Hein: I Call This Meeting to Order at 6.11 Pm

Business and Finance Commission meeting on February 22, 2011

Hein: I call this meeting to order at 6.11 pm

Chou: Motion to consider Senate Bill # 47

Alday: Senate hasn’t funded a queer conference in a very long time.

Hein: We are now in questions and text.

Cheng: In line 8 do you want to capitalize “conference”?

Alday: No.

Rudovsky: On line 6, should “west coast” be capitalized?

Diaz-Ordaz: No.

Hein: Are there any more questions in text? Seeing none, we are now in public discussion. Please raise your placards if you would like to speak.

Rudovsky: I don’t think 8% is the tax rate.

Espinoza: Hotels in Oakland are 14% instead of 8%.

Alday: I would like to amend this bill to say $1641.36 for two nights.

Prokic: So it’s twelve rooms?

Alday: Yes. Also, there’s going to be one less car. So the total cost for gas is going to be $360.

Cheng: Would you mind providing more details about the conference? I understand that this is a great opportunity but could you share more

Alday: A lot of folks are going: staffs, students, even some non-students. Because there is so much diversity

Espinoza: A lot of the students going are people who have not necessarily been active in the campus community. This is one chance for all the organizations to work together.

Cheng: Do you plan on hosting a gathering to share knowledge gained from the conference? Espinoza: We’re going to have a panel for first and second years for whom this may be their first queer conference experience. And I’d also like to point out that the delegation planning committee is made of all first and second years and people who have barely had any experience in fundraising. I’m very proud of them for fundraising about $1500 in about two and a half weeks. It’s amazing what people can do with leadership opportunities available.

Cheng: Do you know exactly what the $500 is going to?

Espinoza: It’s going to be for housing. We fundraised but were unfortunately not able to cover housing completely.

Cheng: Do you want to specify that in the bill at all? It would make it clearer.

Alday: On line 18 after “conference” I would like to add the word “housing”.

Hein: So I guess I was looking at the CFC grant and because it’s from ASUCD and it seems to cover the actual costs of the conference at Berkeley, I guess one of my questions was why don’t you guys have the participants paying a little more in order to cover some of that, because if that already covers their going to the conference…

Espinoza: In the planning of this, one of things we were talking about was that with a lot of first timers going, a registration fee for the conference like a $40 fee for a two-day conference is huge. We applied for the CFC grant because we felt that the registration fee was too much and we didn’t want the participants paying that much. The conference is in Berkeley so I feel that we wouldn’t have had as many participants if they had to pay a $30 registration fee.

Alday: We wanted to find a happy medium with how much to charge the students with.

Hein: What do you think the projected income from the other fundraisers will be?

Espinoza: The next fundraisers we’ll have are going to be restaurant fundraisers. Ali-Baba’s was our first fundraiser. The Pinkberry fundraiser required us to have people hand in a flyer, which didn’t get us a lot of income. In the next two weeks I don’t see us making any more than about $100 to $200.

Hein: So about $60 is reasonable for each fundraiser?

Espinoza: These fundraisers are in really close proximity to each other. So I don’t see them making as much as the Ali-Baba’s fundraiser. I’d also like to point out that the Delta dance party fundraisers have made a lot of money.

Hein: Good job on that. That’s ten times the Ali-Baba fundraiser. Did you guys charge entrance fee on that? Espinoza: Yes.

Rudovsky: Is there a precedent for this? Did you guys do this before?

Espinoza: This is the first time a big delegation has been sent from Davis to a conference in Berkeley.

Espinoza: They’ve never had something this big until now. Last year GASC went to a conference but there were only about fifteen to twenty people. We ended up paying for our own transportation and housing. We could have been more effective about it.

Cheng: In terms of the grants, do you have an approximation of what you’re going to get from donations?

Espinoza: We don’t expect more than $100.

Cheng: What about donation letters?

Espinoza: I don’t expect more than $50. There’s no real place other than GASC to ask for money for queer events. I feel that ASUCD has a really big role to play in trying to foster queer leadership.

Cheng: I bring these questions up because let’s say you get $35 from every restaurant you fundraise at, that could reduce the money you’re asking from ASUCD. Would you be willing to amend the amount? It’s best to approximate the most accurate amount now.

Espinoza: For any department other than LGBTRC to give us money, it’s them doing something they don’t necessarily have to do. We could lower the amount we’re asking more but then again we could have asked the CFC for 200 more dollar and asked for 200 less dollars in the bill.

Cheng: I just feel that we should approximate as closely as possible.

Prokic: Going off what Leticia said, I feel it could go down by $50. I think no further editing should be done, because I don’t know how your fundraising will go. I understand that the money you don’t use will come back to us, so I support that. Motion to move into commission discussion.

Hein: With that we are in commission discussion.

Prokic: So would you like to change it? Espinoza: I feel like we could lower it by $50. In the next two weeks there will be a lot of work done by us with planning and logistics. In terms of manpower and work going into the next fundraisers, I anticipate them making less than Ali-Baba’s.

Hein: Why does the LGBTRC not give you more money? Shouldn’t they support their own. They’re a resource center. I feel like you guys should at least what CFC gives you with the fees for the people that are going because for me I’m not convinced that you did enough fundraising. I mean you did great on the three things you have here but we don’t know how the other things are going to turn out. It already seems that most of it is coming from CFC. Is there a way we can make $1125 closer to $1600?

Alday: Higher fees in an extreme deterrent for a lot of folks, especially freshman. A higher fee decreases the accessibility for a lot of folks.

Hein: What of these do you already have set in stone? You already have Delta dance party, but have you collected from all the people that are going?

Rudovsky: It was due but did you get them all?

Espinoza: No. We have to call people off the waitlist.

Hein: I feel that if the conference is charging $40, it’s pretty reasonable. Other people are paying that much to go…

Alday: A lot of other UC’s actually fund their delegations so it’s easier for them to meet the $40. At Davis here we had to go look for our own funds.

Espinoza: A lot of other school’s delegations are completely funded by their gender and sexuality commissions. For us to be doing the work to send a delegation this big with no institutionalized funding for it, it seems really landmark to me. I’m really excited about seeing something like this passed.

Hein: I guess I’m just worried about the total fundraised not being equal to what CFC gives you.

Espinoza: A lot of schools have LGBTRCs that do have grants for these things, which we don’t have. So, we’re asking ASUCD.

Krasnyanska: I think that if we look at it in terms of the cost-benefit analysis, it’s $450 and 50 people will be able to attend the event.

Cheng: If your difference is already $450, wouldn’t it be more logical to lower it to $400?

Espinoza: I’d be comfortable with $400. Alday: Say if we get funding from LGBTRC would they be able to give it to us before the conference?

Espinoza: I feel like we’ll be able to fundraise the difference. We have enough on the roster and we can do more bake sales.

Hein: I feel like you guys should still match what CFC is giving you. It’s hard for me to just be like here you guys go with all this money and have people get everything paid for. I mean not everyone can go, there’s a waitlist.

Alday: Given that there’s no institutionalized funding for this and we do want students to go..

Hein: It seems like it’s restricted already, not everyone can go. What if someone wanted to go and if they wanted to pay their full share, would they be able to go?

Espinoza: Yes, but it would be about $80.

Alday: We have two orientation meetings. I feel like it will set the stage for them to take more out of the conference.

Espinoza: I know the fundraisers will not make $35. To bring down the amount we’re asking for, I would have to put more strain on my planning committee. We have students fronting money from their savings as we’re waiting for money to come in. A lot of people are invested in this, and by decreasing the amount it’s like asking them to be even more invested.

Prokic: So can you give us a range of what you’ll be making for the fundraising?

Espinoza: Pinkberry will be about $20, El Mariachi will be about $30, and Tacos and Beer will be about $30.

Prokic: So that’s $80. I agree with Jared that reducing it to $360 or $370 would be reasonable. I would like to divide the house regarding reducing the $400 to $370.

Cheng: Yes.

Hein: Yes.

Johri: Yes.

Kelley: No.

Krasnyanska: No. Prokic: Yes.

Rudovsky: Yes.

Tuttle-Santana: Yes.

Chou: No.

Cheng: Could you elaborate on the fee waivers?

Espinoza: We collaborated and decided that we were going to fundraise to bring 45 more spots to make a delegation of 60. It was actually downsized from 80 due to lack of institutionalized funding. Currently eight or nine students asked for fee waivers. We felt that offering fee waivers would increase accessibility of the conference.

Cheng: Would it be wrong to ask those ten people to chip in five dollars? Not to dive for money, but any small contribution could go a long way.

Espinoza: A lot of the people who asked for fee waivers, I ended up asking them for responsibilities. For instance, I had them do fundraisers. They are contributing as well.

Cheng: Have you asked them at all if they would be willing to chip in five dollars?

Espinoza: I feel like the ten fee waivers is a reasonable thing to allow because there are people who cannot afford it. It seemed like every applicant we got was very excited and adept to contribute to the delegation. Everyone going deserves to go.

Alday: Offering fee waivers that are one hundred percent free is important so that students from different backgrounds can go. Students who don’t have enough money for example would be able to go.

Cheng: I agree with you.

Rudovsky: Motion to call the bill into question.

Prokic: Second.

Hein: Objection. I think we should reflect the changes in the bill before calling it to question.

Rudovsky: I retract my motion. What have the author’s decided? Alday: I would like to keep it at $400. After all it’s only a $30 and it would allow us a little legroom in terms of fundraising. We already brought it down $100 and $30 isn’t that big of a deal.

Rudovsky: I motion to call this bill to question.

Kelley: Second.

Prokic: I don’t see a problem with lowering it to $370. I would like the commission to make an amendment to lower it to $370.

Hein: We will do a roll call vote to lower it from $400 to $370.

Cheng: No.

Hein: Yes.

Johri: Yes.

Kelley: Abstain.

Krasnyanska: No.

Prokic: No.

Rudovsky: No.

Chou: No.

Hein: We will call this bill to question at $400. Are there any objections to doing that?

Hein: I’m going to object. I still think that the CFC grant should be reflected. A simple $5 increase in the amount you guys are paying will being you over $1800 in total fundraised and it will be the same as the CFC amount.

Rudovsky: I still call the bill to question.

Cheng: Yes.

Hein: No.

Johri: No. Kelley: Yes.

Kras: Yes.

Prokic: Yes.

Rudov: Yes.

Chou: Yes.

Hein: Senate Bill #48 passes.

Krasnyanska: Motion to see Senate Bill #47.

Tuttle-Santana: Second.

Hein: We are not seeing Senate Bill #47. We will start with author’s comments.

Jessica: We have done everything in our power to fix our vehicle but now the battery had died and everything is pretty bad. It’s sitting in Fleet Services and we need this amount to fix our beautiful vehicle so we can continue to pick up compost on campus.

Hein: Are there any more author’s comments? So we will move into questions and text.

Daiz-Ordaz: On line 16 “reserves” should be capitalized.

Rudovsky: Last time Leticia asked about the tired. We wanted to change it to 4 tires at $50 each.

Hein: Any more questions and text?

Cheng: Is it okay if we add the one at $50 next to the tires and I think that for the brakes it should be one at $81.25.

Hein: Are there any more questions and text? Seeing no more questions and text we are now in public discussion.

Tuttle-Santana: How much does the transported compost weigh? And what type of container do you use?

Jessica: We have two different types. The coffee shop ones look like trash cans and there are also fifty gallon big ones. They’re very heavy and it takes two people to pick it up. It’s a lot of heavy labor and we ourselves wash out all the bins. They’re basically trashcans.

Tuttle-Santana: It sounds like a lot of the weight comes from the cans. We were talking about alternative options such as transportation by bike.

Jessica: We have bikes and a bike cart that only one person physically can use. Since our vehicle has been broken it’s very difficult to do what we do. We are losing a lot of members because nobody wants to do it without the vehicle.

Tuttle-Santana: What about doubling or tripling your bike carts?

Jessica: The bike carts break down way faster. They’re very unstable. When you use them you have to position the bins light, heavy, then light for it to be stabilized. People get stuck on bikes with a hundred gallons of waste.

Tuttle-Santana: It looks like you guys already have bike carts but I looked up some quotes that I’m going to pass around.

Kelley: How much do these vehicles cost brand new?

Jessica: About $20,000.

Krasnyanska: So you said the new vehicle is going to be $20,000. Is that the only one that fits with what you do?

Jessica: It was difficult trying to find things online. You have to call these companies yourself and I’m just giving you an approximate amount.

Hein: The question is, is it better to repair this one or just go ahead and get a new vehicle whether it be a new golf cart that has a flatbed and three bicycles or…

Jessica: We’re thinking long term so we need to get this vehicle fixed because this is our best vehicle. We’re also going to design our own bike cart so we can have bike carts if our vehicle breaks down.

Hein: The UC Davis Grounds uses these bike carts, so I don’t see why you guys don’t use these? Bike cart repairs are cheaper can be done at the Bike Barn.

Jessica: It’s impossible to do what we set out to do. These places produce tons of waste. It’s just too much to do on bike. We would like to do it on a bike, but it’s just too much.

Hein: What do these vehicles look like? Do you have a brand name? Jessica: It’s a Columbia electric vehicle with a flatbed. We honk and stuff to draw attention to ourselves but our horn also doesn’t work.

Cheng: So I’m wondering have you done research on just buying a brand new vehicle?

Jessica: That’s where the $20,000 price comes from. Most of the club is girls. Guys are not interested in helping with compost. We physically cannot lift these.

Krasnyanska: In the budget, it looks like there’s a line item for equipment purchases as well as repairs. Equipment Purchase looks like it’s $300.

Jessica: We had to use some money for inspection and we really need this money because if our bike cart breaks down we need the money to fix it. We want to keep the money that we do have for our bike cart.

Hein: It seems like you really need this right now. Do you know the last time you guys fixed this particular vehicle?

Jessica: No.

Prokic: So is there insurance for this, like a warranty?

Jessica: I’m not sure. I could find out.

Prokic: I prefer to know the warranty, because I don’t want it to be like a one-year thing.

Jessica: I could get that information for you.

Rudovsky: They definitely need it. We can’t have garbage and compost lying around Davis. They need to be able to keep doing what they set out to do. It is expensive, but I don’t think we have the time to come up with an even better alternative than already have. With that I encourage passage of the bill.

Tuttle-Santana: I agree but if and after we do this, it would be better to look into alternative options.

Diaz-Ordaz: A lot of units ask for computers, and for Project Compost to ask for a vehicle like this is no different. You don’t ask for other alternatives when people want to buy Macs for their unit. We shouldn’t make it so Project Compost has to physically pick everything up.

Kelley: I think it’s such a shame that we have to spend so much money on a vehicle that is so old. Jessica: Jared I’d love to invite you to come on a run with me so you could see that it’s really impossible to use these bike carts for picking up compost. It’s not going to do what we need them to do. It doesn’t work for our giant campus. Prokic: I think that you need something and I agree that it’s time-sensitive. Currently I’m not sure what you need. The options I have been shown I can’t choose right now. My preference would be to postpone it for a week so we can look into it. I apologize for that. Where it stands right now, I would abstain from voting.

Krasnyanska: I wanted to point out that the unit used to have two cars and right now they’re just asking to fix one of them. They can perhaps replace the other one in the future.

Prokic: So since you’re auditing the unit, do you think this is the best option right now?

Krasnyanska: Yes, because it’s time-sensitive.

Rudovsky: Motion to move into commission discussion.

Prokic: Second.

Hein: We are now in commission discussion.

Rudovsky: Motion to call this bill into question.

Jessica: We’ve spent about $200 just getting the vehicle looked at. We have a compost workshop coming up where we teach the community about composting. We’re also trying to grow our own California worms because many have died off due to the cold. We’re trying to be very conservative with our money because our workshops are very popular in the spring.

Chou: Second.

Hein: Are there any objections to passing Senate Bill #47?

Cheng: Objection because I still have questions.

Rudovsky: I withdraw my motion.

Cheng: Anastasiya, do you have anything else to say? Have the line items been fully used?

Hein: If we can reflect even another line on here that says “from budget” so that you guys are putting in at least a little bit.. Jessica: We’re just praying that our bike cart doesn’t break down. We tried not spending any money at all but that didn’t work out.

Hein: To me this is a long-term thing that happens yearly, kind of like everything else. I know we say that about a lot of things, but I haven’t ever seen anything from Project Compost.

Cheng: If you feel that parts of your budget are unused I don’t know if you want to put that towards you’re funding?

Jessica: There are a lot of people angry at Project Compost right now because there is so much compost that isn’t being picked up. Professors don’t want to work with us anymore, etc. The school is not going to be happy. Project Compost is the most sustainable part of our school and we’re coming to ASUCD for help.

Cheng: I take back what I said about the budget. The money is coming from Capital Reserves, which is supposed to be for this type of situation.

Hein: So they get $1,100 for the whole year.. What do you use “Equipment Rental” for?

Jessica: We have to turn the piles, which are by the farms.

Cheng: I call Senate Bill #47 to question.

Kelley: Second.

Hein: Is there any objections to calling Senate Bill #47 to question? Are there any objections to passing Senate Bill #47? Seeing none, Senate Bill #47 passes.

Prokic: Motion to see Senate Resolution #7.

Chou: Second.

Hein: We are now seeing Senate Resolution #7. We will start with author’s comments.

Meyerhoff: CampusCred has coupons online for students. What CampusCred wants to do is put ASUCD logo on its website. In return, ASUCD would receive a percent of revenues that they generate.

Hein: We will now move onto questions and text.

Prokic: Line 10 doesn’t end.

Meyerhoff: Senate resolutions just work like this. Rudovsky: Was this bill tabled?

Meyerhoff: It went to External Affairs and it was tabled there.

Rudovsky: On line 7, instead of writing out “percent” can you just do a percent symbol.

Meyerhoff: On line 9, I’d like to change “Associated Students of UC Davis” to “ASUCD”.

Prokic: Could we reword the part from line 16 to line 19?

Hein: Are any more questions and text? Seeing there are no questions and text, we are now in public discussion?

Prokic: Motion to move into commission discussion.

Jhori: Second.

Hein: Are there any objections to moving into commission discussion? We are now in commission discussion.

Krasnyanska: The ASUCD will get 3% of sales?

Meyerhoff: Based on the number of coupons they have sold, after say, Woodstock’s had paid for their service, we get 3% of what’s left.

Meyerhoff: About $100 a week comes to ASUCD.

Cheng: Do we know where this is going?

Meyerhoff: I’m not sure. Mark Champagne originally made this agreement.

Hein: We should reflect where monies are going.

Kelley: Is CampusCred kind of like Groupon?

Meyerhoff: It’s very much like Groupon. Each item gets posted for a week. It’s local eateries or snowboarding places.

Kelley: So I’m looking at the UC Berkeley’s page and I see at the top right there’s a logo as well.

Meyerhoff: Our logo was up there too until they realized there was this issue. Rudovsky: All we’re talking about is putting that small logo onto the website?

Meyerhoff: Right. Rudovsky: I think it’s definitely a good idea. I’m just concerned if it starts moving away from food to things like bar ads.

Prokic: So what’s required is the logo?

Meyerhoff: Yes, they want to put the logo on the website as well as on flyers that CampusCred makes.

Prokic: And I’m still unsure about the number sold?

Meyerhoff: I’m not sure.

Hein: We get 3% of whatever profit they make.

Krasnyanska: So the logo will give them more credibility?

Meyerhoff: I imagine they feel having the logo would make it seem like they’re endorsed by the ASUCD.

Cheng: I would like to talk to the guy in charge of CampusCred about where they would be putting our logo. By passing this, it’s kind of a big deal where ASUCD is giving their logo away to another company. I want to see more details or what are the rules for what they can and can’t advertise.

Tuttle-Santana: Do you get the money the week of the sales?

Meyerhoff: I would imagine so.

Kelley: Could you specify in line 15 where you’re talking about when you say “within the Davis area”.

Meyerhoff: It doesn’t have to be a UC Davis student buying from the website. It’s just a reference to business around Davis.

Hein: To me, it seems we don’t have enough information. I would like to table it. If Sheel was here I feel like we could know more about what they really want.

Prokic: I motion to table the bill until next week.

Chou: Second.

Hein: Do we have any objections to the motion? Do we have any objections tabling Senate Resolution #7. Seeing none, Senate Resolution #7 has been tabled. Chou: Motion to end the meeting.