News at a Glance

by Nancy Ellegate

The HWFC Board of Directors met on Wednesday, November 29.

Nominations

The Board discussed the process of locating potential Board members. It was felt that this could be much improved. In recent years, a large number of nominations have come spontaneously from the floor at Annual Membership Meetings and this does not insure that the Board is well-rounded with the mix of skills and experience needed. It was also noted that currently many members have a negative view of Board service, seeing it as time consuming and not particularly rewarding. This perception needs to be addressed.

It was suggested that perhaps Board members should be compensated beyond work hours. This might be something to consider in the future, but it was also felt that the lack of compensation was not an important factor in the negative feeling about Board service. Two Board members will spearhead an assessment of the needs of the body at the present time and an effort to more actively search out members who can meet these.

Discounts Proposal

There was a proposal that the Co-op give substantial discounts to pregnant women. Discussion of this was affirmative and a related proposal was made that the Co-op offer a discount to shoppers participating in the WIC program. The next step will be to plan on how to publicize and implement these proposals. It was requested that the Collective Management Team come back to the Board in February with a plan.

Board-Governance Committee Relations

The ad-hoc group working on relations and clarification of the respective domains between the two groups reported on their activities and asked for feedback. The Board liked the concept of a standing bylaws panel to be convened when needed. There was discussion, though, of whether the tentative plans are for too big a group and whether this adds another level of bureaucracy to the Co-op.

There were many objections to another of the group’s proposals, one for a Governance Council. It was felt that this was an expansion of the committee’s current functions, beyond what is indicated in the bylaws. Particular concerns were raised over proposal for this body to bypass the bylaws panel and to write the agenda for membership meetings. A member of Governance committee will communicate these comments to the committee. In response to his concerns that the Board seemed to be objecting to oversight, Board members disagreed and affirmed that the oversight function of the committee is necessary. Board members were invited to communicate individual concerns directly to the committee.

Education Efforts

Concerns

The Finance committee reported that after receiving the budget request from the Nutrition and Education committee, they became concerned over possible duplication of efforts. Specifically, that the committee and the education coordinator, which is a staff position with its own budget line, may be developing very similar projects. The Board felt that the various projects were worthy and that dollar amount on these is not an issue. There may be some confusion over who is determining the direction of the Co-op’s educational projects and whether some work in this area should be considered member labor rather than committee work. The education coordinator has been attending the Nutrition and Education committee meetings, and the Board asked that she and the committee chair meet on these concerns and report back.

Standing Rules

An updated draft of the Standing Rules for Board Meetings was circulated. Board members were asked to read these and get back to the Board president with any questions or concerns.

Policy Manual

Work on the policy manual has begun. The Board was asked whether it should include all Co-op policies or just those established by Board action. It was felt that ultimately all policies should be included, but it would be best to start with Board policies. Initially, the policy manual will be in hard copy form; eventually all policies should be available in electronic form.

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 website on obtaining a password (see Meetings section and go to Board Meetings).

Upcoming Meetings

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