November 27, 2019 | Meeting minutes

Wednesday, November 27

Present: Aditi Malhotra, Andrea Nelson, Dave Kim, Eliza Davies-Greenwald, Ken Ogata, Klara Kovarova, Lingrui Xu, Maria Javier, Mariana Villada Rivera, Marty Penner, Mustafa Nalwala, Timothy Duanmu, Yukta Khandagale,
Regrets: Arsenio (Jr.) Mostrales, Eddie Low, Kevin Dancy, Vinay Bansal

Residence Life Updates

  • Gym Equipment was delivered November 11th:
    • One Upright Stationary Bicycle
    • Two Treadmills
    • Two Olympic Bars
    • One Flat Bench
  • Chestnut Survey will close on Sunday December 1st
    • 325 surveys completed to date (last year 442 were completed)
    • Floor 16 is leading for most completed surveys (to date)
  • Winter Closure
    • Students must check out 48 hours after last exam or by noon on December 21st
    • Please review https://chestnut.utoronto.ca/winter-check-out/ for list of things to do prior to checking out (i.e. take out garbage/turn off lights)
    • Any students interested in staying at Chestnut for the Winter Closure need to apply with the Residence Life Office (https://chestnut.utoronto.ca/wpcontent/uploads/2016/07/Winter-Break-Application-2019-20.pdf)
  • Quiet Hours
    • In affect as of December 5th: 23 hour/day Quiet Hours (5:00pm-6:00pm is Consideration Hour)
  • RLO Pop-Up
    • Friday November 29th 4:00-5:00, The Hearth
    • All students welcome to stop by for activities and snacks and an opportunity to write a thank you note to someone whose helped you this past semester!
  • Upcoming Programming
    • Thursday November 28th, 7-8pm, The Hearth: Mindful Moments
    • Monday December 2nd, 6-8pm, The Dining Hall: Dinner with Your Prof

Building Operations Updates

  • Garage Construction:
    • Very few complaints/comments overall
    • There were a few complaints related to the smell of tar a few days ago (Aditi)
    • Construction will pick up over the Winter Closure to maximize the amount of work that can be completed while most students are out of the building
  • Winter Closure Work
    • Carpets will be cleaned on the following floors: 9, 12, 14, 18, 21
    • There will be fire alarm testing
    • There will be room inspection/maintenance concerns addressed
  • Upcoming Building Operations Projects:
    • Upgrading PTAC units (A/C & Heater units) (will be a multi-year contract)
    • Laundry (looking for updated machines)
    • Cleaning company for general spaces (i.e. lobby)
    • Elevator Maintenance Provider
      • Note: Elevator 1 continues to be out of order due to major maintenance concerns. Elevator 4 should be fixed and running shortly.
  • Hallway lights are being changed on Floor 17, 18, 19
    • RLO will follow-up on why this work was not previously communicated to affected floors
    • Positive feedback regarding the upgrades
  • Other Building Operations Concerns
    • Continued concern regarding how frequent Building Operations puts elevator in service
      • RLO to follow-up on this

Food Services Updates

  • Friday December 13th 9pm, The Dining Hall: Social Event (Dessert Bar/Appetizers/Holiday Movies playing)
  • Monday December 16th 2:30pm-4:30pm, The Dining Hall, Gingerbread People Decorating
  • Menu can be accessed at: https://ueat.utoronto.ca/utsg-campus-food-locations-regular-hour

Housekeeping Updates

  • Working on Services Areas, cleaning one floor/day
  • Starting room inspections by floor, logging any preventative maintenance needs to be addressed over the Winter Break
  • Urban Lounge carpet has been fully cleaned
  • Winter Closure
  • Students who are staying for the Winter Closure are asked to bring their garbage down to the 4th floor (there will be signage on floors)

Residence Council Updates

  • Opt-out for the fees, trying to re-arrange budgets and save enough for end-of-year semiformal
  • Last year the semi-formal was only advertised on Facebook, this year will use multiple communication channels
  • Gingerbread House Competition coming up
  • Thursday November 28th: Dodgeball Final
  • Friday November 29th: Skating

Urban Crew Updates

  • Urban Lounge online booking process has been updated
  • Urban Crew Desk now has a chalkboard panel that displays hours
  • Hosting an Urban Crew Holiday event in Urban on Sunday December 8th
  • Urban Crew volunteers will not work Sunday December 8th to Saturday January 4th. And the last shift of the year will be Saturday April 11th.
  • Urban Lounge is still available as a quiet student space during December/January while Urban Crew volunteers are unavailable

EPA/AM

  • November 27, 7pm: Academic Success Session (TAs coming to Chestnut)
  • November 27, 7pm-9pm: Mental Health Exam Break
  • December 1, 7pm-9pm: Academic Mentors Host Karaoke
  • December 2, 6pm-8pm: Engineering Dinner with your Prof
  • December 6, 7pm-9pm: Foosball Tournament

Student Updates

  • Inquiry as to wear closest cold drinking water is
    • Available on 27th Floor
    • RLO to place signage indicating water is drinkable
  • Feedback regarding the Dining Hall:
    • Variety of fruit would be appreciated (there is a lot of cantaloupe)
    • Oranges sometimes are not as fresh as they could be

Other Topics/Issues As Identified

  • Cold on 28th Floor and the Hearth (Yukta)
  • RLO to follow-up with Building Ops
  • CRC Hoodies have not arrived yet (Yukta)
  • Klara following up