Minnesota Government Engineering Council

Engineering Minnesota's Future

MGEC Board Minutes 8.26.24

  Present   Present
President Fernando Nacionales X Director Blake Nelson X
Vice President Corey Mathisen X Director Brandon JB Nelson X
Past President Dan Sullivan X Director Luke Schuette X
Treasurer Wes Leksell X Director Mike Rude X
Secretary Benton Campbell X Director Mark Trogstad-Isaacson X
Director Carroll Aasen X Executive Director Dana Wheeler X
Director John Dalton X Administrative Assistant Donna Blackwell X
Director Jared DeMaster X Labor Relations Specialist Tony Kelly X
Director Bruce Henningsgaard X    

Meeting called to order by President Fernando Nacionales at 4:33 PM.

 Blake Nelson adds TTAA discussion to the agenda during the executive director’s portion, Blake Nelson moves to approve the agenda, Carroll Aasen seconds. Motion Carries.

 Secretary’s Report – Review & Approve Past Minutes (Benton Campbell)

July 24th, 2024 Meeting Minutes

  1. Mike Rude moves to approve the minutes, Luke Schuette seconds. Motion Carries.

 President’s Report (Fernando Nacionales)

Fernando Nacionales will be in Guam for September, and will unfortunately miss the annual meeting.

Executive Director’s Report (Dana Wheeler)

  1. Staff Leave Balances
  2. Meet and Confer scheduled on 8/7/24 with MnDOT cancelled due to no agenda items
  3. MnDOT may propose a new policy eliminating overtime pay but requiring exempt employees to work additional hours. We have requested clarification and additional information on this as it seems to contravene contract terms.
  4. Levitate is a mass email service that has reached out to MGEC staff. They are a one-stop shop for member communication.
  5. Taxpayer Transportation Accountability Act (TTAA): Requires employer (the state) to write a report to the legislature.
    • MnDOT contracts out projects because they don’t have the staff and add an “inflation factor” to the internal costs to show that contracting out projects is cheaper. This inflation factor is not a real item, and somewhat phony.
  6. Annual Meeting agenda
    • Fernando Nacionales is not planning to produce a report. Corey Mathisen will produce a President’s report. Benton Campbell requests a note be added to the presentation that there will be constitutional amendments proposed during the November election. Given the logistics, it’s much easier to do a site-only annual meeting vs including a Teams option. Previous meetings didn’t have many virtual attendees. The board will likely review and approve annual meeting minutes so they can be disbursed to membership in October.

Treasurer’s Report (Wes Leksell)

  1. FY25 Budget
    • Will be presented for discussion and approval at the annual meeting in September
  2. Wes proposes a 5-year plan that the board should develop for asset management and investment strategies. Would be an aid for future board’s treasurers. He will present this prior to the end of CY24
    • Dan Sullivan thought the New Board Member training by Jim Michels in 2022 was very valuable. Benton agreed.

Committee Reports

  1. Membership Committee Report (Mike Rude/Donna Blackwell)
    • Met August 21st
      • Nonmember list was revisited
    • Discussion of Bylaw update
      • Paragraphs referred to Executive Committee
    • Item to give away at lunch meetings approved by committee. For people attending the meetings, a small MGEC-branded notebook was approved by the Committee.
  2. Staff Relations Committee (Corey Mathisen)
    • A project of the Board. All board members are included in the invites.
  3. Insurance Bargaining (Blake Nelson)
    • AD&D and Life Insurance will increase from 95,000 to 200,000 maximum
    • Over 50% of employees opting into short term disability
    • ~30% of State Employees use mental health resources
    • Many retirees opting to keep the state’s dental plan as Medicare doesn’t cover dental

Membership Update (Donna Blackwell)

  1. New hires, retirees, outstanding list of recent potential members.
  2. Annual meeting
    • 30 registered for golf
    • 60 registered for dinner (25 spots remaining)

 Labor Relations Update (Tony Kelly)

  1. MnDOT employee on PAL since Jan terminated
  2. Grievances and Investigations
    • Mileage
    • MnDOT investigations ongoing
  3. Annual Meeting
    • All sponsors have paid – great sponsorship money this year for golf prizes
  4. MGEC Representatives meeting scheduled for October 9th

Vice President’s Report (Corey Mathisen)

September board meeting is normally cancelled due to annual meeting. That is the plan this year.

 Past President’s Report (Dan Sullivan)

Dan Sullivan states the importance of developing continuity documents for MGEC staff.

Adjourn

Bruce Henningsgaard moves to adjourn, Luke Schuette seconds. Motion Carries. Meeting adjourned at 5:52 PM.

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