MGEC Board Minutes 9.26.22

	Present		Present
President Corey Mathisen	X	Director Mike Kruse	X
Vice President Dan Sullivan		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

Mike Rude, Military Affairs (MGEC member); Jane Blitzer, MnDOT (retired MGEC member)

Welcome participants & guests (Corey Mathisen)

Open Forum (from non-board members)

1. No questions asked.

Call the Meeting to Order (Corey Mathisen)

1. Meeting called to order at 3:43 PM.

Review & Approve Agenda (Corey Mathisen)

1. Justin Kraus moves to approve, Mary Kloos seconds. Motion Passes.

Secretary’s Report – Review & Approve Past Minutes (Benton Campbell)

1. August 22 Minutes, Mike Kruse moves to approve, Mary Kloos seconds. Motion Passes.

President’s Report (Corey Mathisen)

1. Committee Reports
   1. Promotional Committee: Considering setting up a meeting with ES’s to explain the bargaining process, may expand to an overall informative meeting for membership on contract negotiations. Discussion of schedule for upcoming bargaining. Hiway FCU and WSB planning to sponsor golf event. New items coming in. Kevin has talked to newly eligible employees to encourage them to become full members.
2. MGEC Staffing Report
   1. Hours reviewed by the board.

Treasurer’s Report (Laura Lyons)

1. Monthly Financial Report
   1. Jason asks about training expense for arbitration training. Question on Vanguard balance, Vanguard did not issue the August statement yet.

Executive Director’s Report (Dana Wheeler)

1. Election
   1. Slate of Candidates. Slate was reviewed by the board. Discussion of how write-in and ranked choice votes will be handled. Timeline was reviewed.
2. Golf Event
3. Annual Meeting & Dinner
4. NASHTU having a virtual conference available on 9/28.
5. Website Changes: Hosting company is changing their services. Staff and contractors will come back to board with recommendations on MGEC next steps. May involve paying to migrate to new web host, combining constant contact with website service, etc.
6. COVID Meeting Update
7. DPS Meeting
8. Arbitration training recap: Dana Wheeler and Tony Kelly attended training. Give arbitrators sample questions and see their answers on how they would side. Asked about inflation, arbitrators haven’t ruled much on this in the past, but believe inflation is now a factor they must consider.  Asked about pattern bargaining? Each arbitrator said the pattern will have the most weight when it’s recent, but when 9 months have passed, and inflation is as high as it is, non-internal equity factors will likely gain traction.

Communication & Membership Report (Donna Blackwell)

1. Membership Update: 2 ES’s have dropped membership because they felt they were left behind.

Labor Relations Report (Tony Kelly)

1. Updates: Not Tony’s first time going to the arbitration conference, finds it quite valuable. Tony would like to see more clear and strong rep system for membership questions and recruiting members.

Vice President’s Report (Dan Sullivan)

No updates

Past President’s Report (Forrest Hasty)

No updates

Other updates, comments, questions, suggestions

No updates on SER meeting, unlikely they will meet. Contract likely becomes effective on 10/3. Generally, state takes 2 pay periods to implement backpay.

Blake moves to adjourn, Justin seconds, Motion Passes. Meeting adjourned 5:14 PM.