| Present | Present | ||
| President Corey Mathisen | X | Director Mike Kruse | |
| Vice President Dan Sullivan | Director Blake Nelson | X | |
| Past President Forrest Hasty | X | Director Sam Padelford | |
| Treasurer Laura Lyons | X | Director Jason Radde | X |
| Secretary Benton Campbell | X | Director Mark Trogstad-Isaacson | X |
| Director John Dalton | X | Executive Director Dana Wheeler | X |
| Director Kevin Joyce | X | Administrative Assistant Donna Blackwell | X |
| Director Mary Kloos | X | Labor Relations Specialist Tony Kelly | X |
| Director Justin Kraus | X |
Others in attendance: Fernando Nacionales (MDH), Rod Koehn (MnDOT), Mike Rude (Military Affairs), Luke Schuette (Pipeline Safety), Brandon JB Nelson (MnDOT), Matt Selin (MnDOT)
Agenda
Welcome participants & guests (Corey Mathisen)
Open Forum (from non-board members)Guests introduced themselves. Many future board members in attendance.
Call the Meeting to Order (Corey)
Meeting called to order at 3:41 PM.
Review & Approve Agenda (Corey)
Rod Koehn presentation moved to after agenda approval. Mark moves to approve as edited, Mary seconds. Motion passes.
Minnesota Retiree Association Presentation (Rod Koehn)
30 year MnDOT employee, retired in 2016. 5-year cancer survivor. Member of MRSEA board (Minnesota Retired State Employees Association). Rod encourages MGEC members who have retired or will retire soon to join and become involved. The Association advocates for retirees, plans events, and educates state employees. Board members serve 2 year terms.
Secretary’s Report – Review & Approve Past Minutes (Benton)
November 28 Minutes. Benton removes extra notes copied in error from first draft of minutes. Laura adds clarification on Executive Director Report #3: Current board was reviewing a previous board decision, and reaffirmed that decision. Blake moves to approve as edited. Laura seconds. Motion passes.
President’s Report (Corey)
- Staff Report
- Only one pay period on the table, as this board meeting is one week earlier than normal and the second pay period between board meetings hasn’t been completed yet. Board reviewed the numbers. Corey presented Dana with a Chanhassen Dinner Theater gift certificate as a token of his 20 years of service to MGEC (early November). Corey spoke about Donna’s first year, described her accomplishments helping onboard Tony and serving as primary point of contact during Dana’s vacation periods during her first few months. Corey suggested providing Donna with a $1,600 achievement award. Kevin moves to give her a $1,600 achievement award. Justin seconds. Motion passes. Corey also provided a physical award for Fernando Nacionales’ distinguished citizenship award.
- Committee Reports
- No reports
Treasurer’s Report (Laura)
- Monthly Financial Report
- Report sent on 12/13. No questions were asked by the board. One invoice was clarified on the report.
Executive Director’s Report (Dana)
- Minnesota Infrastructure Alliance (MN2052)
- Seeking donations. In the past, MGEC contributed to some organizations with similar professional goals (encouraging infrastructure development). No board motion or action, status quo is no donation. Items were removed from the budget previously.
- Website change & Contact Management Software (CMS) recommendation
- BizzyWeb no longer hosting WordPress based websites. A concern with going to Nexcess (a new WordPress host) is the lack of content support. Most support is technical. MGEC staff have been thinking about our Contact Management Software, Database, etc. Considered costs, expertise, and future desires. One combined set of software, or a piecemeal setup. MGEC website will temporarily move to Nexcess, as it is very cheap, while the board decides what to do and takes steps to implement other CMS software. Hubspot/Bizzyweb is $800 per month. An organization called Your Membership, which is designed for unions, costs $380 a month. Using additional staff time and other software, staying with Nexcess costs ~$377 per staff calculations. Bizzyweb also includes a $3500 charge to convert wordpress to hubspot. Your Membership includes a $5000 setup fee. Staff would like to have a recommendation to board by February. Laura will be included in communications as this is a finance decision as well.
- Donna has to switch between databases constantly right now, and could see the benefits of a combined email/membership/voting database.
- MDH Incentive Pay
- $2500 to each employee as a retention item. Initiated by the agency. Potential to give hiring bonuses. MGEC has an MOU with MDH allowing up to $10,000 as recruitment and retention incentives.
- State Revenue Surplus
- Projected $17.6B for 2024-2025.
- MGEC office park is raising dues by $5 per unit.
Communication & Membership Report (Donna)
- Membership Update
- 1 member dropped membership due to settling too soon on contract. They wanted MGEC to pursue arbitration. 9 eligible employees have started since last board meeting. 2 Full, 7 RNMs. 6 MnDOT, 1 PCA, 1 DLI, 1 MNOPS
- Effort to get members updated and personal contact information
Labor Relations Report (Tony)
- Worksite Visits
- MNOPS, Camp Ripley (Military Affairs). Tony has appreciated the opportunity to meet members and hear their thoughts.
- Welcome to MGEC Meeting
- About 15 attendees. Discussed history of organization, future bargaining plans, fielded questions. Tony will send attendees a recap and stay in touch with each. He uses RNM % as an indicator of the union’s performance.
- Membership Support
- Ongoing work with specific members. One unifying theme is lack of responsiveness by the employer. Tony wants to proactively solve problems without having to resort to grievances.
- PEPC meeting
- PERA director commented on assumed rate of return. Their actuary wants to lower to 6%, which costs millions of dollars to retirees. Proposals discussed, including teachers.
Vice President’s Report (Dan)
No updates
Past President’s Report (Forrest)
Thank you to the board. Finishing 5 years of service to MGEC. Corey presented Forrest with a plaque commemorating his time as MGEC president (2020 and 2021). Forrest is “always free” to help MGEC with efforts that arise.
Other updates, comments, questions, suggestions
MnDOT is recruiting in ASCE newsletter/magazine with top-level principal salaries on postings for seniors or grads, per Blake.
Corey thanked board members who are departing and stated his availability to help future board members as past president and into the future.
Adjourn
Blake moves to adjourn, Forrest seconds. Motion passes. Meeting adjourned 2:17 PM Alaska Standard Time (5:17 Central)