Forum Finance Committee Report
February 13, 2003 Forum Meeting

As mentioned in the February 3, 2003, memo from Lisa Mencini and me, the University has hired Mercer Group, a national human resources consulting group, to review our medical benefits and make recommendations in light of increasing medical premiums.

To gather information from the users, Mercer will be conducting four focus groups for randomly selected faculty, one for staff, and one for administrators. The Forum Finance Committee will be holding open hearings for those who will not be part of the focus groups. Dates for the open hearings are Friday, February 21, 12-1; Monday, February 24, 8:30-10; and Tuesday, February 25 from 8-10. All open hearings are in Science Center 202. Input may also be done by attending a brown bag luncheon at noon: Wednesday February 19 or Thursday February 20 in Rodman Hall, third floor, conference room A. Input may also be made by emailing your views and suggestions to the Forum Finance Committee: Jerry Moreno (moreno@jcu.edu), Earl Spurgin (espurgin@jcu.edu), or Charlie Watts (drwatts@jcu.edu).

It is planned that all information gathered will be processed and recommendations made so that the faculty may discuss them with Mercer at a special meeting of the Forum perhaps on Monday, April 7. A proposal to be voted on is tentatively planned for the April 23 Forum regular meeting.

Keep in mind that if a proposal is made that is considered a diminishment of health benefits then the issue is a faculty handbook one and would require a majority of all faculty for passage, not just of all faculty voting.