Fort Collins Food Co-Operative Board of Directors Meeting June 20, 2016; Room 101, Griffin Bldg, CSU Campus Minutes by Ed Secor
Attending: BOD: Steve Del Grosso, Ruth Inglis-Widrick, Amber Lamb, Ed Secor GMT: Kalidas, Theron Welch Member/Owners: James Hale (also CSU researcher), Jean Opsomer
Note: There was not a quorum of Board members present, so no actions were taken at the meeting.
While waiting for others to arrive, Amber gave a short account of visiting the La Montanita food co-op in Albuquerque. This co-op has three locations in Albuquerque, a bodega on the UNM campus, and stores in Santa Fe and Gallup as well. Amber will email out copies of marketing materials she picked up that she thought could be models for us.
Meeting called to order at 6:08 pm
1. Member input/BOD “mission moments” Ed shared feedback from a member owner who couldn’t make it to the Town Hall meeting, but had some thoughts about the store (likes recent rearrangement, would like to see better produce, and suggests better marketing/advertising of lunch offerings) Kudos on the new bulk area. Staff notes a recent shift in busiest days from weekend to Mondays, likely due to shoppers shifting to summer activities. Note that we have a number of out-of-town member owners—Cheyenne, Nebraska, even one couple who comes up from Denver by bus to shop at the Co-op.
James reviewed his research, proposed a focus group meeting for next Monday, June 27. However, with only three currently able to make that date, James will resend the doodle poll with dates out through August, with the hopes of finding a date that will accommodate more Board members.
2. Consent Agenda—5/16 Minutes Request to note that X policy limitations do offer metrics other than financial to evaluate GM with (clarification of comment in minutes that GM can only be evaluated on financial performance). Ed will revise minutes to include this note. No vote taken to accept minutes, as there was not a quorum present.
3. IGMT Reports a. X-4, X-5 On X-4, there was review of items 1a-1c, regarding member equity. It was clarified that members are advised when joining that their equity is at risk, in that it is not guaranteed to be
refundable when surrendering membership. The member equity will only be refunded if funds are available, or when another new member buys an offsetting membership.
X-5 report engendered discussion of how staff determines and meets needs of member owners and other customers. Staff reports using several formal and informal feedback channels to track feedback and suggestions. Suggested that a detailed survey be taken of members for more specific feedback on store and inventory. Some concern that response rate to previous surveys is too low to be meaningful. Perhaps create a BOD committee to explore and develop survey. BOD asked IGMT to be sure that OSHA posters, requirements are up to date. (Theron reports on 6/22 that posters have been updated, and account with OSHA has also been renewed/updated to receive relevant info.) X-4 and X-5 reports will be placed on consent agenda of next meeting.
b. General IGMT updates Still making some changes to store—more reachable shelf heights, etc. The store will be working with Power Down, LLC, to perform energy efficiency upgrades in the store. All lighting to be replaced with LED fixtures. Power Down will do all paperwork for rebates; payback expected in about 11 months. Work to be done after end of 2nd quarter. Still working on produce cooler replacement, hope to do it in July.
c. Financial update Ed will follow up with Tara about high Unemployment Tax figures.
d. Other topics/IGMT review BOD asked the IGMT to do some self-review, and develop suggestions about the GMT model to bring to the review at the next regular BOD meeting. They will do so at the next IGMT meeting. The BOD needs to schedule an extra meeting to plan for the review. Some question of when the official expiration of the IGMT period is (end of June vs 6 months from voting on it in January), but consensus is that we will perform review as soon as possible in July, with IGMT continuing until review. Proposal to have a BOD committee help with outreach, utilizing postings on Co-op Facebook page, etc.
4. Break (dispensed with)
5. a. Vote to accept Jean Opsomer as new Board member No quorum, so vote tabled til next meeting.
b. P-1 Report Report items led to following discussions:
1i Short discussion of impact of possible new grocery (natural foods market) at College and Mulberry—nothing actionable about this as can’t be proactive towards unknown possibility. 1iii Community Marketplace possibility—Seth and Zia are moving forward with vision for Community Marketplace, and City is on board. Despite some questions of Co-op’s financial viability, or ability to take on Community Marketplace anchor role, Seth and Zia would like Co-op to be involved, and if Marketplace goes forward without Co-op involvement, this could be direct competition to Co-op. Seth and Zia have requested Emily to be Co-op liaison. BOD vs GMT involvement in the visioning— Marketplace group has shifted to only wanting one Co-op representative, but GMT would definitely like to be in on discussion. Clear eed for open communication between all parties involved. BOD needs to reach out to member owners to gauge desire/excitement for participation in Community Marketplace.
2 Ruth will revise item 2 to reflect BOD servant leadership in relation to member owners.
4ii Noted that Co-op is not currently able to provide patronage dividend to member owners.
5a Struggle to attain quorum at BOD meetings—Emily’s hiatus combined with other occasional absences has made attaining quorum iffy at times. Need more board members to be able to operate effectively. Short discussion of best way to recruit new Board members. Jean will ask a fellow Cat Rescue board member who is also member of Co-op.
c. Other issues Important issues are visioning and preparation for IGMT review. Policy governance model has some good points, but also some drawbacks—e.g. presentation of limitations (X policies) in negative terms can result in adversarial relationship between BOD and GM/GMT. On the other hand, by defining limitations, this gives the GM/GMT latitude for creativity and self direction within those limitations. We may want to look at rewording the policies to maintain the goals, but be more positive.
BOD needs a worksession to address two items: Prepare for IGMT review, and Start visioning process. (Committee to develop survey should follow from visioning.) Amber will send out a doodle poll to find late June or early July meeting time.
Meeting adjourned about 8:25 pm
