Butler Committee Meeting Minutes 3.3.08

Submitted by Jane Phillips, Recording Secretary

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

Community members present: Olivia Martel, Ryo Jinnai, Nick Kattamis, Rebecca Anawalt, David Jorgensen, Katrina Piehler, Rachael Galvin, Jeffrey Domanski (Assoc. Director of Office of Sustainability), Jaime Kirzner-Roberts.

Meeting called to order at 9:03 pm.

Shannon (Chair): Garden co-coordinators had already been talking about composting issues in Butler via email. Resident Jaime has requested that we expand composting all around Butler, maybe at each garbage station. Nicole mentioned that the composter was supposed to be moved from the Community Room, but it was decided that might be too complicated to get compost back to the garden. The Co-coordinators are trying to get the University to provide better signage for the composter. Jeff asked whether Nicole or Tao had talked with facilities about moving the composter, and Nicole said that she asked, and they said they would move it if it were empty. It seems that the composter is in working order, but is being misused because of an inappropriate mix of food materials and a lack of dry material (leaves, wood chips).

Jaime stated that she thinks that the University should be responsible for composting in Butler, as in other residences on campus (except Butler, Lawrence and Hibben-Magie). She suggested that the University install several composters around Butler. Jeff says that the University would require some time to set up everything that this initiative would require. There is a large new University endowment for sustainability that is meant to encourage student initiative, so this could potentially get funding for this issue, but the University would probably expect students to maintain composters. Tao pointed out that the Butler garden is not large enough to need a lot of compost, but some people think that Butler gardeners could use up all the compost. Another option is to have the University to take it away (to eventually be sold to farmers, etc., as organic waste from the GC is). Jeff Dwoskin suggested that a meeting be set up with facilities and housing.

Shannon suggested that as a short-term plan, we set up a committee to deal with composting issues. Jaime has offered to be in charge of the committee and Nicole and Tao offered to attend meetings with the University. Shannon and Katrina volunteered as well. Nicole will follow up with Olivia about getting dry matter for the composters from the University.

Bronwyn (Community Room): The new mulch is in at the playground, and an old unsafe slide has been removed.

Nicole and Tao (Garden): The garden plots filled up on the first day, and there are some people on the wait list. The garden will be plowed this year. There will be a gathering for gardeners to kick off the year within the next few months. Patrick's gardener friend (see last month's minutes) will come speak with gardeners in the near future. Nicole and Tao are also trying to organize a speaker from an organic farming group.

Dante (GSG Rep): Polls are open for the GSG executive elections until the end of the week.

Chin (Social Chair): Not planning any events until Cinco de Mayo.

Rebecca asked why there is no new bright yellow pedestrian crossing sign at Sycamore and Harrison. Jeff Domanski suggested that the Committee talk with Public Safety about talking with the Township about putting up signs. Jeff Dwoskin will follow up.

Jeff (Housing Rep): University personnel are setting up safety walks around campus to housing complexes. Jeff will be going on the walk to Lawrence this week. People should email Jeff Dwoskin with safety concerns about Butler - there will be a walk to Butler, probably next month.

The Housing draw is up. This year, it looks like the Committee has approval for housing spots for all Committee members. Jeff needs confirmation from people on the Committee that they will be staying in Butler and on the Committee. He will follow up with an email to the Committee.

The Committee bylaws state that there should be a general election for Committee members in May (or April). The Committee needs to discuss how to conduct elections in the future. Shannon suggested that the Committee set up a discussion about the bylaws for the next meeting. David suggested that we set up a separate meeting about the bylaws, but Shannon thinks that the April meeting should be about the Committee bylaws. Jeff spoke about the University's long-term plans for graduate housing (see last month's minutes). There will be a new shuttle schedule in the near future.

Patrick (Treasurer): There have not been many transactions in the past month. The Princeton account has $1300. The Garden account has $479. The Committee has money to spend on events or supplies, etc. Jeff suggested that the Committee send out an email to the community about whether people have ideas for events that could be funded. Rachel suggested that Butler host free Tango lessons with a social hour.

Andrew (Webmaster): There are people still on the Butler Committee listserv whom he plans to remove. He went through the list and people who are no longer on the Committee will be removed. It was suggested that people who are not on the Committee could be put on the Butler-Com listserv, but it was requested by a community member present (Rebecca) that the listserv remain only between members of the Committee. It was decided by show of hands that only Committee members would be on Butler-Com.

Shannon pointed out that the clock in the Community Room is gone. Shannon also mentioned that she will probably be vacating her position over the summer.

Meeting adjourned at 10:21 pm.