General Meeting: 2/25/15

General Meeting Wed., Feb 25th– 7.30 - 9.30pm

The Co-op: 18 Putnam Ave, Brooklyn

Facilitator: Renee

Note-taker: Jeannie

Timekeeper: Russ

Print Agendas: whomever there first :)

Board in attendance: DK, Renee, Keith, Sean

Absent: Allison (in class)

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)

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.)

• Renee will provide final figures
• we have had only 8 new members this year.

Finance and Membership Reports 7:50-8:05PM (15 min) Up to date information about the Co-op (Finance and Membership Committee)

• 32.6K - Dec. / 41k - January / forecasting 40K - February /

• We need 50K every month to consistently make a profit

• We spend 8K to buy products every week

• We need 300 members to buy $50 every week to make our mark

• If we can make low $50 / every member every week by April is the goal/ 50K per month.

• Buying limits placed on buyers

• Lauryl has taken over produce buying / have gone from 2K to 1.5K  per month in purchasing

• Redemptions  - a subcommittee has been made / a moratorium letter has been sent out to members who are requesting for money back / 3 people have responded back as a dire need to have their money back / Al will reach out with a set of questions to make a judgement call on the refunds /  Meredith has stepped forward and has dealt with situations well with members.

• we now have 65 provisional members

• QUESTION: Can we last til the end of April??? / ANSWER: We should plan for asking members for $50 for investment?

• 2 week due date to make Matrix

MAIN AGENDA 8:05-9:15PM (80 min)

• Committee Presentation: Finance(15 min) CoChair - Sean - (x12)Office assistants are active of drop boxing invoices - (x3) active members on the bill paying group / need one or two more members - Finance team needs to be even more developed - Need - book making team & invoice team to get claims - Sean may not be as available in July 2015 due to Master’s program - Russ - membership will actively work with new members to decide what role they can play within the coop / Finance team thinks this sounds good -  DK - people respond to structure and meaningful limits / their time needs to feel productive - Renee - what we noticed in the store is that people like structure - Sean - very few people have the ability to think about the solutions to the questions - Russ - Sean and Russ to sit down to discuss the finance needs
• Committee Presentation: Operations (15 min) Keith - Ops have been reorganized and has not been working - Ops should be concern about the necessary needs to make the working environment work - John has been great at shoveling the store - There are about 5 people on the committee and they have been in and out - The co-chair for Ops has resigned - Keith and Jeannie have met to review the list & have the list be implemented for the workers in store - Design Build people are asked to do major projects and will spread out their time. - DEBOP the new group name - Design Build will project manage major projects and works with fellow DEBOP member - Jeannie will be liasion for DEBOP
• New Schedule Overview:  Renee will present what the new schedule with consistent hours/days, how it will affect the current store operations/workers, and propose a start date. (15 min) - We did a survey for new hours: 3-9 weekdays / 10-6 weekends (shift end til’ 7PM) - March 30th is the next cycle which would be the ideal time to make the changes - 2.5 hour increase will be exact same amount of shifts - e-blast & facebook to announce the changes - there is now a 15 minute -5 Board members approved - 14 members approved
• Bringing in Inactive Members:  The Co-op has many lapsed, inactive members- how do we reach out to them and bring them back? (15 min) - Option: if a member is low on hours they can be on good terms by signing up for 2 shifts then they can shop OR member must work one shift then they can shop - VOTE: When inactive comes back they need to sign up two shifts within a 4-week cycle and once they work one shift they can shop. (x11 yes) / (x2 No) - the “no” want them to work 2 full shifts / (x 5) Board members in favor - IDEAS - phone bank (did not work per DK) / survey for the inactive - RUSS - to continue working on ideas
• Trial Membership update:  Is it working?  how is it affecting things?  Shall we make it one month only? (All, 10 min) - the 2 month trial is affecting our sales positively - after April maybe hit down to a 1 month - people feel that we do not have enough information about how well this is working - we need to “SHOP / BUY/ PAY/ WORK” - What’s more important buying cash or membership cash - Equity money is best not be used for paying the bills - Park Slope shoppers  -  have been openly invited via the Linewaiters / we can do a flyer in their hallways / we should offer Park Slope members to work at GHFC and promote this /
• Grocery basket campaign presentation: Russ will present (10 min)

OPEN FORUM 9:20 - 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

• Quick discussion on Presentation Calendar- Renee -move all committee presentation to the GM and forego committee to present at the Board
• Sarah Chin - DK feels that every member is trying their best. She cannot imagine that she is initially ordering beyond what we need / someone should talk to Sarah one on one /
• Alex has upcoming events / Open shopping day this Saturday to promote 2 month trial & $50 basket / Save the date for the Tree Give Away on April 11th (Saturday) NOTE : 2 month trial is temporary
• New POS is setup outback / people are welcome to try it out / we still need put product in / we are hoping that it will be working well / POS rep is to fly in tohelp / REVEL rep is going to be in to train /
• One board member has been asked to step down due to not meeting requirements

CLOSING 9:25 - 9:30PM (5 min)

• Next Board Agenda Committee Mtg is Mon., Mar  9,  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., Mar  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.