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| What’s in Store and
More… at the October Meeting |
by Deborah Trupin
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On October 5, about 80
Honest Weight Food Co-op members gathered at the First Unitarian
Universalist Society of Albany for a membership meeting. Because the
Co-op bylaws require a quorum of 10% of members (91 members on the day
of the meeting) for an official meeting at which votes can be taken,
this was not an official meeting. Members used the time to discuss the
issues on the agenda in preparation for voting at later meeting.
HWFC Board president Jim Monsonis opened the meeting with an update on
the progress of the Co-op’s move. He reported that the Co-op’s
Facilities committee is working with the architect and construction
manager on refining the designs presented at the summer membership
meeting. Finance manager Duke Bouchard has made fairly conservative
budget estimates for these plans. As so often happens when costs are
put to dream designs, the committee has found that the costs for the
proposed design are higher than the project budget. The committee is
now looking at what will need to be cut from the designs. Jim noted
that some things, such as a “green roof” and geothermal heating and
cooling, that are “near-and-dear” to the Co-op’s goals are not
affordable at this time. It may be possible, however, to design the
building to support some of these things in the future. He said that
the architects remain convinced that the building will qualify for LEED
gold status. Jim emphasized that some things would not be cut,
including the community and educational spaces. He said that the
meeting to vote on the design of the building will most likely be held
in November.
Jim asked for questions about the new building plans. Members responded
with many questions about timing of the project, about other “green”
aspects of the building, about the budget for the building, and about
the possibility of using member labor for some aspects of
deconstruction and finishing. Jim and Board member Greg Pedrick
responded to these questions. Their responses can be found in the
meeting minutes, or on the new building blog, linked to the Co-op’s
website (www.hwfc.com). Next, the assembled members discussed the
proposed changes to the HWFC bylaws. Board member Carolyn Maroney, who
is the Board Liaison to the Bylaws Panel, led this part of the meeting.
There were two proposed changes, one concerning the number of
signatures needed for a petition and the other about how long a break a
member must take (after reaching the limits of two terms) before
serving again on the Board or Governance Review Council (GRC). Members
pointed out some language in the proposals that was not quite right and
Carolyn will take the ideas back to the Bylaws Panel for review. The
current Bylaws, as well as the proposed changes, are also posted on the
Co-op’s website. The last topic addressed was the openings for GRC. The
council, as described in the bylaws, should have five members; members
can serve at most two three-year terms. Currently, three of the five
members have completed their terms, creating three vacancies on the
GRC. Volunteers and/or nominations for GRC members were sought in an
earlier Coop Scoop. As of the meeting, no one has volunteered or
accepted a nomination to serve on the GRC. Stuart Horne, the GRC member
attending the meeting, described how he sees the GRC’s job as
counseling the Board and providing information to Board members about
how the bylaws should be interpreted. He asked anyone interested in
serving on the GRC to contact him.
Finally, in accordance with the bylaws, which call for 15 minutes of
open discussion at any membership meeting, Jim opened the floor to
other topics. Staff member Karen Starr talked about how there had been
confusion and lack of coordination about the timing of the meeting and
the hours that the store is open on Sundays. She said that this was one
reason why there were not more staff members attending and requested
that this issue be resolved before the next meeting.
Although this meeting was not an “official” meeting, the discussions
were productive. To make decisions, however, we need to vote and to
vote, a quorum of members is needed. Since we do need to make
decisions, keep your eyes open for mail and email about the next
membership meeting and plan to attend!
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