VOTE JAKE SAWYER

VP FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION

My platform is based on my primary beliefs regarding student government: Spend honestly, speak truly, and serve meaningfully. I believe the UES exists to serve students, and this means you have a right to know how your money is being spent. If selected as your next VP F&A, I plan to maintain the healthy financial position we are currently in with careful, responsible spending, while working to improve the overall efficiency of the UES and my administrative portfolio. I encourage you to further read the details of my platform, and learn what I hope to bring to the UES Executive in the coming year!

Engineering Donation Fee:

· This fee is a crucial source of funding for the UES, student clubs and teams through the Project Fund, and new lab equipment through the Western Engineering Student Endowment Laboratory fund (WESEL)

· Continue working closely with the VP Communications to promote the value of this fee to the student experience, ensure all students are aware of where this money is going

· Examine the Project Fund for continual surpluses, consistently leftover funds would suggest that a decrease in the donation fee would be beneficial

+/- Store & UES Lounge:

· Strive for more of a collaborative approach within the administrative portfolio, more delegating towards Store Manager, Merchandise Creative Director, and Assets Manager so they can be more impactful in their roles

· Ensure that sufficient funds are set aside for the upkeep/improvement of frequently used assets in the UES Lounge (ex. Darts, pool table, office supplies, etc.), monitor student feedback regarding further improvements to be made

UES Library:

· UES By-Law 10 dictates that a central physical or electronic file dedicated to UES history and documents be kept from year to year

· Currently this is not practiced, I believe it should be, both to create institutional memory and as a beneficial large-scale transition document for incoming Council, to supplement the ones given to them by their predecessors.

· This document would consist of, but not necessarily be limited to: financial records, meeting minutes and event details for the previous years

Review By-Laws relating to the F&A position to determine their actual value and effectiveness, as many are unnecessary and unrealistic. Ex. Quarterly financial statements and semi-annual budgets are mandated, but not really realistic or necessary

General:

· Work closely with the faculty to guarantee student interests are kept in mind during the new building development process, especially regarding a new eatery and/or bar, as these were identified as being important during the new building survey

· Support VP External in examining suitable uses for funding to be saved because we are hosting Congress (ex. Send more delegates, reallocate funding to alternative External programming)

· UES has been in a very healthy financial position for the past few years, regularly posting balanced or surplus budgets. Maintaining this with fiscal responsibility is key to stability in future years

Create a more active and involved UES Executive, in an effort to increase productivity of Council meetings and promote more engaged discussion

Thanks for taking the time to read through my ideas for next year, I hope they demonstrate the kind of value and dedication you would want to see from your VP F&A! If you have any questions or concerns about my platform feel free to contact me on Facebook, or by email at jsawyer5252@gmail.com