Photo by Cole Breiland

LUSU to have operational policy review completed

Stacey Goyan

News Editor

As 6 o’clock came and went, it did not look good for the board of directors. Despite holding the annual general meeting in The Study, the student union was struggling to get enough students in attendance for the meeting to begin.

However, after much student wrangling by directors Steven Ackroyd, Mary Chang, and David Bates, the meeting was able to get underway.

President Dave Grad chaired the meeting, which wrapped up relatively quickly.

A representative from BDO Dunwoody, Blair Smith, gave a report about the financial welfare of the student union. According to Smith, LUSU is in relatively good shape, despite the fact that last year ended with a $31,000 deficit.

The only motion presented at the meeting was by director Louise Haukeness, which would require the student union to complete an operation policy review within the 2010 school year. The review would seek out a member of the Faculty of Business to complete the review or, if unwilling, would seek three proposals from the business community.

Haukeness said her motion stemmed from issues with the previous executive that the board was made aware of over the year, including credit card misuse, non-payment of accounts, and a debt left for this year’s executive that has caused financial project problems.

Vice President Finance Josh Kolic made an amendment to the motion, extending the deadline to 2011.

The motion drew mixed responses. Chief returning officer Tomas Valiquette felt many of these issues were dealt with as a result of policy changes. Other individuals argued that LUSU already has structures in place to deal with these issues.

Only one student, who felt seven years without an external operational policy review was too much, spoke on the matter. The motion passed and will be dealt with by the budget committee.

All three executives gave reports to the student body on their activities over the year. The executive then took questions from students and concluded the meeting.

Grad commented on the AGM, saying he was content. The LUSU president acknowledged that he cut his president’s report a little bit shorter than he would have liked, but wanted students to ask more questions.

Grad reflected on his year in office positively, stating, “I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished with Trevor and Josh. I think we’ve done a lot with spending very little.”

Grad will remain in office until the end of April when new president Mike Snoddon will take over.