Senate allocates $158k for fire pit

Student Senate President Lily Umeta persuaded her fellow senators to back her campus fire pit project at Monday’s senate meeting in the Student Center.  

Umeta promoted the project since introducing it in September last semester. Later, at senate’s March 1 meeting, she pitched a more finalized project plan, discussing location and cost of the construction plan. 

According to Umeta, the process for contracting the project would include three phases, for which she outlined a cost in a PowerPoint presentation: Preliminary design, schematic design, site selection and one site visit would cost $4,000. Design development, construction documents, bidding and two site visits would cost $8,000; additionally, construction administration and three site visits would cost $6,500.

She says at any of the phases, senate may decide to not continue with plans for the fire pit and may quit spending money on it. 

“The contract has three different phases and if we want to stop at any phase, we don’t have to pay the rest,” she said.  

For the construction of the fire pit, senate allocated an additional maximum of $140,000, bringing the total allocation to $158,500. The total allocation was split two ways; one allocation of $18,500 for the contract, and one allocation of $140,000 construction cost.  

“Keep in mind we’re not writing a check today for $140,00, and so what will happen is we’ll have to go to the contractor and say; ‘hey, this is our top dollar,’ and they’re going to have to come back and say; ‘hey, this is what we can do for that price,’” Student Trustee Konery Klueber said.  

Umeta hopes to keep that price closer to $100,000.  

“We would like to keep it under 100k,” Umeta said at Monday’s meeting.  “I know for the concert (Eli Young Band), which I enjoyed it, a lot of people enjoyed it, we spent around 90-100k on that. It was a one-time kind of event, whereas spending money on this puts it in perspective that we’re going to be able to see this in 10 years when we come back to visit.” 

According to her, the Residence Life Association plans to contribute $10,000 to the cost of construction.  

At Monday’s meeting, Umeta said $328,703 in senate funding is available for the cost of the fire pit. That amount consists of unused allocated club money and unallocated club money. She added that senate receives an average of $200,000 of student money each year. 

That $200,000 comes from a $7.00 per credit hour fee (maximum of $84) issued to all CSC students each semester. According to Umeta, about $110,000 of that money is allocated to clubs each year.  

Various members of the senate also discussed possible fundraising methods to offset the cost but made no decisions to that end.   

Diversity senator Siddhant Shelke was less concerned about the cost. 

“I think it’s a good idea because it’s not going to be like a one-year thing,” Shelke said. “I think it’s money well spent.” 

Edna Senator Laura Clay spoke about the cost of the fire pit at the March 1 meeting and discussed alternative ways senate could spend its money. 

“Money should be going to best help the students and benefit the students,” Clay said. “There are other things we should be looking to give money towards that are for basic student needs.”   

She pointed to specific issues like broken mail boxes and a laundry machine in her residence hall but acknowledged some issues should not be the concern of senate. 

“I love the idea of having this,” she said. “I think we should do it. The only thing is it is a lot of money, and I feel like there are certain – and I don’t know where exactly the money comes from. But I know across campus there are certain maintenance issues, like in residence halls and basic things that students need, that haven’t been fixed in a while and they’ve been requested that they be fixed.” 

She continued her input with discussion concerning her constituents. 

“I feel like students might not like the idea of like; ‘oh, we’re getting this huge expensive fire pit, but I don’t even have a mailbox I can open,’” she said.  

Clay, after her March 1 statements, voted for the fire pit allocation at senate’s latest meeting on Monday. 

The fire pit site remains undecided, but senate’s consensus is to keep it close to the residence halls. 

“If we’re keeping it far away from residence halls, it would be uninviting for students to use,” Umeta said. “Right outside the hub is one of the locations we’ve talked about.” 

Senator Clay, as representative of Edna Hall students, again took an opportunity to speak about the project. 

“Well, that’s closest to Kent and High Rise and Andrews, but Edna often gets forgotten about,” Clay said. “Obviously it’s not that far of a walk, but closer – like in between – is what I will always want so we’re not completely left out.” 

“One thing we’ve definitely talked about with Edna is having a smaller fire pit over there just because the other four resident halls are in one area, and it’s kind of four versus one,” Umeta responded. 

The project architectural designs will help senate make a location decision. 

“We will know when the architect makes the design and gives us an idea of what it will look like,” Umeta said. “We are working with Lucinda Mays to make sure the fire pit fits in the landscape of the school.” 

As of a timeline for the project, Umeta hopes construction may begin soon after some details are worked out. 

“The phase of the project depends on the architect, design development, site visits, bidding process, contractors, construction. What we did yesterday is the first step in this process to set money aside and commit,” Umeta said on Tuesday. 

“We probably won’t start construction until the end of semester or beginning of summer,” she said. 

Senate wasn’t finished allocating student money after approving the fire pit allocations. In three separate allocations they allocated a total of $4150. 

The first allocation was to fund a $150 request by CSC college relations coordinator Tena Cook. The money will buy gift card incentive prizes for students who answer surveys about CSC summer school experiences. 

The second allocation approved $2500 to bring speaker, coach and author Devin C. Hughes to CSC next October to speak with various classes, the public, and possibly senate and CAB. Hughes last spoke at CSC in Feb. 2016.  

The final allocation approved $1500 requested by Chief Justice Nathan Cronin for homecoming coronation expenses. 

All allocations by the senate were approved unanimously by present senators.