Notes from Coop meeting on Aug 9, 2009
Present - Lara, Ann, Kathy (notes), Liz, Nichole, Sarah
Quorum - 8 people - not achieved.
1. General Coordinator: position has been disbanded. Parts of the job have been split among others. 2. Meeting Coordinator: position has been taken up by Sarah as discussed at Retreat but needs to be transferred to another person after one more month. Sarah is also bookkeeper. She will post both job descriptions to the wiki and the listserv. Estimates bookkeeping is approx 5 hours minimum plus two hours for quarterlies. 3. Discussed agenda: priorities - drop box discussion, free veggie box, bookkeeping system 4. Bookkeeping system: Alternate streamlined system? Lara suggests pay membership fee of $100 and then pay cash for purchases. Fee is refundable upon resignation. Present system does not require a cash box or a safe or change. Some staffers have a hard time with the math, could use more training. There will always be a need for a bookkeeper/accountant to do reports to CRSP and balances the statements. Perhaps use a computer-based system instead? Coop Resource Center may have good software. Azure is simple now with our own debit card. Consignment vendors are paid quarterly. 5. Financial accountability: minor cash discrepancies have arisen. How many people handle the money? Record keeping, and do we need a locked box for depositing funds? Make changes in the investment sheet? Electronic accounting would permit people to make deposits directly to the bank. Point of Sale Systems - Sarah will research with Davis Coop. CONSENSED a drop box would be good to have. Sarah and Kathy will get one and request reimbursement (under $20) when a quorum. 6. Membership fee: Discussion. Not in favor of using this to fund a salary. Might work for funding bulk inventory. Survey indicates about 3/4 of members would be comfortable: might be done for bulk room only, not for veggies, or less for veggies. 7. Free box of veggies. Has been incentive for the person who collects and handles the veggie box funds. Is funded through the split - if 20 boxes are ordered, 21 boxes are made up. Highly variable, dependent on farm yield. One week recently we only had a $160 order. Also slight markup is skimmed for a reserve, if order is large enough. 8. FRUIT SUPPLEMENT. Strong demand for apples, onions, garlic, potatoes. Could be managed without refrigeration in the bulk room one week at a time. Buy by the case and sell through veggie box system and in bulk room. Need a person to step up to place the order and handle the delivery, etc. Maybe start with just onions. 9. Sharing the Load. Lots of work, not so many volunteers, Jocelyn took a lot of work hours off the schedule. What is the structural fix? 10. Orientations and tours. People have not been showing up as scheduled. There has been a (summer?) lull in new memberships. 11. Bulk room rotations. Need additional workers, to train for regular and replacement shifts. 12. The Notebook. Let Kathy know if you look in it and don't find what you want. 13. Next meeting is Sunday Sept. 13 at 4 PM; Ann will do an orientation that day, and Ann is training Leslie to do orientations.
AGENDA ITEMS AWAITING QUORUM
Proposal to create an “Operating Committee” to function as our “hub” this will consist of all the Coordinators (Veggie, Bulk, New Member,
Workshift, Meeting) so "cross-pollination-communications" is definitely happening between all the coop groups. MC will buzz between the Coordinatorsbetween meetings making sure things are happening according to how we vote on wanting them to happen at the meetings. (Ugh that was ugly grammar, apologies)Proposal to buy a “drop box” the better to secure bulk investments
Proposal to pay an accountant to handle our bulk bookkeeping - Kathy willing to do for free, after November
Discussion re: should we have a membership fee in order to do things like pay an accountant? How much would we need to collect from members?
Focus this discussion on the results from Lyndsey’s survey.
Discussion re: Summer Veggie deliveries - ways to ameliorate spoilage? Early morning deliveries? Wet blanket to keep them cool?
Discussion re: “free veggie box” - who gets it and why; should we continue current practices on this? - Decision needed
LONG-TERM AGENDA ITEMS
Mission Statement: what is the mission of our coop? Think about these items and send them either my way or to the tumble-blog:
http://foodlobby.tumblr.com/ Plan to discuss over the course of the next 2-3 meetings
Proposal/Discussion re: Outreach Coordinator. What should the scope of this position be? What languages would it be helpful for this coordinator
to speak (Spanish, possibly Korean)?
FRUIT SUPPLEMENT to the veggie box… who would be interested? Worth trying to administrate a second-Sunday-supplemental to round out weekly
boxes? - make this a new workshift?