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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  • Working on replacing PTAC units, the current units are outdated and have a high maintenance cost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:
  • 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
  • Signage Suggestions
    • Updates signage with colours that pop so it doesn’t simply blend into the wall (laundry room and gym)