Local 203
New York State Department of Public Service

1. Treasurer's Report. Doug reported that there is $4,405.46 in the treasury, and that after the scholarship drawing the balance will be $3505.46. Saul Abrams made a motion to accept the Treasurer's Report and Matt Cinadr seconded the motion, and the members approved the report.

2. 2005 PEF Convention. The Convention begins on Sunday, September 19th. Our agency has only one delegate for the Convention this year (Doug) and we are entitled to have five non-NYC delegates. Tom said he would like to solicit for delegates for the 2006 Convention. The application should be in the PEF Communicator next year if anyone if interested in attending the Convention. The location of next year's Convention is not know at this time, as that will be decided next week at the 2005 Convention in Rochester.

Doug gave an overview of the convention issues which don't really apply to our agency. There is no dues increase. An issue that will probably be discussed is a discrimination issue at the Dept. of Labor related to employees being relocated to Troy and Elmira from NYC. Eighty percent of the people in the Dept of Labor call centers being transferred are minorities. There will also be meetings and training for new officers at the convention. Diane Barney asked if Health Care issues would be addressed at the convention. Doug said that he would get information from the Health booth at the convention for DPS employees to look at, but he didn't think there were any specific issues to be discussed.

3. Steward Elections. Tom let everyone know that the last election was only held to fill Sandy Compositors position when she retired in the Spring and a new election had to be held (petitions circulated) in September for the regular schedule. The nomination petitions were due on August 30, 2005. There will be no election held because only four applications were submitted. The new stewards are: Tom Rienzo, Bob Laurenzo, Patrice O'Connor, and Marlee Bickel. Tom let everyone know that there is one more position open for steward in our agency if anyone is interested. Edith Allen made a motion to thank Doug Jasinske for his service to PEF. Tom thanked Doug for his 15 years of service and gave him a plaque from PEF. Doug said he felt he could step down knowing that there were four stewards in place. If there were less than two stewards, our Division would have been in receivership status and PEF Headquarters would have had control over our funds.

4. Communications. Tom reminded everyone to check the bulletins boards on the even floors in Agency Building 3 for important information about PEF. Our division also has a web site which is maintained by Marlee Bickel. If members want to send their personal e-mail addresses to the web site, they will get update information sent directly to them so that they can see what is new on the web site. The web site address is: www.pef.org and then click on the Division 203 (Public Service) area.

5. Scholarship Update. There were 18 applicants in total who are full time undergraduates in college. The three Scholarships were drawn randomly. Winners were: John Carter III, son of Pam Carter (Delmar), Melissa Bouchard, daughter of John Bouchard, and Dusty Strub, daughter of John Strub. The Scholarships are $300 each.

6. Old Business: Update on the electronic swipe card system. The Office of General Services plans to install an electronic security swipe card system in Agency Building 3, and all of the buildings in the Empire State Plaza. There was a discussion at the last membership meeting in Albany regarding such a system and members had concerns about timekeeping issues and swiping in and out of each office space. It's been clarified, during a lengthy discussion at the last Labor-Management meeting, that employees will only be swiping into the office space and that the agency is prohibited from using any information collected by OGS in its database, for timekeeping purposes. Edith Allen asked how employees were going to be able to go from floor to floor (would the swipe cards work on all floors?). Tom was pretty sure that one swipe card would gain entrance to all floors in Agency Building 3. Some else asked about entrance to the rest rooms, and Tom said that the rest rooms would continue to be locked with a key and would not be part of the swipe card system.

7. New Business. Ron said that employees are prohibited from using the vehicle tunnels in and around the ESP as pedestrian walkways. People will be ticketed by the State Police if they walk in the tunnels. Saul Abrams asked about the status of the parking list and if there has been movement on the list. There is a new person in Administrative Management responsible for the parking list, but he's been out. Bob Laurenzo is on the Parking Committee and questions regarding parking should be addressed to him. Bob said there hasn't been as much movement as might be expected because there are more long term medical permits assigned.

Yvonne Wood made a motion to adjourn the meeting, and Pat Grillo seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 12:40 pm.