March 18 2002

NORTHERN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT
SOCIETY 2002 ELECTIONS

NOMINATION PERIOD: MARCH 11 - 22, 2002

CAMPAIGN PERIOD: MARCH 18 - 25, 2002

SPEECHES: MARCH 26, 2002 12:00 PM
WINTERGARDEN

VOTING: MARCH 27 & 28, 2002 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Current Events

The university advancement committee just
passed a motion to have the development centre
make the collecting of donations for the student union
building (SUB) a priority. Now the Society can request
donations for the SUB.

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BRITISH COLUMBIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

NUGSS

Over The Edge Page 6

Statement of Finance & Operations

Greetings to the general
membership of the Northern
Undergraduate Student
Society:

| reviewed the new Bylaws
as well as the Financial
Statements and it started to
get me thinking about next
year. | know that | am not plan-
ning on returning for another
term. | am not sure who is
going to be around (other than
April), but NUGSS needs to
start planning long-term with
budgets with a longer than a
one-year basis. With NUGSS
going to bring in about
$60,000 more next year than
this year due to the implemen-
tation of the.thirty dollar flat-
rate student fee, financing
activities initiated to ensure
that money is not going to be
wasted as well as adding
value to the society; more so
now, since the Student Union
Building has been allocated
land and recognized as a pri-
ority by the development
office.

As an example, the incom-
ing board of directors and
decisions they will implement,
they have to weigh the benefit
of one capital activity com-
pared to another and select
the one that adds more value
to the society. The decision cri-
teria that is used to determine
value may be difficult to define
and should be done so by the
director of finance and the
general manager. The intent of
this message is to state that
funds should not be allocated
arbitrarily, but what the incom-
ing board of directors, namely
the director of finance, should
probably do with those funds
is add value to the Society. The
incoming board of directors
probably needs to make it
known from day one, that if a
group is not willing to earn
money or participate in stu-
dent events and/or Society
events as well as club events
(such as Frostbite, UNBC day,
backyard barbeque,
Shinerama, etc.), then that
group’s eligibility for funding
allocation, as well as the
request for funding, should
probably be denied. This is
because making this known
conveys the message that the
Society wants to spend its
members’ money responsibly;
it is also the best way to

respond to the concerns of
whether or not NUGSS is
‘wasting’ the students’ money.
For instance, at the original
budget meeting the standing
committee on monetary affairs
allocated 29,000 to clubs, but
by the end of the year, that
amount may rise to over
40,000.

Since funds are going to
raise by more than $60,000,
the incoming board of direc-
tors should probably take the
steps to ensure that those
funds assist in the attainment
of long-term objectives as out-
lined in the Society’s long-term
strategy. Below are some
examples of what could be
done:

*The Standing Committee
on Monetary Affairs needs to
be formed either in the months
between May ist to
September 1st or by the end of
the first week of school at the
start of the semester and bud-
get meetings need to be set
and confirmed during the
months between May {st to
September 1st.

eThe Board probably need
to approve the budget by the
3rd Friday of September or
prior.

eThe Director of Finance &
General Manager need to
communicate to the other
Directors what type of expens-
es the funds should come
from. For example, club fund-
ing should not come from
Student Ventures Grants. If it
does, then the purposes of
financial budgeting and finan-
cial management are mean-
ingless.

eSubsidiary organizations
such as Over the Edge
Newspaper, Women’s Centre,
and Clubs should have their
budgets in by the Monday fol-
lowing the BBQ, so that club
funding decisions can be
made well in advance.

ePerhaps, the following
planning initiative that | am
about to propose may be the
most difficult to implement. A
budget should be completed
for three to five years ahead.
Now, the situation may not be
accurate and may change, but
it least this gives the Society a
financial objective. Consider
an example where revenues
are going up by seventy one
percent just from student fees,

NUGSS should try to desig-
nate at least five percent of
that to capital upgrades and
about fifty percent to the
Student Union Building (SUB).
Certainly, the Society has SUB
fees and account already, but
the planning of the Student
Union Building has a high cost
of capital requirement, but if
there are any surplus funds
not spent, the Society should
deposit those funds in the
SUB account where they can
earn interest and are insured.
This is what Shane Schepens,
a former director of finance for
the Society, was iterating when
he proposed the Excess
Funds Policy as it has yet to be
been added to the policy man-
ual, but is probably something
that should be to preserve the
surplus funds, as well as prof-
its, at least until the SUB is
constructed.

The workload of the
General Manager will increase
and has with the addition of
the role of Project Manager to
his or her portfolio and the
Society should probably
assess its human resource-
deployments in response to
this as well as the SUB.
Perhaps. the feasibility of hiring
a_ full-time administrative
assistant, a few part-time
employees, or other initiatives.
The workload of the
Administrative Assistant is
also likely to increase since
the SUB has been allocated
land and recognized as a pri-
ority by the Office of
Development. This should
mean additional duties to her
portfolio as well. As the job
duties of the General Manager
increase with time the posi-
tion’s responsibility for adding
value to the Society increases.
The allocation of land to the
SUB and recognition of the
SUB by the Development
Office as a priority this will cer-
tainly increase the magnitude
of the position.

Basically the Society needs
to start thinking longer-term
and start the planning process
for that as soon as possible.

Khumo Phake
Director of
Operations
NUGSS

Finance and