SBA General Meeting 4/19

SBA General Meeting 4/19/2015

SBA Board Members Present: Kate, Ernesto, Anthony, Aparna, Dustin, Stephen, Chanel

SBA 2015-2016 Board Members Present: Mary, Bahar, Brittany, Nicole, Derek, Crystal, Jordan

Motion to approve agenda (Dustin), second (Chanel)
Ayes (6), Nay (0), agenda approved

Motion to approve minutes for 3/15/2015(Ernesto), second (Stephen)
Aye (6), Nay (0), minutes approves

Motion to approve minutes for 3/29/2015 (Ernesto), second (Stephen)

Item #1, election rules (Ernesto)
There was an issue with add-on candidates after the 48 hour window; should we do away with the window completely?; I suggest striking it completely (Ernesto); My concern is logistics and giving the election committee notification (Dustin); Now that there is a procedure under TWEN there may be an easier way to do it (Ernesto); the 48-hour rule was put into effect because of an issue last year and if it isn’t there then there is an issue of underground campaigning (Stephen); the next board will have appointments anyway which will solve that issue (Ernesto); What was the issue? (Kate); there was a lot of indecision and they didn’t run until the last minute (Ernesto); you can bypass all bylaws if you’re a write in and if there isn’t a rule (Jordan); the write-in person interested in running missed the 48-hour rule by two hours and they wanted to run and now we have open positions (Ernesto); now that we have the board here for next year maybe we should get their input (Chanel); Maybe the three hour idea that Dustin had would help, you want to give someone the opportunity to run if they want to (Ernesto); standing in front of a classroom and getting the signatures take effort to do, so why would we bother having election rules (Jordan); if someone didn’t know they were running until two days in advance, are they really that upset or interested (Chanel)

Motion to amend elections policy section G to state “24 hours prior to voting” (Dustin), second (Anthony)
Aye (4), Any (2-Chanel, Stephen), motion passes

Item #2 Section B of the election policy
The idea is to fix the two vacant spots and the ABA rep being appointed over the summer, the 1-5 instead of 1-10 may help the appointment process (Ernesto); the worry is having enough, or more than one person interested (Ernesto)
Motion to approve the language as amended by Ernesto (Stephen), second (Dustin)
Aye(unanimous), motion passes

Item #3 Section 1.04 of the election policy
For summer appointment purposes, the elections committee may collect these policies (Ernesto);
Motion to approve the language as amended (Ernesto), second (Stephen)
Aye (unanimous, motion passes
Item #4 bylaw proposal
This does not take effect until you vote on (Ernesto); this rejects the president’s stipend and makes it a rule to not be allowed to be compensated by student funds. This is a self-regulation mechanism (Ernesto); this also makes it a requirement that if there is a compensated position sponsored by SBA then it has to be open to the entire student body for at least a week (Ernesto); you might want to have someone with media knowledge to take this on for the website (Ernesto); the underlying issue is that some of the appointments are paid and you want others to know that these are open positions? (Jordan); the issue is currently that Neil is the ref for basketball and he is being compensated for that and there may be an issue with anything else that puts an SBA representative in this position next year. We needed to come up with an answer to our conflict of interest rules and the fairness of the situation (Ernesto); so there are some appointed positions like a ref position which would be paid positions, in that case one of the pools of candidates we could draw from is us so if an SBA representative is appointed to one of those positions we want something in place for that kind of situation (Jordan); correct, the president’s stipend was rejected this year because of my philosophy that SBA member should not be compensated for SBA work (Ernesto); my only issue with the section is the last line that the SBA board can veto the budget of how much to pay someone at the end of the committee’s decision making (Chanel); I think the challenge of that is that SBA should have a veto control over any of the committee’s decisions (Ernesto); but wouldn’t we just be able to re-do the allotment of the funds to each committee while maintaining the autonomy of the committee (Chanel); I would remove SBA Board from the language (Stephen); wouldn’t that lower that to a majority vote for the SBA Board (Ernesto); SBA duty is ambiguous (Dustin); We could change that language (Ernesto); if we took out SBA Board from the language it would just require a majority vote (Ernesto); the way it’s written requires all funding requests to SBA committee members to be voted upon by a committee members (Stephen); I would strike 2/3 vote and go straight to SBA committee (Stephen); My worry is that 2/3 vote would prevent some actions from getting done (Kate); So if we make it uniform across the board at majority it might open that up (Ernesto); this requirement is for any person being compensated (Ernesto); We’ll have to do an online ballot to wrap up on this (Ernesto); the clause “circulated widely…” is there a mechanism to do that? (Jordan); the blog (Dustin); It is better to have made the effort, even if people don’t read the blog, than to not have (Ernesto); Section 8.6 requires an SBA member to notify the board if they choose to apply for a committee-compensated position (Ernesto)
Motion to approve amendments to Article 8 as drafted (Ernesto), second (Dustin)
Aye (unanimous), motion passes
Clarification of motion, I move to approve section 8.and 8.6 (Ernesto), I think the prior was clear (Dustin)

Item #5 End of Year Event discussion
End of year BBQ is on Monday, the 27th and I’ve spoken to Kevin and we can order 150 at $10 a person (Aparna); I asked him if it was possible if we can go to Costco to get our own drinks and he said that’s fine but even so that leaves very little money for activities (Aparna); We were thinking about corn hole tournaments, water balloon tosses, etc. instead of bouncers (Aparna); the water balloon toss may not be good for the draught (Stephen); Adam B. signed off on it since we are irrigating the grass (Aparna); I also wanted to buy a football because I think someone stole ours (Aparna); We will keep it at the Volleyball nets, football,…(Aparna); we were thinking of getting a UOP corn hole (Aparna); related, we could buy some games and groups could rent them (Chanel); for music we could have our new board member Derek’s group to play (Stephen); I just have to let Building and Grounds know (Aparna); Anyone can make this with a table saw (Jordan); We could rent one for the BBQ and the new board can see if people like it (Ernesto)

Grad Party: location is at River City Brewery(Dustin); Please fill out an event request (Kate); I was getting a little bit of anxiety because we have no senior party right now, it shouldn’t just be a bar review; we should have something that makes this special (Aparna); I will give Nav a call tonight (Ernesto)

1L Party: I just got the invoice from Monkey Bar and we will have a customized dessert table (Chanel);

Coffee during finals: since we do have almost $30,000 in surplus funds we should spend it on this year’s fund-paying members so we could offer free coffee during finals (Chanel); either we could go through Kevin or rent our own thing and brew coffee here (Chanel); I know that Michael at Coffee Garden would provide free or something (Jordan); My concern is that that’s not accessible to everyone (Chanel); is this just reading week or the whole finals time (Ernesto); Talk to Kevin and see what options we have for doing this (Kate); Chanel, get an estimate from Kevin and then we will have an online vote (Ernesto); is there a set amount for this that I can use (Chanel); just get an estimate and a list of options then we’ll chat it over real quick online (Ernesto)
Move to talk and vote this over online (Ernesto), second (Dustin)
Aye (unanimous), motion passes

Student Health Law Association- Stacey Westerlund
Request of $400 for End of Life Options Act event coming up on April 20; this is a little late because we didn’t bring Federalist Society on until late March and they picked up some of the budget; we’ve expanded the amount of people who can and will come to this event which is why we had a recent change in budget (Stacey); the clinic didn’t think this would be feasible to pull off which is why they aren’t participating (Stephen); how many people do you anticipate (Kate); we have 25 confirmed in person and 30 confirmed on FB (Stacey); How many will be outside of McG (Kate); probably a third or so (Stacey); it’s on campus so you’ll get people from on campus (Ernesto); I would say 2/3 (Dustin)
Motion to fund in full (Chanel); second (Ernesto)
Aye (4), Nay (0), Abstentions (Dustin, Stephen)

Trial Advocacy Association- Robert Binning
This is for the BBQ following the law review, moot court, mock trial softball tournament; we are expecting about 60 people coming to the game and then to the BBQ afterwards; at least Prof. Moylan will be there and maybe more; by having everything open to the student body we can use it also as a recruiting tool (Robert); we are merging our two journals into one and so the budgets have vanished which is why this came in late (Ernesto); what day (Kate); next Saturday, the 25th of March (Robert); Is this over $250 (Kate); if it is we will only buy $249 (Robert); is this slow pitch or fast pitch (Stephen)
Motion to approve in full (Ernesto), second (Chanel)
Ayes (6), Nay (0), motion passes

Item #6 BALSA
We approved $1500 for family day at our earlier meeting and BALSA filed an appeal so we are hearing that now (Ernesto); we won’t be able to afford such a large event because it’s caused so much money to put on; this is an event that BALSA puts on for all of McG and their families; we don’t bring in that much money from the club to fund this kind of event every year so SBA needs to decide whether or not to fund this event every year; we do have money in our account but that’s because our group is family oriented and our membership has added to that funding as well as third parties; this year we partnered with Lincoln Law School for our alumni event earlier this year so we didn’t spend it there but we will need it next year; the whole essence of the bbq will change if we don’t use Sandra Dee’s (Kellan); you were looking to do the bowling night fundraiser next year so that you can fund for next year so what are the normal funds that APALSA has (Ernesto); we generally have 5-9 dues paying members so we had that drop off and the dues really don’t pay for much; the bowling events raise about $4 per person so this last year we had 25 people come so that’s now about $250 in our bank account per year; I’ve been doing this for the last couple of years so that’ll fall on someone else next year (Kellan); I attended the event and I thought it was phenomenal (Chanel); how much are you looking to appeal for and will the money be used to reimburse Cornell (Dustin); the total budget was $2800 and we are asking for the additional $1500 to have it fully funded (Kellan); our campus is shrinking and we cannot expect events to be funded like SBA has in the past (Ernesto); I personally understand that because, as an officer of BALSA, I understand the cost of events (Kellan); without our treasurer here can we even vote on it (Chanel); CSOs may appeal and the treasurer will look over the appeal and make a recommendation to the board which will vote on the appeal (Dustin); we are going to have to do this online because it’s over a thousand (Ernesto); do we need a 2/3 or a majority requirement for the vote (Ernesto); if you get the 2/3 vote for a request over a thousand then is this a modification or a funding request for over 1000? (Chanel); this is for a modification over a thousand (Ernesto)
Motion to vote online (Chanel); second (Kate)
Ayes (6), Nay (0), motion passes

Motion to interpret funding language to mean that to require an amendment to appeal to require only a simple majority regardless of amount (Dustin), second (Stephen)
Aye (0), Nay (5), Abstention (Dustin)
Motion fails

ADR funding request- Anna Lucido
We had a lot of really good competitors and the week went well; we have two outstanding charges and we are here to ask for what we asked for before (Anna); our total spent for the week was $1400 something (Anna); what are you requesting (Ernesto); I would like to request the $1400 that we need (Anna); you received $990 (Ernesto); we will not have late funding request in the future (Anna); it was discussed that we fund in full and we didn’t have a 2/3 vote and then people didn’t vote online (Chanel); My main issue is that I did want to fund this in full but now you are asking for more and I think the only reason it didn’t pass is that people didn’t vote online (Chanel); If we are not able to act then you can bring it to the new board (Ernesto); the funds that you had in your account were for the negotiation team which would not be a new request for next year (Ernesto); our biggest expense will be ADR week (Anna); I would suggest coming back to the next board (Anthony); do you know how much you asked for from the SBA this year (Stephen); only the start-up and this (Anna); and the whole board is here so we all know the situation when you come back next year (Chanel); Whatever you need for the competition next year you should come with that amount next year (Ernesto)

Coffee Machine in the Library
We have gotten a go-ahead from everyone in the library minus James Wirrell but he just hasn’t gotten back to me (Derek); we are looking at $250 for the machine and the table (Derek); We have a location and we need to discuss who will be cleaning it (Derek); I think SBA will not be offering free Kureg cups but we should provide something during finals (Chanel); we just don’t know if we can get the machine by finals (Ernesto); one concern is a filter (Chanel); I wouldn’t be surprised if we had a Kurig cup in the grab bag in orientation (Ernesto); I’ve already voiced my concerns about cleaning but this is all good (Anthony); this would be a way for students to study late (Ernesto)
Motion to approve funding at $300 for a Kurig machine and a table with a clawback mechanism (Stephen), second (Chanel)
Aye (6), Nay (0) motion passes

ABA vice-rep Position: we haven’t had interest in the position so if the new board can meet between the 15th of May and the 28th, you can skype too (Anthony); you can even do it online (Ernesto); have you already received candidates (Derek); can people still apply for ABA (Nicole); we are still looking for representatives (Anthony);

Lexi just wanted to flag this for folks: the bar prep always starts at 5pm and evening students cannot make it at 5pm; 5:30 or later is best for most events;

Motion for $50 for framing on picture (Ernesto), second (Anthony)
Aye (6), motion passes

Motion to adjourn (Stephen), second (Dustin)
Aye (6), motion passes