COMMITTEE REPORT
Report No. FC-06
Committee Minutes, Wednesday, September 16th 2009
Senator Johnathan Tucker submitted the following report to the Student Senate on Monday, September 21st 2009, on behalf of the Finance Committee, and pursuant to its Wednesday, September 16th 2009 recommendations:
There were four (4) members (Humphrey, O'Donnell, Robinson, J. Tucker) present. There was also one (1) non-voting member (Lamm) present.
There were no members absent.
The following official was also present: Ceresnak.
A quorum was present.
We discussed several new bills and favorably recommend two new bills to be fast-tracked at the next Senate meeting.
Finance Committee Meeting: 9-17-09
Members Present: Tucker, Humphrey, Robinson, O’Donnell 4/5
Absent: Green
Guest Present: Sevits, Howie, Rose, Blackford
SG Official Present: Lamm, Rennaker (sp), Ceresnak
Meeting started 9:05pm
The Homecoming/Alumni Association spoke first. Shanna Rose spoke for the group, she is the current head of the NC State Alumni Student Association. A projected budget was provided to the committee. There is a $12,485 budget short fall in the projected budget. The group is requesting additional funds to meet the budget short fall. They are specifically asking for $9,000 (a total request of $15,000) to keep the Pack Howl concert free for students. TREA Lamm asked for information regarding specific cuts they have made in budget. Members of the AA outline a number of cuts that have been made in the budget. They have also moved the concert from Reynolds to Lee field, reducing the cost by ~$5,000. They have also reduced the amount of funding for the band to $10,000. The also outlined where they had lost funding mostly from university organizations reducing funding. Traditionally the Alumni Association will “front” the money for Homecoming, with sponsorship money from the event covering the “fronted” money. Homecoming traditional has lost money, some years they have run $20,000-$30,000 over budget. Senators expressed their concerns regarding this tradition. Sen Tucker suggested contacting Chuck Wicks to possibly performing, since he could not perform on Friday fest. TREA Lam asked about alternatives to Pack Howl, ~3-5,000 students attend Pack Howl. The Alumni Association stated that they would like to keep the event free and feel that the event is important to Homecoming. TREA Lamm asked what a sponsorship of $15,000 would “get” SG, the group outline the sponsorship publicity at that funding level. Mrs. Rennacker asked about the $11,000 line item regarding publicity. The Alumni Association group stated that they felt they could make up the remaining ~$3,500. TREA Lamm provided a timeline for a senate bill passing. The AA asked for the committee to move as quickly as possible, asking to fast track a bill for the Sept 23rd senate meeting.
The SBP spoke next regarding three proposals
1) Rebranding: SBP outline the successes of SG and the need to get the message out to the student body. SBP stated that SG needs to continue providing the leadership that it has provided in the past and also needs to let the SB know what SG is doing. So the SB can see where their SG funds are going. SBP also stated that the SG website needs a major overhaul to allow it to be a destination for student information, events, SG movements etc. SBP stated that becoming more visible to get more website traffic and to attract more student leaders. SBP provided information regarding rebranding to the committee. Budgets are available upon request. SBP is requesting $3,000 for rebranding, and request that the bill moving money also come with a requirement that the Exec provide a full budget for the funds. The SBP feels that the money is needed ASAP to be available for Spook Hunger and the Student Deals Network. Sen. Tucker suggested requesting a front page link on the NCSU homepage to the SG page. The office of OIT has plans to place a link to SG on the “For Students” page of the website.
2) Sustainability Project is currently unfunded and does not have a line item in the Exec budget. SBP stated that he feel that sustainability is a top priority for students on campus. The SBP feels that SG should be a leader in this area. Stating Pack Pulse and the Farmers Market are some of the most successful projects that SG has produced. The plan for the $1,000 request is $500 will be used to launch a project to allow students to design a project to increase sustainability on campus. The remaining $500 will be provided to the winning project as seed money to help the project get started on campus. Packpulse.com allows for real time information on energy consumption between Owen and Syme. The SBP requested that the money be released ASAP.
3) Concert on the Lawn is collaboration between UAB, IRC, WKNC and SG to promote more partnerships between student groups. The current plan is to have one concert per month through November 20th. The SBP feels that the concerts provide a great opportunity to engage the students and to promote all of the student groups involved. The SBP requested $1,000 to help the first concert on Sept 25th and then reevaluate further funding after the first concert. The SBP requested that funds be released ASAP.
R18 the current debate is regarding getting projectors from surplus vs buying new. The current bill states that the library will get surplus projectors. The bulbs for projectors cost about $3-400 dollars, about 1/3 of the cost of a new projector. The library is against the use of surplus projectors. A number of senators stated that they agreed with the library position on not getting surplus projectors. Mr. Sevits stated that there is a demand for the projectors. Mr. Sevits outline the libraries plan for purchasing projectors. Senators have requested that only 2 projectors be purchased to try a pilot program for the students. The library feels that having 4-6 projectors will provided their required standard of service to the student body. The library does not feel fewer projectors will be acceptable. TREA Lamm suggested that the authors of the bill contact other senators to gain feedback from students. Sen. O’Donnell plans to write a report for the senate after he has spoken to other students for the second reading of the bill. The bill will be discussed at a later meeting after more information has been gathered, and the bill possibly rewritten.
Homecoming: TREA Lamm stated that there are not enough funds in the treasury to support the request. The committee as a whole felt that a request of $15,000 was excessive. With the current budget presented to the committee SG would be the largest funding source for the event. Almost triple the next highest current donor (which is SG). Members of the committee stated concerns about the production costs and concert. The members moved to table discussion of the bill until the members of the committee could speak to other students. The committee also requested more information regarding the naming rights, concert and seeing a more detailed budget of the event.
Rebranding and Concert on the Lawn must be written into a bill and presented to the full senate, 3-0-1, Senator Tucker has volunteered to write the bill and it will be reported to the senate Favorably, the committee also intends to fasttrack the bill.
Sustainability funding was approved 4-0 funds will be removed from surplus.
Meeting adjourned 11:00pm