Diversity Council Meeting March 23, 2006

Attending council members were: Phin Xaypangna James Johnson Leon Miller Colleen Singleton Dr. Elizabeth Petersen-Vita John McGillicuddy Najee Johnson Angela Shannon

1. Meeting was called to order at 9:07 am.

2. Approval of the minutes was unanimous with clarification on #4 to state briefed Council on changes to the Community & Corporate Scorecard

3. John McGillicuddy attended the meeting and briefed the Diversity Council on the revised Strategic Plan (Diversity Plan) for the Diversity. At the February meeting John had offered to take the feedback gathered in that meeting and create the document. The latest version looks very different, with the following changes.

a. Restructured Executive Summary lays out the rationale and strategies b. Formatting changes, making the document more uniform c. Changed methodology with assistance from Leslie Johnson d. Creates a positive rather than a negative with wording changes. e. Removed pieces that were not appropriate for a strategic plan.

Networking groups was put in as a “tactic” making it something we could explore later and consider the feasibility of such groups as well as the legality. Had Sandra Bisanar research the establishment of Employee Resource Groups. (refer to Sandra’s memo)

John asked the Council if they could live with his version of the Strategic Plan (Diversity Plan). This version is one he feels he could sell to the organization. Colleen expressed that it was not worth holding up the plan just for the employee groups.

Phin has submitted a budget plan to Susan Manning as part of the Human Resources budget. The budget includes the same request as last year of $20,000 and $80,000 for training. The budget would be added in a conclusion statement at the end of the plan.

There is still a little more work to be done, some fine tuning. One such place is to highlight American Sign Language (ASL) as being included in multi-lingual.

One figure that was not available was the costs of turnover. Taking 25% of salary and benefits of each employee that resigns, person to take over duties while position is vacant, training new person, etc… is $5,843,390. Phin hopes to be ready to present to EEG-Falt in May, 2006.

4. Employee Survey – John McGillicuddy There was much discussion on the Community Survey and the Employee Satisfaction Survey. John questioned comments about the surveys’ validity and after much discussion it was not the validity being questioned but addressed comments that had been heard from different places around the County. One comment is being identifiable on the survey especially if you are in a small work group. John made the council aware that no one has to fill out the portion on the survey that identifies you. He suggested that Phin contact Leslie Johnson and have her attend the Diversity Council meeting to answer their questions and concerns and also provide a deeper understanding of the methodology, etc… Leslie is the organization’s expert in this area.

James wants to look at a way to improve perception of the employee survey and how to get employees to understand that they can have anonymity. John feels that information gained from Leslie would allow them to address comments as they are heard, thereby improving perception of the process.

5. Meeting adjourned at 10:40.

6. Next meeting on April 27, 2006 at 9am room TBD

Submitted by: Rhonda A. Price, Administrative Assistant

Signed by:______Phin Xaypangna, Chairperson