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News at a Glanceby Nancy
Ellegate The HWFC
Board of Directors met on Tuesday, June 27 and Tuesday, July 25. June
Meeting Community
Foundation A
representative of the Community Foundation of the Capital District was
introduced. The Coop invested $8,600 with this group in February. The
representative explained that the Community Foundation helps
philanthropically minded
individuals and groups grow their funds and make grants responsibly to
not-for-profits. The foundation can help donors with research to aid in
the
grant-making process. The minimum fund is $5,000 and a fund must be
with the Community
Foundation for a year before any grants are made. Questions
from Board members included whether the foundation has a “value filter”
on its
investments. The answer was “no”; but once an endowment reaches
$100,000, the
fund’s owner can direct investments. The foundation charges 1% of the
fund for administration
and recommends that no more than 4% be spent on grants. Fund owners can
opt to
grant more, but this shortens the life of the fund. This led to a
general
discussion of the pros and cons of working with a Community Foundation. Strategic
Planning It was
noted that a strategic planning retreat was to be held at the end of
June. Referendum
Rules The
Governance committee circulated a second draft of rules for running a
referendum. The Board planned to review the draft and meet again in
early July
to discuss these rules in depth, and then get back to the Governance
committee. A Board
member noted that the membership may be voting on a real estate issue
in the
near future. He recommended that this vote not be a referendum, but a
membership meeting. Various possibilities were noted and discussed:
email
voting; absentee ballots; a series of discussion meetings followed by a
referendum; a “meetarendum” — three meetings at which members could
vote (an
individual member could only vote at one meeting). It was noted that
the Coop
had considered absentee ballot voting in the past, but had not found a
way to
do this legally. Membership The Membership
committee asked the Board to decide whether we should encourage even
those
shareholders who are ineligible to vote to attend membership meetings. The Board
felt that these members should indeed be encouraged to attend. The
committee
noted the need for more available information about HWFC in the store.
A number
of new members attending orientations request information that
facilitators don’t
have, but that could be available as brochures on various topics. It
was suggested
that a resource rack might be located in the Community Room. After
discussion, it
was felt that a better place would be at the front of the store. Staff
will be asked
to look at how this space might be reorganized. Thanks
to Committees The Board
was pleased to note that the Personnel committee has become a more
active committee
and thanked the committee liaison. Appreciation
was also expressed for the work being done by the Nutrition and
Education/ Safe
Food committee. Second
Site The
Collective Management Team, through the Coop’s realtor, met with the
developer who
has proposed a possible second site for the Coop. The CMT forwarded
proposals for
a store at two possible sites in Latham, and for one that has now been
proposed
in Glenmont. Annual
Report It was
recommended that word limits and firm deadlines be given to committees
submitting sections for the Annual Report. Editing is necessary for
length at
times; ideally, any edits would be reviewed by the report’s writer, but
this
requires timely submission. Executive
Session The Board
met in executive session at the end of the meeting. July
Meeting Meeting
on Store Future Plans for a
membership meeting regarding a new, expanded or redesigned store were
discussed. The Board wants to find ways to involve the maximum number
of
members. There will be one meeting, and the consensus was to do
considerable
publicity well ahead of time and urge all members to come. The Board
would
prefer to have the meeting in October, and will start investigating
what
meeting spaces will be available. Conference
on Local Networks A staff
member reported on the recent BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living
Economies)
conference in Donations A more
user-friendly draft of the prospective donation policy has been
prepared. It
will be reviewed by the staff and then brought to the Board for
consideration. Other
issues on donations were also discussed. One was the
Coop’s commitment to the Community Loan Fund, a group that makes
low-interest
loans to local non-profits and small businesses. The donation budget
has been
allotted approximately one-third to this group, one-third to small
donations to
various groups connected with Coop members, and one-third as major
donations. However,
this has been an informal arrangement, and it is conceivable that small
donations could use up more funds than they do currently and compromise
donations to the Community Loan Fund. Perhaps the Coop should formally
budget a
certain amount for this group. Discussion
moved on to issues connected with the Community Foundation of the
Capital
District, which were delineated at the June meeting (see above).
Some
Board members remained concerned over the investment criteria and lack
of
control over investment. One of the Board members will get more
information
from the foundation so that this can be discussed in-depth at the next
meeting. Staff
Committee Work The issue
of staff compensation for committee work was discussed, since several
staff members
are doing work for the Personnel committee. Given the nature of the
work, actual
staff input is regarded by the committee as quite valuable. Although
this work can
be part of a staff person’s overall duties, committee work can lead to
extra
hours and the need for overtime or crediting hours. On the other hand,
perhaps
a collective staff meeting on some of these issues could cut committee
hours.
The Collective Management Team will discuss this issue and get back to
the
Board. Nutrition
and Education/Safe Food The
Nutrition and Education/Safe Food committee requested that the Board
approve the
establishment of a teaching kitchen at the present time. The Board was
supportive
of the concept, but declined to approve this change until the plans for
the future
of the store are set. The Board
is very supportive of current educational and lobbying efforts by the
committee,
but cautioned that the committee must be careful not to commit the Coop
to
actions or policies that must be first approved by the Board. Referendum
Rules It was
noted that the rules for running a referendum proposed by the
Governance committee
circulated at the last meeting were fine. Strategic
Planning The
Strategic Planning committee needs to “revision” itself. There will be
a
special meeting in September for the committee to consider its goals
and
current status in light of the work that has been done. Joint
Committee to Meet The
committee to discuss issues between the Board and Governance committee
has been
formed, and planned to meet in August. Executive
Session The Board
met in executive session at the end of the meeting. Upcoming
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