Bergen Community College Faculty Association 400 Paramus Road Paramus, NJ 07652 201-447-2484 201-447-7988

BCCFA Representative Assembly

Minutes of Meeting of December 7, 2004 (Room C-313) – REVISED

Members Present: Mark Altschuler; Kathleen Bagley; Michael Bodek; John Burke; Amparo Codding; Joan Cohen; Florio De Gaetano (substituting for Paul Wolfe); Philip Dolce; Fred Golub; Laurie Hodge; William Leonard; Gerald Meisel (BA); Jeanie Payne; P.J. Ricatto; Kevin Sullivan; Marjorie Webster (BT); Baila Zheutlin

BCCFA Executive Committee Officers Present: Peter Helff, President; Denise Jerman, Vice President; Alan Kaufman, Treasurer; George Cronk, Secretary

Guests: Marilyn Gilroy, Mauro Marzocco

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1. Review minutes of meeting of October 12, 2004. Approved without objection.

2. BCCFA Treasurer’s report (Kaufman). Discussion of possible $19K shortfall. Report approved unanimously, 21-0-0.

3. Report on BCCFA dues structure (Kaufman). Discussion of alternative dues-payment systems. Agreed that the discussion on this matter will be continued at a subsequent meeting.

4. Re-approval of BCCFA officers' yearly stipends. Approved unanimously, 21-0-0.

5. Waiver of a long-standing $22.66 budget deficit in order to clear our books (per the recent CPA audit). Approved unanimously, 21-0-0.

6. Report on current status of Representation Fee process (Cronk).

7. Discussion of department head election issues (e.g., tie votes). The following proposal was presented by Marilyn Gilroy, representing an ad-hoc committee composed of herself, Ken Bonnaffons, Joan Cohen, Thomas Jewell, Susan Klarreich, and Alan Kaufman. The proposal was to replace BCC-BCCFA Contract provision Appendix C, 3.g., which reads as follows:

If there is a tie vote in a contested election, the outcome will be determined by the toss of a coin. If, in the case of a single nominee, there is no majority affirmative vote, nomination procedures shall be reopened one time only to attempt to select a Department Head. If there is still no successful resolution, the Academic Vice President shall appoint a Department Head for a one year term.

The replacement language in the "Gilroy proposal" is a follows:

If only three candidates remain and two are tied for the lowest number of votes, for example 8-7-7, then the candidate to be eliminated will be decided by another round of voting between the two who are tied. If this voting also results in a tie, the person holding the highest faculty rank will be declared the winner. If both individuals hold the same rank, the winner will be decided by the number of years within rank. In the event of a tie, the total number of years at BCC will determine the winner.

If there are only two candidates or when the above procedure has resulted in two candidates, there then will be a final round of voting for department head, using the same procedure and guidelines for resolving tie votes as outlined above.

Following discussion, the proposal was approved, 20-0-1.

There was then a motion that the proposal should be moved ahead by the BCCFA Executive Committee for inclusion in the BCC-BCCFA Contract per agreement with the BCC Administration. The motion was approved, 20-0-1.

8. Other matters. A Contract Revision Proposal for restructuring the membership of the College-Wide Promotion and Sabbatical Leave Committee from members of the LLRC was distributed. The proposal will be considered in a subsequent meeting of the RA.

9. Adjournment: 1:40 PM.

Minutes prepared by:

George Cronk

Secretary, BCCFA

Submitted: 3/3/05