Present | Present | ||
President Corey Mathisen | X | Director Mike Kruse | X |
Vice President Dan Sullivan | X | Director Blake Nelson | X |
Past President Forrest Hasty | X | Director Sam Padelford | X |
Treasurer Laura Lyons | 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 |
Welcome participants & guests (Corey Mathisen)
Call the Meeting to Order (Corey Mathisen)
Meeting called to order at 3:33 PM.
Review & Approve Agenda (Corey Mathisen)
Forrest Hasty moves, Mary Kloos seconds. Motion passes.
Open Forum (from non-board members)
None present at 3:35.
Secretary’s Report – Review & Approve Past Minutes (Benton Campbell)
- April 25 Meeting
- Jason Radde moves, Mike Kruse seconds. Motion passes.
President’s Report (Corey Mathisen)
- Committee Reports
Promotional Items – Meeting with MnDOT Grad Program nonmembers. Monthly meetings with non-members. Social opportunities: picnics? golfing? Per Kevin Joyce, the Committee met on 4/29. Reviewed new members who are not full members yet. Laura Lyons will reach out to PCA members. Corey Mathisen and Forrest Hasty will reach out to two other potential full members. Some grad engineers couldn’t attend in May 2, Kevin Joyce will set up one on ones with those people. Forrest Hasty asked about part time employees paying prorated dues, we only currently have one dues structure. Board action would be required to change dues structure. Mark Trogstad-Isaacson asks how quickly the personnel change list is updated. It is every 2 weeks, per Donna Blackwell. Committee is reviewing promotional items offered on an ongoing basis. Committee is trying to determine which events and social opportunities are feasible with COVID.
Corey Mathisen has begun planning for a fall annual meeting- originally planned to have it after arbitration award, with award projected in Oct/Nov, this is not feasible, so sometime Aug/Sep is likely for annual meeting.
Juneteenth update: Court reporters also do not get the Juneteenth holiday. Letter sent to Gov and MMB Commissioner by Corey Mathisen and Dana Wheeler, members are encouraged to reach out to governor’s office.
- MGEC Staffing Update
Employee hours reviewed. 3 most recent pay periods are now included.
Donna Blackwell hours are prorated, hence the two decimal places in her leave balances.
Treasurer’s Report (Laura Lyons)
- Finance Committee Report
Normally, Exec Director gets proposed budget to treasurer in May. Dana Wheeler will get this to Laura Lyons next week per her request.
No other questions on budget and expense spreadsheet provided in meeting packet.
Executive Director’s Report (Dana Wheeler)
- Member Advocacy Update
MnDOT Districts 1 and 6 not allowing overtime as per the official MnDOT OT Guide currently. This is causing issues with employees balancing hours and needing to get below vacation cap while still needing to finish all of their work. Mark Trogstad-Isaacson working with Dana Wheeler, Forrest Hasty, and Tony Kelly on next steps. Updates on Probation Extension. Updates on work-out-of-class grievance filed.
- Bargaining Update
Forrest Hasty, Tony Kelly, Dana Wheeler, Corey Mathisen, and Jim Michels met to put together a timeline and overall strategy for bargaining. Discussion on the cost of inflation and how that will be factored in. Jim Michels will touch base with Forrest Hasty to ensure Jim Michels understands the wage compensation studies. Bargaining team is forwarding related jobs with higher wages to those 5. Consultant contracts will be analyzed to determine effects of inflation.
- Pension Legislation Update
State gov commission passed legislation in an omnibus bill that MMB must set wages for law enforcement taking into account the amounts wage studies show they should be paid when compared to specific other public employers. Most unions were dissatisfied with pension bill, which gave 0.5% decrease to pension contribution, and increases 0.5% for COLA. For comparison, SSI had a 5.9% COLA with 8% inflation. Question from Benton Campbell: How will contribution decrease work? Per Dana Wheeler, MMB has not weighed in. It is possible a lump sum, which may decrease the contribution on the paycheck the contribution decrease becomes effective. Question from Justin Kraus: The survivor and reduced benefits are a big drawback, would a 401(k) type match be more effective? Board members weighed in with various opinions.
- COVID MMB Meeting
Updates to policy, COVID uptick based on wastewater analysis, possible special session.
- Retirees have told us payroll may be incorrectly paying severance/vacation payouts. 25% of these balances are paid out in cash per MGEC contract. Payroll corrects their mistake anytime it happens. No grievances etc.
Membership Report (Donna Blackwell)
- Membership Update
5 to 6 most recent packets sent to potential members have resulted in those individuals joining as full members. Outreach by nearby board members has been paying off! Dana Wheeler reminds board members to please update the outreach tracking spreadsheet notes after making contacts.
- Ethics Report
Certificates have been mailed to attendees. Seminar was recorded, and has been uploaded to the website. Members can reach out to Donna Blackwell to view the recording (Video is password protected on our website).
- Website – taking another look at it
Still reviewing and updating content. Determining the best way to communicate with members. Bargaining seems to be a focal point, may want to make navigation to that easier.
- Board Presentation/Packet Design
Donna Blackwell thinks using the “powerpoint style” presentation of the topics from the board packet is the most efficient and clear, board agrees. This will be the default moving forward, as a supplement to the packet sent to board members.
Labor Relations Report (Tony Kelly)
- Supervisor Pay Differential Grievance
Covered in Executive Director’s report
- Scanning Update
Progress is being made. Some minutes from 1967-1968 are missing from the archives. Lots of parallels between old issues and those we are working on now. Some other documents are extraneous and may not be necessary to maintain.
- Comp time conversion notifications were sent out, some people had comp time inadvertently paid out. 10 employees were affected. Any questions should go to Tony Kelly. These employees requested an extension for their comp time and the extension was mishandled.
Vice President’s Report (Dan Sullivan)
No updates
Past President’s Report – (Forrest Hasty)
Almost time to put together the negotiating committee for next contract. We don’t necessarily want to get the two groups mixed up. This may be postponed until after interest arbitration.
Other updates, comments, questions, suggestions
Adjourn
Blake Nelson motions, Forrest Hasty seconds. Motion passes. Adjourned 5:17 PM.