Annual Meeting elects Dawson, Gensburg, Maloney, Monsonis and Ratte to Board

by Deborah Trupin

On Sunday, April 29, close to 100 HWFC members, shareholders and children gathered at Sage College of Albany for the Co-op’s 31st Annual Meeting. The Annual Meeting is the time when HWFC members receive the Annual Report, vote on new members for the Board of Directors and have an open discussion about issues facing Honest Weight. It was encouraging that some shareholders attended, even though they cannot vote. It was not quite so encouraging that only about 10½% of members attended, just clearing the required 10% quorum for a membership meeting.

The meeting began with introductions of the Board members by President Lynne Lekakis. Susan Weinrich, John Godfrey and Louise Maher-Johnson are remaining on the Board, continuing their current terms. Howard Brent and George Broeckx were retiring from the Board. In accordance with the Bylaws, after two continuous terms of service, they must take at least a year off from the Board. Dennis Phayre has resigned from the Board. Ray Ratte has completed his first term on the Board and ran for re-election. Lynne led those assembled in a round of “thank you” applause for the departing Board members. 

The Annual Report was then distributed and the open question- and-answer period began. Some questions focused on the financial report in the Annual Report. (The Co-op had a successful 2006 and is in good financial shape.)

A Moving Discussion 

Most questions, however, revolved around the question of if/ when/where the Co-op would move. Lynne Lekakis and Susan Weinrich spoke about the continuing challenges of finding a suitable space for the Co-op in our “target area” in Albany (which is defined as the “corridor” along Central Avenue, from Lake Avenue to the I-90 overpass). They emphasized that the Building Search committee is continuing to look at all options, including buying a parcel of land and building a new store.

Shawn Fitzgerald, a member of the so-called Kent Street Committee, the group that has been working to clarify the role and functioning of the Governance committee for the last year, spoke about the progress the group has made. He said they have prepared draft Bylaws changes and will be holding informational meetings about the changes in May, in advance of a June 17 membership meeting to vote on the changes. He distributed copies of the proposed changes to members, and noted that more copies were available in the store and on the HWFC website. 

The last part of the meeting was devoted to the elections for the Board of Directors. There were five open seats and five candidates announced before the meeting: Anna Dawson, Lenore Gensburg, Carolyn Maloney, Jim Monsonis and Ray Ratte. There were no nominations from the floor. The candidates introduced themselves and talked about their experiences with Honest Weight and why they wanted to serve on the Board. Their talks were as individual as they were, but the themes of healthy food, local food, cooperative principles and the need for more space were common themes.

Members then asked questions of the candidates. Not surprisingly, many of the questions also focused on their thoughts about a new building. Members also asked about the candidates’ opinions about working members, about their experiences in other organizations, and about food-related issues. 

The Vote

Shortly before 8 pm, members decided it was time to vote and completed their ballots. The ballots were counted and all of the candidates were elected. This result was not a foregone conclusion, as the Bylaws require that a candidate receive a plurality of the votes cast to be elected and members were not required to vote for five candidates. 

The meeting was not all business. As has become traditional, members gathered during the hour before the meeting to socialize and enjoy delicious food prepared by the Honest Weight Deli staff. At the end of the meeting, as I was nibbling a bit more while waiting for the votes to be counted, I realized that it has been Howard Brent and George Broeckx, now former Board members, who have taken on the job of organizing, transporting, setting up and cleaning up the food for all the membership meetings for the past several years. They deserve a bonus thank you for this work … especially as Howard then told me that they would continue to do this for future meetings.

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