Butler Committee Meeting Minutes 7.14.08

Submitted by Jane Phillips, Recording Secretary

Committee members present: Jane Phillips, Dante Ricci (GSG Rep), Jeffrey Dwoskin (Housing Rep), Patrick Ross (Treasurer), Tao Long (Garden Co-coordinator), Chin Jou (Social Chair), Nicole Jui (Garden Co-coordinator), Bronwyn Smith (Community Room Coordinator), Anna Frost (Dolly Coordinator), Andrew Owen (webmaster).

Community member present: Nancy Jones, Olivia Martel, Aryeh & Ofra Amihay, Chris Mayo, David Jorgensen.

Meeting called to order at 9:03 pm.

Bronwyn Smith is the temporary Chair for this meeting (normally Community Room Coordinator). Brownwyn said that Capoeira stores their drums, etc. in the community room, but we are going to get them a key and they will use the storage closet. The storage closet needs to be cleaned out. Chin, Nancy, Aryeh, and Ofra offered to help clean out the Community Room. Patrick asked who if anyone will read any of the books in the community room. Bronwyn said some people might like to read these old books. Discussion ensued. Bronwyn will look into this issue further. If we dispose of them, we will recycle them and/or give them to the Seminary (Nicole thinks it's the Seminary) for their book drive.

Dante (GSG Rep): no news

Patrick (Treasurer): Financial report on the budget. Summary of account action since last meeting. Only things are summer kick off and the cable bill. Sovereign account total balance: $619.16; garden account: $336.74 ($282 of Sovereign account is general Committee money). Princeton account was in negative at -$340, but Patrick wrote a check to supplement it, and now it has been zeroed out. Today's goal is to vote on the proposed budget. Jeff questioned whether we need $170 to produce one Bugle, and Patrick thinks that it could be that much, as Bugles have been running around $140 lately. Patrick wants to know whether the Committee should be funding the garden, as they spend more than they take in from garden dues. Jeff suggested that they increase dues, but Patrick thinks that for now the problem should be solved by the proposed budget. The proposed budget was approved by show of hands.

Chin (social chair): Chin isn't planning any events for the summer, but Tao and Nicole are planning a gardener party in August. There will be a fall welcome event at the end of summer/beginning of fall (prob. September).

Anna (Dolly Coordinator): There are things (mold?) growing in the park near the playground, and there are bees. Anna wants to know who takes care of the area. Bronwyn mentioned that the playground is covered in weeds. Olivia will follow up with Facilities.

Jeff (Housing Rep): Major maintenance requests are due in mid-August - email Jeff with ideas. Need to email about restructuring the Committee to the GSG - this will be talked about at the next meeting. Anna said that the maggots in the dumpster have not been taken care of by Facilities. Some residents tried to clear it out themselves, but they have come back. Anna will follow up with Dwight, and will let Olivia know if that doesn't work out, and at which point she would follow up with Building Services. Dante mentioned that major maintenance requests will be affected by the fact that Butler will be torn down in ~4 years, and Jeff agreed, but asked that people submit ideas for things that would be useful in the next few years (playground, lighting, laundry, porch, etc., issues). Bronwyn mentioned that the toys in the Community Room were left outside for a long time and are now dirty. Jeff and Olivia suggested that Bronwyn ask Dwight to have Facilites clean the toys, and if that does not work, Olivia will follow up.

Jane (Recording Secretary): there is a wire down in the backyard of 223D Halsey St. - PSE&G has been called, and said they would send someone right away. Dante called Public Safety.

Nancy: Asked about getting a pine tree cut back in a yard - Jeff says that she should call Grounds or Facilities customer service. Workers (lawn mowers, porch construction people) leave nails, debris, etc. in the yards - Olivia will follow up.

Tao and Nicole (Garden Co-Coordinators): All garden plots are in use. Signs for composting came - have instructions on composting. Jamie Kirzner-Roberts and others interested in composting have met recently - horticulturalist from Mercer County had tips on improving composting. For example, shredded paper could be used instead of sawdust as dry material. Nicole said that the paper cannot have color printing or colored paper, and Anna suggested that a shredder be put in the computer room (have B&W printers only). Nicole asked whether there is money in the budget for a shredder - she will look into cost of shredders. Premature compost in the composters is accumulating more quickly since people are contributing more to the composters. They are thinking of getting another large composter near the garden - Nicole will look into cost (they need a double-chamber composter). Tao mentioned that the University is not willing to invest too much manpower into this effort, but there is a person in the Sustainability Office (Jeff) who is working with Butler (Nicole and Tao say that the SO is not yet willing to pay for a new composter). Olivia suggested that they keep asking the SO about funding the new composter. Tao and Nicole are going to hand out fliers to new residents about composting and the garden. Two women came to the garden fitting the description of women who had taken gardening supplies several months ago (see May 2008 minutes). They were reported, and it turns out that one or both is an employee of the University and both have been questioned by Public Safety.

Tao asked Dwight if she could put a new bike pump at Dwight's offce, and he agreed. Tao will give recepits to Patrick for the new bike pump.

Andrew (Webmaster): Will post up tips on how to get Grounds people to not cut down plants around housing units.

Olivia: The Butler welcome event will be on Tues, Sept 16 5:30-7:30 pm.

Shannon (via Bronwyn): Stepping down as Chair in August, so we need to talk about whether we're going to have new election for the Chair.

Discussion about the proposed changes to the By-Laws:

Jeff: handed out copies of Powerpoint slides containing proposed changes to the By-Laws to all present. Finalized, written proposal for By-Law amendments will be presented at the August 2008 meeting. Jeff went through the proposed changes using Powerpoint. In the proposal for voting rules, it is stated that people can disapprove of candidates, which should keep people from electing people who should not be on the Committee by default. Overall, proposing changes to voting (proposing to open voting on changes to Butler By-Laws to the whole Butler community), and consolidating Committee positions into 8 positions rather than 12.

Chris Mayo asked about subletters - they would only be counted as eligible to run if Housing knew about them.

Aeyra - asked about vacancies, and was told that anyone who is eligible to run could maintain their position (i.e., if someone graduates but is still a domestic partner of a student). Also asked about redistribution of officers: has reservations about putting together the GSG rep and other external relations meetings - thinks it should be kept as two separate positions. Jeff mentioned that the GSG rep position on the Committee is less work than being a rep for a department, because they don't have a vote, and because they only have to attend one meeting per month.

Anna - asked if we the proposal for downsizing the Committee was made because of the housing priority issue, and Jeff said no, that individual Committee members had been talking about merging Committee positions for some time for other reasons (did not elaborate), but that it had not been talked about in the Committee in general before this time. Anna mentioned that having more people on the Committee is good for social events, to have more people to help out. Anna also thinks that the Committee should put on more social events for the community. Bronwyn mentioned that community members have been and should be encouraged to put on events themselves that can be partially or fully funded by the Committee. Assistant positions were explained as a way for people to get involved without all the responsibilities of an actual Committee member - but that it would give the individual experience on the Committee with a title.

Patrick - asked about tiered eligibility for elections, and was told people who are in lower "tiers" of eligibility than those above them will not be put on the ballot at all. There was some talk about excluding the rule of attending previous meetings, and it was decided that it would be talked about in more detail later. Chris asked why there was a preference for those attending two meetings, and why it could not be reduced to one previous meeting. Jeff explained that this issue had to do with allowing new residents to show a serious interest in the Committee before the December meeting - but several possible caveats were brought up (people out of the country, people with late move-in dates, etc.).

At 10:35, Bronwyn asked that the discussion be put off until August, after people had gone over the proposal and gotten ideas together. Further suggestions, comments and questions should be sent to Jeff. The vote on the proposal will be in September.

Bronwyn asked whether anyone present would want to run for the Chair position, which Shannon will be vacating after August's meeting. No one volunteered. Bronwyn asked whether there should be an ad-hoc election, or whether there should be a temporary Chair put in place for the next few meetings. Anyone who is interested in being the Chair should email Shannon, and then the Committee will have an ad-hoc election at the next meeting, depending on who would like to run. It was decided that this would stand by show of hands.

Meeting adjourned at 10:50 pm.