This Week In Student Government - Sept. 19

(Source: via Flickr)

Here is a recap of The Student Government Association at UT-Tyler's Sept. 19 meeting. 

Speaker's Podium: Mr. Robert Cromley, Director of Emergency Management and Safety

Mr. Robert Cromley spoke to student government this week about the on-campus parking situation. Director Cromley is the former Chief of Police for UT Healthscience Center (served for 20 years) and has 35 years in law enforcement, he said. 

Cromley took his current role in December 2022 after the merger and ceded his position of Chief of Police to UT-Tyler Police’s longtime police chief Michael Meddars who now oversees all of the UT-Tyler’s merged campuses as chief.  

Cromley spoke to SGA about six topics during his presentation, including an announcement of plans to build two new parking lots by fall 2024. The topics were: changes to parking operations, a summary of the parking situation, a new parking shuttle program, plans to construct two new parking spaces coming next fall, a new bike share program and a warning about parking citations. The following is a summary of each topic.

Parking Management Changes

Cromley said changes he made to parking since his arrival include moving the parking office from the police station to The One Stop Shop and no longer mailing parking permits to recipients. Cromley said that at $5 dollars per piece for roughly 9,000 permits, the savings are significant. (Approximately $45,000 dollars.) Recipients now pick-up parking permits at The One Stop Shop instead. 

He said he hopes Parking’s location in The One Stop Shop makes parking more visible to students.  

Over the summer, Parking authorities striped three parking lots and built the Patriot Walkway from Liberty Landing to Victory Village, Cromley said. Parking fees “contributed” to the Patriot Walkway construction, but he did not say how much. 

The director said striping the lots cost approximately $20,000 dollars. He also said the cost to construct a new asphalt parking lot costs roughly $150 dollars per space, nearly $1.5 million for new lot. 

Summary of Parking Situation

Cromley reported that among the total 7,275 parking permits sold from Fall 2022 to Summer 2023, Commuter students purchased 4,575 permits while Resident students purchased 548 permits. Another 1,431 permits went to university employees and the remaining 721 were without a classification. 

Despite this, Cromley emphasized that parking “is not a for-profit business.” He said parking money goes back into parking uses, such as signage and repainting lots and other parking-related activities. 

There are 2,504 parking spaces available, but 7,478 total faculty and staff according to official numbers. 

Parking Shuttle

To combat parking scarcity, The Parking Office is launching a new shuttle program, Cromley announced. The shuttle will transport students to campus from the former Behavioral Health Center on University Blvd which is now additional student parking.  

According to Cromley, the shuttle will operate from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday throughout the semester. Pick-up times will be every 20 minutes and the routes will be from remote parking to Soules College, Muntz Library, RBN, UC and back to remote parking. Riders must own a parking permit to ride.  

The shuttle is a 15-passanger van rental for approximately $125 dollars per day, $4,600 dollars per semester.

“Obviously if we don’t get many riders, we’re going to discontinue that service,” he said.  

Cromley urged students, “Please, pleases don’t walk across University Blvd” due to the danger.

New Parking Lots

Cromley announced that the university has engaged engineers to build two new parking lots by Fall 2024. The university will remove the green space between Ritter Tower and The Patriot Plaza that formerly was faculty parking (roughly 110 spaces). 

It will also build a second parking lot in the wooded area adjacent to Liberty Landing Apartments (roughly 240 spaces).

"So we're going to try to increase [parking by] at least 350 spots by fall of next year," the director told student government.

"That’s a great deal. We’re excited about that," he said.   

He cautioned that meeting the fall deadline will be "a challenge", but communicated that executive leadership realizes that parking is a problem.

Parking Citations

Cromley said the police will be issuing warnings and parking citations for parking violations. However, authorities will launch a program in November that will allow students to erase their parking citation balance with a donation to the campus food pantry. 

The donations will only cover up to a certain amount, so a balance over $100 may still remain after the donation. 

Bike Share Program 

Cromley said the administration is piloting a new bike share program. His office will provide students with a free bike on the completion of a form in his office. His office collected and refurbished bikes that were abandoned on-campus after spring graduation, he said. Lost bikes may be reclaimed. 

This completes the summary of his presentation. 

Officer Reports

President Dix - Attended Parking and Transportation Committee. Working on new speakers to answer SGA concerns. 
 
Vice President Carnes - Wrapping up treasurer duties. 
 
Secretary Henry -Working on Midnight breakfast T-shirt’s and updated SGA member names on university website. 
 
Treasurer Peters -Working on getting student organizations their findings and meetings for appropriations committee.

Committee Reports

Appropriations Committee - Approved funds for Muslim Student Association and Rolling Patriots Guild.

Student Voice Reports -

Freshman Senators - Swoop N Go is pricey.
 
Sophomore - Some people found Swoop N Go price are higher than some grocery stores.
 
Juniors - Parking is a problem among juniors. Main stairwell in RBN around 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. Concern that it is a fire issue. Also, snack machines charging, but not dispensing. Seniors - Parking and housing also. Said Seniors last on list for resident housing.

Graduate Students - Need sidewalk between tennis court and college of business area. Students walking in mud. Connectivity issues set some online classes back four days.

Old Business - (None.)

New Business -

Senator Projects

President Dix gave an example of a senator project from a previous project.  (Senator projects are voluntary projects senators take on to improve facets of campus, such as install park benches, renovate the disc golf course, etc.).

Senator Swear-Ins

President Dix swore-in new senators. (Number unknown.)

Chief of Staff Nominations

-Savannah Tropp accepted nomination.
-Senator Menhennett moved to swear-in Tropp immediately since there were no other nominations, but President Dix said the assembly was unable to vote because the advisor who creates the electronic vote form was absent. Senate will vote next week.

Announcements -

-Midnight Breakfast, mandatory event. - Oct. 25
-Arbor Day, mandatory event - Oct. 14.
-Trunk or Treat - date unknown.

*A previous version of this article erroneously stated the date for upcoming Midnight Breakfast as Oct. 5.

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