A week before the fall semester began, Associated Student Government (ASG) President Beau Flores signed Executive Order (EO) 18-03. The order allocates money from the Transportation Budget to allow Colorado Mesa University students access to Grand Valley Transit (GVT) with their Mavcards.
EO 18-03, Transportation Act of 2018, signed Aug. 13, is the third executive order Flores has signed since becoming ASG president. Flores was hesitant to sign another executive order but did so out of a perceived necessity to act quickly.
Money is allotted yearly to GVT, which allows CMU students to use their Mavcards for transportation. Though it has been a normality, Flores noticed it was lacking the necessary formality.
“It was brought to my attention that it comes out of transportation, which is a budget that ASG oversees,” Flores said. “I’ve never seen a bill for this and I kind of wondered, so I went to Shane [O’neill, former director of Student Services].”
According to Flores, O’neill told him he needed to pass the allocation as soon as possible.
“I was like ‘I didn’t see this last year or the year before, so I don’t understand,'” Flores said. “And he was like ‘it was kind of just done.'”
Flores stated he told O’neill it wasn’t possible to get a dollar amount until the senate approved it, which couldn’t happen prior to the first week of school. However, some CMU students had already complained about not being able to ride GVT with their Mavcards.
According to Flores, O’neill suggested using an executive order to formalize the process. Flores was hesitant to appear that he was going above the senate’s heads. Once he gained the support of Student Trustee Amara Hobbs and Senate Leader Colton Rupple, Flores was more comfortable with signing EO 18-03.
“Providing these passes to students is essential to aiding them to get to and from campus so they can further both their education and campus experience,” Hobbs said in a statement she issued on Aug. 13.
“As Senators who have served in previous years realize, the Grand Valley Transit is a bill that has not been seen but has been funded every year. This allocation is for students to have access to public transportation. This bus pass is some students’ only way to get to and from CMU’s main campus, Montrose Campus, and Western Community College Campus.” Rupple said in a statement on Aug 13.
“Our Reserves for Transportation Budget are around $57,000. That is a healthy reserve amount and that reserve budget is one reason I support this Executive Order,” Rupple said in his statement. “The administration and the Associated Student Government agreed about changing the way we purchase these passes in last year’s executive team, and that is a reason President Flores is going to sign Executive Order 18-03 to spend $8,192 from the Transport Budget. The Senators that have communicated to me, have also expressed support.”
EO 18-03 allows students to continue using their Mavcards for transportation with GVT and sets an official precedent for using the Transportation Budget to fund the service provided by CMU.
