Nancy Suttenfield, vice chancellor for finance and administration, who has final decision on any changes to TPAC, said she hopes to revamp the committee and appoint new members within the next 30 days so they can start meeting over the summer. "I couldn't agree more that we need to make this committee a year-round committee, and we should have done it last year," she said.
At the meeting, students, UNC officials and former TPAC members presented ideas ranging from selecting new leadership to reducing the scope of the issues discussed by the committee.
The structure of TPAC came under close scrutiny this year, when the committee was given the task of finding $2 million to balance the DPS budget. Several participants said balancing the budget left TPAC in the position of formulating policy rather than just advising. "I would like for public safety to generate more suggestions for the committee to deliberate," said former TPAC graduate student representative Emily Williamson.
Suttenfield said the UNC Board of Trustees already has suggested one change -- that the committee focus more on creating a multiyear plan rather than dealing with problems one year at a time.
She also said it is important to clearly define the role of the committee to avoid a repeat of this year's problems. "I feel that I owe you all an apology, that you got pulled into a set of tasks that you never should have gotten into," she told former TPAC members at the meeting.
Several of those members had ideas about how to avoid those tasks in the future. Willie Scroggs, senior associate athletic director, suggested that someone from Chapel Hill Transit be a permanent member of the committee, an idea that several former TPAC members supported.
Betsy Faulkner, business manager at the School of Education, said she thinks Suttenfield should lengthen the one-year term for serving on the committee. "It seems it would be worthwhile to ask people to serve for a two- or three-year term, with a third of them coming up each year," she said.
Attendees disagreed on the type of person who should be the chairman of the committee. While some nominated DPS Director Derek Poarch, others supported the appointment of a neutral third party.
But Suttenfield warned that it might be hard to find anyone willing to take the job.
