| Present | Present | |||
| President Forrest Hasty | X–Skype | Director Corey Mathisen | X – Skype | |
| Vice President Blake Nelson | X-Skype | Director Steven Oswald | ||
| Past Pres. Mohammad Dehdashti | X Skype | Director Alex Barley | X – Skype | |
| Secretary Jerry Kotzenmacher | X-Skype | Director Heather Gardner | ||
| Treasurer Gene Hicks | X-Skype | Director Jason Hedeen | X – Skype | |
| Director Bridget Miller | X-Skype | Director Laura Lyons | ||
| Director Mike Kronzer | X-Skype | Executive Director Dana Wheeler | X – Skype | |
| Director Victor Vasas | X-Skype | Robert Haag, Labor Relations | X – Skype | |
| Kari Torkelson AA/ Membership Manager | X – Skype | |||
Call to order: The meeting was called to order at 3:40 p.m. by Vice President Blake Nelson.
Approval of Agenda: A motion was made to accept the agenda by Director Alex Barley. 2nd by Director Victor Vasas. Motion approved by voice vote.
Secretary’s report – Jerry Kotzenmacher
The board reviewed the July 28nd, 2020 meeting minutes. A motion was made to accept the meeting minutes with edits by Director Victor Vasas. 2nd by Director Mike Kronzer. Motion passed by voice vote.
Presidents Report – Forrest Hasty
- Nominations for MGEC board – looking for candidates. Keep asking members. Kari has been sending messages out. A lone election message on the upcoming election should be sent out with a deadline date. Meeting scheduled for hour before next board meeting.
- Committees – Negotiations committee met. Discussed PE test, telecommuting and on articles 6 through 13.
- Inequity – MnDOT going to do Grad 1 and then on to Grad 2. Jason thinks they will do a reallocation, or adjust Grad 2 as they go to Senior, as an easier process, for Grad 2’s
Executive Directors report – Dana Wheeler
- Draft Telework policy changes – Costs of working at home. Getting opinion on union policy. Get this out to membership for their comments. Nothing in the contract for expenses for teleworking. What would happen if we went to arbitration? It may be different when many employees are forced to work at home. Several offices have told employees they had to forward their work phone to their personal cell phone if they didn’t have a work cell phone.
- If home equipment needs repair, the state says that we need to take leave time to repair. This comes in question when we are forced to work at home.
- Building update – Landscape project was finished. Put in material to slope away from building. Bid from company to do internal drain. Planning a meeting with tenants. We continue to have a full building. Tenant is cleaning building, doing a good job.
- Grievance update – MMB is booked 3 months out. Several district 3 grievances. Many things not happening. Months go by without anything happening. President Hasty suggests that we go to arbitration. No other new information on grievances.
- Legislative update – normally non-partisan. Do we want to join other unions on their efforts?
- Collation of unions continue to meet.
Administrative Assistant/Membership Manager – Kari Torkelson
- Golf event – 19 registered to date. Just a golf event. No meal or awards.
- Membership – 990 members, 130 nonpaying. Total 1162
- PE class – What would happen if we went to an online class? Getting more difficult to find instructors. See how much it costs. DOT could fund. Good service to provide. Forrest will look into more. Will start with his own mangers. Likely need a period of required membership.
- Will send out election only message.
Past Presidents report – Mohammad Dehdashti
- No update
Treasurer’s Report – Gene Hicks
- Another $10k invested in account. Investment going well to date. Still on board for investing $10k per quarter, up to $100,000
Vice Presidents Report – Blake Nelson
- Insurance – Vice President Blake Nelson had meeting with MMB and other unions to go over insurance. New vision benefit. Should be out with open enrollment. Still waiting on COVID bills. Will see how everything comes out. Dental saved $1,000,000. Could be bigger dental bills in the future. Big drop in claims from COVID. Several clinics closed. Dental rates, no change. $200 in for COVID shot once it comes out. More info on shots coming. 5.5% per year increase in long term projection costs. Another meeting next October.
Round Robin – MAPE employees have been asking to be E.S. in MGEC. Feel there interest are not being prioritized. Door is open for anyone wanting to join MGEC but unlikely. Other unions are unlikely to give up members.
Adjourn: A motion was made to adjourn by Director Cory Mathisen. 2nd by Director Alex Bartley. Passed by voice vote at 6:20 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Jerry Kotzenmacher Dana Wheeler
Secretary Executive Director