Minutes, Fort Collins Food Co-Operative Board of Directors Meeting Monday Dec. 12, 2016; 6-8 p.m. Room # 213 Statistics Bldg., SW corner of the Oval, CSU Campus Minutes by Ed Secor
Attending: BOD: Ruth Inglis-Widrick, Ed Secor, Jean Opsomer, Amber Lamb, Patrick Gill IGMT: Trinity Bigford, Oakley Davis Member/Owners: James Hale, John McGowan, Rich Gentile, Sandy Lemberger
Note—official actions (votes) in italics, other action items in bold.
Meeting called to order at 6:04 pm.
1. Owner input and introduction to attending BOD candidates
Sandy Lemberg Concerns—at general meeting the report on prices was inaccurate; Co-op prices are quite high compared to Vitamin Cottage (Natural Grocers), King Soopers. Failure to acknowledge high prices to members is hurting the Co-op. In nearly 2 months since annual mtg, no word on committees that he signed up for; it is difficult to get info on when/where board meetings are. Sandy is hopeful about the future of the Co-op with new management team made of staff, feels that is positive. Reiterate—need firm plan to get out of high prices.
Candidate introductions postponed until later in meeting.
2. Agenda a. Add to/delete items from Agenda
Remove Committee charters from Consent Agenda– Committee charters to be voted on via email; each committee chair needs to make sure they are final version, ready for adoption. Send to Ed for dissemination.
b. Approve Consent Agenda: 1. Nov. 14 2016 minutes 2. BOD Committee Charters (Removed) Executive Committee Election Committee Engagement Committee Research Committee Visioning Committee
3. M 1-3, M-4 Reports
Jean moved to accept the consent agenda as revised, Patrick seconded; unanimous approval.
3. IGMT Reports a. Ends report b. Store Update c. Discussion and Approval by BOD
Price checks against other grocery stores are done regularly by department head, usually quarterly. Co-op cannot compete on grocery items that other stores can buy in large volume— they do try to keep some items competitive, using flexible margins to achieve that. Suggestion to post/publish (Tuesday’s) monthly (?) price comparisons. Working directly with local vendors allows co-op to send more to the local producers. Education/marketing may be two sides of same coin. Use newsletter to address education aspect. This month spending $800 on spots on KUNC. Are there consultants to tap into, without spending too much? Organization like Co-op has to have a presence in the community—participate in community sort of meetings (business organizations, etc.) Awareness can be supported by the “advertising”—radio spots, print ads, etc. When Caroline was doing outreach (2 years into Lynn’s tenure), daily sales were $200-300 higher than now. IGMT says we just need to be spending the marketing money on actually doing more outreach. Co-op does have social media accounts, but are currently used rather sporadically. New website will hopefully allow better tie-ins to social media. IGMT also talking about getting marketing/media interns on board, from CSU. “Horsepower”—staff time & attention–is very limited, especially right now during holiday season. Amber may be looking at Facebook for business for her job, can pass on what she learns. Suggestion: tap into 2500 members of Co-op for social media expertise. CSU is big target market. As well as students, there are 2,000 faculty, as well as other staff (how to reach the faculty and staff?).
OTHER ENDS REPORT ITEMS Local Vendors–All depts heads directed to carry local products whenever possible, if product is good, can price competitively. About 25% of sales are local products. Other co-ops—staff has had conversations with other co-ops, both getting and giving info. Amber and Ruth will find out info on local buying clubs, pass on to IGMT. Education—Co-op has tried classes (most recently 4-5 months ago), but there is never any turnout. Too much going on in town, folks don’t want to add more activities. Should partner with other organizations, participate in fairs, etc. Might have better turnout at more social, community building type of events (Poudre Farmland Co-op had big event in last year that was basically a party). Goals or ideas on dividends—Currently have sales goals, but need to increase sales in order to be able to pay dividend. Probably not even 500 members spend more than $20/month at the store. Membership is actually currently a bit out of whack; quite a few members on the list are not fully paid up.
Ed moved to accept the Ends Report, Jean seconded; unanimous approval.
3a. BOD Candidate introductions
Rich Gentile has lived in Ft Collins about 9 yrs. Came from the Colorado Springs area, where he ran his own independent business for 8 yrs, sold it & retired. Got involved with Be Local, helped Gailmarie develop the organization. Helped put on original Winter Market. Since Be Local has disbanded, feels out of touch with “what’s going on”. Wants to be involved, but wants to get things done. Not sure where Co-op is going—who do we want to be? Does not shop very much at Co-op—likes convenience, but can’t get everything he wants at the co-op, so ends up going elsewhere for one-stop shopping (fresh meats is one hole in product availability).
Mark McGowan got involved in co-op through wife’s membership. Generally focused on convenience in his approach to grocery shopping. As he has spent more time in store, he began to see advantages—specific products available; immediate info from enthusiastic people. Did boost spending when asked. Skills to bring–Glad handing comes easily.
4. BOD Agenda
a. Self-Evaluation Report 3 people filled out the long form. Those who have not filled it out yet, please do section 3. (Patrick tried & failed to get his into Drop Box—will forward directly to Ruth). Highest priorities so far—Clarify mission/vision; Oversee financial performance; Improve BOD performance. Discussion of how each can be better BOD member will be item for BOD retreat (retreat will be in the Statistics conference room – Room 008 on Saturday, January 21, 2017) Regular BOD meeting will be 1/16/17 (IGMT may not need to attend).
Executive committee will look into whether we need Jan regular meeting. Exec. Committee will also look into (w/ Jean’s help), possibly re-writing/condensing/rewording policies.
b. Discussion and Approval Discussion tabled to retreat (really nothing here to approve)
5. BOD Discussion: a. Committee Formation progress reports:
1. Executive: Ruth and Amber. (Ruth chairs)
The committee has been trying to meet monthly to plan agenda; thinking about training for new & existing BOD members. They are also working on revisions to policies.
See action items under 4a regarding retreat and Jan regular meeting.
2. Research: Ed, Patrick, Ruth (Ed chairs)
The committee has developed a set of questions and started reaching out to other co-ops using team management to gather information on how these teams are structured. The committee is also casting about for legal advice resources.
3. Engagement (Communications/Member Linkage): (Jordan chairs) Jordan, Steve, Amber
(Amber) Jordan & Amber have talked—Dec 3 social event at Wolverine Farm Publick House did not happen, and a rescheduling of the event did not work out. Not much happening. Amber & Ruth will reach out to Jordan.
4. Election: (Patrick chairs) Jean, Patrick
Election is under way—four candidates for three open seats. (from staff— back room/bulk room is popular for ballot box—lots of votes in already). Election closes 12/26.
5. Visioning: (Jean chairs) Jean, Ruth, Steve, Ed, Patrick
Community Marketplace meeting update – Folks panicked about short time horizon for the City to invite RFPs for the Trolley Barn, but the time frame is in fact likely at least two years out. It will take some time to build connections/trust within the group of potential stakeholders/partners. The DDA should have full report from consultant for older version of community marketplace (7 years ago). The Co-op may also have this report in its files in the store.
b. Announcements
Ed to update Steve’s email on the Google Group. He will also look into Drop Box problems, perhaps just set up a new Drop Box account and move all Co-op files into it.
Ed moved adjourn, Jean seconded; unanimous approval. Meeting adjourned at 8:04 pm.
