Every few weeks, your student government spends a Wednesday night meeting talking about a bunch of things. In most cases, what we talk about wonʼt affect a students' day to day activity, but there are always a few tidbits that might interest you. Hereʼs what to watch out for in the upcoming AMS Council meeting on June 24, 2015:
Formation of a committee to look at the AMS Student Nest refinancing:
In order to build the Nest, AMS took out a bunch of money from the UBC Propertiesʼ Trust at an interest rate of 5.75 per cent. This is a really high interest rate to charge on capital projects. The AMS realized that taking out a loan from a commercial bank to pay back to principle (the amount we borrowed from UBC) and paying back the commercial bank at a lower interest rate will save the AMS quite a bit of money for the next 25-35 years. Consultations were made to AMS Councillors and now the draft terms of reference on a committee that will explore refinancing options will be coming to the AMS Council.
Code changes
Most of the code changes coming to AMS Council this round is for housekeeping reasons (such as updating the fee in code to reflect the actual numbers.) However, some interesting code changes are being brought to AMS Council, including changing the remuneration of two Extraordinary Committee Chairs (Oversight and Hiring) and allowing for minutes to be taken during in camera meeting of committees.
Oversight Presentation and Year-Start Report
A presentation will be coming to AMS Council on how Oversight Committee will be operating this year with a revised code. Last year, significant code changes were made regarding Oversight Committee and this will mark the first time Council hears about how this new committee will operate in practice.
Viet Vu is a fifth-year Economics major, AMS Councillor and current chair of the Oversight Committee. His views are his own and do not necessarily represent those of the Alma Mater Society or the Vancouver School of Economics Undergraduate Society.