MINUTES
Fort Collins Food Co-op Board of Directors Meeting 18 April 2016, Room 101 Gifford Bldg, CSU Campus
Attending: B.O.D.: Steve DelGrosso, Ruth Inglis-Widrick, Amber Lamb, Laura Lyznicki, Ed Secor MT Staff: Stephanie Bublitz, Oakley Davis
Meeting came to order approx. 6:05 p.m.
Two items added to agenda: A. Discuss provision of snacks for B.O.D. meetings B. Review meeting between board members and Zia Zybko & Seth Jansen
1. Member Input No member-owners present
1a. BOD Meeting Snacks Some Board members would like to have something to eat at meetings, others don’t feel the need. Short discussion potential for funding snacks. Staff pointed out that the B.O.D. budget is typically about $85/month, and while it needs to cover membership meetings as well, some money from that budget could be used for regular Board meetings. Board would generally like to minimize expenses to the overall budget. Amber moved that Board members contribute personal funds to a kitty for purchasing snacks from the store for BOD meetings. Laura seconded. Passed on split vote, but without required minimum votes to officially pass (per Bylaws, with 7 member board, 4 votes are needed to pass a “normal issue”). Issue tabled until later time.
2. Approve use of Consent Agenda in BOD meetings. Pointed out that adopted Policy P3-3 refers to use of consent agenda in board meetings. No further approval deemed necessary.
3. Approve Consent Agenda Items: a. Feb. 16, 2016 Minutes b. March 22, 2016 Minutes c. Revision to Ends policy (adding environmental aspect to #1 & #6) Ed moved adoption of Consent Agenda items, Laura seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
4. Management Team Reports (X2; Financials & X1 for 1st Qtr)
The X1 report for the first quarter showed a decline in sales over first quarter 2015, but daily sales increased in the last couple of weeks of the quarter, and staff is hopeful that is a sign of ongoing upswing. All other metrics are positive—net profit this first quarter, as opposed to loss in first quarter 2015; cash flow adequate; no debt incurred; all payments being made when due.
The X2 report indicates that the store is incompliance with all policies regarding financial planning and budgeting.
Question on X2 if capital and operational funds really being kept separate. Discussion of current lack of clear separation between capital and operational funds, but need to make that distinction going forward. Question if all of management team is trained on projecting expenses and income. MT relies heavily on Tara’s expertise in this area—Tara is considered integral part of management team. Discussion of personnel expenses, staffing levels, discount employees: Some members might want to see more discount employees. There are issues of discount workers cutting into existing staff hours, or not having background to perform some of needed work. Also an issue that discount employees are paid so the program may not save the Co-op money. MT responded that there are plans to reinstate more discount employee positions at some point. Are we overstaffed? Staff hours down about 50 hours/week from level of a few years ago. March personnel expenses were about 33% of sales, but March was a three pay period Month (and even with 3 payrolls, March showed a $5,741 profit!!). Over the three months of the first quarter, personnel expenses were about 27% of sales. While general retail target is for personnel to be at 24% of sales, the current level is a vast improvement over 1st quarter 2015, when they were at 34% of sales.
Store reports that Andrew, while still offering a few hours to the Co-op, is basically done helping with marketing and website. MT is considering options for help with those tasks, including contract help, part time employee, and discount employee. Staff will be reorganizing the back of the store (bulk and herb sections) over the next few weeks, with the goal being to improve access to bulk items. Stephanie will be participating in both public Earth Day events. Inventory went really well. Ed moved to accept MT reports X2, quarterly X1 and financials, Amber seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
5. Break—dispensed with
5a. Report on meeting with Zia & Seth
Ruth and Ed met with Zia Zybko and Seth Jansen on April 14. Zia and Seth are resurrecting the community market idea, similar to what the DDA was working on several years ago. They are scouting some locations, and meeting with potential stakeholders. Their vision is for a space that would bring together local food producers, a community natural foods market, and other flexible community space. They do not want to compete with the Co-op, and would like to see the Co-op be, or operate, the natural foods market. They understand that the Co-op’s financial resources are limited–the Co-op would not have to invest in the property, but could rent the space. Realization of the concept is still 2-3 years away. Zia and Seth would be glad to have someone from the Food Co-op community join their team to bring the vision to fruition. It was suggested that we solicit an article from Zia and Seth for the newsletter.
6. Town Hall Meeting Discussion points: Will be at Wolverine Farm Letter Press & Publick House—brief discussion of space setup. Survey will really be an evaluation of the Town Hall meeting itself. Question of what happened to the survey results from the first TH meeting; Andrew was going to email attendees and get reponses; did this ever happen? Want opportunity for members to get to know each other, learn a little about BOD. Discussion of what to present to members—focus on new management model, current successes and moving to future. Thank members for support during transition at first of year. Check in on calling members on our list. If time, we should try to call more members. Staff will try to assemble a list of an additional fifty members for BOD to call. Ruth is taking on Ryan’s call list.
Full board will meet in worksession May 2 (Gifford Bldg, CSU). Town Hall Planning Committee (Amber, Laura, Ruth) will bring Town Hall program for final polishing and approval by full board.
7. Process to consider BOD-MT relations. There is a potential mismatch of current by-laws and policies with the Management Team approach to managing the store—mainly around accountability, “hiring” and compensation, and succession of management. It was pointed out that the current management team model was intended to be an interim situation. Amber moved that the BOD evaluate the Management Team after the second quarter—at the July BOD meeting, and at that point recommend one of three options: a. Make Management Team model permanent (and update relevant policies) b. Extend interim status of MT for another six months c. Replace MT with a traditional General Manager. Steve seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
8. BOD Annual Calendar Ruth has drawn up a draft of the annual work plan for the BOD. Board members should sign up on the calendar (in Dropbox) for policy evaluations they are willing to take on. The GM/Management Team evaluation will need to be moved on the calendar to July.
We need a couple more board members—with two resignations and Emily and Patrick having limited availability, there is a need for more help on the board. Recommended that the board consider if there are any specific skills (e.g. financial, legal, etc.) that we should look for in recruits. Notice of board openings will be announced in newsletter, maybe notice posted in store.
Amber moved to adjourn meeting, Laura seconded. Unanimous approval to adjourn at 8:04 p.m.
Next BOD Meetings: Worksession Monday May 2, 6:00-8:00 pm at Gifford Bldg, CSU Regular BOD Meeting Monday, May 16, 6:00-8:00 pm at Gifford Bldg, CSU
