General Meeting: 1/28/15
General Meeting Wed., Jan. 28 – 7.30 - 9.30pm
The Co-op: 18 Putnam Ave, Brooklyn
Facilitator: Allison
Minute-taker:
Timekeeper: RUSS
Print Agendas: whomever there first :)
Board in attendance: Sean, Allison, DK, Hillary, Jeannie,Keith
Absent: Renee (notified)
Any person attending may participate equally in discussions, and all Co-op members (who are also co owners) may vote. Members may receive work credit if they attend (allotted 3 times a year).
Welcome/Orientation 7:30-7:45PM (15 min.) Welcome and explanation of what/who/why the Co-op is. Please ask questions!
Approve Minutes (1 min.) from previous GM (please read beforehand on the Website)- APPROVED
Facilitator, Secretary and Timekeeper Choices and/or Approval (1 min.) Facilitator will conduct meeting fairly and impartially, ensure that any meeting rules are followed, and will keep meeting to agenda. Secretary will take meeting minutes (which will be posted on the Website prior to next GM). Timekeeper will keep the meeting on schedule.
Presentation of Main Agenda and Pending Agenda Queue (1 min.) Main Agenda is prepared by the Board of Directors at an Agenda Making Session, based on member submissions and discussions, and published to members in advance of meeting on the Website (along with the time/date/place of the next Board Working Session which are also open to members.)
Finance and Membership Reports 7:50-8:05PM (15 min) Up to date information about the Co-op (Finance and Membership Committee)s SEAN Total sales 2012 - 640K . Today we need to up sales to 150K. Over time we have spent 3K on vermin extermination and brick work. We have been losing cash over the past three years. If we could have all 500 members spend $150 per month, we would be in a good spot. We currently have $0 dollar reserves. We once had 30K in reserve. To save money, Sean proposes to reduce the Lauryl’s hours, sublease the extension space, get more workers to shop more by opening more hours. We need to increase sales by 15K. QUESTION: What is our contingency plan? SEAN- we have 3months ACTION: Finance committee will produce a report explaining what factors will indicate if the store should
MAIN AGENDA 8:05-9:15PM (70 min)
- Shift Leadership Training Update: Shift Leader Co-ordinator, Matthew Talmage will discuss what is in the works for creating and training more shift leaders in our store (15 min) MATTHEW is now shift leader coordinator. He is now having every Monday 6:30 - 7:30PM as a shift leader training session to help generate more trainers. There is a shift leader google list that is open for anyone to be part of to see the minutes. Everyone is so very, very happy with this happening. Matthew has made it a point to physically talk to people where there are a lack of shift leaders to discuss about the one’s attending to be a point person for that shift. By going in and talking to people about being the leader and what it takes, people are more willing to put in the extra time to be shift leader. We are currently lacking shift leaders on weekends. TO BE A SHIFT LEADER their 4 top responsibilities is to make the shift fun, to guarantee a good shopping experience, problem solving, and they should have the knowledge and ability to fill any gaps. To have a good shopping experience, the shift leader can answer questions, wearing different hats, address the absentees, keep the store looking good. KEITH there should be a good way for people to notify the shift leader if they can or cannot make a shift. MATTHEW there is a shiftleader hotline that goes into Lauryl’s or Matthew’s phone. MATTHEW a shift leader will need to foresee problems and may need to address things in advance. KEITH with the new trial membership program it may be good to have a printed sheet to give information at the front desk.
- Second Coordinator: Brief discussion on if/how we should hire a 2nd store coordinator (Allison/All, 10 min) ALLISON Possibly hire a second part time person for emergencies.
DK It is important to create a good experience in the store.
CHRISTINA & RUSS. is offering to be emergency contacts for the store and volunteer their time
ACTION ITEM = RUSS will create a job description for volunteers and advertise the shift. It would be a megshift where someone will be on call.
KEITH when the store first opened we did this. It would be good to do a half day commitment.
MATTHEW there is a shiftleader hotline that goes into Lauryl’s or Matthew’s phone.
- do we do open call or from our pool of resources?
- when start this?
- will hiring committee be in charge of this?We will hire within volunteers. RUSS will head this.
- PSFC members shopping at GHFC? Discuss temporary shopping options for PSFC members at GHFC (Hillary/All, 20 min) HILLARYwe would like to discuss the new open membership program and answer the questions below. Hillary would like to have this happen immediately, track people coming in, and discuss the logistics of this. KEITH we should not care about if PSFC members are dllinquent.We should make it a 2 month time period. DK Joe Holtz has given us advice about getting new members. As a gesture of thanks to PSFC, we want to thank any member to come shop here. RUSS has made a sign and it is just delightful. WHEN: feb 1st! HOW: sign up sheet at the front desk VOTE: Keith makes a motion to allow a program for PSFC to shop YES = 18 / NO = 0 / ABSTAIN = 0
- no investment fee/no work requirement yes? Correct
- what is “temporary” (a set time or until we deem this offer should change?)temporary is open ended
- when start?tonight
- how promote?social media
- Committee Presentation: Governance will present what they are working on, who’s on committee/chairs and goals for upcoming months (20 min) Sara & Mira have been enlisted in July and they have gotten a member in December and had issues with sending emails through the governance @greenhillfood.coop Sara is the legal brain. PROJECTS - schedule a remote meeting to discuss how to carry on the legacy with past members. Rochelle is her board liason who she has not heard from. Working on a well built on spreadsheet for governance to identify what needs to be done.Updating bylaws. Creating a cheat sheet of the bylaws. Drafting a privacy policy for the coop. Drafting a policy for minors.Working on license for santiation sink, fire safety law needs to be made ACTION POINT - add information for governance members.
- Committee Presentation: Jeannie will discuss status of Design/Build, what are the options for the future (10 min) ACTION - Merge ops and Design Build
OPEN FORUM 9:15 - 9:25PM (10 min)
Brief comments on topics not on the Main Agenda but relevant to the Co-op. Items that will require more time to discuss may be submitted as future agenda items RUSS - Create a get out jail free card / amnesty. Allison felt like we have done this, and it was so much work.
2 MONTH TRIAL - is it just happening for 2 months? or is the 2 months a rolling membership? Discussion has been determined that it is a pilot program that is subject to change. The 2 month membership expires 60 days after sign up.
MEREDITH is working on the redemption program and has been happy to work on this.
MATTHEW how are committees made? DK you come to GM andmake a proposal
PROPOSAL we should have a committee SCHLIEDER FUND HOUSE who are responsible for reporting progress to GM. We voted YES, but Matthew will write up what this is.
CLOSING 9:25 - 9:30PM (5 min)
Board mtgs are now the 2nd and 4th Weds of the month!
- Next Board Agenda Committee Mtg is Wed., Feb. 11, 7:30-9:30pm at the Co-op. All are welcome. Please email board@greenehillfood.coop if you plan to attend (work credit applies!)
- Next General Meeting is Wed., Feb. 25 - 7:30-9:30pm at The Co-op.
- Want to be a facilitator, secretary, timekeeper or to propose items for a future GM agenda? Please email board@greenehillfood.coop (work credit applies!)
*Note: Minute-takers Jean, DK, Keith and William - please see link to secretary responsibilities.