BOD Working Session 4.13.15 Agenda Committee

Board of Directors ~ Agenda Committee

Mon., April 13; 7.30 - 9.30pm

The Co-op: 18 Putnam Ave, Brooklyn

Facilitator: Allison

Note-taker: Jeannie

Timekeeper: Russ

Present: Allison, Russ, Sean, Ann, Joe, Lauryl, Hillary, DK

Absent: Renee (in class), Keith

Updates on Action items from previous Working Session (All, 25 min)

POS System:
In short, POS system is not as easy to set up as Revel alluded to. Team of 5+ have been working on this diligently for over a month. Revel person came to store on April 3 was able to do some set up but not complete. Evan Flath is spearheading now, has been speaking with Revel and seems determined to get this completed soon. He’ll be updating the item list, reprogramming scanner and I think the final thing is figuring out the EBT payment which is dependent on Revel. Probably a few more weeks before it’s up and running.
Currently the Revel system does not work due to the barcode & EBT.
EBT separate terminals can possibly be used as a hold over

Update on new hours and Sunday slots (Lauryl/Russ)

Have reduced several double shifts to single shifts so workforce spread better across the board; new and returning members encouraged to grab a Sunday slot. Asked PSFC if they could send some FTOP workers our way for Sundays only to help fill slots but they are unable to do so at this time.
Traffic is slow. People still are getting used to the hours, but they understand.
There has been a bump in sales.

Update on Member Relief Counsel (DK)

Meredith has done a great job handling correspondences. We are paying back on a case by case situation.
investments@ is for incoming investments and outgoing equity for members who want their membership money back
finance@ is for people who has actually loaned money to the coop

Finance Report* (Sean, 20 min) *Sean will be giving bigger financial picture at GM’s and smaller progress updates at ACs

We need to project items to sell at summer season that will compete with the farmer’s market.

ACTION ITEM: vote to negotiate a loan from PSFC - There is a loan application and Joe is a liaison - The Loan committee at Park Slope will loan money for solid items that will help a coop will make money.

ACTION ITEM: task Merchandising Committee to come up with summer product list to attract sales.

investment schedule: $38,500 in debt between loans and interest - We need to send a letter out to people who has loaned us money by next week. Sean & DK agreed to get a letter out explaining the situation that we still have other needs to spend our $$. Letter will be out within 2 weeks.

ACTION ITEM: will need to hire a bookkeeper and have governance come in to review our bylaws

Store Coordinator update (SC liaisons/Lauryl, 15 min)

A: Hours I’m in store:

Substitute Store Coordinator proposal (Lauryl) - Lauryl will be on vacation May 11-26 - Pay the substitute the same rate Lauryl was paid before she was full time. - Lauryl has written up a job description for her replacement. - Job description will be published in newsletter by Lauryl or Allison - Position open to all members.

Can ppl donate their investments to ppl who can’t afford a membership (but aren’t eligible for Apple plan)? The selected folks could be chosen by Membership and MRC. When those ppl leave, then their investment would be donated to another person. (Russ, 10 min) - The money will be put into the Avocado Plan and Member Relief Council which address the above - Avocado plan should be stated that it is a “Capital Contribution” to be clear as to what the money goes into

Can we offer a perk for members that get a new person to join? Say banked hours? $25 coupon for merch? Need to make all our members outreach and having a perk will help/encourage them to get others to join. (Russ, 10 min) - This has been discussed multiple times and logistically does not work

PSFC discussion: Where was PSFC at 3 yrs? What can we learn from them about their growing pains? (Joe/Ann, 20 min)
- Can PSFC send a letter to PSFC members that live near GHFC?
- Joe has passed out the weekly statement when they were open 3 ½ years. They did this to carefully monitor all the money.
- They were not incorporated, they were struggling with members
- They had monthly meetings with the coordinators who were involved with the store to address issues that were happening at the store.
  - ACTION ITEM: we should have a five year plan & buy the building as a goal

GM agenda creation (All, 10 min)
- Decision making -how to make it more democratic
- Store coordinator substitute
- Committee Presentation: Marketing (20 min)
- Committee Presentation: Membership (20 min)