New Board members

The Board of Directors met for the first time following the election of several new members on April 14. The Board president welcomed them. Current officers of the Board retained their seats for the meeting, and officers for the coming year were to be decided at the next meeting. The first of a two-part Board retreat was planned for early May.

Finance committee

Members of the Coop will no longer have to present a driver’s license in order to cash a check. Check cashing is a privilege of membership. (Non-members will still have to show a driver’s license.) Cashiers will continue to check the names of all check writers against the bad-check list.

Currently, the Coop is owed more than $5,000 by customers who have written bad checks. The staff is looking at ways to collect some of this money, and to provide better screening at the registers.

A proposal is being considered for professional training for staff on how to generate financial reports.

Personnel committee

The committee is discussing the procedures for firing an employee: how this should be handled, and what kind of grievance policy or arbitration there should be.

Strategic Planning

The committee planned to hold a meeting in early May with the consultant hired to work on strategic planning. A planning retreat will be held in August.

Collective Management Team

The operations and administration coordinator reported that the team is looking at the Coop’s pay scale for employees. Currently, pay is dependent mainly on length of service. The team would like to consider a pay scale based on a combination of merit and length of service. As part of this process, the team is using coop "livable wage" guidelines drawn up by representatives of several coops looking at the issue of equitable pay. The Coop will purchase the spreadsheet that was developed for this project. (It costs about $50.)

Performance reviews for department managers are underway.

Potholes in the parking lot will be fixed. Renovations have begun on the cash office.

Minutes

Minutes of all meetings are available at the Coop. Minutes of the most recent meeting are posted on the bulletin board.

Upcoming meetings