Members Present: Marc Goetschalckx (ISyE), James Higgins (GTRI-ATAS), Jackie McGill (GTRI-ITTL), Rajiv Wanasundera (Grad. Stu.), Marilyn Williamson (Library), Don Fedor (MGT),(attending for Christina Shalley)

Ex-Officio Members: Chuck Donbaugh (OHR), John Grovenstein (OHR)

Minutes: Judy Parks (GTRI-ATAS)

1. Jim Higgins called the meeting to order at 1:50 PM. He then went over the minutes from the last meeting held on February 23, 2000. The committee changed the third numbered item and approved the previous minutes as amended.
2. The following issues were identified and discussed by all:

• Plans to merge with the State Merit System have been abandoned for the present time.
• Employees will be notified in November of the details regarding a new Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plan that will go into effect January 1, 2001. A PPO will make it more expensive for out of coverage area participants. (This would make it hard for GT employees that live out of state.) Georgia Tech is not big enough to have a PPO of our own. One option might be to team up with other schools in Georgia to have a joint PPO plan. Retirees are the least likely to move from an indemnity plan to a PPO or HMO.
• There will be a 15% premium increase in the current Blue Cross/ Blue Shield (BC/BS) indemnity plan effective in August 2000. Plan members will be notified of an additional percentage increase in November, which will go into effect January 1, 2001, and is expected to be more than 15%. The Board of Regents (BOR) is not expected to increase the employer’s contribution percentage. It looks like there will be a total increase in premiums of about 50% to the BC/BS indemnity plan by next year. Rate change prices are scheduled to be mailed out to employees immediately. The deductible will also be changed from $200 to $300 per year (not sure when this change will go into effect). Also, the lifetime maximum will be going from 1 million to 2 million.

• Georgia Tech Legal is still working on the wording of a new TDA vendor agreement.
• The major vendors are expected to accept the new agreement, however some smaller vendors may be reluctant to accept liability with the IRS for their calculations.
• Possibly up to 30% of GT employees might have to change to another TDA vendor if their current vendors do not accept the new TDA vendor agreement.
• A new agreement will be distributed by e-mail soon.

• Anthony Calises' request regarding ORP vs. TRS retirement plans was discussed. Dr. Calise wants what is deducted to go on his paycheck. Marc said that the numbers on the paychecks and the TIAA statement do not add up at the end of the year. To have the numbers on the employees paycheck add up, PeopleSoft software would have to be rewritten to include another column instead of the current two columns for employee’s contribution and employer paid benefits. It was proposed that maybe an additional column be added with an asterisk to explain that this portion does not go to the employee.
• Jim Higgins requested that some explanation of the plans be developed which includes a side-by-side analysis and comparison. Such an analysis should provide a detailed accounting of both employee and employer contributions, how they are collected and what the percentages are, and a similar accounting of benefit funds flow. He spoke to Rob Clark from Georgia Tech’s Internal Auditing Department who said that an analysis could be done between the two if a request was submitted in writing to their department. Chuck Donbaugh said that Rob Clark and Joel Hercik from Financial Services could take the information from HRD and put out an explanation of the two plans.
• One suggestion was put forth to have a list of questions submitted to HRD, and then they could answer each question and mail out this information to employees.
• Marilyn Williamson made a motion to have a subcommittee formed to focus on the issue of ORP and TRS retirement plans, and have Marc Goetschalckx as the chairman. Jim Higgins seconded the motion and it was passed.
• The committee decided to reply to Dr. Calise’s note that the problem was sent to the director of AVP and it should be resolved in October.

• Andre Peterson submitted a plan design like Georgia State’s. Georgia State’s plan is a poor plan design, which artificially inflates salaries. Suggestions were made to base the plan on actual salaries.
• John Grovenstein was asked to reply to Mr. Peterson’s request. Since he was familiar with Georgia State’s plan and could explain the non-standard design of the plan.

• They reviewed the statutes of the FBC and its charter.
• One statute in question is that there is to be a review of the wages and working conditions of non-professional employees. Chuck Donbaugh offered to do a wage analysis presentation if a request was submitted to HRD sometime around February or March, so the rate scale could accommodate changes if needed by the next fiscal year.
• Marilyn Williamson recommended that maybe a non-professional staff member should be included on the committee if the FBC is to comply with the statute. (It would take a change of statute to add a staff member to the FBC.)
• A motion was made by Marc Goetschalckx to have an annual presentation by HRD of wage analysis at the first meeting of each year. Jackie McGill seconded the motion. 

• President Clough has agreed to build the new Home Park childcare facility if the money can be raised. It is estimated that it will take $1.3 to $1.6 M to build the facility, and so far they have raised $900 K.
• The GT Foundation will enter into an agreement with Home Park for a 15 year-long term lease if the following conditions can be met:

• The new building could be ready as early as January 2001.

• The new online parking registration is getting very favorable comments.
• The parking deduction will be on a pre-tax basis, and is being deducted without a signature (auditors do not think the signature is required).