest Hasty

• Parental Leave can be taken as Paid Time Off by hour. MMB has left the decision up to each agency. Forrest was approved to do this. MMB will send out in e-mail. Other unions may not get this PTO by hour.
• Starting in January, open Director position for Alex B. position. Let new board decide (2021 board). Make sure anyone nominated wants the position.
• Talk about next annual meeting in January meeting.
• MMB update – they will not allow employees to reduce their pretax set aside again for 2020. An employee can roll forward $550 year to year

MMB will allow those working COVID-19 functions and who extended the cap before, another opportunity to extend the vacation cap. They will draft an MOU. No extensions will be provided for others.

Parking contract – no rebates or payback

Working out of state – districts have different rules.

• Provide MGEC Apple award for instructors – will order them for about 10 people.
• Negotiations update Alex – Missed the last meeting. Dana provided update on discussion.
• President Hasty will call an Executive Committee meeting in the next month.

Executive Directors report – Dana Wheeler

• Building update – Exterior windows cleaned. Association insurance deductible could cost a significant amount depending on a claim. As much as $27,000. Replaced some lighting ballast. Communication with tenants concerning COVID concerns continues.
• Grievance update – If you are not assigned a to bring a vehicle home, shouldn’t do it without Supervisors approval. Individual grievance status review. Currently have six grievances with arbitration as the next step. Backpay and MnDOT District 3 grievances are first priority for virtual arbitration. A pre arbitration hearing will take place in December.
• Social media – Urge employees to remove who your employer is from their social media sites if they use those sites to share personal opinions.
• COVID 19 Grievance – If you use COVID leave, the state is not allowing you to accrue vacation or sick leave.
• Deferred Comp – Disputed PCA being left out. Settlement offer was not acceptable because some members were left out. This will go to arbitration.
• Open enrollment for insurances is still open.
• MDH – Has an urgent need for about 400 to 500 employees for COVID 19 Emergency Management Center. How quickly those employees take on that work is set by the pace at which they can be trained.

Administrative Assistant/Membership Manager – Kari Torkelson

• 12, 2020 – 993 Full members; 128 represented non; 4 vol; 38 assoc. 1163 total members
• Election outcome –

President – Forrest Hasty

Vice President – Corey Mathisen

Secretary – Alex Bartley

Director –

Laura Lyons

Jason Radde

Mark Trogstad-Isaacson

Steve Oswald

Kevin Joyce

Tellers Committee Approved the results

Motion to approve the election (accept the tellers report) made by

Director Bridget Miller.  2^nd Director Victor Vasas Motion passed by voice vote

• Attempting to contact new Grads. No phone numbers. Let them know the benefits of MGEC.
• Setting up meetings in districts. D1, D3… PCA meeting will be scheduled. Forrest has a presentation on what MGEC is doing.
• Promo items – Pins/taps for board. Costs reduced for higher quantity. Order 100 pins for $5.60/pin.
• Telework Survey – 489 responses. Most like teleworking. Most did not telework prior to COVID. Most would like to go in 2 days and stay home 3 days per week. Telework until COVID is over. Will have a summary in a few weeks.

Past Presidents report – Mohammad Dehdashti

• Nothing

Treasurer’s Report – Gene Hicks

• Budget sent out with meeting packet.
• $10,000 moved from MGEC checking to Vanguard. Long term investment.
• Budget looking good with no travel or meals.

Vice Presidents Report – Blake Nelson

• Request for vacation extension. Suggestion was made to convert to sick leave.
• Group insurance coalition meeting tomorrow.
• Open enrollment ends in two days.
• Next ethics class – February 17^th 2021, 12:00 – 2:00

Adjourn:  A motion was made to adjourn by Director Victor Vasas. 2^nd by Director Jason Hedeen. Passed by voice vote at 6:08 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Jerry Kotzenmacher               Dana Wheeler

Secretary                                 Executive Director