The mayor of Wayne, Cale Giese, spoke about the city’s development plans and how he became involved as a community leader during the Oct. 24 Student Senate meeting, preceding the Senators’ passage of three resolutions.  

Giese answered several questions from various senators regarding the walking trail, potential park developments, the apartments which will cover the former rugby field and discussions about flooding a park area near the Community Activity Center to make a temporary outdoor ice rink. 

He also recapped the four years he has served as mayor, remembering the time Russian hackers froze the city’s data, the uncertainty of the pandemic and working with the council to make improvements to the city of Wayne.  

Giese said he worked, and plans to continue, to improve relations between Wayne State College and the rest of the town.  

“What my goal would be is to engage you [all] with the citizens of Wayne,” Giese said. “Getting you involved in those service groups; getting you to rub shoulders with the business leaders in the community because you guys are very talented, young and full of ideas. What you need is connections.” 

During his presidential announcements, President Carter Ossian talked about the Oct. 27 Halloween Dance Party which acted as a collaboration between the Senate and Philomatheans. This event offered mocktails to encourage fun outside of an environment with alcohol. 

Ossian also presented recent ideas from the student body about upgrades the senators should look into implementing on campus. Parking had the most submissions, but the Senators focused on more manageable tasks.  

These included a firepit, offering easier to understand financial information, adding lighting to campus, longer recreational hours, mental health resources, maps of campus, having accessible scholarships for returning students and moving the utensils in the cafeteria to a better place.  

Ossian hopes to continue taking student suggestions and move forward with those Senate has gathered already.  

The first resolution approved Ossian’s appointment of Blake Bartling to the Senate as a representative of the School of Arts and Humanities. Bartling, a senior, has been appointed halfway through the semester as a replacement for a senator who recently resigned.  

“I am excited to see Blake joining Senate and I look forward to seeing what [he does] moving forward,” Senator Regan Ott said.  

Resolution #42 of the year allocated $150 from the Student Senate budget to fund the Halloween Dance Party.  

The meeting’s final resolution created an ad hoc committee, which is a temporary group meant to accomplish a specific task, with the purpose of reviewing Student Trustee applications. The members of the committee include two senators, Ian Bengston and Jake Ridder, and two campus leaders, Aubreanna Miller and Taylor Ference.  

The next meeting will be on Nov. 7 in Connell Room 131 at 7 p.m. Any WSC student may attend.