MEETING MINUTES

LOCAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE (LOC)

CENTER FOR HIGHER EDUCATION AT UNIVERSITY PLACE IN IDAHO FALLS

Thursday, October 10, 2002

 

Present:  Ann Meikle-Howell, Bob Stiger, Jennifer Fisher, Larry Branen, Sharon Montgomery

 

Guests:  Dennis Allen, Joy Fisher, Jim Fullerton, Greg Horton, Ray Hart, Carol Spain, Connie Gomez

 

ITEM 1:  Approval of Minutes – Jennifer moved that the September 12, 2002 minutes be approved with two corrections.  The motion was seconded by Bob and motion carried. 

 

ITEM 2:  Call for Additional Agenda Items – Tiered classrooms and computer equipment.

 

ITEM 3:  Student Activities Update

EVENTS:

  • Movie passes are available for students to pick up one week each month. 
  • Students can vote online for Homecoming election.
  • Student Government had a meet and greet where they handed out materials. 
  • The new table tents will be posted in classrooms and put out on the tables in the multipurpose room. 
  • A meditation class is being held each Thursday, and is sponsored by the Counseling and Testing office.
  • The city will be sponsoring a disc golf tournament in the park adjacent to the campus, next Saturday.
  • The Red Cross and the Campus Support Organization will be holding a blood drive for next Tuesday.  Students who give blood with get a free sandwich.
  • A new gas grill is on order, with the help from Campus Recreations.  As soon as it arrives there will be a free cookout.
  • October 26 is a Halloween Carnival for kids from 11 to 3, for all university faculty, staff and students.
  • On Halloween there will be a costume contest at noon.
  • Honor Bell will be speaking from 2 to 3:30 on October 31st – Leadership Through Service.
  • Student Services and Bennion Student Union will be co-sponsoring a student for the Savannah State Diversity Exchange.  There will be 15 students going to Savannah State in November and in January Savannah State will send 15 students to ISU.
  • In November there will be a Student Leadership Conference at Portland State.

 

The new Administrative Assistant for the Bennion is Autumn Jones.  Jim stated that he would be gone for two weeks; he will be at University of Nebraska taking his doctoral comprehensive exams.  Bob mentioned that Nevila asked him about having a UI student representative and he also has a note from the UI Chair of the Graduate Students Organizations wanting to be involved here.  He requested help and suggestions in order to make it coalesce.  Jim stated that the enabling legislation for student government for Idaho Falls came from the ASISU in Pocatello.  He felt that the approval, to have a representative for UI, should  come from Moscow.  Jim suggested that he and Bob get together to discuss how to get a framework started.

 

 Bob mentioned that Waylen Winstead has been pushing to send down cans for the “Found Money Fund.”  Years ago, someone in Moscow decided to collect all the found money and set up a scholarship.  Bob asked if there was any interest in starting a “Found Money Fund” here.

 

Bob would like to find a way to encourage faculty and staff to turn in their completed punch cards, so that needy students could be given a completed card for a free meal.  Maybe this idea could be presented on the table tents to encourage faculty, staff and students.

 

ITEM 4:  Presidents Oversight Council – The Presidents Oversight Council will be meeting in Boise on November 5.  The agenda items so far are:

·        The master plan – how it should be implemented here in Idaho Falls.  Included in that would be some discussion would be parking and the CST.

·        EAP and how it will be implemented.

·        The Advisory Council update, the diversity issue and lobbying for more support.

·        EITC agreement.  It is hoped that the agreement will be ready for the signatures of the presidents.

·        Programming issues.

 

ITEM 5: Parking Lot Update – Everything is on hold until the green space issues are resolved.  The hold up is connected with the amount of green area and water retention/grading.  Also, the area needed when the monument is relocated.  Spring will be the earliest before any construction can begin.  Jennifer stated that she hoped that there would be some clarification when the Master Plan was reviewed at the Presidents Oversight Council meeting. 

 

ITEM 6:  Security – The City of Idaho Falls Police Chief has given a directive all the city officers (everywhere in town, not just University Place) that they cannot issue parking tickets for hangtag violations.  They can and will issue tickets on fire code violations, handicap violations, and city code violations.  There are two options to chose from, 1) keep the city officers on, which has merit and bring in some work study students to issue hangtag violations; 2) if we don’t want city officers then we will have to bring on another type of security officer and then we would need to hire 1 ˝ people to cover the necessary hours.  The money needed to pay a work study could come out of the parking fund.  The amount needed would be 30% of the total salary, as the federal funds pay 70%, and would help students.  ACTION ITEM: Bob moved that Greg begin the process to see how much money it would cost to have a workstudy, versus the revenue received by requiring hangtags in the evening and bring the figures to the next meeting.  Jennifer seconded the motion.  Motion carried.

 

The Tech Library was giving out guest permits without dates on them.  Our security guard discovered that students were using them in lieu of purchasing a hangtag for evening classes.  The regulations do not clearly state how long the guest permits should be issued for; it had been assumed that they were good for one week.  The regulations do state that if a person needed a guest permit for one month there would be a fee for the permit.  Bob spoke to Brent and they will begin putting dates on the permits that they issue and they will also put out a note that they are not valid after the Library is closed.  Bob feels that this will require some action on the part of the parking committee. 

 

ITEM 7:  ISU Commuter Bus – In the past there had been some discussion regarding students who had classes in Pocatello and in Idaho Falls and how convenient it would be to be able to have students dropped off and picked up here at University Place.  No decision was ever reached regarding the ISU buses stopping at University Place, and the issue was not brought back to the LOC before making the decision to begin stopping here this semester.  For the last couple of months the commuter bus has been doing exactly that.  The bus picks up twice a day and drops off three times a day – if there are riders that need to get off at University Place.  The concern is the impact on the parking.  Students who ride the bus have purchased a valid parking permit if they are parking on campus.  A full survey has not been completed yet, but what we have initially found is that the impact is about 12 to 15 cars a day.  It is recognized that there is a benefit to the students, because some do get off the bus and go attend a class in the CHE and then go home.  It is also recognized that it does impact our parking to a degree.  Bob felt it should have come before the LOC prior to commencing.  There are 475 parking spaces and the impact could be approximately less than 10%.  ACTION ITEM:  An informal survey of observing the number of students and cars each morning be taken and the results be brought back to the LOC next month.

 

ITEM 8: WGU – We have not heard from them in a long time, but they sent a letter asking us to do their assessments.  Their letter did not explain what that entailed or how much they would pay us.  There was supposed to be an attachment that was left off.  Ann stated that she needed some direction on how to handle their request.  Since no one else has heard anything from them for over two years.  ACTION ITEM: Ann will do some research to see if there are any students seeking their degrees through WGU and report back to the committee next month.

 

ITEM 9: Tiered Classrooms and Computer Equipment – Ann received a request to have computer equipment in the tiered classrooms.  Ann had explored the idea of having a cart that contained enough laptops for each student in the class.  Jennifer felt it would be worthwhile to get a cost estimate.  Carol Baldwin has also been asked about the same equipment needs.  Bob stated that SRV Net at one time had some money that they wanted to donate; he said that Dave Anderson would be the contact person to follow up with.  Greg mentioned that another need was a computer at the front of the class.  And trying to get a computer on a cart down to the front in a tiered classroom is hazardous.  Ann stated that there is a department that would like to have a computer permanently installed in a couple of the smaller sized, tiered classrooms.  Larry suggested that this request be brought before the Advisory Council to see if they can help us find a donor for the computer equipment. 

 

ITEM 10: Adjourn – Bob moved that the meeting be adjourned, Larry seconded, motioned carried and meeting was adjourned until Thursday, October 14th.