Board Meeting Notes 04/18/2018

 

Meeting Agenda

Date/Time: Wednesday, April 18,  7:00 - 8:30 pm

The Co-op: 18 Putnam Ave, Brooklyn

 

Facilitator: Chris

Note-taker: Matthew

Note-takers - please see link to secretary responsibilities.

      Timekeeper: Renee

 

Directors Present: Cecile, Chris, Matthew

Directors Absent: Christina

Others in attendance: Amanda, Lindsay

 

Any person attending may participate equally in discussions, but only Co-op members/owners may vote on any issues. Member/owners may receive work credit if they attend (allotted 1 time a year).

 

Next Board Meeting is _April 25_ 2018 at the store. Want to be a facilitator, secretary, timekeeper or to propose items for a future GM agenda. Please email board@greenehillfood.coop (work credit always allotted)

 

Welcome/Orientation  7:00-7:05 (5 min)

Welcome and introductions. Brief explanation of the purpose of the Board Meeting. Questions welcomed!

The focus of this meeting is on the General Manager Position; #2 Store Coordinator Update item on Agenda

 

 

Consent Agenda  7:05-7:15 (10 mins)

A collective vote on decisions that have already been made or that don’t generally require/solicit discussion. Attendees can pull out any item they would like more discussion on, and this item will be moved to discussion at the end of the meeting. Information on all consent agenda item votes will be circulated in advance of the meeting.

 

  • Link to minutes  from previous Board meeting  

 

1. Committee Reports  7:15-7:30 (15 min) Add discussions as needed from committees and liaisons below.

if there is nothing to be discussed or decided but a report is needed add at the end of this agenda.

 

  • Finance and Investments:
    Committee chair Bianca Orlando, Liaison Christina Travers

1. An accurate capital budget for the move. Sources of capital, its uses, tie back to project budget (ongoing)

2. Break even analysis of existing revenue and expenses now and what we will need to hit in sales, margin and fixed expense management in the new space. We have provided this in the past but we are really refining (ready for next week's meeting)

3. Finance 2.0. We are drafting an action plan for financial success in the new space. We are planning on rolling out new systems and procedures with our new fiscal year, October 1. This will include cloud based financial bookkeeping, inventory management, quarterly reconciliations and accurate financial reporting.

  • Renee: across the board; helpful for all committees to streamline their operation and getting as much member labor working in the store

  • Cecile: hard to do with finance because labor intensive

  • Merchandising:
    Committee chair Sarah Chinn, Liaison Chris Gollmar

  • Not ordering anymore

  • How to use invoicing with Revel; get a better sense of inventory; work on May

  • Amanda: brief pricing meeting; coming up with market basket that is basics and popular items with price comparison with local stores to present with final proposal

  • Renee: will there be an expansion of merch? When should we send product requests? A survey?

  • Sarah: target the survey: “what one item would you like to see in the store?”

  • R: survey will keep members enticing

  • Beer license? Make sense to have Lindsay continue to work on it, but it is a CHORE and time consuming

 

  • Marketing, Website:
    Acting committee chairs DK Holland and Sigourney Woodfork, Liaison Chris Gollmar

  • Working on a new brochure, new in store signage and the actual storefront, relaunching the website by the opening

    • Realizing it’s a huge project that may not happen for opening; this project will be happening along others

    • Awning: will be helped by design build

    • Sarah: flexibility on branding should be allowed; possibly find strategic places for branding to be tightly controlled

      • Renee: time sensitive messages need leeway

  • and Sonia has moved over from IT to our web team (Chris G. will explain why).

  • We need additional help from members who are savvy in design/branding/web. We are also reaching out to PSFC for IT help on the web.

 

  • Outreach:
    Committee chair Juliana Pinto, Liaison Chris Gollmar

 

  • Membership:
    Committee chair Renee, Liaison Cecile Arnaud

    • Updating store workshifts schedule and notifying members;

      • First slot: only GM; 2nd slot only cashier; 3rd slot (closing) 3 members

      • Added slots for Friday receiving and last 2 slots all members

      • Cuts down 60 shifts/month

      • Communications: require recurring shifts; only exceptions as floaters

        • Get members to realize how much the store relies on their dedication

        • Lindsay working on in store signage

    • Starting membership campaign in May; will need flyers

    • Developing new system for make ups, trades and floaters (decreasing floaters substantially and pushing for more recurring shift coverage)

 

  • IT:
    Committee chair Misha Avrekh, Liaison Cecile Arnaud

  • Shall we do contract labor for IT?; Chad (ex-Membership chair) interested

  • We need a conversation with Misha to see how he best wants to help; then figure out how we can fill out on our overall needs

 

  • Governance:
    Committee chair Amanda , Liaison Chris Gollmar

    • Wants to move toward Policy Governance model

      • Sets out goals and then follow up; figure out who does what for each committee and what each committee does; get internal and external expectations

      • Will help with clarity on jobs and goals

      • Could use help, but more with brainstorming/researching/geeky stuff than crunching numbers

 

  • Dev Ops:
    Committee chair Elizabeth McGee, Liaison Matthew Talmage

  • Lease signed, need people to help with build out jobs, there’s a sign up sheet; it’s linked to on weekly and monthly newsletters:

    • Getting empty in store; buildout begins tomorrow; birch plywood flooring going down next week;

    • Deposit was changed so $4k is our deposit and the other $4k is our first month’s rent to be applied July 1st so our next rent check will be paid August 1.

    • Sign Ups: we need more people to sign up outside of DevOps; Park Slope people are starting to sign up; next two PSFC

      • Renee: Direct Ask so much more effective than general ask

 

  • HR:
    Committee chair Hannah GW, Liaison Matthew Talmage

  • Last shopping day April 23rd and also ends employment for Store Coordinators Raina, Sapana, Lindsay and Ahmad;

  • Focus on Store Coordinator/General Manager position to be filled by opening at 1083 Fulton Street

  • Talking about biweekly paycheck for GM; or weekly if salaried position


 

2. Store Coordinator Update  7:30-9:00 (90 min)

  • Looking to vote on aspects of the position

  • Looking over the proposal

  • Inventory management is the biggest ask

    • Next is the produce ordering; happens 3-4 times a week

      • Always time sensitive and regularly have to be done at night

Lindsay: knowing the prep emphasis per day can help with member labor expectations

  • Discussion of who approves store shift hours; shift leader vs. approval;

    • Retraining of store shifts can include hours entry

Leaning towards hourly to put a financial cap and having a backup

What’s the road from hourly to salary? A $15k jump.

  • Need regular review periods

  • Finance wants to cap yearly payroll to $40k; that equals hourly position, 35hrs/week but no money for backup store coordinator

  • Board Vote: hourly GM; 35 hrs/week; $22.50; with proposed job description and requirement; unanimous; board hires GM

  • Board Vote: on money for temporary store coordinator. Tabled until meeting with finance on April 25

 

3. Lease Committee and Relocation  9:00- 9:05 (5 mins)

  • Updates on build out: covered with DevOps

  • Met with NYC Grow initiative to sublet 500sqft for their operation; looks promising

 

4. Committee Asks and Gives  9:05-9:10 (5mins) (Committee Chairs and Liaisons)

Committees asks for help or support / others give below:

Store Coordinator asks for 20% off all items last 3 days; Board Vote unanimous

 

Closing  9:10 - 9:15 (5 min) Board reviews votes at the end of each Meeting


 

Reports in writing:

 

Membership and Finance Report

 

  • Monthly membership report (link)

Summary of report:

Current number of working members: __290______

Number of new members and deactivated: because new members on hold with the move, not responding on following categories

__ new members,  

__ reactivated member,

__ trial members

Number of existing members waiting for investment returns: _________

We’ve seen roughly a ___% increase in membership since January.

 

  • Monthly finance report  (link)

            Summary of report:

 

 

(current month 2017)

(previous month 2017)

(current month 2016)

NET SALES


 

Transactions


 

Average transactions


 


 

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