Government Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes
January 12th, 2015 from 6:00 PM to 7:15 PM
John E. Sapp Conference Room
I.
Call to Order
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Meeting is called to order at 6:04PM
II. Roll Call
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Quorum is established with 6 voting members.
III. Approval of Minutes
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Senator Galligan: I move to approve the minutes from the emergency meeting. Second. All in
favor. Moved.
IV. Approval of Agenda
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Senator Harvel: I move to approve the agenda for tonight. Second. All in favor. Moved.
V. Student Remarks
VI. Guest Speakers
VII. Remarks of the Chair—sgagoc@unf.edu
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First of all those of you who are new, welcome. We mainly deal with title 13. Everyone has a
binder in the rotunda of the constitution with your name on it. They are all yours to do whatever
you want with; it is also on the website, make sure you go over title 13 which deals with
appointments. I have been talking to the Attorney General about having title 6 in our jurisdiction
as well. Senator orientation is on the 24th, I know it early but I wanted to let you all know so you
can clear your calendars. It is at 9:30AM tentatively. It is mandatory for all senators. We are all
going to be in one room having workshops with everyone. If you have any ideas about
workshops or speakers for the orientation, let me know.
VIII. Unfinished Business
IX. New Business
a. Title XIII Amendments
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Chairwoman Wollam: Right now the Elections Commissioner is the only one who can make
changes to title 6, and this committee just approves them.
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Senator Guerra: I think that this committee should have purview of title 6 and elections code.
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Senator Harvel: Another thing that we touched on last semester was regarding appointments
and when the term begins and when it is up. I think we should touch on that again.
Government Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes
January 12th, 2015 from 6:00 PM to 7:15 PM
John E. Sapp Conference Room
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Chairwoman Wollam: I agree, I have had multiple people come up to me wanting to get
appointed, and I have to tell them no. That is maybe something we do want to talk about
because some spring seats are open.
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Senator Ascanio: Going back to the elections, I think the safe zones were unclear about
campaigning. There are also areas that are not school areas.
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Chairwoman Wollam: If you know anyone that is interested in Elections Commissioner, let them
know that the application is on the SG website. The position is still open. It is a pressing matter
since elections are coming up. It is a good challenge.
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Senator Ascanio: This committee just talks about appointments?
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Chairwoman Wollam: Yes. All appointments come through here.
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Senator Harvel: If we don’t find an Elections Commissioner, should we have a process?
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Senator Guerra: Although the president makes appointments, there is no timeline to when
those appointments need to be made. There is no way to ensure that that vacancy is filled.
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Senator Ascanio: I think there should be a deadline for the Elections Commissioner.
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Senator Guerra: Maybe by writing a JR the senate can help with finding a positon.
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Senator Ascanio: If we don’t find one, what do we do? Maybe the government oversight
committee could take the responsibility of the position.
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Advisor Shore: That could end up being a conflict of interest if people are running in the
elections.
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Senator Harvel: Maybe as an ad-hoc committee?
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Chairwoman Wollam: It would still be a conflict of interest.
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Senator Guerra: I think it really just falls to checks and balances within in the branches. They
found the Vice President in 2 days.
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Senator Ascanio: I think they will find someone, if not we will have to find another solution.
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Senator Guerra: But that is a problem.
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Chairwoman Wollam: There is not much that we can do about it.
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Senator Guerra: It is also a 2 year position that could be a problem. Is 2 years even necessary?
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Chairwoman Wollam: We were talking about a semester review of the Elections Commissioner.
Government Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes
January 12th, 2015 from 6:00 PM to 7:15 PM
John E. Sapp Conference Room
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Senator Ali Awan: We just have to find someone to do it.
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Senator Harvel: I think we should talk about a deadline.
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Senator Guerra: We need to decide how comfortable we are with waiting
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Advisor Shore: The elections dates are already planned.
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Senator Guerra: We need to pull up a timeline. The Elections Commissioner is responsible for
verifying applications.
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Senator Ascanio: In two weeks we would need one.
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Senator Ali Awan: Maybe the judicial branch can take it over?
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Senator Guerra: What if we set January 26th as the deadline.
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Advisor Shore: They are an independent office. They don’t report to anyone. I would love to see
what the qualifications are for Elections Commissioner.
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Senator Guerra: What do you mean by qualifications?
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Chairwoman Wollam: In the policies and procedures it states qualifications for other
positions but there are none for the Elections Commissioner.
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Senator Guerra: I think that should be at the discretion of the President.
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Chairwoman Wollam: I think the qualifications are referring to being a UNF student and having a
certain GPA.
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Senator Guerra: But that’s in the constitution for every member.
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Chairwoman Wollam: The application is subject to change by the President.
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Senator Ascanio: I think we still need to set up a deadline, no matter what.
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Senator Guerra: I understand that the 26th is very soon, but at the same time parties have to
register like a week after that. Time needs to be considered for the person to be trained.
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Chairwoman Wollam: If we were to write something wouldn’t it be considered ex post facto.
And it won’t apply for this semester.
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Advisor Shore: It would have to have been before the semester started.
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Chairwoman Wollam: We just need to figure out a plan B.
Government Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes
January 12th, 2015 from 6:00 PM to 7:15 PM
John E. Sapp Conference Room
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Attorney General Harris: It is in everyone’s best interest to look for an elections commissioner.
But to enforce that someone is looking, is kind of tricky. We have been having problems with
finding justices too.
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Senator Guerra: There just needs to be a timeframe for all of that. If time keeps going by, it’s
kind of an issue.
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Attorney General Harris: I think in future we should amend title 6 to say a timeline. But we can’t
do that right now.
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Senator Guerra: I just think there needs to be a deadline because party registration is due so
soon.
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Attorney General Harris: In the absence of the Elections Commissioner the AG would be in
charge, but that is not an ideal situation at all.
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Senator Harvel: So title 6 would be ex post facto.
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Attorney General Harris: There is a provision in title 6 saying that you can’t change anything in
title 6 during an election cycle.
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Chairwoman Wollam: We just need a new Elections Commissioner.
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Advisor Shore: I would suggest that when we do get a new Elections Commissioner they start an
ad hoc committee.
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Attorney General Harris: Since the branch was created outside of the 3 branches, it can’t fall
under any authority. So we have created a bit of a problem. That can be amended in the future.
I think the best thing to do is to find an Elections Commissioner.
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Chairwoman Wollam: We can talk about implementing a deadline, which can go on 2nd read at
the next senate meeting.
X. Announcements
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Senate is on the 26th.
XI. Final Roll Call
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Quorum is reestablished with 6 voting members.
XII. Adjournment
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Meeting is adjourned at 6:46PM.
Minutes taken by: Leah Tolisano, Senate Secretary.