Co-op'ers discuss membership issues at June meeting

by Deborah Trupin

About 85 Honest Weight Food Co-op members met on Sunday June 17 to discuss several potential membership issues and changes — a revised Membership Manual, including the orientation process, the cost of new member shares to be issued, and the restructuring of the Governance committee. As has become an Honest Weight tradition, members gathered in the hour before the official meeting to socialize and enjoy a delicious meal prepared by the Honest Weight deli.

Member coordinator Nate Horwitz presented the changes proposed to the Membership Manual. He explained that the Membership committee began to revise the Membership Manual about 2½ years ago, after passage of the revised Bylaws. The goals of the revision are to make the manual more up-to-date and to give it a more friendly tone.

Orientation, which has been a required part of becoming an Honest Weight shareholder and member, was one issue that the Membership committee and the Board had not resolved. Members at the meeting expressed opinions both pro and con on whether orientation should be a requirement of joining HWFC. When a straw poll was taken, those assembled favored a compromise solution, in which people be allowed to become shareholders simply by purchasing a share, but that before they become working members they are required to attend an orientation. The Membership committee will incorporate this suggestion into the revised manual. (The current Membership Manual and the revised draft are available at www.hwfc.com/meetings/general.html.)

Next, Board member John Godfrey presented information about the need to issue new membership shares. These would be “Class C” shares, as all of the original (“Class A”) shares have been sold, as have nearly all of the second group (“Class B”). The Board is proposing that “Class C” shares cost $135/ share, and that flexible payment options still be offered. John noted that $135 in 2007 is about equal to $100 in 1994, when the cost of the “Class B” shares was set. A straw poll indicated that there was support for the $135 share price.

Denis Phayre, a former Board member, reviewed the proposed changes to the Governance committee. He described how the “Kent Street committee” was formed to resolve a disagreement at the 2006 Annual Meeting about a proposed Bylaws change to clarify/change the role of the Governance committee. The Kent Street committee had two main issues to resolve. First, because the Governance committee had been designed at a membership meeting, its structure and roles were not clearly defined. Second, the current 2005 Bylaws do not have a clear mechanism for amending the Bylaws.

The Kent Street committee reached a consensus that reflected the various segments of Honest Weight, and proceeded to draft Bylaws changes that were discussed at this meeting. The most essential proposals are that the Governance committee be replaced by an Governance Council and that, when needed, an ad-hoc “Bylaws Panel” would be formed. The independent Council would ensure that actions by the Board, staff/management and other Co-op entities are in alignment with the Bylaws. (The full text of the draft has been posted on the HWFC website, see the address above.)

Governance committee member Shawn Fitzgerald encouraged anyone interested in running for the vacant seat on the committee to contact him: chungkuo@gmail.com.

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