FiCom Meetings, Fall 2011 Minutes

Thursday, December 8th
Attendance: Melanie, Nathan, Connie, Julianne Absent: Erf, Nelson

Frisbee Frisbee is here. They're trying to look at a cheaper van service for their trip, because it's a bit more expensive than usual. It's usually an expensive trip, but they fundraise. There's an issue because it's well over $5000 Council isn't meeting for a really long time (spring semester) but we're going to approve enough for them to put down money on the house they're staying at. We recognize this seems shifty, but they could lose their chance if they wait until council. Excalibur  Excalibur is holding milk and cookies night. This is delicious. They requested $150 in food money from COCA and then paid for $326 of cookies. The CLA approved this because they saw the funds were in the account. This is a problem, because it seems like the extra money came from kind of hoarding their food funding. We're going have to talk to them about this ASAP.

Zip Cars  It'd be pretty cool if student groups used zip cars. That's about all. Zoho


 * Requested
 * Misc
 * Red Scare
 * Requesting $1900 to reserve their rental house. (See discussion above and request directly below for details)
 * Approved: $1900
 * Trips
 * Red Scare
 * Requesting funds for their spring break trip.
 * See above discussion
 * Pended to be sent to community council, with the other part to be approved once it's submitted.
 * SOURCE Coalition
 * Requesting $80 for an ice skating trip.
 * Approved: $80 to be sent to the cultural center
 * QCA
 * Requesting $150 because we did the math wrong for their other request!
 * Approved: $150
 * Equipment
 * FiCom
 * Requesting $319 for an advertising robot for ourselves.
 * We're actually not comfortable funding ourselves so much for advertising, when we limit other folks' advertising funds.
 * Denied. (Yes, we denied ourselves.)
 * Additional Food
 * Mixed Nuts
 * Requesting $70 to pay for RFPs they don't have enough money to cover.
 * Denied. This isn't how food funding works, it's supposed to be pay-as-you-go, and we don't fund retroactively. We're asking them to come talk to us when we meet next.
 * Pending
 * Additional Food
 * SFU
 * Requested $25 for their last meeting of the semester's food.
 * Pended because we weren't sure if it had passed.
 * It was rescheduled, so it hadn't.
 * Approved: $25

Tuesday, December 6th
Attendance: Melanie, Nathan, Connie, Julianne, Absent: Erf,

Nelson,  Discussions Climbers' Coalition

Signers are here! Earlier in the semester they got behind on food funding. They met with us to talk about that, and since then we'd been receiving regular food requests. They hadn't been using these to pay for meeting food, but to pay down their food funding. They had done this at the instruction of Pam, who didn't respond when we asked what was going on with them.

(After they've left) Issues here


 * They spent too much money.
 * They didn't realize they had spent too much money for a very long time.
 * They went about fixing this in the wrong way.

The last issue seems to be as much our and the CLA's fault as theirs, but the first two remain. This could be a situation where probation would be in order. They seem to want to fix this, though, and we want them to stay in contact with us, so we're trying to figure out a better way to go about this, and we'll be getting back in contact with them regarding this.

Hoodies

We selected a design!

Zoho


 * Requested
 * Misc
 * FiCom
 * Requesting $6900 for stipends (this is a community council thing)
 * Approved: $6900 to go to payroll
 * Community Garden
 * Requesting $438 for materials to build a raised bed.
 * Approved: $438
 * Hampshire Christian Fellowship
 * Requesting $30 for extra money they spent on an event.
 * Denied, please submit to COCA
 * Equipment
 * Amnesty International
 * Requesting $20 for letter-writing supplies.
 * Approved: $20
 * Magic Draft
 * Requesting $120 for new cards.
 * They believe that this is consistent with their previous semesters' spending.
 * Approved: $120 - with the understanding that funding for future decks will be contingent on using current equipment and fundraising.
 * Publications
 * The Omen
 * Requesting $336 for printing the Omen.
 * Approved: $336
 * Amnesty International
 * Requesting $20 for printing color advertisements.
 * Approved: $20 - we have a general policy against printing in color, but they give good reasons for printing in color (showing photos of people is difficult in black and white) and it's a small number. Fund transfer written up as $5.00 approved & ZoHo shows $5.00 approved - minutes here state different? - mrj
 * Additional Food
 * Climbers Coalition
 * Requesting $35 for
 * They're $35 in the red for food funding (see discussion above for more info)
 * Approved: $35 while we decide any other action to take.
 * SFU
 * Requesting food funding.
 * We don't know when they're requesting this for because it seems like this meeting has already passed.
 * Pended until we figure that out.
 * Mixed Nuts
 * Requesting $70 for their last meeting of the semester.
 * Approved: $70

Thursday, December 1st
Attendance: Connie, Julianne, Melanie, Nelson, Nathan Absent:Erf

Community Council Stipends

Officers will be recieving their stipends (if they chose to accept them). The total of the stipends being paid out is $6900.

Zoho


 * Requested
 * Misc
 * Red Scare
 * Requesting $1000 to register their team for a frisbee tournament.
 * Approved: $1000
 * Hampshire College Fencing club
 * Requesting $75 for their yearly dues.
 * Approved: $75
 * Equipment
 * Gin &amp; Tonics
 * Requesting $25 for a pitch pipe.
 * Approved: $25
 * Publications
 * The Climax
 * Requesting $451 for the last semester's Climax.
 * Approved: $451
 * Additional Food
 * QIPOC
 * Requesting $60 for their last meeting's food.
 * Approved: $60
 * Counselor Advocates
 * Requesting $60 for their last meeting's food, going to the wellness center.
 * Approved: $60 (Transferred to the wellness center)
 * Climber's Coalition
 * Requesting $70 for their last meeting's food.
 * Approved: $70
 * Red Scare
 * Requesting $150 for their last meeting's food.
 * Approved: $150
 * SEARCH
 * Requesting $125 for their last meeting's food.
 * That's over the cap.
 * Approved: $75

Tuesday, November 29th
Attendance: Melanie, Nathan, Connie, Erf, Julianne Absent: Nelson (excused)  New Leaf came in. They'd spent money they had thought had been approved on posters. These posters were not going to be approved anyways, as they were too expensive. This is a serious problem, but they had excess funds in their account from a trip, so they're not in the red and we're not going to take any further action on this besides letting them know that they need to communicate better in the future. Zoho


 * Requested
 * Misc
 * Amnesty International
 * Requesting $50 to renew their membership in Amnesty International
 * Approved: $50
 * Trips
 * SEARCH
 * Requesting funding to go to a conference.
 * The funds they are requesting are for gas and to buy dinner for the organizers.
 * The SAF doesn't pay for food on trips, and the van fund covers gas for Hampshire vans, which they're using.
 * Risk assessment is complete.
 * Approved: $0, (Technically still approved, they should be allowed to use the vans, but no funds are being granted.)
 * Publications
 * New Leaf
 * Requesting $40 for 40¢ posters to advertise their screening.
 * We only fund black and white printing, so we're unable to approve that.
 * Denied (See relate discussion above, which took place after this request had been decided)
 * Additional Food
 * Hampshire Confucius
 * Requesting $140 for food for the last two weeks of the semester. (to be sent to spiritual life)
 * Approved: $140
 * James Baldwin Scholars
 * Requesting $100 for their next meeting's food
 * Approved: $100
 * Pending
 * Equipment
 * Climbers Coalition
 * Requested $250 for passes to a rock gym.
 * Pended because we had been unsure about how this works in terms of risk assessment.
 * Risk assessment issues have been worked out!
 * Approved: $250
 * Additional Food
 * Excalibur
 * Requested funding for food for the rest of the semester.
 * Pended because we wanted to make sure the amount requested was really needed.
 * The headcount was smaller than before, but still under the cap.
 * Approved: $440 (for the rest of the semester)

Monday, November 21st
Meeting Monday instead of Tuesday as many people will be gone for Break.

Attendance: Melanie, Nathan, Connie, Erf, Julianne Absent: Nelson

Discussions


 * Pam doesn't want us to send funding to non-student accounts for food anymore. We're not sure what the exact issue is, and need to iron that out. Additionally, we're not sure if that's her decision.
 * Signer hoodie designs should be in on the 4th. We need to get the posters out as soon as possible— no submissions are coming in right now. Zoho


 * Requested
 * Misc
 * Dandelion Den
 * Requesting $384 for a variety of herbs
 * Approved: $384 $385.00 fund transfer written up as - mrj
 * Hampshire College Fencing Club
 * Requesting $50 for two fencers who paid their entry fees late.
 * This is technically retroactive.
 * Approved: $384 with the understanding that this won't happen again. $50.00 was written up on fund transfer - mrj
 * HCEMS
 * Requesting $425 for medical supplies.
 * Approved: $425
 * Trips
 * SOURCE Coalition
 * Requesting $6 per person (and a hampshire van) to go ice skating at UMass.
 * This being just for signers is concerning. Pam feels the same, and we're hesitant.
 * This isn't a very expensive trip, so it might be possible to include SOURCE group members, too.
 * PVTA is probably a better option than a van for a trip to UMass.
 * Denied with the hope they'll resubmit with a few changes.
 * QCA
 * Requesting $977 for a trip to a conference.
 * This comes in just under trip cap.
 * Approved: $977
 * QCA
 * A duplicate of (or, technically, an addition to) the last request.
 * Denied as we approved the other.
 * Publications
 * GNU+Linux Users Group (Incorrectly submitted as Animal Behavior)
 * Requesting $18 for flyers and mailbox stuffers.
 * Approved: $18
 * Additional Food
 * Amnesty International
 * Requesting $60 for food for the next month.
 * Approved: $60
 * GNU+Linux Users Group
 * Requesting $300 for the next month's food.
 * Approved: $300
 * Social Entrepreneurship Aid and Resource Center at Hampshire (SEARCH)
 * Requesting $100 for the next month's food.
 * Approved: $100
 * Local Foods Initiative
 * Requesting $200 for
 * Approved: $200
 * Pending
 * Trips
 * Bart's Arm
 * Requested $167 for a trip to a museum.
 * Had been pended for risk assessment.
 * Risk assessment complete.
 * Approved: $167
 * UMOJA
 * Requested funding for a trip to the Smithsonian
 * Had been pended for risk assessment.
 * Denied because the date passed.

Tuesday, November 15th
Attendance: Melanie, Nathan, Connie, Erf, Julianne Absent:Nelson (excused)

Climber's Coalition is here! They've been spending meeting food money that they don't have, which could be problematic. They have spoken to Pam and are under the impression that this isn't an issue, but we're going to email her to figure out the story on this. A representative for jewelry collective, glass collective and blacksmith's guild is here. Lemelson has design conspiracy every week. Each group wants to transfer $75 from their initial food funding to Lemelson for this meeting. They don't have food at their regular meetings, so it's still once a week. We're having them request $225 ($75 for each group) to be transferred to Lemelson. A signer from the JSU is here. (Speedy return, see the request we pended later on in the minutes!) They had seriously underestimated the cost of their kitchen supplies. These supplies are used by other groups that supply kosher food as well.


 * Mugs are probably not hugely important
 * Compost buckets aren't that important.
 * Paper towel holder isn't the most important.
 * Challah plate would last a really long time but isn't that immediately important.

Zoho


 * Requested
 * Misc
 * Amnesty International
 * Requesting $49 for postage.
 * Approved: $49
 * Jewelry Collective
 * Requesting $225 for design conspiracy food, to go to the Lemelson account.
 * Approved: $225
 * Trips
 * Bart's Arm Art Collective
 * Requesting $ to go to a museum.
 * They planned to spend current food funding on snacks for this trip.
 * Pended for risk assessment, but food funds (or any other kind of SAF money) can't be spent on trips!
 * Equipment
 * JSU
 * Requesting an additional $244 for kitchen supplies.
 * They had previously been approved for $175.
 * We pended until we can talk to the signers, as this is a lot of money. Then a signer came in.
 * Approved (partially) $119 according to the discussion above
 * Publications
 * The Omen
 * Requesting $210 to print the Omen!
 * Approved: $210
 * Additional Food
 * Excalibur
 * Requesting $880 for the next month's worth of food.
 * Pended because this is a large amount of money and we want to make sure it accurately reflects the amount of food bought (and needed.) We're requesting the signers do a recount of members and maybe reassess their food needs.
 * COCA
 * Requesting $200 for the next month's worth of food.
 * Approved: $200
 * Shake and Bake
 * Requesting $140 for the next month's worth of food.
 * Approved: $140
 * Pending
 * Hampshire Anarchist Network
 * Requested funding (maybe) for a trip.
 * Pended because we didn't see where or if they were asking for funds.
 * Denied as the date has already passed.

Thursday, November 10th
Attendance: Melanie, Nathan, Connie, Julianne, Nelson Absent: Erf (excused)

Visits Sarah from yellow bike is here! They submitted a request for equipment to repair the yellow bikes. It's difficult for them to find members when people don't see the bikes around, and the bikes are in disrepair. Wheels and the inner tubes are the most important things on the list, but this is a really important order because they want to work on building up the a fleet of yellow bikes. The tools they're ordering are higher end because there will be inexperienced people working with them and they need to be able to hold up. There's been some trouble with donated bikes being discarded by phys plant and that's probably something some part of student governance should be looking in on.

Discussions

Community council didn't approve all of the surplus from the SAF last year to go back into this year's budget. We had been planning on that and we now will have a $28000 shortfall over what we predicted. We got some money back from Halloween, and it's possible that COCA didn't use all of the Halloween money, so this might not be as bad as it sounds. Additionally, it's unusual to be moving money into an endowment in the middle of the year rather than the beginning and the end, it could be risky to assume it will be surplus and spend it now. We might be putting groups that are doing active things at risk of losing activities for the sake of an endowment that may not be accessable, as it might not be possible to put money in, let alone spend it on anything.

Historically, at one point part of any surplus went into the endowment, but a while ago that practice stopped, so we hadn't bargained on it starting up again. The idea is that about a quarter of the SAF collected is from students who have moved on from the school (graduation or otherwise) and using their money on student events doesn't benefit them. In any case, we're not sure at the moment how much this will impact the budget, or if any cuts will need to be made, and we won't be sure until Nathan hears back from several people.

Zoho


 * Requested
 * Misc
 * Glass Collective
 * Requesting $336 for safety equipment and tubing.
 * Approved: $336 Written up to go directly into Lemelson's account - mrj
 * Equipment
 * Climbers Coalition
 * Requesting $250 for passes to a rock climbing gym.
 * We had trouble with this from a risk assessment (and communication) standpoint last year, and we have some concerns about signers taking the passes home with them.
 * Pended until we can talk to Pam about this.
 * Additional Food
 * Climber's Coalition
 * Requesting food funding.
 * We just approved food funding for them last meeting.
 * Denied. Please wait a week or two to submit for more food.
 * Pending
 * Equipment
 * Yellow Bike
 * Requested $1100 for
 * Pended because this was a lot of money and we wanted to talk to a signer.
 * After our talk, we think that these parts will be put to good use.
 * Approved: $1100

Tuesday, November 8th
Attendance: Connie, Julianne, Melanie, Nathan, Erf, Absent: Nelson (excused)

Visits ISO is here! Risk assessment is complete on the quickly approaching trip. They're aiming to bring 25 people, they have around 16 as of last night, expecting more this evening. They've done a lot of fundraising, so they're requesting $800. They're going with UMass's ISO, a member is driving a bus. Zoho


 * Requested
 * Misc
 * Community Council
 * Requesting $120 to provide food for housing representatives' house meetings.
 * Approved: $120
 * SEARCH
 * Requesting $63 for binders and paper to organize for their spring semester conference.
 * Approved: $63
 * HCEMS
 * Requesting $20 because their math was wrong on the previous updated cost of walkie talkies.
 * Approved: $20
 * Glass Collective
 * Requesting $167 to refill their propane and oxygen tank, to go to the Lemelson account.
 * Approved: $167
 * Arc5
 * Requesting $16 for parking for their recent trip to Boston.
 * Approved: $16 -- although we've let the signers know that this is not okay to do in the future. This is retroactive and should have been factored into their trip request, it's better to overestimate these than to ask for funds later.
 * Equipment
 * Crazy Pitches
 * Requesting $64 for equipment
 * $20 for a Pitch pipe, $27 for Speakers/Cables, $7 for Expo markers and $10 for shipping.
 * Approved: $64
 * Yellow Bike
 * Requesting $1,100 for a variety of bike-related things.
 * Pended because of the size of the request, we'd like to talk to the signers.
 * Additional Food
 * Asian Media
 * Requesting $180 for food for the next month.
 * Approved: $180
 * Climbers Coalition
 * Requesting $280 for their next month's worth of food.
 * Approved: $280
 * Yiddish Language Club
 * Requesting $200 for their next month's worth of food. (To be transferred to spiritual life)
 * Approved: $200
 * Fund Transfers
 * Glass Collective
 * Requesting $75 be transferred to pay for Design Conspiracy group meetings.
 * Denied because we're having consistent communication issues about the design conspiracy meetings, we're denying this request until we're on the same page, and have asked the signers to come in.
 * Pending
 * Misc
 * Crazy Pitches
 * Requested funds for equipment.
 * Pended because we wanted to know where this would be stored, and to update their hampedia page.
 * Denied as we approved an updated version.
 * Trips
 * SJSF
 * Requested funding for a tar sands protest trip.
 * Pended for risk assessment.
 * Denied as risk assessment is unable to be completed this late in the game.
 * ISO
 * Requested funding, just updated to $800 (due to fundraising) for 25 people to go to a conference.
 * Was pended for risk assessment.
 * Approved: $800
 * Trans Student Alliance
 * Requested $1184 for 16 people to go to a conference (just adjusted down due to the removal of hotel rooms from the budget)
 * Pended for risk assessment
 * Approved: $1184
 * Mixed nuts
 * Requested funds to go to a conference
 * Pended for risk assessment
 * Denied as the date has passed.
 * Additional Food
 * Glass Collective
 * Requested food funding
 * Pended because we were confused by the request
 * Denied as this has been sitting here for a while and we've clearly had some communication issues regarding this, we'd like the signers to come in and meet with us.

Thursday, October 27th
Attendance: Melanie, Nathan, Connie, Julianne, Nelson Absent: Erf (excused)

Discussions


 * Signer list
 * We don't have the password to the signer's list.
 * Traditionally, we have, because the CLA has often used ficom as a liason.
 * Community council is the moderator and owner of this list as well, and now there's an issue of who should have the password.
 * This could slow things down considerably, as Ficom is in charge of signer seminar.
 * We're getting emails from people who believe they should be on the list and we have no power to control that.
 * We're going to get the password to the list now.
 * Emails
 * The CLA is concerned with groups changing their names. We allocate student money to student groups' account numbers. We have nothing to do with what student groups call themselves.
 * Transferring funds to offices is really difficult. On the other hand, we don't feel it's appropriate to deny food requests because of the difficulty. This is student money and students requesting to use it, and we're concerned about limiting that.

Zoho


 * Requested
 * Misc
 * Crazy Pitches
 * Requesting $57 for equipment.
 * We're not sure where this is being stored, this is why equipment should be requested through the equipment requests.
 * Pended Fund transfer written up for $57.00 - which is correct - these minutes or the transfers? please advise as I don't see this on ZoHo under Funding Requests where Ficom approved it?? - thanks - mrj
 * Per Nathan - delete this off the fund transfer - mrj
 * HCEMS
 * Requesting $43 for radios, the previous price was misquoted and they need more.
 * Pended/Denied/Approved: $ No amount listed here? - fund transfer written up for $43.00 - which is correct? mrj
 * Approved for $43.00 - per Nathan - mrj
 * Trips
 * Sports co-op
 * Requesting $8792 for a trip to their championship.
 * This amount has been approved by community council, assuming it is also approved by Ficom.
 * This is actually 3 times over the trip cap.
 * This isn't something we factored into our projections, and sports co-op has no contingency planned for this sort of thing.
 * We're okay with funding this because it's an amazing opportunity, but with the understanding that we will not fund anything further for sports co-op this year.
 * Approved: $8792
 * SJSF
 * Requesting funds for a trip to the tar sands protest like new leaf.
 * Risk assessment isn't complete, at this time it's very unlikely it will be completed.
 * Pended until risk assessment can be completed, if that works out.
 * Publications
 * The Climax
 * Requesting $451.39 to print the climax.
 * Approved: $452
 * Additional Food
 * Glass Collective
 * Requesting $175 for food funding.
 * This request is, again, confusing. We're not sure which meetings they want food funding for or how much. We're generally not sure what's going on in this request and have contacted the signers again.
 * Denied
 * Raices
 * Requesting $100 for the next month's worth of food.
 * Approved: $100
 * Mixed Nuts
 * Requesting $300 for the next month's worth of food.
 * Approved: $300
 * Future Music Collective
 * Requesting $120 for their next three meetings.
 * Approved: $120
 * The Climax
 * Requesting $240 for the next month's worth of food.
 * Approved: $240
 * The Omen
 * Requesting $200 for the next month's worth of food.
 * Approved: $200
 * Gin and Tonics
 * Requesting $240 for the next month's worth of food.
 * Approved: $200 Why different dollar amount? - Ficom wrote up fund transfer as $240.00 - which is correct? $200.00 or $240.00? - mrj
 * Per Nathan - fund transfer amount correct - $240.00 - mrj

Tuesday, October 25th
Attendance:Melanie, Connie,Nathan, Erf Julianne Absent: Nelson (excused) Zoho


 * Requested
 * Trips
 * Trans Student Alliance (TSA)
 * Requesting funds for a trip to a conference on November 11th.
 * Risk assessment hasn't been completed.
 * Pended for risk assessment and to figure out their signer's status on seminar, etc.
 * Hampshire Anarchist Network
 * Requesting funds for a trip to a bookfair on November 12th.
 * Risk assessment hasn't been completed.
 * We're not sure exactly what they're requesting, we think maybe just a van. Asking for clarification.
 * Pended for risk assessment and clarification.
 * UMOJA
 * Requesting funds for a trip to a conference on November 18th.
 * We're not clear from this request what the costs are and are requesting an itemized list from them.
 * Risk assessment hasn't been completed.
 * Pended for risk assessment and clarification.
 * International Socialist Organization
 * Requesting funds for a trip to a conference on November 11th.
 * Risk assessment hasn't been completed.
 * The organizer of this trip came in and spoke to us, things seem to be in order otherwise.
 * Pended for risk assessment.
 * Equipment
 * Sexperts
 * Requesting $275.25 for safe sex supplies to give out on Halloween.
 * We're not sure why this isn't isn't being funded by COCA but we're okay with funding it because we think it's important and needs to be done.
 * Approved: $258
 * Feminist United Collective
 * Requesting $153 for paint to paint the graffiti wall.
 * We're concerned with the fact that the graffiti wall is a community space and that we're providing the resources for some students, as members of student groups, to express themselves on that space while others are paying their own money to do so. At the same time, we recognize that there's no policy on this and we feel that it would be too much of a value judgement to deny this request.
 * Approved: $153
 * Magic Draft
 * Requesting $720 for booster boxes of magic cards for the semester.
 * We've talked to the signer previously, this hasn't been the level of spending from magic draft in the past.
 * We're not comfortable with this amount of spending, and we've tried to make this clear.
 * Denied
 * Publications
 * The Omen
 * Requesting $392 to publish the Omen.
 * Approved: $392
 * Additional Food
 * ASL collective
 * Requesting $250 for their ASL lunches.
 * Approved: $250
 * UMOJA
 * Requesting $150 for 3 weeks of food
 * Approved: $350 Fund transfer written up as $150.00 approved meeting food funds - mrj
 * Counselor Advocates
 * Requesting $240 to be transferred to wellness center for their next month of food.
 * Approved: $240 (to the wellness center)
 * Hampshire Confucius
 * Requesting $280 to be transferred to spiritual life for their next month of food.
 * Approved: $280 (to spiritual life)
 * Fund Transfers
 * Aliz
 * Requesting $3,206 for their conference to be transferred to the QCA. 
 * Approved: $3,205 to the QCA
 * The Urban Word
 * Requesting $150 for an open mic event to be transferred to the music office.
 * Approved: $150 to the music office
 * Pending
 * Trips
 * Hampshire College Fencing Club
 * Requested $175 for a tournament.
 * Pended because of risk assessment, now completed.
 * Approved: $175
 * Additional Food
 * Shake and Bake
 * Requested $140 for a month's worth of food to be sent to the Merrill house office.
 * Pended because they had the wrong account number.
 * Approved: $140
 * Fund Transfers
 * Shake and Bake
 * Requested $75 to be transferred to Merrill house.
 * Pended because they had the wrong account number.
 * Approved: $75

Thursday, October 20th
Attendance: Melanie, Connie, Julianne, Nelson, Nathan Absent: Erf (excused)

Discussions

Board of Trustees Financial Committee student representative


 * FiCom is supposed to find someone interested in serving as the student representative to this committee.
 * There were going to be elections, but it didn't work out.
 * Melanie has expressed interest in this, and we think she'd do well, so she'll be sending her name in.

Officer Descriptions


 * Connie moves that FiCom approve the changes to officer positions put forth by community council.
 * Julianne seconds.
 * No blocks.
 * The motion passes.

Zoho


 * Requested
 * Misc
 * New Leaf
 * Requesting $100 extra for additional expenses for the tar sands protest trip
 * Approved: $100
 * COCA
 * Requesting $200 for food
 * This is also in additional food, and we'll approve it there, as it's the appropriate place.
 * Denied: $200
 * Additional Food
 * Shake and Bake
 * Requesting $140 for their next month's worth of food, to be transferred to the Merrill House budget.
 * Pended due to wrong account number
 * COCA
 * Requesting $200 for their next month's worth of food, to be transferred to the Merrill House budget. Is this accurate? Going into Merrill House? as the fund transfer wasn't written up this way and why would COCA put their funding in Merrill House? Marie asking?
 * Approved $200
 * Fund Transfers
 * Shake and Bake
 * Requesting $75 be transferred to the Merrill House budget from their account.
 * Pended for the same reasons as their previous request: wrong account number (but a different wrong account number.)

Tuesday, October 18th
Attendance: Melanie, Nathan, Connie, Erf, Julianne Absent: Nelson


 * FiCom has a survey up! https://intranet.hampshire.edu/forms/viewForm.php?id=1126

Zoho


 * Requested
 * Misc
 * Community Garden
 * Requesting $390 for plants for the community garden.
 * Approved: $390
 * Glass Collective
 * Requesting $17 for a refill of their propane tank to be sent to the Lemelson Account.
 * They'd requested a fund transfer before having funds approved before. We're just going to deny that one and send this straight to Lemelson.
 * Approved: $17 to be sent to Lemelson.
 * COCA
 * Requesting $25,707 for their updated Fall budget (not including Halloween)
 * This has come out of council with their approval.
 * Approved: $25,707
 * COCA
 * Requesting $1200 for additional Halloween funding.
 * Approved: $1200
 * Equipment
 * HCEMS
 * Requesting $1020 for radios to be sent to the Campus Police for purchase. (But we don't have the budget number so we're sending it to the student group account)
 * The old radios are soggy and thus less functional than they need to be.
 * Approved: $1020
 * Trips
 * Hampshire College Fencing Club
 * Requesting funds for 5 people to compete in a fencing tournament
 * Risk assessment hasn't been completed.
 * We're not sure whether there's a per person entry fee or an entry fee for groups, and have sent an email to clear it up, accordingly.
 * Pended due to risk assessment.
 * Mixed Nuts
 * Requesting $720 for 3 students to attend a convention for coops.
 * Projected attendance is listed as 3, but only 2 names are listed
 * The trip cap is $150 per person per trip.
 * Pended until we can clear up our questions regarding this, also risk assessment.
 * Additional Food
 * Asian Media
 * Requesting $204 for their next month's worth of food.
 * Approved: $204
 * Ahoula
 * Requesting $80 for for their next month's worth of food.
 * Approved: $80
 * JSU
 * Requesting $500 for the five Shabbats remaining in the semester.
 * Approved: $500
 * Glass Collective
 * Requesting food funding, but we're not clear exactly how much from their request.
 * Pended until we can communicate with the signer to figure out what they are requesting.
 * Re-Rad
 * Requesting $200 for for their next month's worth of food.
 * This goes over our cap, with 8 members.
 * Approved: $160, the food cap for a group with 8 members.
 * Fund Transfers
 * Feminist United Collective
 * Requesting $75 to be transferred to, we think, the Center for Feminisms to repay them for the first meeting's food.
 * Approved: $75 to be transferred to the Center for Feminisms.
 * Pending
 * Misc
 * COCA
 * Requested $35,3507.50 for their budget..
 * Pended to send to community council
 * Denied because we approved a new one.
 * Sports Co-op
 * Requested $14838 for their budget
 * Pended to send to community
 * Denied because they received funding from another office.


 * Trips
 * Red Scare
 * Requested funds for a frisbee tournament at Bard.
 * Pended for risk assessment.
 * Risk assessment has been completed, but so has the trip. Retroactive funding is a problem, but we're willing to fund this with the understanding that if this happens again we will not cover them.
 * Approved: $518
 * Red Scare
 * Requested $175 for a frisbee tournament at Green Mountain
 * Pended for risk assessment.
 * Approved: $175


 * Fund Transfers
 * Glass Collective
 * Requested $17 be sent to Lemelson for a refill.
 * Pended because the funds weren't in the account.
 * Denied as we just transferred these funds from the request.

Thursday, October 13th
Attendance: Melanie, Nathan, Connie, Julianne, Nelson Absent: Erf Agenda


 * UMass Fine Arts Center - How do we survey the community / ask how individuals feel about spending SAF on something that no one knows about?
 * Tabled
 * Intervention within current funding process of upcoming student group events (ie transfer funds from SAF into student group accounts)
 * COCA HH budget - under current bylaws, FiCom is only body that must approve HH request
 * Process ONE additional request from COCA under $5,000
 * Announcement: Sports Co-op has found funding else where but still is planning to submit requests through Zoho (maybe wait on this until we hear confirmation?)
 * Announcement: In last Council (working) meeting, we wrote up descriptions of officer positions, will vote on these once they have been brought to Council (as advised by CC secretary)
 * Zoho MANY REQUESTS

Discussions


 * Intervention on events
 * There are events taking place between now and next Friday that will not be processed and the students will not be able to get money for them if money isn't moved starting tomorrow.
 * Marie has said that if we transfer about $5000 to their account, that should cover it. There is $400 in the account now.
 * The other option is that we act like COCA and we write up a transfer from the SAF to the student groups
 * This is a lot more work for Nathan, Marie and the business office, and makes it harder to track down.
 * It's possible that won't be enough, but it should be.
 * We're going to do that and not intervene with specific events.
 * Kristina, Jeremy are here from COCA
 * The $4900 we approved should cover the events already approved until the budget is passed.
 * Hampshire Halloween
 * Something has to get approved today regardless, or there will be trouble.
 * There are cost changes (see file attached to zoho for complete details)
 * Lighting costs have gone up because of labor costs and raw materials costs.
 * There is an increase in music to balance out the lineup and have a lot of good music rather than putting all our eggs in one basket.
 * COCA surprise is supposed to advertise and increase awareness of Hampshire Halloween, making it more appealing so that people will buy more tickets and be more energized, they're requesting permanent equipment for that like a search light and, helium balloons and a bubble machine.
 * It seems to be a trend that more things are added every year, and more students say it's too expensive.
 * This budget is less conservative than we were initially planning, but we may have more SAF available than we thought.
 * Band costs and Pub Safety costs could go up some hundred dollars, so things will probably get somewhat more expensive.
 * Ticket prices have gone up, too, and that implies a certain quality.
 * COCA discussion continues with COCA having left
 * On the one hand, costs have gone up, but on the other hand, things could have been cut.
 * It's difficult to gauge public opinion on this, in any case.

Zoho


 * Requested
 * Misc
 * SJSF
 * Requesting $85 for initial funding
 * They did not know about this last year when they could have signed up and heard from the CLA they could request it from ZOHO
 * It's odd to get initial funding this late into the semester.
 * Approved: $85
 * COCA
 * Requesting $4900 to hold them over until Community Council meets next and votes on their budget.
 * We've gotten specific permission from Community council to approve an amount under $5000 at this meeting to keep COCA alive until next Tuesday.
 * Approved: $4900
 * COCA
 * Requesting $50803.95 for Hampshire Halloween
 * According to the bylaws, Hampshire Halloween is an exception to the "over 5000 goes to community council" rule.
 * More detailed breakdown of funds is available on zoho
 * Approved: $50804
 * Trips
 * Equestrian Team
 * Requesting $825 for 9 people to attend the UMass horse show October 22nd
 * This is a lot of money (combined with the other horse shows)
 * We're okay with this but we want to talk to the signers before funding any trips after this semester's worth.
 * Approved: $825
 * Equestrian Team
 * Requesting $858 for 9 people to attend the Amherst College horse show November 12th
 * See previous reasoning
 * Approved: $858
 * Equestrian Team
 * Requesting $834 for 9 people to attend the Mt Holyoke horse show November 19th
 * See previous reasoning here, too.
 * Approved: $834
 * Red Scare
 * Requesting funds to go to the Bard College fall ultimate tournament
 * Pended for risk assessment.
 * New Leaf
 * Requesting $1240 to go to an oil sands protest in DC.
 * Want to rent a van for $315.56
 * Estimating transportation costs to total $520 (the rental and the gas)
 * Each student will stay at a hostel, approx $30 per person for 2 nights, 12 people $720
 * Approved: $1380 (over the cap to cover tolls and public transportation)
 * JSU
 * Requesting $500 for 4 people to go to Limmund NY.
 * This is an updated version of a pending request, this assumes that the students will receive scholarships to attend and if they don't will find funding elsewhere.
 * Approved: $500
 * Red Scare
 * Requesting $175 for 16 people to go to the Green Mountain tournament.
 * Pended for risk assessment
 * HCEMS
 * Requesting $866 for 7 people (2 attending only one day) to go to a 2 day EMS conference.
 * Continued education is required to maintain licensure for EMTs.
 * $830 is for admission, $36 is for parking
 * Pended/Denied/Approved: $866
 * Equipment
 * Magic Draft
 * Requesting $81 for card sleeves and boxes
 * Approved: $81
 * Blacksmiths' Guild
 * Requesting $100 for 200 feet of steel stock to be sent to the lemelson account
 * Approved: $100
 * HCEMS
 * Requesting $195 for epi pens
 * Approved: $195
 * Publications
 * Counselor Advocates (CAs)
 * Requesting $7.50 for posters to advertise the start of a bereavement group, to be transferred to the wellness center account.
 * Approved: $8
 * The Climax
 * Requesting $456 to print the climax
 * Approved: $456
 * Additional Food
 * James Baldwin Scholars
 * Requesting $100 for their next month's worth of food
 * Approved: $100
 * SJP
 * Requesting $180 for their next month's worth of food.
 * Approved: $180
 * SEARCH
 * Requesting $120 for their next month's worth of food.
 * Pended/Denied/Approved: $120
 * Excalibur
 * Requesting $1040 for their next month's worth of food.
 * Approved: $1040
 * In Solidarity With Immigrants
 * Requesting $280 for their next month's worth of food.
 * Approved: $280
 * SJSF
 * Requesting their initial food funding here as well.
 * Denied: We approved this elsewhere.
 * QIPOC
 * Requesting 140 for their next month's worth of food.
 * Approved: $140


 * Fund Transfers
 * Glass Collective
 * Requesting to transfer $17 from their account to Lemelson for their propane refill.
 * Pended we need to make sure that they've been approved for funding for this.
 * Pending
 * Trips
 * New Leaf
 * Requested funding for their trip to the protest here, too.
 * Pended for risk assessment
 * Denied as we approved another version.
 * JSU
 * Requested funding for their trip to Limmund NY.
 * Pended because of risk assessment and concern about the scholarships
 * Denied as we approved another version
 * James Baldwin Scholars
 * Requested funding for their trip to a bowling alley.
 * Pended because of risk assessment.
 * Denied as they never responded to emails and the trip takes place tonight.
 * Additional Food
 * James Baldwin Scholars
 * Requested $80 for food.
 * Pended to let them know about the new trip cap at the start of the year
 * Denied because it's been a while and we just approved another additional food request
 * Denied because it's been a while and we just approved another additional food request

Supplemental(done after main meeting)


 * We now have the account number for the Center For Feminisms--transferring $1500 for the Charlie Glickman workshop series approved by CoCA from the Sexperts to the Center for Feminisms
 * SPICI has money in their account now--transferring $180 from SPICI to Spiritual Life to pay for the SHulcan Ivrit table

Thursday, October 6th
Attendance: Melanie, Nathan, Julianne, Nelson,Connie, Absent: Erf (Excused)

Daniel from Magic Draft is here!


 * Magic is a trading card game with a large national and international community of players
 * There's a social aspect to the game, and Magic Draft is here to help form the community.
 * It can be an expensive hobby, and the new signers don't know how things have been done in the past.
 * Members can bring pre-constructed decks that can be expensive and fancy, but there are also ways of playing that even the playing field, randomly selecting cards so everyone is on the same playing field.
 * Ficom has been concerned with how much has been spend early in the year, and we want to make sure that the cards are being reused.
 * Drafting requires a certain number of cards per person, so they have
 * Opening new packs is nice, random, and fun. Old cards are less fun and end up not being used
 * Old cards are used as pre-constructed decks mostly, whereas only new cards are used for drafting.
 * Last year this much was not spent at all, and this year it seems like the plan was to buy a new box (about $100 or a bit more) every week. We're not sure how this happened last year, and it's worth following up with the previous signers to figure out what's going on there.
 * They also want to use

Noga from 'New Leaf'is here, too!


 * They want to go to a tar sands protest and stay at a hostel.
 * Risk assessment is planned for Monday.
 * Hostels are ranging between $22-$27 per night, but the prices are fluctuating and it's best to book it as soon as possible.

Jeremy from 'COCA'is here!


 * If the financial director of COCA sees that the COCA account is low, it's their responsibility to monitor that and ask for things far in advance.
 * We had given Kristina the impression that they could ask for money and we (FiCom) could fund this. That's because the over $5000 goes to council rule hadn't been enforced in the past.
 * COCA has been trying to email council and Leanna without success.
 * COCA didn't know they were supposed to request the Halloween budget, either.
 * A lot of stuff went wrong, a lot of it because COCA's membership is very new, and they're not sure how things have worked yet.
 * We shouldn't be deciding to avoid council's oversight.
 * It was also mentioned that it might not make sense to follow bylaws that don't make sense and are going to be obsolete very soon anyways.
 * Still, giving the amount of $8000, against the bylaws, might cause more damage in the long run.
 * At the same time, students are going to suffer if this money isn't approved.
 * Pam Tinto has also said that she needs to put a freeze on event funding because COCA is in the red.

Jeremy Leaves, continuation of the discussion


 * This is a problem mainly within the subcommittees
 * At the same time, Council isn't making itself available.
 * There really needs to be an emergency meeting.

Zoho


 * Requested
 * Misc
 * SJP
 * Requesting $173.40 for mileage for their previously approved trip to a conference, as they could not get a hampshire van as planned.
 * Approved: $174
 * Samba &amp; Capoeira Group
 * Requesting $80 for their weekly Portuguese language table, held in the dining commons.
 * Food needs to be dealt with monthly and submitted under food requests. It also isn't clear if this is on top of weekly meeting food.
 * Denied.
 * Blacksmiths' Guild
 * Requesting $250 for a blacksmithing event.
 * They sent this to FiCom because the COCA zoho was down.
 * Even if COCA's zoho isn't functioning, we can't approve events.
 * Denied. Please try COCA's zoho again, if that's a problem, please email them.
 * COCA
 * Requesting $4000 for their monthly budget.
 * See the above discussion.
 * We decided without voting that it's best to approve at least one of these.
 * Approved: $4000
 * COCA
 * Requesting $4000 for their monthly budget. (Part 2)
 * Nelson moves to approve this request in full.
 * Julianne seconds.
 * Nathan blocks.
 * Further discussion: This could eventually damage relations with council. Or it might not.
 * Vote: Nelson is in favor, Nathan, Julianne and Connie opposed.
 * Motion does not pass.
 * Connie motions we approve $900 for this request.
 * Nathan seconds.
 * No blocks.
 * The motion passes
 * Approved: $900. Under community council's bylaws, article 8 section D, #2C, FiCom must forward proposals of more than $5000 to community council, and the culmination of the two proposals, which are essentially the same proposal means that we've reached that limit. Therefore we're processing this request in part, hoping it will help COCA to function in the meantime.
 * COCA
 * Requesting $4000 for their monthly budget. (Part 3)
 * Denied.
 * Trips
 * JSU
 * Requesting funding for a trip to a conference in New York in January.
 * Right now they have only 2 confirmed attendees, but they expect to hear at their next meeting who else will go and expect to fill an 8-seat van.
 * They want to complete risk assessment once funding is approved.
 * With lodging as part of registration, the cost is $394 per person, but if they receive a scholarship, they can bring registration down to $125.
 * The trip cap is $150 per person, so we need to know how much this is going to cost, or they will have to fundraise to make up for the trip cap.
 * Risk assessment needs to be done before FiCom approves this
 * Denied
 * Yiddish Language Club
 * Requesting $75 for 3 students to attend the Yiddish Book Center's Yiddish Translation Conference.
 * It's right next door, so there's no traveling expenses!
 * Approved: $75
 * New Leaf
 * Requesting $1516 ($816 in gas, $700 in lodging) for 14 students to participate in a Tar Sands protest.
 * They say they will be traveling by Hampshire van
 * Hampshire vans aren't actually dealt with by FiCom, so we won't need to factor in that money, but it's better to have more information than we need than not enough!
 * See conversation above, we will pend this for now.
 * Pended due to risk assessment
 * Equipment
 * Mi Cuba
 * Requesting $39 for 2 sets of double 9 dominoes.
 * Although they just bought dominoes, double 9 dominoes are more advanced.
 * Approved: $39 Fund transfer written up as $40.00 - mrj
 * Publications
 * The Omen
 * Requesting $280 to publish The Omen.
 * Approved: $280
 * Additional Food
 * Hampshire Confucius
 * Requesting $280 to be sent to the spiritual life p-card for their next month's worth of meetings
 * Approved: $280 (to be sent to the spiritual life p-card)
 * Fund Transfers
 * The Sexperts
 * Requesting $1,505 of their funds for an event to be sent to the CFF.
 * COCA has approved this.
 * Approved: $1,505 to be sent to the CFF. Not written up - mrj
 * Pending
 * Trips
 * Arc5
 * Requested $171 to send 9 people to the premiere of a film.
 * Previously pended for risk assessment.
 * Risk assessment has been completed
 * Approved: $171
 * Equipment
 * Magic Draft
 * Requested $240 for a new expansion.
 * Pended until we could talk with the signer.
 * After the talk, we're not convinced that this kind of spending will stop. Funding for an extra week of drafting with new cards isn't going to make a difference.
 * Denied. this needs to be fundraised or worked out the way it has in the past, we recommend you get in contact with previous signers.

Tuesday, October 4th
Attendance: Melanie, Nathan, Connie, Erf, Julianne Absent: Nelson (excused)


 * SPICI fund transfer trouble!
 * We tried to transfer $180 from SPICI to spiritual life before SPICI has $180
 * We emailed SPICI and they were under the impression they had the money before the transfer was requested in the first place
 * The money was approved by Ficom the SPICI account on Sept 27th, the transfer was approved the same day.
 * We can check up on this as soon as the hub is up, but right now it's broken and there's nothing we can do.

Zoho


 * Requested
 * Misc
 * Community Garden
 * Requesting $25 for jars and other jelly making supply in order to make jelly using their harvests.
 * Approved: $25
 * Community Council
 * Requesting $155.98 for two blank ink cartridges @77.99 each,
 * Approved: $25 Fund transfer written up for $156.00 - mrj
 * Equipment
 * Counselor Advocates
 * Requesting $600 for super hero sashes for halloween
 * This is related to halloween, thus an event. We've spoken with COCA, they'd be happy to deal with this.
 * Denied: Please submit this to COCA
 * Counselor Advocates
 * Requesting $329 for consent buttons and stickers for halloween
 * This is related to halloween, thus an event. We've spoken with COCA, they'd be happy to deal with this.
 * Denied: Please submit this to COCA
 * Excalibur
 * Requesting $68.35 for four pounds of dice to be used at deathfest.
 * Approved: $69.00
 * Circus Folk Unite!
 * Requesting $57 because the PA system we approved before had apparently been on sale temporarily. The difference is $57. The request is for $231.98, the total cost, but those funds have already been transferred, so we're approving the difference.
 * Approved: $57 Price went down again when I placed order - deleted this approval off the transfer forms - mrj
 * Community Garden
 * Requesting $102 for 2 sets of gardening gloves, a hammer and 4 hand held pruners.
 * Approved: $102
 * Magic Draft
 * Requesting $240 for a new expansion that just came out, apparently there are not enough cards for everyone who wants to play.
 * We're not sure what's happened to all the other cards we've funded in the past, and would like to have a meeting with the signers.
 * Pended: Until we can talk about this in person
 * Publications
 * Counselor Advocates
 * Requesting $75 for consent posters for halloween
 * This is related to halloween, thus an event. We've spoken with COCA, they'd be happy to deal with this.
 * Denied: Please submit this to COCA
 * Counselor Advocates
 * Requesting $75 for safe drinking posters for halloween
 * This is related to halloween, thus an event. We've spoken with COCA, they'd be happy to deal with this.
 * Denied: Please submit this to COCA
 * Additional Food
 * Mixed Nuts
 * Requesting $280 for their next month's worth of meeting food
 * Approved: $280
 * Gin &amp; Tonics
 * Requesting $40 for their next meeting's food, they usually don't eat.
 * Approved: $40
 * Fund Transfer
 * Yiddish Language Club
 * Requesting to send $100 from their previously approved food money to Spiritual life, who let them use their p-card.
 * Approved: $100 to Spiritual Life
 * Pending
 * Trips
 * Equestrian Team
 * Requested $925 to go to the Mt Holyoke Horse Show.
 * We were unclear on the total, but we heard back through email.
 * Approved: $925
 * Equestrian Team (not a duplicate)
 * Requested $925 to go to the Smith College Horse Show.
 * We were unclear on the total, but we heard back through email.
 * Approved: $925

Marie asked FiCom to write up fund transfer $780.00 for Internation Socialist Organization summer trip to cover hotel charges where funding went back into SAF at FYE11 - mrj

Thursday, September 29th
Attendance: Melanie, Nathan, Connie, Nelson, Julianne Chaloux Absent: Erf (excused)

Changes to bylaws: There used to be an office manager, that job got absorbed into the director of council relations, who goes to council. At the moment, Nelson is the director of council relations, but Melanie is acting as representative to council.

Nelson motions to ratify the following changes in the bylaws:


 * Nathan seconds
 * no blocks
 * the motion passes.


 * Connie motions that, given the changes in officer responsibilities, she and Nelson switch positions, Nelson becoming Community Liaison and Connie becoming Secretary.
 * Nelson seconds
 * No blocks
 * the motion passes

zoho


 * Submitted
 * Misc
 * Community Garden
 * Requesting $71.40 to replant the herb garden and some flowers
 * Approved: $72
 * Equipment
 * Mi Cuba
 * Requesting $18 for 2 domino sets to be stored in the CLA basement
 * Approved: $18
 * Publications
 * The Climax
 * Requesting $451.39 to print the Climax
 * Approved: $452
 * Food Requests
 * Mi Cuba
 * Requesting $160 for the next month's worth of food
 * Approved: $160
 * Pending
 * Trips
 * Circus Folk
 * Requesting $1202 to go to Cirque Du Soleil
 * Risk assessment complete
 * Approved: $1202
 * Additional Food Requests
 * Feminist United Collective
 * They spent their additional food funds and more during their first meeting using the Center for Feminism's p-card. They want us to transfer their initial food funding to pay back the center for feminisms.
 * We're giving them $500 for a month's worth of food and asking them to submit a fund transfer request for their initial food funding. We cannot fund the difference between what they spent and their initial funding, because this is retroactive.
 * Approved: $500
 * Pre-Law Society
 * Requested $80 for their next month's worth of food.
 * All signers have gone to seminar.
 * Approved: $80

Tuesday, September 27th
Attendance: Melanie, Nathan, Connie, Nelson, Erf, Julianne Absent: Nelson (excused)


 * PV Underground stopped by
 * They requested money to go to the Catskills for hurricane relief. The main issue here is relating this to the group's mission.
 * Working with Spiritual Life, they received advice to file for funding under a student group.
 * This is a very good cause, but the group that's sponsoring it needs to be incorporated, the signers haven't thought about that beyond getting the support of the group.
 * There was an announcement through the daily digest advertising this trip, they're paying for the equipment, etc, but the lodging and transportation for everyone who would be paid for by PV Underground. Right now there are 13 people signed up as interested, and an info session is planned a week before the trip, they expect the group not to grow, and to perhaps shrink.
 * Lodging and transportation costs haven't actually been fully worked out. It could be possible to use vans or student vehicles, and to stay at churches which would be cheap or free, but this hasn't been worked out yet. They might take a bus, which is the transportation ticket price listed on zoho. It's not likely going to be the option decided on for the trip.
 * Liza in spiritual life put together the funding request.
 * No one has done risk assessment with Pam Tinto, Liza was working on this.
 * Pam is sick right now, though.

Zoho


 * Submitted
 * Misc
 * COCA
 * Requesting $35,507.50
 * Pended: This must be approved by council and at the last meeting it was not, so we need to pend this until it can be voted on.
 * Community Garden
 * Requesting $13.00 for food already purchased
 * Denied: FiCom does not fund retroactively.
 * EPEC
 * Requesting $126.50 for leather materials for an introductory leathercraft course.
 * Approved: $127
 * Pre-Law Society
 * Requesting $10 for posters for the semester and first meeting handouts.
 * Denied: This should be in publications and itemized. We're also unsure if signers have attended seminar.
 * Trips
 * Equestrian Team - 2 requests
 * Requesting money (separately) for two horse shows
 * We're unclear how much because there are different costs per person, and we can't find where it was specified who is an advanced rider and who is not.
 * Pended: both until we can hear back regarding this.
 * Arc5
 * Requesting $171 to go to attend a documentary screening
 * Pended: for risk assessment
 * Arc5 (Duplicate)
 * Requesting $171 to go to attend a documentary screening (Same screening, same day, same people)
 * Denied: Because it's a duplicate
 * Red Scare
 * Requesting $900 plus transportation ($1775 for gas) totaling 2675
 * Approved: $2675 For Unleashed & Untrained Frisbee Tournament in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on 10.07.11
 * Circus Folk Unite!
 * Requesting $1230
 * Pended: For risk assessment
 * Publication Requests
 * The Omen
 * Requesting (in german) $224
 * Approved: $224 For printing the next issue of the Omen - would it be possible for student requesting funding to provide date?? please
 * Additional food
 * Asian Media
 * Requesting $204 for the next month's worth of food
 * Approved: $204
 * Feminist United Collective
 * Requesting money for food
 * We're not sure what they're talking about here. This sounds at least partially like retroactive funding.
 * Pended: Until we hear back regarding this
 * Pre-Law Society
 * Requesting $80 for the next month's worth of food
 * Pended: Until we hear back about their signers and seminar
 * JSU
 * Requesting $300 for the next 3 Shabbats, and $250 for family and friends weekend.
 * Approved in part: $300 because it seems like COCA, in funding the person leading the services and advertising, is taking this on as an event and therefore can fund food.
 * The Climax
 * Requesting $200 for next month's worth of food
 * Approved: $200
 * Social Entrepreneurship Aid and Resource Center at Hampshire (SEARCH)
 * Requesting $0
 * Denied: Signer is confused about how to get initial food funding, an email has been sent.
 * Counselor Advocates
 * Requesting $96 for the next month
 * This is to make up the difference since the food cap was raised.
 * Approved: $96 Transfer written up for funds to go into Wellness Center
 * Fund Transfer Requests
 * SPICI
 * SPICI is requesting $180 to be transferred to spiritual life in saga for Hebrew table to pay for SAGA.
 * Approved: $180 No funds in SPICI account to transfer - not approved or processed - please update ZoHo & email group
 * Pending
 * Trips
 * PV Underground
 * This isn't a huge amount of money, but it seems to be very clearly not student organized, not related to a student group.
 * Ficom funds student initiated activities by student groups
 * Denied: Address these issues with us and resubmit if this is important.

Thursday, September 22nd
Attendance: Melanie, Connie Nelson Julianne Chaloux Nathan (late) Absent: James, Erf


 * Jeremy from COCA has stopped by!
 * Want money in the halloween account for postering etc.
 * Will be giving us their budget soon.


 * Zoho
 * Misc
 * COCA
 * Requested $12,500 for monthly budget
 * Denied: At request of signer, in favor of a semesterly budget to be submitted soon
 * COCA
 * Requesting $20 for advertising music selection for halloween
 * Approved: $20
 * EMTs
 * Requesting $280 to pay for the bootcamp food and events.
 * EMTs are a special case and don't request food generally
 * Approved: $280
 * FiCom
 * Requesting $162 to pay for ZoHo, the request system for CoCA and FiCom.
 * Approved: $162 Fund transfer not written up - assistant will charge SAF
 * Trip requests
 * PV underground
 * Requesting money for a trip to help with hurricane Irene relief efforts.
 * Although this is a very worthy cause, we're not sure how this relates to their mission statement.
 * Risk assessment has apparently been done through spiritual life
 * This is concerning, SAF pays only for students, only for student-initiated activities
 * It's somewhat unclear how much money they are asking for.
 * Pended: We'd like to have them come to a meeting and clear this up with us.
 * Raíces
 * Requesting $830 to attend a conference by the U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute. Taking a hampshire van. Risk assessment complete.
 * Approved: $830
 * James Baldwin Scholars
 * Requesting $17 per person for a bowling trip.
 * We need a list of attendees, risk assessment to be complete, and to be clear that they aren't requesting food in addition to the admission price.
 * Pended: Until the above is cleared up.
 * Equipment
 * Magic Draft
 * Requesting $120 resubmitted this request. They are going to store them in the media basement locker.
 * Approved: $120
 * EMTs
 * Requesting $700 for medical gear
 * This price is more than will actually be needed because of the vendor, the shipping costs can't be figured out ahead of time.
 * Approved: $700
 * Blacksmith's Guild
 * Requesting $650 for propane and materials
 * This is a resubmitted request.
 * Approved: $650 Funds on ZoHo requested to go into Lemelson's budget - mrj
 * Publications
 * SJP
 * Requesting $45 for 500 copies of a news brief on the UN bid for Palestinian statehood.
 * Approved: $45
 * Additional food
 * Hampshire College Democrats
 * Requesting $200 for the next month worth of food
 * Approved: $200
 * Yiddish Language Club
 * Requesting $100 for the next month worth of food
 * Approved: $100
 * SPICI (Students Promoting Israel Culture and Information)
 * Requesting $180 for October's food.
 * Approved: $180
 * Zoho Pending
 * Misc Equipment Requests
 * Glass Collective
 * Requesting $402 for liquid oxygen tank, installation and one refill
 * Previously not all signers had attended seminar. This has been remedied.
 * Approved: $402 Funds requested to go into Lemelson's budget- student came into CLA and asked in person - FiCom approved - mrj
 * Ahoula
 * Requesting $20 for worksheets.
 * This was pended until all signers had attended seminar. ممتاز‫!‬
 * Approved: $20.
 * Trip Requests
 * SJP
 * Requesting $100 to go to a conference
 * Risk assessment has been completed
 * Approved: $100
 * Equipment Requests
 * Blacksmith's Guild
 * Requested $650 for propane and materials
 * Denied: A newer version was approved

Tuesday, September 20th
Attendance: Melanie, Nathan Connie Nelson Erf Julianne Chaloux (third meeting) Absent: James


 * Zoho
 * Submitted
 * Misc
 * Mad Science Club
 * Asking for $450 for startup funding. Because their club aims to be creative and exploratory, they did not submit an itemized request.
 * We can't approve this request because we don't know what the SAF is paying for without an itemized list, and we can't apply our guidelines.
 * Denied for the above reasons
 * Glass Collective
 * Requesting $401.95 to cover the lease of their liquid oxygen tank for the year, one refill and delivery.
 * This is a really good way of paying for this on a yearly basis.
 * Unfortunately, all of the signers have not attended seminar.
 * Pended: until all signers have attended seminar.
 * Ahoula
 * Requesting money for packets of worksheets to teach the Alphabet to new Arabic learners.
 * Unfortunately, all of the signers have not attended seminar.
 * Pended: until all signers have attended seminar.
 * Equipment
 * JSU
 * Requesting $200 for kitchen wares for weekly Shabbat dinners.
 * Itemized list includes $25 for misc.
 * Approved: $175 for the items listed, except misc. We cannot approve misc funding because we can't approve unspecified funding. See Mad Science Club above for details.
 * Mad Science Club
 * Requesting $177 for equipment to build robots to teach members how to do that.
 * This request does include an itemized list.
 * Approved: $177
 * Greenhouse
 * Requesting $350 for plants, pots and soil
 * Approved: $350
 * Circus Folk Unite
 * Requesting $620 for a crash mat
 * Approved: $620
 * Circus Folk Unite
 * Requesting $149.99 for a PA loud speaker system, like they had borrowed from media services.
 * They had asked to borrow the one from media services every week, but media services decided that was unfair.
 * There is a warranty available, but the cost of that was not added to the request. It is only an extra $25, and we feel that it would be helpful.
 * Approved: $175 but in the future if you are requesting something optional, go ahead and add it to the total and note that it's not absolutely necessary in the request. We prefer to partially fund requests than to give more than is requested.
 * Magic Draft
 * Requesting $120 for magic cards.
 * This request is fine, but storing the cards in the C4 lounge is not appropriately secure.
 * Pended: Until a more appropriate storage space can be found.
 * Publications
 * The Omen
 * Requesting $13 for mailbox stuffers.
 * Approved: $13
 * Mad Science Club
 * Requesting $400 for this month's food
 * Approved: $400
 * Fund Transfers
 * Hampshire College Francophones
 * Requesting $600 for three months of meeting food.
 * Denied: Food requests go under food funding category. Meeting food is also only funded for one month. If this is a fund transfer, please specify where to.
 * Pending
 * Miscellaneous
 * Sports co-op
 * This request is over $5000 and actually has to be sent to community council.
 * Additional Food
 * ASL Collective
 * Requesting $120 for food
 * Signers have all attended seminar
 * Approved: $120


 * Email from Marie!
 * Wanted to make sure Excalibur was supposed to have spent their money for food before signer seminar.
 * We were okay with this because signer seminar wasn't until the 11th and it makes sense to meet before that.


 * Melanie motion that James be removed from FiCom.
 * Nelson seconds
 * No blocks - the motion passes


 * Connie motions that Julianne Chaloux becomes a voting member of FiCom.
 * Nelson seconds
 * No blocks - the motion passes

Thursday, September 15th
Attendance: Melanie, Nathan Connie Nelson Julianne Chaloux (second meeting) Absent: James Erf


 * Zach from Excalibur came by.
 * Excalibur is a very old student group, they screen movies weekly and hold Deathfest.
 * We had a miscommunication about factoring the initial funding into the requests, and had some concerns about the number of people listed. Zach is going to try to get a head count, but because there are a lot of people, this can be problematic.
 * Sports Co-Op is here.
 * We had questions about how the institutional funding is being spent and they supplied a budget.
 * They are asking for a bit more than previously, because as they are in a league, they need a trainer.
 * Ficom had been under the impression that there was a new $17,000 funding for sports co-op.
 * Apparently, the $17,000 was additional money for the OPRA budget to cover the group's new expenses, joining a league, etc.
 * The request should be all that is needed for Fall semester.
 * Sports co-op is filling up this year
 * Many schools take a certain amount of money from their student activity fees to add to other institutional funding for sports.
 * In Solidarity with Immigrants
 * Want to hold a small conference on Columbus Day/Indigenous peoples day.
 * They have a youth group interested in attending
 * They would like to know how to apply for funding
 * This is an issue for COCA!
 * COCA can help with funding and planning events.

zoho


 * Submitted
 * Misc
 * Contra Dance Collective
 * Requesting $672 to pay for admission to dances this fall.
 * Requesting this all at once is strange, as this is a series of trips.
 * If they need gas money later, they might need to request again, as this is only covering admission
 * Apparently a signer had been told that in the past this is how it had been requested.
 * This seems to be how it seems to have been done last year.
 * Approved $672 but risk assessment needs to be completed for each trip. Usually we would not fund until this is complete, but this seems like a special case, and we have decided to fund.
 * Trip requests
 * SJP
 * Requesting to go to the SJP conference this fall.
 * This looks good and is in a month in advance.
 * Pended for risk assessment.
 * Equipment requests
 * Bart's Arm
 * Requesting $170.47
 * for butcher paper and cutter for members to draw on
 * for a timer, heater and pillows
 * Approved: $171
 * Publications
 * The Climax
 * Requesting money for advertising.
 * This is a resubmitted version of the request last time, now with an itemized list.
 * Approved: $68
 * Additional Food Requests
 * Excalibur
 * Requesting $880 for their next month's worth of food.
 * We've talked to the signer and although they could have asked for more food, this is intentional.
 * Approved: $880
 * Asian Media
 * Requesting $200 for their next month's worth of food.
 * Approved: $200
 * Counselor Advocates
 * Requesting $144 for their next month's worth of food.
 * Approved: $144 (To be transferred to the wellness center)
 * Hampshire Confucius
 * Requesting $280 for their next month's worth of food.
 * There are two requests, this is the correct one
 * Approved: $280 Written up as funds going into Spiritual Life Office - mj
 * ASL Collective
 * Requesting $120 for their next month's worth of food.
 * Pended: We don't have a record of one of their signers being at signer seminar. We can't fund groups whose signers have not all attended.
 * Hampshire Confucius
 * (Accidentally) requesting $180 for their next month's worth of food
 * This was an accidental request
 * Denied at request of signer.
 * Pending Requests
 * Misc
 * Community Council
 * Requesting $16.20
 * Someone made a mistake with their duplications request and are requesting reimbursement.
 * Approved: $17 But it's important to be careful in the future.
 * Sports Co-op
 * Requesting $14,838
 * Sports co-op's costs keep growing, and this is concerning.
 * Although we have OPRA's budget, we haven't had the time to compare this with previous years' spending.
 * Pended: One of the signers isn't recorded as having attended signer seminar
 * Additional Food
 * Excalibur
 * Two old food requests, now that this has been sorted out and the new one approved, they can be deleted.
 * Denied: as the new request was accepted. Thanks for your patience!

Tuesday, September 13th
Attendance: Melanie, Nathan Connie Erf Julianne Chaloux (First meeting) Melanie Kates (First meeting) Absent: Nelson James

Minutes


 * Visitors
 * Kristina from COCA stopped by and is requesting $2000 for initial requests, $6000 total for the month and discussing having a budget of $43,507.50. This is based on the money spent in 2010 for their fall budget, increased to 150%. Nathan has prepared some budget scenarios, and this seems to work out and fall in line with our goal to increase spending. They will be voting on the headliner for Halloween at their upcoming meeting.
 * Amber from the Equestrian team is here about a trip, leaving Friday. The cost for lodging is $75 total, they will be taking one hampshire van and requesting gas money for one private vehicle, they have defensive drivers. We were unable to enter this on zoho because of the time cutoff. They have cleared risk assessment but were unable to submit far enough in advance due to the summer. We told them to resubmit in misc. to get around this.
 * Matt from Red Scare came in. Apparently there was some concern on the part of the CLA that the memberships in the frisbee league would benefit members of the team outside of participating in tournaments, but this is no different from previous years. The trip they are requesting is for a tournament, they have defensive drivers and have passed risk assessment.

Zoho


 * Submitted
 * Misc
 * COCA
 * As mentioned earlier COCA is requesting $2000
 * This is to cover the $404 COCA has already spent on events and the rest to cover any events they fund today
 * Approved $2000
 * Red Scare
 * Requesting $250 for $50/person memberships in a frisbee league.
 * Approved $250
 * Sports Co-op
 * Requesting $14,838 for the semester.
 * Sports Co-op is now partially funded through the school.
 * This request doesn't seem to take this new funding into account
 * Pended: We need to know how the $17,000 of institutional funding is being spent.
 * The Climax
 * Requesting $72 for advertising for the semester, $12 per meeting.
 * Declined: We need more specific information on how the advertising money will be spent.
 * COCD
 * Requesting $20,000 for their budget
 * According to the community council bylaws, COCD gets $20,000 per semester.
 * The COCD hampedia page is a little confusing, looking at the history it seems like when changing the format to officers from signers, a name was misplaced. This needs to be fixed.
 * Approved: $20,000
 * COCA
 * Requesting $6000 for the rest of September.
 * This is in line with the budget projections
 * Approved: $6000
 * Hampshire College Equestrian Team
 * Requesting $150, this was discussed earlier.
 * $75 for lodging, a van and mileage for their own vehicle.
 * Approved: $150
 * Trip Requests
 * Red Scare
 * We discussed this earlier in the meeting, this is a trip to a tournament
 * Projected 14 people
 * $329 for gas
 * $225 in bids at $16 per person
 * $554 total
 * Risk management is complete.
 * Approved: $554
 * Equipment
 * Excalibur
 * Requesting $477 for a replacement Deathfest banner ($450 for the banner, $27 for tax)
 * The banner last year was stolen.
 * Approved: $477
 * Additional Food
 * JSU
 * Requesting $500 for four Shabbat dinners
 * This would be transferred to the spiritual life p-card
 * Approved: $500
 * Excalibur
 * Requesting $60 per meeting for special meetings of Deathfest DMs.
 * Declined: We can only fund one meeting per week.
 * Excalibur
 * Requesting $220 per meeting for the month
 * Pended: We're requesting a meeting to figure out the figure we're working with per week.

Friday, September 9th (Special meeting)
Attendance: Melanie, Nathan Connie Nelson (late, excused)

Minutes We held this meeting to deal with the pended food requests from yesterday.


 * Zoho
 * Pending
 * Additional Food
 * Excalibur
 * Requesting $250
 * The number of students listed as attending excalibur somehow increased by 5, but the request fits under the previous count (65) with the new food cap.
 * Approved $250, we need to make sure student counts are accurate in the future, though.
 * James Baldwin Scholars
 * Requesting $80 (same as last time)
 * This is a resubmitted request, but there seems to have been some confusion and the signer added 5 students to their member count as well. Unlike Excalibur, though, they did not increase the amount of funds requested.
 * Approved $80, signer can ask for more funding if they need to.
 * We had some last minute planning for signer seminar.
 * Official meeting time set at Tuesday and Thursday 6:00-7:00

Thursday, September 8th
Attendance: Melanie, Nathan Connie Absent: Nelson (excused) Erf, James

Minutes


 * Visit from the equestrian team!
 * $250 registration fee on zoho
 * Deadline is next Saturday
 * Would like to have a retreat next Friday, 67 miles away, having some trouble with zoho and couldn't get the request online
 * They found a lodge, houses 20 people $75 for the night
 * Requesting a hampshire van, have a private van and defensive drivers for both
 * Can't know how many people can come because it's right after hampfest, capped at 20 people
 * Requesting funding for a meal, $5 per person
 * According to the SAF guidelines, we can't fund meals on trips.
 * Have met with Pam recently, things seemed on track.
 * We need to talk to Pam and make sure everything is on track with this potential trip and get an email with a formal copy before we can make a decision.


 * zoho
 * misc
 * Community Council
 * Requesting $16.20
 * Explanation: Printed materials for Community Council ordered from duplications. Accidental: the same order was made twice.
 * We are unclear on what this means.
 * Pended for clarification.
 * Hampshire College Equestrian Team
 * Requesting $250
 * For a registration fee (see earlier in the notes)
 * Approved $250 but Hampedia needs to be updated ASAP
 * Equipment Requests
 * Blacksmiths' Guild
 * Requesting $675
 * $600 for propane over the course of the semester
 * $75 for 100 feet of 1/4 in. sq. stock
 * Money requested to be transferred to Lemelson center.
 * The description says the propane is used for not just the Blacksmith's guild but for other activities in the shop. Depending on the activities in question, this could conflict with the SAF guidelines.
 * Pended for clarification
 * Hampshire Confucius
 * Requesting $77 for a subscription to the Economist for the Spiritual Life Center.
 * Denied: According to the SAF guidelines, FiCom funds groups, not offices on campus, we recommend Spiritual Life approaches COCD, as they've funded the New York Times on campus.
 * Publication
 * The Omen
 * Requesting $224 for printing
 * Approved: $224
 * Additional food requests
 * James Baldwin Scholars
 * Requesting additional meeting money.
 * They spend $80 per meeting, meeting once a month and on special occasions
 * Pended: FiCom is going to be raising the food cap and want to make sure that they have the chance to request an amount that reflects the new cap.
 * Excalibur
 * Requesting $180
 * Pended: Same as above, we are raising the food cap, want everyone


 * Raising caps
 * Connie motions that we raise the food cap to $5 per person per meeting
 * Nathan seconds, no blocks.
 * Connie motions that we have a trip cap of $155 per person per trip.
 * Nathan seconds, no blocks.

Sunday, September 4th
Attendance: Melanie, Nelson, Nathan Connie (late) Absent: Erf James

Minutes


 * Advertising
 * FiCom doesn't sound interesting to the student body.
 * We like our committee and the time we spend on it, and realize it's important, but we don't know how to make
 * We're not sure how many people we need.
 * Assuming James is going to continue as a member, we have two voting member slots. A student has expressed interest in one of these already.
 * Non-voting member slots are not appealing to the community. FiCom works on consensus, so in practice they would probably not be any different from a voting member, but they seem like a much less important position.
 * Nathan moves to amend article 2 of the bylaws to make current member positions voting members.
 * Nelson seconds. No blocks. The motion passes.
 * Sarah's idea: advertising ourselves
 * We're not sure how to implement this in a way that doesn't seem forced.
 * We could consider focusing recruitment on Community Council members
 * Suggesting people join to change things they are angry at has been tried in the past, with limited success.
 * It's possible they just weren't memorable enough.
 * We could have a variety of posters, so it's not the same thing on every bulletin board.
 * We could have a longer term advertising campaign
 * We could advertise with other materials
 * Balloons
 * Taping things from the ceiling (if it's not a fire hazard)
 * Final Advertising Decision: Two advertising campaigns. 
 * Wave 1: "Reasons to join FiCom" on multiple posters:
 * Join FiCom or we will all be replaced by robots
 * Join FiCom to make sure we don't spend all your money on wine
 * "You can hang out with these cool kids" with a nerdy group photo
 * Get CEL credit
 * Get involved in your community
 * We have really cool sofas
 * It's your money
 * Get involved in campus governance
 * Wave 2: Photoshop ridiculous things (an elephant, etc) into the FiCom office as 'misuse of spending' new members can prevent
 * Further discussion of caps
 * How important is meeting food, compared to equipment, etc? It attracts people, but if we end up trimming other things from the budget, is that a good choice?
 * Some groups are food-centric, others feel limited in the kinds of food they can have, which is especially significant for cultural groups that would like to include meals.
 * Further discussion of institutional funding of sports
 * Will we have to supplement this?
 * How many sports teams are under the umbrella? What about the non sports co-op teams that fit the requirements for institutional funding?
 * An email is being sent.
 * zoho
 * Misc
 * Community Council
 * Requesting $13.00 for tape, they will keep leftover for later.
 * Approved.

Saturday, September 3rd
Attendance: Melanie, Nelson, Nathan Connie Erf are present. (James is still MIA)

Minutes


 * Discussing/Reviewing our COCA meeting
 * Event monitors are probably going to be required at all COCA events because the CLA thinks this is important. Nelson says that event monitors have gone to events before, and Nathan is concerned because the SAF guidelines, as they are now, don't allow for students to be paid out of the SAF. We need to talk about this with the CLA.
 * We discussed Halloween. COCA would like a bigger budget for music. Last year there was some serious contract trouble and that definitely can't happen again, though.
 * Halloween is also really expensive.
 * We don't entirely understand why COCA cleans up after Halloween.
 * Signer Seminar
 * Looking at the all signer powerpoint
 * Reducing the corniness is important to us.
 * We want to compress the slideshow and make it about things that have changed, the new signers will see the more detailed slideshow.
 * We also need to review some paperwork things because signers have a lot of trouble with paperwork. Nelson suggests sounding angry.
 * We want to clarify the risks involved in using your own credit/debit cards and the importance of paying for things after they're approved
 * Talking about how to do zoho things in the context of how they have changed
 * Fundraising should be talked about in a very hypothetical way. It's sporadic, most groups never need to do it, but we can help.
 * We still need to figure out break out sessions, probably not changing much about the new signer powerpoint.

Friday, September 2nd
Officer meeting (Melanie, Nelson, Nathan, Connie)


 * News from over the summer
 * $411 during graduation
 * $17,300 of institutionalized funding for competitive sports
 * Things we need to deal with
 * Do we feel comfortable paying for chair rental at hampfest? ($1000) 
 * This has something to do with it being in the RCC
 * We need to figure out funding for mini-golf.
 * Last year the way to fund this hadn't been ironed out yet. We think this is probably a trip.
 * This is super soon and needs to happen, we don't know if risk assessment is done for this.
 * Apparently was submitted to zoho, isn't showing up? This is ominous.
 * (Fixed by the end of the meeting)
 * Signer Seminar Preregistration
 * Added a bit about the hazing policy
 * Sarah suggested that we ask student signers if they're affiliated with an office on campus
 * Know what offices are affiliated with signers
 * Some concern about people being paid as work study to do standard signer jobs, though some offices have student workers who coordinate between groups and also may sign for.

 All member meeting  (Erf joined us! Not James.)


 * The office issue
 * We'd been asked if we were okay with leaving our office and giving it to PARC
 * We decided that having a temporary meeting space instead of an office would not be sufficient for our needs.
 * Signer Seminar
 * Continental breakfast instead of a full breakfast is sufficient.
 * On 9/11. This is potentially a sensitive time. Apparently because of scheduling conflicts it was impossible to do this on another day.
 * Policies we need to think about
 * We had lots of leftover money last year. $76,000 
 * This is NOT good. We want to spend the money students are paying toward the SAF in the year they pay, a surplus doesn't help the people who won't be returning.
 * Because of this we could boost the caps on spending. We are considering:
 * Food spending. People really want this to be raised. Going to meeting after meeting of pizza gets kind of boring. We spent $17,283 on food last year.
 * We could let COCA know they should allow bigger, better events.
 * We could increase the trip cap slightly, too.
 * Trip policies
 * Summer trips
 * Summer trips tend to be closed to more people because people are home for the Summer.
 * Big competitive events often are held during the Summer.
 * Summer trips should be planned 2 months before the end of school.
 * Trips as rewards(?)
 * Trips should be relevant to the mission of the student group taking the trip. They should be as open as is reasonable given the nature of the group.
 * How Community Council funding works
 * FiCom is a subcommittee of Community Council and Community Council uses money, too. There's some disagreement over whether Community Council should have to request money from FiCom. They apparently used to have their own budget and still have an account. It might make sense to put money in it they can use for routine things.
 * The SAF guidelines are SAF guidelines for FiCom, so would they even apply if Community Council was spending money directly?
 * Let's talk to Pam and COCA about this!
 * Meeting schedule
 * We discussed it. No plans for sure yet.
 * Zoho
 * Misc requests
 * Community Council requesting the $350 for mini-golf and pizza
 * Approved
 * Community Council requesting $10 for elections material from duplications.
 * Approved