Minutes– Fort Collins Food Co-Operative Board of Directors Meeting
Monday March. 20, 2017; 6-8:30 p.m.
Room # 213 Statistics Bldg., SW corner of the Oval, CSU Campus
Minutes by Ed Secor
Note—official actions (votes) in italics, other action items in bold.
Attending:
BOD: Ruth, Amber, Steve, Ed, Drew, Rich via facetime
GMT: Stephanie, Oakley, Kalidas, Trinity
Member/Owners: Maria Winnie
1 Member Owner input
(None)
2 Introduction of Maria Winnie and Clinton Wilson
Maria Winnie introduced herself—she is a longtime Ft Collins resident and Co-op fan. Maria is part of the Mama’s Tofu collective (about 1 yr in)—this is a full blown collective, always making decisions by full consensus. Her professional background is in writing; and will soon be doing full time freelance writing. Maria likes to solve hard problems.
Clinton Wilson was unable to make it to the meeting.
Meeting called to order at 6:13
3 Agenda
a. Change agenda draft
Add item 6e, to vote to approve Maria to the BOD.
b. Approve Consent Agenda:
i. February 2017 minutes
ii. X9 report
Ed moved to accept the consent agenda, Steve seconded; unanimous approval.
4 IGMT Report and Updates
a. Financials and Sales
Feb sales were 2% over last year; have paid taxes & payroll with 30k still in checking/savings. March sales so far are about on track with budget predictions.
Noted by BOD member that overall financial picture still feels tenuous, sales flat on average. Also noted by IGMT that in spite of Jan $19k in the red, we still did not have to dip into savings. Sales are covering costs, when in 2015 sales were exceeding cost every month. Question of how we are evaluating the financial health of the Co-op. Larimer County Small Business Development Center has tools for industry-wide comparisons for different types of businesses. But best comparison for Co-op might actually be other independent businesses in downtown Ft Collins, rather than food co-ops across the country.
Need to engage community better, rather than just waiting for customers to walk in and spend money. IGMT has met with One Tribe, but in holding pattern until scope of marketing plan is worked out in more detail, e.g. through Visioning Committee.
b. Updates (IGMT creates this list, but will ideally include the following)
i. Website
Expected to up and running late March-early April
ii. Marketing
BOD observation: All of us need to engage community better (members, others in the community), rather than just waiting for customers to walk in and spend money.
IGMT has met with One Tribe, but in holding pattern until scope of marketing plan is worked out in more detail, e.g. through Visioning Committee. Would like to have marketing plan in place by end of June.
iii. Produce cooler/Renovation
Performance Air is preparing a quote for new produce cooler plus five other units to replace east wall refrigerators/freezers. Also getting quote for new POS system from Catapult (leading natural foods POS provider—LaMontanita, Natural Grocers)
iv. Pledge report
v. Updating member-ownership list
vi. Expansion of Member Owner working participation
Sign up sheet at front of store with 8-10 tasks for members to volunteer for.
5 Break
6 BOD Agenda
a. Modification of “Policy Governance” to “Results-based Governance” as a way to have concrete, measurable goals that can be tracked. Discussion and possible vote.
Tabled to next meeting for discussion, probably no vote. Goal is informed discussion. BOD to review relevant documents sent out prior to next meeting.
b. Creation of Strategic Plan for 2017: Discussion and possible vote:
i. IGMT to create operational plan for current location for 2017 similar to that found in initial 2016 IGMT Proposal.
Ask IGMT to look 2016 proposal and update or re-adopt. Along with budget and policies, these could be used for a review. Are there any updates to 2016 proposal, or are they still working with it?
ii. BOD and GMT to collaborate on strategic plan for 2017 and 2018 for preparing for Lucky Market opening and potential impacts on Co-op finances
Seems more appropriate to be taken on by the Visioning Committee.
c. Review of IGMT: Clarify timeline
Confusion as to what parameters will be for IGMT review. The BOD can’t review the IGMT based on policies or parameters that aren’t adopted. Is Policy Governance really not working? Can policies be reworded to be positive? We should keep the part of policy governance that keeps the BOD out of day-to-day operations of store.
IGMT wrote up a proposal in Jan 2016—BOD could review this document with the IGMT, look at what worked, what didn’t. Further discussion of BOD/IGMT roles.
Further discussion tabled. Some of this discussion should probably go into an executive session.
Note that store reports are by definition operational, and don’t need to engender long rambling conversations.
d. Joining Northern Colorado Food Cluster at lowest level of business membership ($200): Discussion and Vote.
Tabled–Vote by email.
e. Vote to appoint Maria Winnie to the BOD.
Tabled—Vote by email
7 Committee Reports
a. Visioning
Visioning Committee has meeting upcoming on March 28.
b. Engagement
Had successful event at Equinox March 10.
c. Research
d. Executive
8 Announcements
a. “Trolley Barn” Expansion meeting update/announcements
Tabled
9 Executive Session:
a. IGMT Concerns:
b. Review of IGMT: discuss possible structure/content
Tabled to next meeting’s executive session.
c. Other if needed
Ed moved to adjourn meeting; Amber seconded. Meeting adjourned at 9:20 pm
