IL.
Ill.
gabtanny
STUDENT
ASSGCCIA TION
EMPOWERING THE STUDENT VOICE
Student Association Board of Finance
Executive Session Minutes
December 8", 2019 — 5:30 PM.
The HUB Conference Room
Salazar — This is super confidential information that cannot be released
Comptroller — I have been doing a great job compared to old comptrollers. I
am cracking down on the rules and doing a lot of work. An area I am
struggling with is maintaining the Credit Cards. We are getting them
reconciled but things come up, like purchases I do not approve of and I
know are against policy. I want to bring this to your attention. My job is to
protect this organization and our students. This is a big deal. As someone
who signs the tax returns, I feel like that there are a lot of things that should
not be going on. I have sent all the information I have. Next time I will have
anything that is missing. I have a bunch of statements for your review.
Donelan — Can we take a moment to review and then have tony tell us what
stuck out to him?
a. Comptroller — We are starting with 11/18 statement
i. Redbubble purchase was for Cyber Defense Organization
ii. Cheesecake factory for $22 stuck out to me. I was confused
because I approve all food. That would be one person’s food
and I did not approve this
iii. I was told cheesecake was a mistake and it will be refunded. I
am not sure how that is possible
iv. SHUN’s kitchen had an $8 charge at 12:47 am or 1:47 am but
the PR said it was a meeting for the President and Vice
President of SUNY SA at Hilton conference
v. The cheesecake one is really throwing me off.
b. Donelan — I saw a charge for SHEIN?
i. Comptroller - That was for Fuerza Latina
c. Daquial - The SHUNS kitchen was a reimbursement?
i. Comptroller — I do not know how to explain it
IV. Chairman Samuel Salazar has stepped down and Vice Chairwoman
Molly Donelan has assumed the role of the Chair for the rest of this
session.
V. Salazar Are there any record that includes itemized purchases receipts with
rationale?
a. Comptroller - Yes that’s what the PR is supposed to stand for.
Description has explanation of charge which is something I have
cracked down on
b. Salazar — When your office conducted the internal review, did you
notice the budget line this would come out of?
a. Comptroller — A problem I have with the president is that she does not
always consult me on which budget lines come out of. She is the only
person like that.
II. | Salazar — What if any budget line would this come out of?
a. Comptroller - This would come out of conferences, but I would have
charged this out of SUNY SA.
Ill. |McCracken- Is the SA credit card allowed to leave the office?
a. Comptroller - No it supposed to stay there. If it left, it was supposed
to get permission from me or physically be on me. That is supposed to
be a rarity. Iam not sure what the president does with her card though.
b. McCracken — In these scenarios, did the card have to leave the office?
i. Comptroller - Not going to lie, she has a phenomenal memory
so it could’ve been in the office and she could have used the
number. This number is incredibly easy to remember.
ii. Daquial — Point of info — does the president have the discretion
to use the credit card number at any time?
1. Comptroller — In terms of bylaws, yes. But in terms of
our everyday functionality it should be approved by me.
She will often put the PR in and then buy it on amazon
before I even approve it. The approval process is
pointless to her because she doesn’t follow it. She
considers herself the president and CEO, so she does
whatever she wants
2. Salazar — Within the statement, why did these purchases
catch your eye?
a. Deputy Comptroller Isaiah James has been
reconciling credit cards since before any of us
were in SA. He knows what I would approve and
what I would not. These are what stuck out to him.
I can only think of one time I got food and it was
less than $30. We try to stay in line with university
policies — we need a meeting agenda with minutes
and attendance. 22 and 8 dollars clearly isn’t a
meeting with multiple people.
3. Daquial — Motion to move to debate
a.
b.
Salazar — second
Daquial — withdraw
4. Daquial — What would be the most appropriate next step?
a.
Comptroller- It would be valuable for something to
come from you guys. That is for you to decide but
if you guys would take one of the credit cards, but
I want to make a more internal and informal route
to set the precedent.
. Salazar —Is there any other thing you would like
us to look at?
i. Comptroller — You can log on to the amazon
account. I have made myself an
administrator of the amazon prime business
account so now the rules stand that I have to
approve every purchase on the amazon
account
Salazar — I want to make this point — I want to
thank Tony for what he has done because in years
past we used to pay taxes
Daquial — What are we looking at?
i. Comptroller - This is business analytics. I
want to show you a transaction I didn’t
approve. It was done before I laid eyes on it.
It was end tables for her office.
Daquial - From discretionary line?
i. Comptroller — No the Office supplies line.
Salazar — Motion to a five minute recess
i. Zhang - Second
Salazar — Is there anything else you would like to
show us?
Comp — There were a few purchases I didn’t
approve of — This was the one thing I didn’t
approve of. Nesting tables. These are frivolous.
They are sitting in her office not even set up. They
are 105 dollars. You are going to be president for 1
year and do not need end tables to match your desk
Salazar — Which line from the budget did it come
out of?
i. Kelley - It was unapproved but still
purchased. The line says office supplies
Daquial — Point of Information — How much is in
the office supplies line?
i. Donelan — 5,000
ii. Comptroller — The remaining is 1,086.81
. Sam — So for the PR, could you pull up the
reasoning behind the purchase?
i. Comptroller — It was charged to office
supplies but wasn’t taken out because I
didn’t approve it yet. Description is “pens
paper file folders etc.” So really, no
justification
Sam — Is there anything else that you would like to
show us?
i. Comptroller— Not that I know off the top of
my head
. Daquial — Do you have a general idea of how
much is left in the President’s discretionary line?
i. Comptroller - 2,263.73
ii. Comptroller What is pizza for focus group?
Can someone shed light?
1. Zhang - Pizza for the focus group — I
put that PR in because she said it was
a focus group on sharing their
experience with purple pantry and
purple threads to improve their
services. She did have Director of
Community Engagement and
Outreach Jazmin Francis do a line
transfer so it would be half and half
iii. Salazar — Based on bylaw 500.6.1.1 I
motion that the Board of Finance conduct
a formal financial investigation into
President Desann Chin-Carty
1. McCracken - Second
2. No objections
iv. Salazar —I motion to subpoena President
Chin- Carty to a meeting to explain
herself
1. Daquial — Second
v. Comptroller — Another concern of mine -
There was a potluck for the executive
branch. It was hosted at Amy or Dee’s. I got
a receipt on the Monday after for around 200
dollars of groceries of pasta, ground beef,
salmon etc. I was confused with the receipt.
I went to Dawn (past campus designee).
Dawn said that was not ok. To the best of
my knowledge, it wasn’t all for the potluck.
That is something Pam expressed concern
for as did Dawn.
1. Amy — That was one of our early
bonding events. It was an event that
people would bring their own food
too. I was not aware of the long
receipt until the next day because I
thought everyone used their own
money for the potluck
2. Ivan —If I remember correctly, I had
qualms about the event because it was
an SA hangout and it was only the
executive branch. It was a potluck so
the fact there is a receipt is really
questionable. It should’ve been open
to everyone if that is the case
vi. Amy — The purpose of the event was for the
executive branch to bond, not to exclude
others. and I did not have knowledge of the
receipt until after the fact
n. Donelan- Hypothetically, if this was a student
group, would that be grounds for budget freezing?
i. Comptroller - If you do something that’s
wrong, I will be freezing you. When it
comes to this situation, it is a bit more
difficult for me because of the high authority
of the person that I would be freezing. To
block her from doing this, I would have to
freeze the entire student association. I could
do that, but it is troubling due to the entire
students and services we provide. The only
option I would have would be to take away
her authorized signatory.
. Salazar — I motion to freeze the Discretionary
Line of the Office of the President and the
Office Supplies line of the Student Association
Operating until the Board of Finance completes
its investigation
i. Second — McCracken
. Comptroller —SORC question — how are you
going to freeze those two things specifically?
i. Salazar —I will talk to ray about it
. Comptroller- I would have to freeze the whole SA
to get this to stop
. Daquial — point of info — it is a possibility to not
approve?
i. Comptroller - Yes but the purchases can still
be made because she had the card
. Donelan — Are we empowered to take away the
President’s credit card?
i. Comptroller - With my recommendation,
Randy can take her card. The senate could
unauthorize the use of her card
1. Salazar — Authorization can be
removed with 2/3 of senate approval
ii. Daquial —I agree that we need all the
information first. Senate will be politicized,
and this will not be easy.
iii. Salazar — We are doing this for the right
reasons, and we want to make sure money is
used wisely.
iv. Comptroller — It is never my goal to break
anyone down, but this is a problem if your
highest financial person can’t bring
information to you. I am uncomfortable
when I can’t explain things
vii.
Salazar — Moving forward, tony and I will
be in close contact, but these statements will
be accessible. She will be able to explain
herself.
Salazar — Motion to end executive session
Daquial - Second
