TRIUMF PSRC Meeting
June 7, 2007 13:00 – 14:10
Attending: Stu Austen (Chair), John Drozdoff, Ann Fong, Brenda Morrey, Roman Ruegg (Ex-officio)
Regrets: Mike Mouat, Klaus Reiniger
Guest: Shirley Reeve
Shirley delivered a presentation on 2007/2008 budget projections that had been prepared for a recent OPCOM meeting. Key to the material was the completion of a TRIUMF Statement of Work, all of which was ISAC related. Budgets were always difficult to draft and particularly at this time given the additional challenges presented by the CNSC’s de-commissioning plan requirement, TRIUMF House funding, and the always critical balancing act of more people versus more equipment. It is clear that some important decisions on significant projects must be made in the next few months.
PSRC members felt that the presentation was extremely valuable and would be of interest to all staff, and a discussion on the general issue of communicating information between management and staff followed. Not all information had to be presented in meetings, and much of the budget projection presentation could be included in a Human Resources update.
Stu reported on the progress made on the PSRC web site. The work required to implement a completely new style of page was considerable so a decision had been made to adopt a simpler format. Phil Jones had already implemented the new pages on the site and the PSRC offered its sincere thanks for the time and effort spent on the work.
The Committee unanimously approved the minutes from the May 3 meeting.
Stu opened a discussion about the recent provincial legislative change ending mandatory retirement at age 65. TRIUMF’s Human Resources group would undoubtedly have to draft a new policy to cover the change but a phased-in retirement that took into account operating requirements would seem to benefit both TRIUMF and the individual worker.
Brenda referred to the last PRSC meeting where the topic of the changes in TRIUMF’s workplace atmosphere was raised. She pointed to the issue of flex time as an initiative that makes TRIUMF a good place to work and something that should be actively promoted to retain and recruit staff.
Stu again asked Committee members to identify specific issues that they feel should be represented to the new Director. A meeting will be arranged for some later date.