The HWFC Board of Directors had a special meeting on Sunday, January 11, and a regular meeting on Wednesday, January 28.

The Board met on January 20 for a self-evaluation of its performance over the past year. The Board used an evaluation instrument used by coops nationally. In many respects the Board felt it was performing reasonably. A number of areas for further consideration and action were also discussed. These included increasing diversity on the Board and looking at how new Board members are oriented to Board service, following up on Board decisions and policies so that staff and members know about them, and establishing a policy manual. In terms of membership goals, the Board noted that members had become much more involved in developing and amending the bylaws, but that so far this involvement had not extended to input in budget issues. How to involve members more in national coop issues and organizations is another area to look at.

A time donation policy for employees who have exhausted sick time was discussed. Under such a policy, staff can donate their own time to coworkers who have used up sick time and need more. The Board agreed that such a policy is a good idea. Whether employees donate time or its monetary value is an issue: the donor and receiver may be at different salary levels. The Personnel committee was asked to report back to the Board with a formal plan for this policy in two months.

A new over for the deli was installed, as was a new photocopier for the office. A new cheese cooler is needed and staff were going to be looking at replacement models in late January.

The Operations and Administrative Coordinator reported that the new format for the sales flyer is too small to include the articles and sales information it is intended to have. A staff person and several members are currently designing a larger size flyer.

There was an extensive discussion of the proposed National Cooperative Grocers Association organization and Honest Weight’s potential participation in it. Regional coop associations will vote in April on whether to create this organization. Honest Weight is part of the Cooperative Grocers Association of the Northeast, which will have a vote. Some concerns were expressed. It was noted that the proposed new organization seems to be a cooperative to enhance buying power, but is in fact a highly centralized structure where individual coops appear to have little control. Concerns over input and checks and balances were mentioned. How much choice in product selection was another question. The disadvantages of opting out of the organization are another factor to consider. The Operations and Administrative Coordinator will attend a two-day informational session about the potential merger in February. Board members were asked to review all information on this issue carefully and to forward all questions and concerns to the Operations and Administrative Coordinator before she leaves.

A food and product manual will be developed. As a first step, the committee looked at how products on the Coop’s shelves coordinate with the Coop’s mission statement. A number of discrepancies were noted — for example, a lack of lower-cost items and few products with minimal packaging. The committee will begin working on overall standards for product selection. The manual will then be given to the buyers for various departments for their feedback.

The Personnel committee was asked to develop an evaluation instrument for the Collective Management Team’s evaluation by mid-February. Meanwhile, the team will conduct their own self-evaluation. Board members will do independent evaluations of the team and forward them to the Board president. The Board will meet to complete the evaluation in March.

The Board met in executive session at the end of the meeting.

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