The Associated Students Organization approved a plan to spend $25,000 to purchase a utility vehicle and its accessories for the organization to use and donate to the college.

According to the student government’s Senate meeting minutes, the ASO is planning to buy a Cushman Shuttle 4 Utility Vehicle which it will donate to the college on paper. However, the ASO will have the “exclusive right” to use the vehicle. 

The student government is also paying $3,000 to the El Camino Community College District every year for the operation and maintenance of the vehicle. 

The ASO will pay the annual fee for the vehicle’s usable life, the minutes said.

Tyler Strohl, ASO student activities adviser, said the decision to get the utility vehicle was due in part to an increase in the organization’s revenue during the fall semester of 2023.

“In our preliminary budget we had anticipated making about $150,000, we actually cleared just under $300,000 so our revenue was up,” Strohl said.

The revenue increase was due to the increase in enrollment, Strohl said. The ASO Discount Benefit Pass and student representation fee which fund the ASO are “dictated” by enrollment, he said.

Money for the utility vehicle will come from Fund 72 which is made up of the student representation fee: the $2 fee students pay each spring and fall semester.

Strohl said after receiving the money, ASO was looking to improve its internal operations including enhancing student experience, saving more time to meet with students and setting up events faster.

“We just couldn’t get to two places quick enough to get things done, to reach our constituents,”  Strohl said. 

After noticing the vehicles used by Facilities Planning and Services on campus, the ASO believed they could use a similar vehicle to their benefit.

“[ASO] had noticed [other vehicles on campus] and they had asked if this is something we can use, if it gives back and enhances the student experience,” Strohl said.

Strohl said that without a utility vehicle, setting up for events–especially “Finals Madness”–is taking hours away from helping students due to the amount of time it takes to get food to-and-from said event, time that could be spent helping students.

“All in all that process prior [to the event] was taking multiple days, multiple trips, multiple hours that staff…couldn’t be serving students and multiple times that ASO students couldn’t be getting [the] library set up for students to have a safe studying atmosphere,” Strohl said.

Strohl said with a utility vehicle, the process in preparing for events will become faster.

“So then the night of the event comes, [they can] load everything up quick, …drive it over, drop it at the event, drive back, get ready for the pizza, drive it over to the event, just increase the efficiency,” Strohl said. “I estimate it would save hours for each event.”

Since the utility vehicle is a purchase larger than $10,000, it has to go to the board of trustees for approval, Strohl said. ASO will fill out a form for donation and then send it to the board for approval.

Student Trustee Connor Lai said the trustees will vote on the purchase of the utility vehicle and the acceptance of the donation on March 21.

Lai said he had no comment on the purchase or impact of the utility vehicle.

“Out of impartiality and fairness to my colleagues on the board and out of following the code of ethics for the board of trustees, I will not comment,” he said.

Although it will be donated to the district, Strohl said the utility vehicle is the ASO’s; the organization will “retain the exclusive right to use it so it can’t be used for [Facilities Planning and Services].”

ASO Vice President Jeon Park said with a utility vehicle, more ASO members can participate in activities rather than just helping to set up, which can take hours.

“With the utility vehicle, instead of employing [ASO] members with the setup hours we can maybe employ one to two members…[they can] transport all the tents at once and therefore have those members that would have rather been spending their time setting up actually be participating in the actual event themselves,” Park said.

Park said allowing more time for ASO members to participate in events rather than setting up will enhance student experience.

“That example of having more members participate during the event rather than set up is just one small example of many ways the utility vehicle can affect [ASO],” he said.

Editors Note: The story was edited for readability on March 7, 7:37 a.m.