The Student Services Finance Committee cut the budget for the Student Leadership Program and received a progress report on the Nicholas Recreation Center construction at their meeting Thursday night.
RecWell’s Associate Director for Member Experiences Sadat Khan and Interim Director of Recwell Mick Miyamoto reported on the Nicholas Recreation Center construction project’s progress. The pair discussed their intent to abandon a plan to add solar panels atop the facility, citing high costs. But both said 99.2% of materials from the Southeast Recreation Facility were recycled and re-purposed for building the Nick.
While Khan and Miyamoto were unable to provide an exact completion date for the new recreation center, they said their dedication to transparency drove their decision not to present an estimate.
“We have nothing to hide, but the one thing we’re not gonna do is give you disinformation,” Khan said.
Student Leadership Program requests exact budget amount as last year
Wunk Sheek and the University of Wisconsin chapter of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlán both presented. Both organizations requested budget decreases for a variety of their resources and programs. Wunk Sheek, however, requested a salary increase from $17,472.00 to $19,204.50, to account for a new position, a Fiscal Relations Officer. This position would work alongside the Fiscal Relations Co-President.
Co-president of Wunk Sheek’s Fiscal Relations Michael Williams said he needed to add a Fiscal Relation’s Officer salary to the budget because he alone could not legally log enough hours for Wunk Sheek.
MEChA acknowledged they’d lost money due to multiple event scheduling errors last year.
SSFC members said they were concerned about why MEChA experienced planning issues last year. MEChA explained the organization’s Californian origins, informing the SSFC that the majority of artists MEChA invites hail from coastal cities, and therefore scheduling conflicts often arise.
“We need to use local artists that are easier to access,” MEChA’s financial specialist said.
The SSFC made several budget cuts to the SLP, voting to decrease the overall budget of the organization by 1.87%.
SSFC’s next meeting will be Monday, Nov. 11.
