Session of September 15, 2022

September 15, 2022

Minutes Recorded by: Sean Koay, Senate Secretary

Visitor(s): Senate Mom, Citizen Moyes, Citizen Khalifa, and Citizen Gowing

Call to Order at 11:07 AM

Senator prays

Roll Called

Minutes Approved at 11:10 AM

Committee Reports:

Chairman Ko: Weekly update, I have put up all the lists of clubs, and club funding on the website. I have a busy week, so I won’t be able to get much done.  

New Business:

Chairman Byrne: I like to bring the club funding Bill for Fall 2022 to the floor. 

Senator Hofer: I call for a division of house. 

VP Crowder: Has the bill been updated? 

Senator Hofer: Can we get a rundown on the current financial situation? 

VP Crowder: I would say that for this situation, the deficit has been paid off and we can fund our clubs. 

Chairman Byrne: Just to clarify, it has not exactly been paid off, but as of now the only deficit is that we can’t give as much to Sting or Baja. The club funding is under 10000 and is perfectly fine. 

Chairman Byrne: I motion to bring Bill to vote. 

Senator Hofer: I call for a division of house. 

VP Crowder: Can I have a vote by raising your hands? 

Bill passed 

Chairman Byrne: I would like to bring the Senate ice cream temporary funding bill to the floor. 

SGT. Shaughnessy: How much is the amount?

Chairman Byrne: It is 50 dollars.  

VP Crowder: It is supposed to be covering for this week’s ice cream. 

Senate Mom: Why has there been no ice cream? 

Chairman Byrne: The financial situation is why there has been no ice cream. There has been a student life power swap and this bill is a temporary boost to get through this week. 

Chairman Ko: There has also been scheduling conflict, like with Stomp and Lake Day 

Senator Hofer: So, seeing as we don’t know where we are in terms of finance, club funding is important, maybe we shouldn’t spend money on stuff that is frivolous as that is stupid. 

Chairman Byrne: So, I went through all the numbers last night and we have an estimate of where we should be based on what student life has told us, but there should be enough to fund senate Friday ice cream. We are hopefully going to fund a bill next week pass a fund for all the ice-creams. 

Senator Hofer: This attitude of talking about having an estimate is the problem. This is what got us in this problem in the first place. 

Senate Mom: it is unwise to spend money you do not have, but the way that fund work, it is a percentage of fees off the student’s head, that is why you have an estimate that is very reliable, but you get your actual amount in Week 5/6. 

Chairman Byrne: We have the amount in the bank account, and the 8000 from last semester. Student life have offered to give us a little boost, so we are waiting to get that confirmed boost. Club funding has only been cut around 1000 dollars. 

Proxy Farmer: Since we are all part at fault for this problem, for this ice cream, its only 50 so let’s all pitch in. 

VP Crowder: I appreciate the idea, but we can pull this off. 

Senator Hofer: It is not appropriate to say we, ice cream is cool and fun, but its far too frivolous. When you are in debt and spend 50 dollars on ice cream, it is not smart. 

Chairman Drebot: Reckless spending is what got us in this, so we should put a hold on spending. 

Senator McNeil: We seem to be at an impasse, Byrne say that it is a temporary Bill to show students we are trying to reach out to them. 

Chairman Byrne: Alright. I have Fall 2022 Senate letter, we have 16000 in our bank account after the excess, and the 8000 dollars. If we receive a bump, it will give us 6000 to function for the rest of this semester, and we should still be able to function appropriately, Students don’t know senate and their idea is that senate are the kids that give out Ice cream, this is the only way to build student interest in the senate.  

SGT. Shaughnessy: Another thing to note, Cameron made an announcement that there is ice cream this semester, so we should follow through on our word. 

Chairman Ko: Let’s bring it to vote. 

Chairman Ko: Motion for a division of the house. 

Bill is passed 

Announcements:

Chairman Ko: We have had a long debate over things that are very complicated, but one thing that I want to focus as chair is senate outreach programs like fundraising so we can have stuff other than just ice cream. Please send me ideas. 

Chairman Hoekstra: As of passing that bill, we have senate ice cream this week, so we need some help. 

VP Crowder: What are the times on Friday? 

Chairman Hoekstra: The original times are 4 – 5PM  

Open Forum:

Citizen Moyes: Please let people know that citizens can join student life and senate. 

Chairman Ko: Senator Drebot does a great job on floor emails, and we have sent a big email about club funding. Let your floor know we exist. 

Citizen Gowing: I do want to make a point that Friday ice cream is way bigger of a deal. I knew about Senate through ice cream, because of this event you can get some of the best people, which we need now. 

Senate Mom: To the point of outreach, not only is it important for existence, but you need to get people, there is only 12 people here. There is a slight concern about the outreach, but it should not be just ice cream, but to present ourselves as a unified body. If you don’t step up, it’s going to destroy the Senate from within, and doing it with a united front. 

VP Crowder: We are the student body, the senate, we should be a united front, 

Chairman McNeil: Can we make an announcement on buzz app about ice cream. 

Chairman Ko: I got access to the official senate Buzz app account. 

VP Crowder: That is going to be a very helpful tool, and we are allowed to earn income through fundraising. I am sure we can come up with something. 

Senator Berceir: How many possible senators can be inducted in two weeks?

VP Crowder: I have eight. 

Chairman Byrne: Can I get more senators from my floor as they have expressed interest and there is a lot of slots open in commuters. 

Senate Mom: We have legislation that allows the surplus to be filled. It is all about writing that legislation for that constitution loophole. 

VP Crowder: As of right now we may have altered some of the election process. 

Chairman Drebot: It has not been uploaded yet. 

Chairman Byrne: Motion to recess 

Meeting recessed at 11:44