Greene Hill Food Coop General Meeting: 01.31.14

Facilitator: Christina TraversTimekeeper: Nick Collins Notes: Dorothy Lawrence

REPORTS:

Finance: Sean Mullane Finance has set up a binder in the Store for any member-owner to look at. The binder will contain the latest financial information, such as: this report; weekly, monthly, annual and year-to-date sales (soon); and, eventually, the Co-op quarterly financial reports: income statements and balance sheets. Greene Hill Food Coop could also place the Board Minutes in this binder (from the General Meetings and the Board Work Meetings). The general consensus is that the Minutes posted to the Web Site should not have Co-op financial data (as a safety precaution), but that the full Minutes with financial data will be available in the Store. The binder is labeled "Greene Hill Food Co-op: Meeting Minutes and Financial Reports."

Membership: Nick Collins Total number of members: 1318 Total number of active members: 493 Total number of members on leave (including parental and medical leave, in which members can still shop): 271 Total number of “dormant” members: 554

21 new members came to their orientation in January. Staffing has improved overall in the Store, but perhaps at the cost of a shortage of labor on committees. The member handbook has been updated, and a factsheet has been put together for Park Slope members.

MAIN AGENDA Plans and costs of installing the new refrigeration: Jeannie Hamilton distributed the bids received from AAA Plaza Corp and J&C Refrigeration for installation of the refrigeration units. A third company did not respond. The quotes were very close when electrical work was included. AAA delivered the units to the Coop but J&C seems the more dependable firm.

Update from Design/Build Committee: A motion was made and passed to delegate the decision on layout of the equipment and placement of the compressors to the Design/Build Committee and the Merchandise Committee.

$10,000 was available for the new refrigeration. Moving the units to the Store cost $1,300. This leaves funds available, after installation costs, to hire a Project Manager to oversee the installation. A motion was made and passed to allocate $1,000 for this work.

ConEd has asked for a $500.00 deposit before they activate the second electric meter. This is their normal procedure. Additional electrical service will be needed for the new refrigeration units and may help with heating problems. It was explained that the type of heating units we use are more efficient if left running rather than turning them off when the store is closed and the building loses all heat.

Additional Store Hours: Allison presented the possibility of adding an additional shopping day. She has been interviewing members as they shopped or worked their shifts and also talked with potential new members about what days they might prefer to shop or work. Good shift leaders are important to the success of this new venture.

Sunday afternoon seemed to be a preferred time. A motion was made and passed to make a survey available in the store and on-line regarding preferred days and hours – that Nick will put together. This survey will also be included in the next newsletter, which goes to many potential members. A new shopping day would not go into effect until after the installation of the refrigeration.

Crediting shifts when the Store is closed: Renee spoke about the problem for members who miss their work shifts when the store is closed on New Years, Christmas, Thanksgiving and the 4th of July. A motion was made and passed that in the event the Board decides to close the store for any of these Holidays or for inclement weather, the workers affected will receive their work credit, but will be encouraged to contribute a shift later in the cycle/month.

At the meeting Renee distributed a document outlining the Board’s new relationship with the Committees.

Open Forum: The next General Meeting will be Tuesday, February 18, 2014, at 7:00 pm. The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.