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| News at a Glance |
| by Nancy Ellegate |
| New Site |
| Since the membership voted
to pursue purchase of the proposed new store, the Board formally
authorized the purchase of building and empowered the Board president
to sign legal papers to this end. |
| Creating Change Document |
| The current document
outlining how to institute changes to policy and practice at the Co-op
was discussed. Based on the bylaws, a further revision was suggested:
that between bringing an issue to the Board and, if the issue is not
addressed or explained to the member’s satisfaction, bringing it to a
referendum, the matter should be discussed at a membership meeting. A
petition signed by 35 members or 10% of the membership (whichever is
smaller) puts an item on the agenda. The Creating Change document will
be revised and a new version circulated. |
| Bottle Bill |
| The Board voted to support
the Bigger Better Bottle bill. This is a revision of the existing
legislation on returnables that has been proposed by the governor and
is to be considered by the New York State Legislature. Two Board
members will formalize the Co-op’s endorsement. |
| Marketing |
| There has been some concern
about overlap between the Board’s Marketing committee and the work of
the Collective Management Team, since they have the primary
responsibility for advertising. It was clarified that the Board’s
committee will focus on policy and strategy, while the staff will have
the primary day-to-day responsibility in this area. |
| Energy |
| The new Energy committee
has suggestions for maximizing energy use in the new store. Their
liaison asked to whom these should be reported. Energy issues should be
considered by architects working on the design for the new store as
soon as possible. It was decided that these ideas should be forwarded
to the Facilities committee. Any recommendations on saving energy in
the current store can be forwarded directly to the Collective
Management Team. |
| New Heaters |
| The Board approved a
request from the Collective Management Team to expend $6,500 to install
heaters in the back part of the warehouse space. |
| Finance |
| The Finance committee
presented the current financial report, including data comparing Honest
Weight’s expenditures with those of several other Co-ops. This lead to
discussion of personnel costs, member discounts’ effect on costs, and
administrative costs that must be included in the member labor
expenditures (because of our committee structure and form of
governance). The Board wishes to develop a fuller analysis of our costs
and their relation to sales. The finance manager is compiling data now
that should aid in this. |
| Nutrition |
| The Nutrition committee
presented calendars produced by the Regional Farm and Food Project that
feature local farms. The Co-op helped subsidize this project. Board
members expressed their appreciation. |
| Cooperative Laws |
| An expert on cooperative
law will prepare a written document detailing issues about New York
State’s laws on cooperative businesses and the Co-op. If needed, a
meeting will follow. |
| Banked Hours |
| There are a large number of
banked member work hours. Some members have so many hours, they need
not work for months, and some for years. It was questioned whether
there should be a ceiling on such hours. The matter was referred to the
Membership committee. |
| Personnel |
| The Personnel committee
reported that a consultant declined the fee that had been authorized
and donated his services in helping the committee develop a mediation
section of the Employee Manual. The committee very much appreciates
this generosity and the Board will extend a gift certificate to this
person. |
| Profits and Values |
| The Board had a discussion
of the issue of the profitability at the Co-op. While the Co-op must be
profitable to sustain itself, the goal of profitability can conflict
with other values. The general consensus of the Board was that we can
use our profits to support others who are working in concert with our
values. While there must be concern about profit, the Co-op is not
focused solely on maximizing profit. |
| Bylaws Panel |
| Two Board members have come
up with a list of potential members for the new Bylaws Panel. One
person has agreed to serve and a second person will be asked. |
| Executive Session |
| The Board met in executive
session at the end of the meeting. |
| Minutes |
| Minutes of all meetings are
available at the Co-op. Minutes of the most recent meeting are posted
on the bulletin board. They are also available on the Co-op’s website,
as password protected files. See instructions on the Board Meetings page |
| Upcoming Meetings |
| Board meetings are
scheduled for the following Tuesdays: December 18, January 22 and
February 26. Meetings begin at 5:30 pm at the Community Room at the
Co-op. Date, time and location can change, however, so it is
recommended that anyone planning to attend confirm these. |
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