Minutes of Benefits Advisory Committee (BAC): May 3, 2012

Minutes of Benefits Advisory Committee (BAC)
Thursday, May 3, 2012

Attending: Amy Diehl, Heather St. Germaine, Yaniris Fernandez, Nancy Booth, Steven Roof, Lise Sanders, Jerry Bohdanowicz, and Shelly Ruocco (ex officio)

I. Minutes from Thursday, March 29 approved.

II. Early Retirement Incentive: Jerry discussed our budgeting constraints with the options presented and the competing needs for our limited funds. The BAC discussed that one option for retirees available now is the access to Commonwealth Care, which would be at no cost to the college.
Action: Shelly will ask David Hoffman to research a possible retiree health plan alternative for early retirees.

III. Announcement to the community about federal government Student Loan Forgiveness programs: Nancy shared a draft announcement about student loan forgiveness with BAC members. The BAC decided Nancy needs to add some language to the announcement that speaks to contacting your college for other information or reviewing the information at the link provided for more information on other options.
Action: Nancy will make revisions to the draft and share with the Hampshire community.

IV. Employee Benefit Survey: A draft of an employee announcement was initiated by Shelly to the BAC for review. This will be finalized in June and sent to employees. We also discussed the comment section and the need to summarize the details in order to analyze.
Action: Nancy to summarize the comments and discuss at the next meeting.

V. Parents in a Pinch: Last month we had a conference call with Parents in a Pinch to discuss a potential employee benefit. Nancy disclosed that there is a $10K annual fee, a fee the Hampshire budget is not set up to bear at this time.
Action: David Hoffman, our SBA consultant, is researching whether other colleges in the Valley are interested in pursuing this program.

VI. BAC Charge: The committee spoke about the terms for members and clarified which members have two-year terms (Steve Roof and Heather St. Germaine and which on three-year terms (Lise Sanders and Amy Diehl). The members also discussed having an interim cover for a faculty member during their sabbatical and the member completing their term when they are back.
Action: Shelly is to make minor changes to the charge to reflect the changes discussed and speak with the SAC and Jonathan before finalizing.


Upcoming meetings: Thursday, June 7, 9:00 a.m-10:30 a.m in Shelly's office