Committee on Vendor Services

Date: May 28, 2019

To: Academic Senate Steering Committee

Committee Members:

• Professor Janet Franzese , Nursing, Chairperson Terms Ends (2020)
• Professor Melissa Dennihy, English, Secretary (2020)
• Miguel Quiroz Finance Controller (2019)
• Professor Lucy Shi Finance and Administration (2021)
• Professor Steven Cheung Mathematics and Computer Sciences (2021)
• Student Krupa Patel Chemistry Club

David Wasserman served as the President’s Designee to the Committee on Vendor Services

New Members beginning Fall 2019- Spring 2020:

• Dr. George Proteasa PhD Biology Department (2022)
• Linda Ostrowe Counseling (2022)

In the academic year Fall -2019 to Spring 2020, the Vendor Services Committee met four times.

Fall Semester - October 10^th and December 5^th 2019

Spring Semester March 13^th and May 8^th 20120.

• Janet Franzese served as elected Chairperson.
• Melissa Dennihy served as elected Secretary.

Bylaws Charge:

1. Receive and evaluate the report of the Auxiliary Enterprise Board on vendor services and recommend to the Academic Senate on matters pertaining to the services and facilities of all vendors to the College, including the Bookstore and Food Services, on an annual basis;
2. Consider and evaluate suggestions and complaints regarding the service and facilities of all vendors to the College, including the Bookstore and Food Services, sending them on to the Auxiliary Enterprise Board;
3. Review the College’s assessment of the manner of selection of and the contractual arrangements with all vendors to the College, including the Bookstore and Food Services and make recommendations.

Activities of the Committee

Continued discussion of concerns raised by Clara Wajngurt was the focus of the committee meetings and exploring options for review and consideration.

1. Health and Safety Concerns-

An email was sent on Sept 6^th to the Committee on Vendor Services chairperson by Dr. Clara Wajngurt  Chairperson of PSC Health and Safety to the committee Chairperson.

In response to a Health and Safety memo she sent August 2018- She received the following questions with regard to our cafeteria.

1. There is a lack of healthy meal options on campus.

a.      During the summer the salad station and Acai bowl station in the student dining area are both closed. These two spots are the only spots to purchase healthyish items. Oakland and Starbucks don’t always carry salad. Could the salad and acai bowl stations be available year round? It would also be helpful to offer a salad station in Oakland.

b.      The food in general never seems “fresh”. I often choose not to eat on campus because I don’t know how long food has been on display. I think we need a better quality products.

2.      Unless you have cash it is impossible to eat in the staff cafeteria (they do not accept credit cards). Could Oakland accept credit cards as a form of payment?

3.      Food (especially during the summer) needs to be accessible. If I wanted to eat a meal at 4 PM during the summer it was nearly impossible due to the cafeteria and Starbucks closing around 2 pm. I think we should keep the dining areas open longer.

            a) Issue about campus vendors not accepting credit cards:

• Vendors cannot accept credit cards due to limited Wi-Fi connectivity via hotspot
• Faculty can add funds to their CUNY cards online or at TigerCard vending machines located on campus in the administration building, library, and student union was discussed as a possible option for staff and faculty.

• Our Committee sent an email to William Faulkner and the Academic Senate Steering Committee including a Draft email for review and consideration of communicating to the staff and faculty at Queensborough the use of the one card at the Oakland dining room and the steps of to add funds to the tiger one card with links.

• William Faulkner worked with the Vendor Met Foods to have credit cards accepted at Oakland Dining room.   On 4/30/2019 An email was distributed from QCC Auxiliary Enterprise Association to everyone announcing that the Oakland Dining Room is now accepting credit card payments.

     Dr. Clara Wajngurt was invited and attended our March 13^th 2019 meeting. All of her issues raised were discussed.

• Lack of food accessibility during the summer (Oakland Dining Room and Starbucks close at 2pm) – what are the options for faculty who want a meal at 4pm?
• One faculty member asked whether salad and acai bowls can be available year round and whether there can be a salad station in Oakland

• Recommendation to communicate with Marcos Peralta about this issues and whether there is enough demand to allow for these requests to move forward.

• Dr. Wajngurt met with Marcos Peralta March 21^st 2019 and sent email to Vendor Committee

ü  Behind Starbucks café there are machines in which faculty and staff can use-- in which a credit card can move money from the credit card to the ID Tigercard.

ü  Marcos was so gracious and showed her around the kitchen in Oakland. This is the kitchen where everything pretty much is prepared for the campus.

ü  The food services on our campus is not a permanent entity and serves as a vendor for our campus-they are on a contractual basis.

ü  Since Food Services is on contract through our campus-they are limited in what they offer. So summer hours are made to be 7:30 am-2: 30 pm, which are set, and hours of highest frequency.

ü  Dr. Wajngurt  stated the Food Services is an excellent vendor for our campus. The kitchen is clean, the food looks fresh, it is an organized operation. The kitchen looks manageable-the workers are doing their jobs-and the day before-on Wednesday, March 20 our food services operations on campus received a grade of A from the NYC Health and Sanitary department for all locations on campus-Oakland, Science and Starbucks. You can see this certificate if you want in these locations.

ü  The Acai station can only exist in the summer due to the need three sinks to do this properly according to the Department of Health—and we need more space. The Acai station, when it is there, is in a very crowded area in the Science building cafeteria.

ü  Basement of the Science Building will hopefully be a cafeteria in the very near future with more space.

ü  The Food Services received an A rating

1. Student Representation

The committee discussed and acknowledged the need for input from student representatives.  The student representatives listed as committee members do not attend consistently throughout the year.

Attended on 12/5/18 only

Report from student representative:

            a) Krupa mentions that for students taking evening classes, cafeterias are closed and the only options for purchasing food/drink are vending machines. Students have complained that the prices of vending machines are quite high. 

This concern echoes previous concerns raised by faculty and shared by Clara Wajngurt about campus cafeterias closing early during the summer, leaving faculty and students with lack of food options after 2pm.

Committee discussed that perhaps at least one cafeteria should have evening/extended hours for students and faculty who are taking/teaching courses in the evening and/or over the summer. However this  needs to be explored more.

1. Review of the QCC sales and summary report. We discussed the declining sales at the bookstore and increasing use of the OER textbooks in QCC courses.

Also noted the possible correlation between student purchases and exam periods. Purchasing of energy drinks during midterms and chips and cookies remain popular choices.

        4. Elections were held at the meeting May 8^th 2019 for Chairperson and Secretary for the upcoming year Fall 2019- Spring 2020.

• Janet Franzese, was elected to serve as the Chairperson
•  Melissa Dennihy was elected to serve as the Secretary

Recommendations for next year:

• Continue to evaluate suggestions and complaints regarding the service and facilities of all the vendors to the college including the Bookstore and Food services.

• Committee Guide Book last edited 2007. Review and Update.