Miami University

Unclassified Personnel Advisory Committee
Joint Meeting with the Classified Personnel Advisory Committee
January 17, 2008

UPAC Members Present:  Melanie Hoffmann, Chair; Janet Cox, Doug Curry, Stephen Gordon, Marsha McIntosh, Shahla Mehdizadeh, Karen O’ Hara, Ted Pickerill, Amy Poppel, Anne Schauer, Barry Zaslow

UPAC members met with the CPAC at 9am.  Following introductions the first guest speaker, John McCandless, Chief of the Miami Police Department was introduced. 

Chief McCandless began by discussing the IRT, or Institutional Response Team
Comprised of faculty & staff, meet monthly, deal mainly with student related crises such as rapes, crime alerts, and deaths. Susan Moseley Howard, Claire Wagner & John McCandless are the three main staff. MU Oxford campus averages 2-3 psychological emergencies a week

Also CMT- Crisis Management Team – deals with big emergencies/natural disasters such as tornados, floods, fires.  Formally headed by Richard Norman.  Fortunately, the CMT rarely assembles. Mr. McCandless reported every year 2,500 college students across the nation die from suicide, alcohol and drugs.  Still, American college campuses among safest places in society. What do we do in the case of an active shooter?  The truth is there is not a standard response, but the Police will do what is best given the situation. Call Dennis Fleetwood in Environmental Health & Safety for information  on  emergency response.

E2 Campus allows the University to send text messages to students and staff
Three people on campus can launch E2 messages
Will only use for serious emergencies – very sparingly
One reason is because students now consider crime alerts spam and delete them.
If your dept. is having a Special Event Call MU Police– you may need coverage

Mr. McCandless invited staff to MU Police Headquarters for five minute tour
Also have meeting room for any time that seats about 25
Call Kelly if need to reserve room

Dave Merriman, Chair, CPAC reported that locks in some classrooms are being changed, although Sgt. McCandless noted in some cases the University is wise not to have locked rooms.  If they do must have key to lock doors.

Dawn Fahner, Benefits Services, gave a brief update on the Alternative Retirement Plan.  A memo will be sent by the end of January to those who are enrolled in the ARP.  There is a change in January 2008 to the contributions percentages.

CPAC and UPAC Committee members again introduced themselves and briefed group on their work and committee assignments. CPAC may want to join UPAC for their next meeting  2/5/08. 

VP Finance Interviews:  Discussion of the candidates and process. Four candidates came to campus. Thirty-two questions provided to each candidate.  Doug Curry briefed the group.  President Hodge wants everything to be transparent (budget, process, etc.). CPAC very concerned about outsourcing.  How will it impact quality of service at Miami?

Janet Cox urged committee members to have questions to keep discussion going during candidate interviews.  It was also suggested staff attend the Open Forums.
Melanie Hoffmann will put questions on the UPAC list serve and asked committee members to email questions to her.

The meeting adjourned at 10:20 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Steve Gordon