[GSA Council] PLEASE APPROVE: Additional funds for GSA election

[Jon Summers]

Hi Isabelle, I'm glad you asked. Since I was contacted by the Hiring
Committee on the morning of March 13, I have worked almost non-stop on
promoting and preparing for this election.

I reported to Council that I have worked at least 50 hours already, and
this includes the following: 8 hours creating and maintaining the website;
6 hours graphic design and printing; 6 hours postering both campuses last
Sunday (with no shuttle bus); 4 hours creating and maintaining a Facebook
presence; 6 hours producing content for email distribution to all members;
2 hours producing content for email to candidates; 8 hours verifying
signatures and responding to nomination forms from all candidates; 4 hours
responding to questions from members and candidates; 4 hours contacting
various departments at Concordia, 2 hours meeting with Deputy Returning
Officers; 2 hours organizing a meet and greet with candidates; 1 hour
meeting with my counterpart at the CSU.

The next 50 hours will be spent verifying all campaign materials and
closely monitoring all the campaigns, responding to questions and concerns
from our many energetic candidates, hosting the meet and greet with them,
hiring poll clerks and preparing a guide for them, offering multiple
training sessions for them and the DROs, and purchasing and preparing
elections materials.

The additional 30 hours are for running the polling stations over 3 days
and counting the ballots.

For comparison's sake, last year I believe only 2 positions were contested:
VP External and one seat for ENCS Director. But this year all positions are
contested (and many of them hotly so) except for Fine Arts and INDI
Director. This means that I will have A LOT more work in the next 2 weeks
than any CRO in recent history.

I would ask Council to please recognize the extraordinary effort that is
required to run this year's exceptionally contested election, and approve
my two-part request for additional funding.

Thank you!
Jon

On Sat, Mar 21, 2015 at 4:34 PM, gretchen k <gbayou at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hey folks--
>
> I am cc'ing andrea. this can be added to the agenda, you just need to
> motion to amend this business to the agenda when approving the council
> agenda on Tuesday.
>
> --gretchen
>
> On Sat, Mar 21, 2015 at 4:27 PM, Mathilde Mbom <mathildembom at yahoo.ca>
> wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> Should we make a motion and add it on the agenda?
>>
>> Mathilde
>>
>> On Mar 21, 2015, at 12:48 PM, Jon Summers <jsummers6 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Dear Executive and Council of Directors,
>>
>> This year's general election is shaping up to be the biggest the GSA has
>> seen in a long time: 60 candidates, including 3 slates and a number of
>> independent candidates. *This is HUGE!*
>>
>> However, there is only *$1,350* in the budget under "*Elections --
>> Candidate costs*." The Election Regulations say each candidate may be
>> reimbursed up to $75, although I have lowered this amount to $50. Still, if
>> each candidate requests a reimbursement of $50, this comes to a total of
>> *$3,000*.
>>
>> There will also be *other additional costs* related to having such a
>> large number of candidates, like having to print many more ballots than
>> expected.
>>
>> Furthermore, my contract is for *100 hours of work*. I am already at 50, *with
>> the bulk of the work still to come* over the next week and, of course,
>> over the polling days from March 30 to April 1 and the counting of the
>> ballots. With such massive participation, it is essential that I put in the
>> hours required to make sure this election is run properly.
>>
>> Therefore, I humbly request that Council approve the following:
>>
>> *1) That the election budget be increased by $2500. This will cover the
>> additional costs of having so many candidates campaign, as well as having
>> to print far more ballots than usual.*
>>
>> *2) That the CRO be remunerated for an additional 30 hours of work, at
>> $20 per additional hour, as stipulated in his contract. This will ensure
>> that he has the time required to guarantee the proper running of the
>> election.*
>>
>> Thank you very much to the Executive and the Council of Directors for
>> your support, and good luck to all the candidates!
>>
>> *Jon Summers*
>> *Chief Returning Officer (CRO), GSA Election 2015*
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Gsaconcordia mailing list
>> Gsaconcordia at lists.resist.ca
>> https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gsaconcordia
>>
>>
>
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