Air Conditioning Fine Policy
A $20 fine will be assessed for having open personal doors and windows while the AC or heat is running, per 24 hour period. A witness must verify that the infraction occurred. (House vote, 7-16-06)
from the 7-16-06 meeting minutes:
item four: utilities fine. if you leave doors or windows open, you are throwing our utility money away. common spaces can't be blamed on anyone. but personal spaces need to be kept closed. nandy says her room is too stuffy and that's why she leaves her window open. anyone is welcome to close it. wonko says it's happened to often. and thor's door is often open and so the kitchen is ALWAYS hot. nandy says she had this problem last year and no did anything. patrick says maintenance should look into that. she feels it's enough of a problem that she can stand it. chris w. says we should get the city out here. i suggest we find a way to get that done ASAP.
wonko motions: 20 dollar fine for HVAC utility per 24 hours applying to open personal doors and windows while AC/heat is running. you need to find one witness to verify that the infraction has occurred.
steph says maybe the notice should only be emailed to wonko [bookkeeper]. patrick thinks it should be public. should we have a separate sheet?
voting: 2 abstain, 0 against, 11 in favor.
motion passes
Note
This is one of the only rules we have regulating personal behavior, and the fine has only been levied twice that I'm aware of, and only after people were informed of the rule.
It started because there was a member, Thor (who was eventually evicted for uncooperative behavior), who would habitually leave his door open in the kitchen room when the AC was running, despite being asked repeatedly not to do that. For most people, asking nicely would work, but not this guy. So we had to make a rule.
The fine is related to the fact that we lose money when the AC is wasted. It's good to have this rule to back you up when you're asking people nicely, in case they don't want to cooperate.
If anyone felt that this rule was used unfairly, you could take it to a meeting to appeal.
This note is written strictly for historical purposes and is not an expression of policy.
- parker (treasurer, May 2010)