Changes to Staff Senate Meetings

Colleagues, the below message was distributed to the Staff Senate today.  We wanted to share this with the broader campus community to make you aware of the changes. I have edited the original version for clarity.  Thank you for your support! – Ben Pendry, President

Senators,
There are a few changes that have been made in regards to the upcoming Staff Senate meeting, starting 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, September 2, as well as future meetings that I would like to tell you about.

We are working with General Counsel’s office on bringing our meetings into compliance with changes to how public meetings work in NC.  As a public body, we are subject to these changes and I appreciate your help.

Notice of Meetings

The Senate Secretary and I will work together to prepare notification of all of our upcoming meetings and work with the Chancellor’s Office to send those to the NC Secretary of State’s office.  In addition, we will also physically post the meeting notice and send it to a few individuals via e-mail.   Finally, the notice must include dates, times, and how the meeting can be accessed.

Public Attendance

We are going to utilize the ZOOM Webinar platform going forward.  Senators and guests with a speaking role will be assigned as panelists.  Attendees will need to register for the meeting ahead of time (just like with the forums) so that they can access the meeting.  Again, anyone who is not on the agenda with a speaking role will need to register as an attendee through the posted link.  These links will be available through the website and through the meeting invites that come from the Staff Senate Outlook.

Senators / Speakers

We will be setting up all of our meetings in ZOOM Webinar.  Senators and those on the agenda with a speaking role will receive communication about your being added as a panelist.  There will be a different link for each meeting and you will need to use the link for that meeting.  The ZOOM system will send reminders a week before and a day before the event (to attendees and panelists) so you have the link easily accessible.

Meeting Logistics

We will call the Senate roll for attendance at the start of the meeting and we will call the roll for each vote.  The Secretary will mark the votes and maintain with the minutes.  Additionally, if Senators leave the meeting this must be noted in the minutes.  If Senators join the meeting after leaving, then this will also be noted in the minutes.