MPCA meet and confer minutes Jan. 10, 2018

Publish Date
Committees
Pollution Control (MPCA)

MAPE Meet and Confer Open Discussion
January 10, 2018

Team members present: Bill Dunn, Sandy McDonald, Angela Preimesberger (Chair-notetaker), Mark Toso, Bill Wilde, and David Wischnack (new)

Other MAPE Attendees: Anne Claflin, Tammy Dahl, Deepa deAlwis, Roberta Getman, Kristin Kirchoff, Brett Nagle, Jim Sullivan, Christina Sundgaard, Steven Theisen, Melissa Wenzel (past team member)

  • Introduction and background on Meet and Confer (MC) and Leadership Management Committee (LMC)
  • To see team notes and future agendas see the MAPE website at https://www.mape.org/my-mape/committees/meet-and-confer-committees/mpca
  • Goals of the meeting were to share accomplishments of 2017, build communication on MC, and obtain feedback/support for new topics in 2018

Accomplished in 2017

Ongoing and New Initiatives for 2018 (topics need leads and support from multiple MAPE members to raise)

  • Anti-Bullying (see at MAPE https://www.mape.org/my-mape/anti-bullying-toolkit )
    • Team lead (Anne Moore)
    • Team considers work toward a Lorax page and additional outreach on anti-bullying that parallels information being shared on sexual harassment. We also think it important to define timelines for responses after complaints submitted.
    • Many attendees at the meeting agree that this is an important issue. Questions were also raised on the Human Resources policy to not investigate anti-bullying complaints more than a year old (where is there rationale or policy on this? We know it can take significant time for someone to come forward) (even when filed by more than one person on a single supervisor or manager) and share the steps or framework for how a complaint is investigated.
    • A recommendation was made to request HR develop a consistent process for how complaints are handled and make that process transparent. People raising complaints also need a meaningful report back that does follow rules on confidentiality. There should be clear timelines on report backs.
    • Are there oversight reports that compare how MPCA handles complaints vs. other agencies?
    • We discussed that there is overlap that needs more clarity as to what process to use for anti-bullying complaints and how well employees understand it (what it entails, risks/benefits to them and others/why not called out specifically in respectful workplace).
    • Information should be given to employees on red flags for bullying behavior.
    • We wondered what percent of staff leaving the agency or transferred to different supervisors has been due to bullying; overarching statistics could be helpful to ensure positive outcomes as many messages being heard about the process to investigate and resolve bullying are negative.
    • Follow-up meeting was held for interested people from this discussion. More ideas were shared to strengthen the efforts to eliminate bullying. For more information contact, Angela.
  • Discussed consistency for other policies across the agency as supervisors, managers or directors may have different responses.
    • The LMC is working toward consistent policies. A specific area is use of state or personal vehicles.
    • Two participants raised issues about the inconsistent expectation that some staff have to share hotel rooms when in travel status. While there has been some intervention on this topic from MAPE until policies/contract language make single-occupancy the baseline and sharing an option vs. the current policy where some staff (particularly when out doing fieldwork), but not all are expected to share (save the agency money) or feel pressured to agree with double-occupancy even when they have genuine reasons (e.g., field crew leads not wanting to share with student worker) for not wanting to share.
    • Inconsistency in requests for professional memberships was also raised. Recently EAO Director, Shannon Lotthammer, did share a policy for one professional membership, but staff should consider if there are other staff to share journals with or other membership benefits.
  • TEMPO Issues not resolved yet—updates were supposed to be followed by a survey; ongoing questions on repetitive injuries from extra data entry
  • Regional office member from St. Paul and Duluth raised a concern about level of cleanliness in the office seems to have fallen. It is very common to have illnesses circulating among staff. There are concerns of individual pod cleanliness and common areas. What happened to the hand sanitizing stations that were placed throughout all offices in past years when there was a high flu alert?
  • The team had raised the idea of MAPE supporting efforts to increase diversity in hiring and building an inclusive culture. Kellie McNamara said there was a formal Senior Leaders team working to develop ideas and would share at next Meet and Confer.