Student Government had its first committee meetings of the Spring Semester Jan. 23 where the senators agreed to fix the nature trails, fund Lend-a-Wing, and supply more phone chargers in the library.
Budget and Allocation Committee (B&A):
The Budget and Allocations committee passed a $200,000 special request from SG President Caleb Grantham and Vice-President Bella Genta to repair the nature trails boardwalk.
The total amount to fix the nature trails boardwalk is approximately $500,000, however campus Recreation and UNF President John Delaney have promised to donate more money to fix the trails. Campus Recreation wants to contribute a total of $90,000 and Delaney committed to match SG’s contribution with other university funds.
However, instead of the funding coming from the special requests fund, it will come from the General Reserve Index, funds that have gone unused in years past, which will have around $250,000 conservatively.
Plans for construction on the boardwalk state that it will start in the summer and will be ready by the fall 2017 semester.
Senators heard other special requests from Lend-A-Wing Pantry.
Lend-A-Wing Pantry requested $1,944 in order to hire two full-time coordinators. One would be a Nutrition Workshop Coordinator who would give nutritional workshops once a month in each dorm and give out five pounds of pre-packaged food to students.
The other employee would be a Community Outreach Coordinator, in charge of establishing partnerships with businesses and value-based organization in Jacksonville. The coordinator would also assist in grant research and Lend-a-Wing activities.
The committee approved eight travel requests including the UNF Bass Fishing Club, Student Physical Therapy Association, Exercise Science Student Association, and Better Together — a club funded by the Interfaith Center. All of the requests were granted, resulting in a total of $5,453.68. The balance left in the travel requests fund for the rest of the semester is about $12,000.
University and Student Affairs Committee (USA):
Senate President Pro-Tempore and Red Party presidential candidate, Samantha Mims, and Red Party Vice-Presidential candidate, TJ Johnson, amended and passed legislation called “Take Charge.” This proposed legislation would express the Senate’s opinion to fund ten new iPhone 2nd generation chargers for students to loan in the library.
A previous version of this bill was passed last year, where SG funded ten iPhone 1st generation chargers, 2nd generation chargers and Android chargers. However, due to cheap material and third-party buying, the iPhone 2nd generation chargers were replaced and now only five are available for students to loan.
The legislation will go in front of Senate next week for final approval.
Government Oversight Committee (GO):
In the GO committee there were four appointments: three to Senate and one to Club Alliance.
Jaclyn Glosson, the current Interim Director, applied to be the Club Alliance Director. The committee approved her and she will go forward to the Senate for confirmation.
Adam Young, Theodore Mason and Douglas Markowitz were approved by the committee to be senators and face the Senate next week for confirmation.
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