Lyle Senators Christian Genco addressed transparency in student senate on Tuesday stating that it “implies openness, communication and accountability.”

“One of my semester goals is to drastically increase accountability, transparency and efficiency within senate,” Genco said.

This push for transparency would primarily affect the finance committee.

With this, the committee’s decisions would be posted online, with voting results and records available for public viewing.

“The most effective means of increasing accountability,” Genco believes, “is to maintain a voting record.”

Within the current system of voting record keeping, there is no record of how a senator voted on any bill, except for if the senate issued a special motion for record keeping or voting was conducted through roll call.

Genco showed the senate how to conduct voting records electronically through an online preexisting hardware on polleverywhere.com.

This option would cost only $18 per month.

Senators issue their vote by texting or tweeting the hardware account number or by going on the website.

By voting electronically and remotely, it is “immediate, persistent, and easily published.”

Also, the senate meeting included the inauguration of the new first year senators, J.D. Mahaffey, Monica Finnegan, Devin Kerns, Tanner Flyckt and William O’Connor. Sen. Christoph Schmidt left his Dedman I Senator post and was inaugurated as a new Cox Senator.

During the officer reports, Vice President Alex Ehmke discussed the liaison program. This assigns a senator to a chartered student organization so that the senator can assist with any questions or concerns.

The new first year senators will not participate in the liaison program.

“[W]e did this because we wanted to do our best to ensure that organizations receive liaisons who have as much experience at the school and knowledge of senate processes as possible,” Ehmke said.

The senate also address old business, and voted in the

“Resolution Concerning Student Senate Membership.”

This bill creates a database on Access that will connect all senate alumni, past and present, as well as create a digital archive of senate related documents.

Chief of Staff Alex Mace believes that the database will be “a huge asset” as a “big record keeping method.”