OS Council Welcomes Operating Staff To Open House

By Ken Gagnon, Media Relations

 At its December monthly meeting, the OS Council held an open house for operating staff and discussed issues ranging from the finalization of the Family Friendly Leave proposal to elections for next semester's council leadership positions.

 Council Chair Stephanie Higgs began the meeting by requesting feedback from the council members and their constituents on the Family Friendly Leave proposal, which has recently been the subject of frequent discussions at council meetings. The current version of the proposal, which has been posted and is viewable at the OS Council website: http://www.unh.edu/os-council/famfriendcostcon04.html, allows for operating staff to use up to 10 days of sick pool time per year to care for a sick family member, tend to a new baby, or for extended bereavement in the event of a death in the employee's immediate family.

 "In this version of the proposal, we really just explained a lot of the rationale behind why families need to be able to use sick time in different ways than they have in the past," Higgs said. The Family Leave proposal is intended to expand the ways in which sick leave can be used by staff at UNH.

 "Our hope is definitely that more staff members will start donating more time from their own earned time/vacation days with this new policy," council member Lon Sattler said.

 The council also held brief discussions on the elections of the leadership positions for next semester's council. Current chair Stephanie Higgs accepted a nomination and was voted in to serve again next semester, and current council member Jason Brodeur was nominated and voted in to serve as vice chair. The Council members will rotate the role of Recorder.

 After the initial portion of the meeting concluded, the OS Council opened its doors for an OS Open House. Council members spent an hour meeting and informally answering questions from operating staff about the responsibilities of the council and hot issues important to OS. Council members encouraged their fellow staff members to serve as a council representative.

 "I would definitely encourage anyone to think about joining the OS Council if they've got ideas that should be heard," council member Lori Parent said. "I've learned quite a lot about all the departments at UNH from being on the Council, and the meetings are just once a month. For the amount you can get done, it's not a lot of time to donate at all."

 The next meeting of the OS Council is Tuesday, Jan. 11, at 8:30 a.m. in Thompson Hall Board of Trustees conference room.