January 27, 2020 | Meeting minutes
January 27th, 2020
Present: Aditi Malhotra, Andrea Nelson, Dave Kim, Eddie Low, Eliza Davies-Greenwald, Lin Xu,
Mariana Villada Rivera, Marty Penner, Mustafa Nalwala, Timothy Duanmu, Vinay Bansal, Yukta
Khandagale
Residence Life Survey
- See attached presentation: Chestnut Residence Annual Survey_2019-20
- Newsletter Outline: “Here’s what you said, here’s what we did”
- Include Eliza’s contact information for students with more suggestions on improvements to reach out
- Follow-up with Klara re: any pertinent updates to share with dons
- Students Spaces Review Committee launched, members: Andrea Nelson, Eliza DaviesGreenwald & Klara Kovarova
- Andrea working with a group of students to review student spaces. Ideally this group of students will be running a series of student focus groups following up on information shared in survey.
Finance
- On track with budget for this year
- Garage project continuing – no known date to re-open
- Feedback from students has been that this project has not affected them much so far
- P2 level may wrap up by end of March
- Looking into working with new contractors for elevators
- Working on replacing PTAC units, the current units are outdated and have a high maintenance cost
- Elevators Concerns:
- Batteries need to be replaced on elevators as they are currently not reading cards with consistency (2 and 4)
- One of the elevators is jittery (3)
- Number 3 – entire left side don’t work (whole semester)
- Elevator inspections to be scheduled for the first week of February (10-15 minutes testing/elevator, so service interruptions are to be expected)
- Timothy will share date with Aisalyn/Eliza to share with students
Food Services
- Food Services has made a number of changes in response to the feedback received from students. These changes include:
- Added vegan items onto the breakfast starting on Monday
- Added grains to salad bars
- Increasing variety of cold cuts (i.e. Cajun Chicken)
- Addressing cross-contaminations concerns with training
- Additional Suggestions:
- Put a plastic divider between meat and vegetables for the pasta station to assist with cross-contamination
- Labels for pizza and desserts and sauces
- Positive feedback regarding last Wednesday’s chicken
Housekeeping
- Manager has reviewed survey results with staff
- Identified that one of the larger concerns was regarding vacuuming
- New vacuums have been recently purchased which will hopefully help
- On a trial basis, started cleaning drapes are being cleaned (same day process) (has not previously been done during the academic year
Residence Council
- Chinese New Year Event a few days ago in Urban was a success
- Next Thursday is BollyX (workout with Bollywood music)
Urban Crew
- One new member
- Air Hockey Table vandalized (cord cut). Looking into fixing/replacing.
Student Representatives
- Recommendation regarding placing small tables in microwave space (has already been submitted to Student Spaces Review Committee for review)
- Concern regarding sinks in student rooms that have no filter/plug
- Student can place a work order to have this address
- Regarding the two cases of coronavirus in Toronto:
- Recommendation: Sterilize tableware at high heat of 56 degrees or more than 30 minute
- Currently washed at 100+ degrees, so this is already being done
- Recommendation: Ensure hand dispensers are stocked and cleaned
- Will look into if there are any other areas that require additional hand dispensers
- For more information:
- Message From the University: https://www.utoronto.ca/message-fromthe-university-regarding-the-coronavirus
- Campus Status: https://www.utoronto.ca/campus-status
- Frequently Asked Questions: https://www.utoronto.ca/message-from-the-university-regarding-the-coronavirus/faqs
- Recommendation: Sterilize tableware at high heat of 56 degrees or more than 30 minute
- Ventilation – Cannabis Smell in Washrooms
- Unfortunately, hard to pin down where it is coming from
- Focus on community messaging, floor meeting messaging – explain although they may not think it affects other people, there are other students on their floor being negatively affected
- Should be clear that students should not be smoking in the building at all
- Bath & Bodyworks – wall flowers can work (if not allergic to any scents)
- Mirror next to squatting cage has been broken
- Andrea to work with Larry re: replacement mirror
- Suggestion to revisit the location of the squatting cage to avoid future breakages
- Laundry Room
- Currently 13 machines out of order
- Coin-A-Matic has been contacted numerous times:
- 4 machines will be replaced entirely
- 4 machines will have parts replaced
- 5 machines still need a technician to look at them (hopefully in the next few days)
- Speak with Kohen regarding a cartoon for the newsletter about not leaving your laundry unattended for more than the time it takes to wash
- Other cartoon ideas:
- Don’t use the same tongs for the spinach as for the shrimp \
- Don’t smoke in your bathrooms
- Other cartoon ideas:
- Signage Suggestions
- Updates signage with colours that pop so it doesn’t simply blend into the wall (laundry room and gym)