Coop'ers elect Godfrey, Lekakis, Weinrich to Board

Special award OK'd for outgoing Board president

by Deborah Trupin

At their Annual General Membership Meeting on April 17, Coop members elected new Board members John Godfrey and Susan Weinrich, and reelected outgoing Board president Lynne Lekakis. The membership also approved a special award to Lekakis in recognition of her service as president and a leader of HWFC’s strategic planning process. About 70 members of the Honest Weight Food Coop gathered for the Sunday evening meeting at the Sage College Albany campus. The business session was preceeded by a social hour with food prepared by the HWFC deli. Once the required quorum of 59 members had been reached, Lynne Lekakis, outgoing Board President, introduced the candidates for the HWFC Board of Directors. There were three open seats: Both Lekakis’s and Virginia McEwen’s terms were expiring, and there was a vacancy on the Board due to the resignation of Desiree Kreuger. Four HWFC members — Len Gellman, John Godfrey, Lynne Lekakis (standing for reelection) and Susan Weinrich — had announced their candidacies before the meeting. There were no nominations from the floor. During the meeting, Len Gellman telephoned to withdraw his candidacy. With only three candidates remaining for three open seats, there was a relatively short question-and-answer period, followed by balloting. Godfrey, Lekakis and Weinrich were elected to the Board, with each receiving far more votes than the 25% plurality required. They join continuing Board members Howard Brent, George Broeckx, Lenore Gensburg, Jim Monsonis, Ray Ratté and David Seaman. Retiring Board member Ginny McEwen was given a round of applause in appreciation for all the work she has done during the past six years.

Special Award to Lekakis

In a separate vote, members approved a petition to award Lynne Lekakis $1,250 in HWFC store coupons in recognition of her service — above and beyond that expected — as Board president and leader of the strategic planning process. In a discussion before the vote, members asked what sort of precedent this special award would raise for the future. Jim Monsonis responded that the Board had discussed this issue thoroughly, and had decided that this award was not intended to set a precedent. Charles Alexander, speaking on behalf of the Governance committee, noted that the committee had proposed a change to the bylaws to clarify that any future special award be voted on by the membership.

Strategic Planning Update

Lynne Lekakis and Cindee Lolik, operations and administrative coordinator, led an update on the strategic planning process. Of particular interest was the fact that “our” building, 484 Central Avenue, was recently sold. The new landlord, Walter Gritsiv, is quite interested in the Coop and is working with HWFC to explore ways to make the current location larger. John Tobin of Sage LLC, the architect who is working with HWFC on evaluating potential buildings, is reviewing some of the ideas Gritsiv has proposed. Lynne and Cindee noted that there still are few buildings available in the Coop’s area. They also reported that the Coop had just received the financial analysis. The Board and Collective Management Team will review this analysis and make a presentation about it at a future membership meeting.

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