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<p><strong>Question:</strong> How are contract negotiations going to change now that Melissa Fingar is no longer working at the College?</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>Human Resources will continue to lead those negotiations.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> It looks like the Dual Credit and pre-college programs are moving under EDIWS, is this correct?</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>Academic Services and EDIWS both have dual enrollment courses in their respective divisions. Future org charts will clarify.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> During this restructuring, would you consider moving grant employees from grants to hard monies, especially for staff of color?</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>Retaining employees of color is a priority. In collaboration with our CDO, options will be generated.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> When will we be notified of salary decreases in terms of % of the decrease as well as when those will take effect?</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>Any salary reduction is yet to be negotiated.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> In the re-organization proposal, one professional staff member from Veteran's Services will be going on to financial-aid and one will be going to an interim director position in Student Life &amp; Leadership Development. How do we expect Advisement, Transfer and Testing to assist Veterans with no proper training or staff to assist them? (Currently only two staff members and a secretary in Veterans Services)</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>Staff from Veterans Services will be meeting with Student Services and Advising/Financial Aid leadership to discuss developing and implementing new procedures to more efficiently serve all students, including veteran students. Before any formal moves are made, the new process will be thoroughly defined so that everyone understands roles and responsibilities. Appropriate training will be provided.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> Why is there not an Administrative Services section in the SCAA Narrative in today's Trib article, College Reorganization Proposal? The Existing and Proposed org. charts depicts changes.</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>The single change in the Administrative Services org chart is covered in the President's Division section of the SCAA materials.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> Bravo on the reporting of cases. My son's college updates their numbers each weekday.</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>Still developing the MCC COVID dashboard but stay tuned.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> Why are (cleaning) staff going into offices that have had no one in them since March?</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>Cleaning staff are sanitizing all spaces before anyone returns to use them. Thereafter, daily cleaning is the responsibility of the person in the office.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> So, if David Barnet's position has been eliminated, how will that work be accomplished (e.g. liaising with SUNY and State Dept of Ed)?</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>That work will continue to be done by the staff in the Curriculum office. Specific allocation of duties is still being finalized.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> What happened to the e-mail system? I logged in today and was asked for time zone and other information and then found that everything in my account except for the last two messages in the inbox was gone.</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>We were made aware of two individuals whose accounts were disabled as a result of a script that was run by IT. These accounts are being recreated this week. When the accounts are recreated these come back with an empty mailbox until manually reattached to the old one.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> Why is Mary O'Reilly listed on the CSEA slide as position being eliminated, when in the title column it says she is/was Management Confidential?</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>That position is an exempt Civil Service title that is management confidential. It is not represented by the CSEA contract. It should not have been listed as a CSEA position elimination and we apologize for the confusion this may have created.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> How are we saving money if we need to replace some positions? Seems like we are paying twice.</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>Contractual obligations came into play whether administration eliminated positions or they were voluntarily eliminated.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> For the position in the CSTEP grant (in the voluntary position elimination), NYS guidelines does no support this type of leave and requires that the position be filled. In this case, it is a Coordinator II position. I just want to make sure that the College is covering this person's salary and health benefit and not charging the grant. NYSED requires that this position be filled quickly or we are out of contract compliance.</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>Grants will not be charged for any contractual financial responsibilities due to the eliminations.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> If the Executive Dean has been eliminated, why was his secretary's position not listed in the CSEA eliminations?</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>Secretarial support for the operating of the Downtown Campus remains.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> The secretary position for the downtown campus' AVP (H. Cruz) was eliminated.</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>Those duties will flow up through Student Services.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> I see a few grant-funded positions were included. Because the grant cannot pay for the 1-year severance, the college will be paying each of these individuals for a year where people will not be working. This seems like a colossal waste of money and even misuse of public funds. Please justify this to our taxpayers.</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>Negotiations for the VPEP included any FA member on a first come first serve basis.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> Is MCC now finished with the removal of positions? If not, will we be notified when layoffs are completed? There is so much anxiety around this and we need a solid answer on this.</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>The financial bottom line from these eliminations is still being calculated. The voluntary nature of the VPEP resulted in very uneven outcomes. Some positions will have to be replaced. A final answer to your question awaits the bottom line of those backfills.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> Would you plan to physically combine Advisement, Transfer, Testing and Veteran Services offices? Those offices currently occupy a lot of space. Ex) Accommodated testing for students with disabilities requires separate spaced out areas to meet these student's needs.</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>This is now a topic for the SCAA process.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> What is the future of the Downtown Campus?</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>Academic, Student and Administrative Services that have been provided at the Downtown Campus will continue. In order to reduce operating costs, these will now flow through the respective Division without having a separate administrative structure for Downtown. The plan to increase Downtown Campus revenues through attracting workforce partners is already underway.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> Can you explain why the SCAA committee is not reflective of the institution's diversity? The committee is made up of mostly white women.</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>This is a question for the Faculty Senate leadership.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> What was the cost of the year "buy out"?</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>This figure is still being calculated. The final calculation will include salaries, benefits and backfill.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> How do we save money when people are getting their salaries for a year?</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>All incentives cost money. Savings are seen in subsequent years.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> Don't we legally need a Registrar?</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>The functions of the Registrar are and will be continued.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> A number of directors in Student Services left through the Voluntary Separation. How does the college plan on filling those roles/positions?</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>Each will be reviewed individually and decisions will be made on a case by case basis.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> Those funds weren't accounted for in the total budget...they were simply "found."</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>The savings realized through the Spring 2020 shut down of campus-based operations were indeed 'found' monies, unlikely to be repeated.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> If it's possible during these strange times, I think the college community might benefit from a carefully and thoughtfully conducted, socially distant event to come together and regroup as a family (including those who have recently departed). I worry there is EXHAUSTION out there from a seemingly never-ending bad news reel and tough decisions. Is it worth the health and financial risks to offer such an opportunity so we can return as a community, if only briefly, to try to look forward together and boost morale/spirits?</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>Great suggestion - thanks.</em></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> Will there be any more job cuts/eliminations in the future, and if so, when?</p>
<p><em><strong>Answer: </strong>The financial bottom line from these eliminations is still being calculated. The voluntary nature of the VPEP resulted in very uneven outcomes. Some positions will have to be replaced. A final answer to your question awaits the bottom line of those backfills.</em></p>
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MCC Daily Tribune

Responses to Unanswered Questions from the September 4th MCC Town Hall

Thank you to those who participated in and submitted questions at last week's MCC Town Hall. Below are responses to questions that were not addressed due to time constraints.

Question: How are contract negotiations going to change now that Melissa Fingar is no longer working at the College?

Answer: Human Resources will continue to lead those negotiations.

Question: It looks like the Dual Credit and pre-college programs are moving under EDIWS, is this correct?

Answer: Academic Services and EDIWS both have dual enrollment courses in their respective divisions. Future org charts will clarify.

Question: During this restructuring, would you consider moving grant employees from grants to hard monies, especially for staff of color?

Answer: Retaining employees of color is a priority. In collaboration with our CDO, options will be generated.

Question: When will we be notified of salary decreases in terms of % of the decrease as well as when those will take effect?

Answer: Any salary reduction is yet to be negotiated.

Question: In the re-organization proposal, one professional staff member from Veteran's Services will be going on to financial-aid and one will be going to an interim director position in Student Life & Leadership Development. How do we expect Advisement, Transfer and Testing to assist Veterans with no proper training or staff to assist them? (Currently only two staff members and a secretary in Veterans Services)

Answer: Staff from Veterans Services will be meeting with Student Services and Advising/Financial Aid leadership to discuss developing and implementing new procedures to more efficiently serve all students, including veteran students. Before any formal moves are made, the new process will be thoroughly defined so that everyone understands roles and responsibilities. Appropriate training will be provided.

Question: Why is there not an Administrative Services section in the SCAA Narrative in today's Trib article, College Reorganization Proposal? The Existing and Proposed org. charts depicts changes.

Answer: The single change in the Administrative Services org chart is covered in the President's Division section of the SCAA materials.

Question: Bravo on the reporting of cases. My son's college updates their numbers each weekday.

Answer: Still developing the MCC COVID dashboard but stay tuned.

Question: Why are (cleaning) staff going into offices that have had no one in them since March?

Answer: Cleaning staff are sanitizing all spaces before anyone returns to use them. Thereafter, daily cleaning is the responsibility of the person in the office.

Question: So, if David Barnet's position has been eliminated, how will that work be accomplished (e.g. liaising with SUNY and State Dept of Ed)?

Answer: That work will continue to be done by the staff in the Curriculum office. Specific allocation of duties is still being finalized.

Question: What happened to the e-mail system? I logged in today and was asked for time zone and other information and then found that everything in my account except for the last two messages in the inbox was gone.

Answer: We were made aware of two individuals whose accounts were disabled as a result of a script that was run by IT. These accounts are being recreated this week. When the accounts are recreated these come back with an empty mailbox until manually reattached to the old one.

Question: Why is Mary O'Reilly listed on the CSEA slide as position being eliminated, when in the title column it says she is/was Management Confidential?

Answer: That position is an exempt Civil Service title that is management confidential. It is not represented by the CSEA contract. It should not have been listed as a CSEA position elimination and we apologize for the confusion this may have created.

Question: How are we saving money if we need to replace some positions? Seems like we are paying twice.

Answer: Contractual obligations came into play whether administration eliminated positions or they were voluntarily eliminated.

Question: For the position in the CSTEP grant (in the voluntary position elimination), NYS guidelines does no support this type of leave and requires that the position be filled. In this case, it is a Coordinator II position. I just want to make sure that the College is covering this person's salary and health benefit and not charging the grant. NYSED requires that this position be filled quickly or we are out of contract compliance.

Answer: Grants will not be charged for any contractual financial responsibilities due to the eliminations.

Question: If the Executive Dean has been eliminated, why was his secretary's position not listed in the CSEA eliminations?

Answer: Secretarial support for the operating of the Downtown Campus remains.

Question: The secretary position for the downtown campus' AVP (H. Cruz) was eliminated.

Answer: Those duties will flow up through Student Services.

Question: I see a few grant-funded positions were included. Because the grant cannot pay for the 1-year severance, the college will be paying each of these individuals for a year where people will not be working. This seems like a colossal waste of money and even misuse of public funds. Please justify this to our taxpayers.

Answer: Negotiations for the VPEP included any FA member on a first come first serve basis.

Question: Is MCC now finished with the removal of positions? If not, will we be notified when layoffs are completed? There is so much anxiety around this and we need a solid answer on this.

Answer: The financial bottom line from these eliminations is still being calculated. The voluntary nature of the VPEP resulted in very uneven outcomes. Some positions will have to be replaced. A final answer to your question awaits the bottom line of those backfills.

Question: Would you plan to physically combine Advisement, Transfer, Testing and Veteran Services offices? Those offices currently occupy a lot of space. Ex) Accommodated testing for students with disabilities requires separate spaced out areas to meet these student's needs.

Answer: This is now a topic for the SCAA process.

Question: What is the future of the Downtown Campus?

Answer: Academic, Student and Administrative Services that have been provided at the Downtown Campus will continue. In order to reduce operating costs, these will now flow through the respective Division without having a separate administrative structure for Downtown. The plan to increase Downtown Campus revenues through attracting workforce partners is already underway.

Question: Can you explain why the SCAA committee is not reflective of the institution's diversity? The committee is made up of mostly white women.

Answer: This is a question for the Faculty Senate leadership.

Question: What was the cost of the year "buy out"?

Answer: This figure is still being calculated. The final calculation will include salaries, benefits and backfill.

Question: How do we save money when people are getting their salaries for a year?

Answer: All incentives cost money. Savings are seen in subsequent years.

Question: Don't we legally need a Registrar?

Answer: The functions of the Registrar are and will be continued.

Question: A number of directors in Student Services left through the Voluntary Separation. How does the college plan on filling those roles/positions?

Answer: Each will be reviewed individually and decisions will be made on a case by case basis.

Question: Those funds weren't accounted for in the total budget...they were simply "found."

Answer: The savings realized through the Spring 2020 shut down of campus-based operations were indeed 'found' monies, unlikely to be repeated.

Question: If it's possible during these strange times, I think the college community might benefit from a carefully and thoughtfully conducted, socially distant event to come together and regroup as a family (including those who have recently departed). I worry there is EXHAUSTION out there from a seemingly never-ending bad news reel and tough decisions. Is it worth the health and financial risks to offer such an opportunity so we can return as a community, if only briefly, to try to look forward together and boost morale/spirits?

Answer: Great suggestion - thanks.

Question: Will there be any more job cuts/eliminations in the future, and if so, when?

Answer: The financial bottom line from these eliminations is still being calculated. The voluntary nature of the VPEP resulted in very uneven outcomes. Some positions will have to be replaced. A final answer to your question awaits the bottom line of those backfills.

 

 

Katherine Douglas
Office of the President
09/09/2020