Present | Present | |||
President Forrest Hasty | Director Corey Mathisen | |||
Vice President Blake Nelson | Director Steven Oswald | |||
Past Pres. Mohammad Dehdashti | Director Alex Bartley | |||
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 Guest Kevin Joyce |
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Kari Torkelson AA/ Membership Manager | ||
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- Call to order: The meeting was called to order at 3:32 p.m. by President Forrest Hasty.
- Approval of Agenda: A motion was made to approve with additions by Director Corey Mathisen. 2nd by Director Alex Bartley. Motion passed by voice vote.
- Secretary’s report – Jerry Kotzenmacher
Gene Hicks was acting Secretary. A motion was made to approve the 11/16/2020 board meeting minutes with corrections was made by Director Heather Gardner. 2nd by President Alex Bartley. Motion passed by voice vote.
- Executive Directors report – Dana Wheeler
Building update – Communication with tenants concerning COVID concerns continues. Currently most tenants are month to month after completing the last lease. In order to get tenants to sign new extended leases there was a discussion on offering incentive as needed for tenants to sign lease. Past President Mohammad Dehdashti made motion to offer free ½ month rent for signing a one-year lease, one month free for two-year lease which would be the last month of the lease. Motion passed by voice vote.
For a month the postal carrier was returning our mail to senders. This should be corrected.
Insurance agents have been unable to improve on the coverage afforded us a union. MGEC explored options for insurance of the office, contents and general liability based on the property rental we do. Further outreach to MAPE and IFO will be done to identify their insurance carrier and nature of business identified.
Grievance/Investigation Update –grievance summary information is provided in the Executive Director report.
Early Retirement Incentive Memorandum of Understanding- There were a few
comments from members that the ERI doesn’t benefit them. An explanation of the process leading up to the ERI was received well by those who felt excluded from the benefit. The state expects to inform employees of this option in January.
Vacation Cap Memorandum of Understanding – A motion was made to approve the MOU by Director Corey Mathisen. 2nd by Director Steven Oswald. Motioned passed by voice vote.
MnDOT shared with the unions that they would not allow employees working Priority 1 or 2 positions to use EFMLA. The federal EFMLA does not allow for exceptions, other than for health care workers. Will be discussed at the meeting with MMB on 12/15/2020.
Membership Priority – communicating with and signing up new members still a high priority for MGEC. Several board members will assist in reaching out to individuals in their agency.
Robert Haag, Labor Relations, gave an overview of work with members seeking job audits. Since 2014 Bob worked with 82 people, which resulted in 27 promotions. In many instances, the employee didn’t follow through the process to determine if a change in classification was merited.
Personal vs work emails – Everyone should have a personal email to use for MGEC business and board members discussion should use personal email when engaging in union discussions (opinion sharing). It is ok to use work email when sharing strictly work communication (no union discussion).
COVID-19 Meetings with MMB – Meetings between Unions & MMB have been continuing. They provide a good high-level exchange of information. Members and agency leaders don’t always experience that communication working its way to them.
MDH – the board discussed the MDH Junior Senior Plan for promotion to Senior Engineer. MDH has not set up the S38 code to auto populate yet for the Supervisor Pay Differential.
PCA employees are not having the S38 code auto populate for the Supervisor Pay Differential and MDH employees still need to enter the S38 code to get the Supervisor Differential Pay. MGEC is assisting PCA members concerned that the agency doesn’t use the Administrative Engineer classification.
- Administrative Assistant/Membership Manager – Kari Torkelson
Membership update – 996 Full Members, 127 Represented Non-Members, 38 Associate Members and 4 Voluntary Contributors. Attempting to contact new Grads to let them know the benefits of MGEC. No phone numbers for some.
Be watching for the upcoming ethics training class.
- Presidents Report – Forrest Hasty
Outreach – Parental Leave can be taken as Paid Time Off by hour. Everyone can use it but D3. Hopefully this will be corrected.
PCA Summary – some Principal Engineers are supervising other Principal Engineers.
Executive Committee Summary – Board decided that while telecommuting MGEC staff will not be reimbursed mileage for one trip per day (Monday through Friday) to the office and/or 5 trips per week that occur during normal work hours. Mileage expense can be charged for trips in excess and outside of usual work hours. Finance Committee should meet every 3 months to review expenses.
Telework Survey – 489 responses. Most people like teleworking. Most did not telework prior to COVID. Most would like to go in 2 days and stay home 3 days per week.
- 45% want to continue to telework after COVID is over.
- 29% want to telework 50/50 time.
- 16% want to work in the office.
- 93% of people are teleworking now.
- Treasurer’s Report – Gene Hicks
Monthly budget and investment status – Vanguard long term investment looks good. Budget is looking good this year with no board travel or meals.
- Vice Presidents Report – Blake Nelson
Discussions on open enrollment and COVID issues.
- Past President Report – Mohammad Dehdashti
Metro Safety Committee – Heather Gardner is the new representative.
- Adjourn: A motion was made to adjourn by Director Victor Vasas, 2nd by Vice President Blake Nelson. Passed by voice vote at 6:25 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Gene Hicks Dana Wheeler
Treasurer Executive Director