Staff Congress met on Thursday, Nov. 9 for a special called meeting to discuss the recent resignation of Staff Regent Jessica Evans.
Evans was elected as Staff Regent after winning a runoff election on Nov. 4, 2021.
Orville Herndon, credentials and elections committee chair, said the filing period for the Staff Regent special election began Monday, Nov. 13 and ends at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 27 in order to avoid the period ending during Thanksgiving break.
Online voting will begin two weeks after the filing period ends.
Matt Purdy, director of Career Services, asked the group if this means Staff Congress would not be represented at the next Board of Regents meeting.
“That seat will be empty,” Herndon said. “Whenever we found out about this, we put together a variety of different scenarios. The scenario we came up with, by the time we would be able to meet and to get the process started, it would not be possible to have someone seated.”
Barring a run-off election, the new staff regent will go through a Board of Regents training before the March 1, 2024, Board of Regents meeting.
While an agenda for the December Board meeting is not confirmed, Herndon said the second reading on flexible work arrangements is scheduled.
Tressa Ross, coordinator of Recruitment and Retention center in the College of Education and Human Services, discussed her concern during the meeting.
“I’m sure that Dr. Jackson and the rest of the Board will be aware that due to circumstances beyond our control, that the staff will not have a representative and it would be nice not to do anything that involves us without us being represented,” Ross said.
The next Staff Congress meeting will be on Dec. 20.
