Butler Committee Meeting Minutes 5.5.08

Submitted by Jane Phillips, Recording Secretary, (with help from Audra Pompeani, Bugle Editor)

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

Community members present: Nick Kattamis, Rebecca Anawalt, David Jorgensen, Rachael Galvin, Anna Frost, Nancy Jones, Ed Matteo.

Meeting called to order at 9:06 pm.

Elections were first. All present introduced themselves, and then people running for contested positions (Dolly Coordinator, Garden Co-coordinator, GSG Rep) made statements in alphabetical order. Shannon stated the general responsibilities of Committee members (attend meetings, volunteer at social events, hand out Bugle or other fliers). Ballots (made by Recording Secretary) were handed out, filled out by all eligible attendees and counted by the Recording Secretary (Jane) and the Committee Chair (Shannon).

Chin Jou (Social Chair): Cinco de Mayo is slated for May 22, but Chin would like to switch to the 24th or 25th. Bronwyn thinks that the Community Room would more likely be available as a rain site on a Saturday. Bronwyn will check the calendar and let Chin know. Chin will email the committee with a confirmed date. The time will be 5:30-7:30. Names were debated for Cinco de Mayo since the date will actually not be anywhere close to May 5. Perhaps Spring Fiesta, or Ventiquatro de Mayo. Olivia can't be here, so unless she assigns a proxy (or if we hire public safety), we can't have alcohol. Lisa Schreyer will be contacted with regard to this issue, by Chin via email. Last year we had both alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages. Audra strongly advised that the party should include alcohol. The Committee will get games from the grad school spring festival- all of these games are in Olivia's apartment. Audra asked if the volleyball court sand had been filled. For this party we usually request $350 from GSG events board. Dante Ricci said the Committee could request a similar amount this year. Patrick pointed out that the Committee has plenty of money, and so allotted $800, based on planned expenses. Becca wants beanbag toss. Anna wants to play cheetohead. Jeff Dwoskin suggests we play cheetohead with giant nacho chips from On the Border. We will try to have frisbees.

Bronwyn pointed out that we are planning this event for for Memorial Day weekend, which is rather inconvenient for residents. Chin would rather not move it earlier and the following weekend is Reunions, so now we it appears that the Spring party will be June 5 (Thursday), coinciding with a date Olivia is in town, so the Committee will not need to hire public safety. Chin will email for setup-cleanup volunteers.

Election results (number of votes per candidate in parenthesis):

Garden Coordinator: Nicole Jui (16) Tao Long (8) Becca Anawalt (8)

GSG Rep: Dante Ricci (11) won over David Jorgenson (5)

Dolly Coordinator: Anna Frost (9) Rachel Galvin (4) Ed Matteo (3)

Because of a tie, eligible voters present revoted for Garden Coordinator (Shannon allotted 1 minute for Tao and Becca each to speak more). In the revote, Tao Long won for Garden Co-coordinator by one vote (9 to 7). Nicole noted that there is a lot of turnover in the Butler Committee, so those who ran but were not sucessful this round could continue coming to meetings. Overall, Nicole, Tao, and Dante were re-elected to their positions, and Anna was elected as the new Dolly Coordinator.

Rachel Galvin: Tango Night went really well, attendance was ~30 people, cost was ~$145. They had a lesson and a wine tasting. Rachel might ask a Tango instructor from NYC to come to teach and bring his stereo equipment to the next one. Jeff is glad it went well.

Dante Ricci (GSG Rep): At the last meeting, Dean Russell gave a pseudo-state of the graduate school (Q&A with grad students). Dante thinks that we should be able to get funding from the GSG for the summer party - he will apply for funds. At the last GSG meeting, there was discussion about whether the GSG should write letters to the Housing committees (Lawrence, Butler) to advise them on election procedures, but it was voted down (no letters were written).

Audra (Bugle): Putting together a Bugle to be handed out in mid-June with move-out information. Several people noted that it might be better for the Bugle to contain information about the summer social event and the yard sale, so it might be better to have the Bugle out a little earlier. Shannon suggested that the Bugle instead come out in the first week in June, and Audra agreed that she could bring the new Bugles to the next meeting to hand out to Committee members for delivery to residents. Audra has volunteered to clean the Committee closet in the laundry room, and Chin will help her.

Andrew (Webmaster): Will put a link on the website for move-out information.

Patrick (Treasurer): Princeton account - $1690, Garden (Sovereign) account - $959.21. Patrick also put together a proposed budget for the Committee, and all present were able to view it. It was decided that the proposed budget would be considered by the Committee. Patrick noted that ~$550 in the garden account is actually general money, since money was paid from the Princeton account for garden-related expenses. There will be ~$100 put toward the yard sale (for drinks, etc) this year.

Jeff (Housing): Jeff is helping to plan future safety walks, and will keep residents posted on dates. Jeff has re-notified responsible parties about the shuttle blocking King Street. Jeff mentioned the shuttle survey (GSG is working with the parking and transportation office). Jeff says the committee is making progress in setting up a more efficient shuttle schedule. Jeff also mentioned the GSG letter-writing campaign, and said that residents should email gsg@princeton.edu with any issues they feel should be addressed. Grad school is re-evaluating how priority housing spots are given out, and they would like all housing Committees to discuss the allotment of priority housing spots. Dante asked whether there would be major maintenance proposals submitted in the future for Butler, given that Butler will be torn down in the near future. Jeff and Olivia said that they think the Committee should be able to still submit requests.

Olivia: Mark Bianchi is leaving the University, so there will be a small period of transition.

Tao and Nicole (Garden Co-coordinators): There was a garden equipment theft (from the tool shed) two weeks ago. Public Safety was not notified yet, but Nicole will notify them. Shannon will send out an email to residents about the missing tools. There is a combination lock on the shed, but it was unlocked because there were people working in the garden at that time. Patrick's farmer friend gave a talk to the gardeners, and Tao looked up how to make a garden organic, since the Butler Garden is advertised as an organic garden. The garden co-coordinators will make up specific rules for what can and cannot be used in an orgnaic garden (certain pesticides, etc). Also, there is now a Butler Gardening blog. Tao asked that a link be added to the Butler website, and that composting information be updated. Andrew will follow up.

Ed Matteo asked about Housing draw issues: he had heard that older students were pulled into the draw by younger students and then do not live with them. Jeff says that the Housing office knows about this issue, but that it is difficult to solve.

Becca has written notes on the talk given by the turkey farmer (Patrick's friend).

Shannon (Chair): By-law subcommittee has met once, and they decided that they would not report on things they are thinking as they go along, so they will only put forth proposals when they were all written up as a whole plan. They plan to bring a draft of changes by the July meeting so that there can be a vote on potential by-law changes in August of this year.

Meeting adjourned at 10:49 pm.