Phoenix Earth Food Co-op
Minutes, Board Meeting 1/12/2013

Resolutions are numbered R1-R9

Location:Third Space Community Center, 137 N. Michigan St. Toledo. Present @10 am: David Bohon, Thomas Fine, Anita Levin,Sean Nestor, Steven Vines, Hermann von Grafenstein, Lisa Blake (General Manager, GM). Shelly Boraby joined later. Absent: Pete DeWood, Sandor Halasz.

Before the official start of the meeting a discussion was held about the tax liabilities arising from the expiration of the Jackson loan. It was suggested to ask tax attorney Louis Udell for advice (419-724-2600).

  1. The meeting was called to order by President Sean Nestor @10:20pm.
  2. Approval of minutes
    The minutes of the 12/17/2012 board meeting were approved (R1 6/0/0 = for/against/abstentions).
  3. Establishment of a regular meeting time
    The board’s regular meeting time will be the 3rd Wednesday of every month from 5 – 7 pm at the Third Space Community Center, 137 N. Michigan St. Toledo (R2 6/0/0).
  4. Shelly Boraby joined the meeting.

  5. Finding and using volunteers for the Co-op
    General Manager (GM) Lisa Blake noted that she has not been paid since December 22. The Co-op was not generating sufficient revenue to support its current staff. The services of volunteers might help bridge the gap.
    The following questions were raised regarding the use of volunteers:
    1. Does employing volunteers raise liability issues?
    2. Which tasks can and should be performed by volunteers?
    3. Should volunteers perform tasks that are ordinarily performed by paid staff?
    4. How should volunteers be trained?
    5. Which incentives could be used to attract volunteers?
    A motion was passed to delegate the resolution of these and other questions to a volunteer committee (R3 7/0/0).
  6. Manager’s report
    GM Lisa Blake did not present a financial report but urged the board to be aware of declining sales, although very recent sales figures were better than expected. Tom Fine pointed out that declines are likely due to construction work on Sylvania Ave. Anita Levin explained that the recent recovery of sales might well be an effect of the Co-op’s recent advertising campaign. We should not expect advertising to have an immediate effect and we should be patient when evaluating the effectiveness of our outreach efforts.
  7. Establishment of committees
    The following committees were established by separate motions and votes:
    1. Finance Committee (standing) – chaired by the treasurer (Tom Fine); charged with evaluating finances and determining methods for modifying the short-term day-to-day operations of the co-op (R4 7/0/0).
    2. Volunteer Committee(ad-hoc) – chaired by Sean Nestor; charged with determining and implementing a policy for volunteer labor at the Co-op (R5 6/0/1).
    3. OutreachCommittee (ad-hoc) – chaired by Sean Nestor; charged with developing targeted communications with the goal of generating/renewing interest in the Co-op. The charge includes maintaining the Co-op’s website as well as the Co-op’s Facebook and Twitter pages (R6 6/0/1).
    4. Business-Plan Committee (ad-hoc) – chaired by Anita Levin; charged with determining a long-term business plan for the Co-op(R7 6/1/0).
    5. Executive Committee (standing) – consisting of officers and general manager (currently: President Sean Nestor, Vice-President Sandor Halasz, Treasurer Tome Fine, Secretary Hermann von Grafenstein and General Manager Lisa Blake). The committee will develop the agenda of board meetings (R8 7/0/0).

    Tom Fine suggested that committee members should be approved by the board. Steven Vines proposed to create a planning committee. After some discussion he moved to table the establishment of a planning committee. The motion carried (R9 7/0/0).

  8. The meeting was adjourned at 12:05pm.

Date of next meeting: Wednesday, February 20th at Third Space in downtown Toledo.

____________________(signed)___________________

Submitted by Hermann von Grafenstein, Secretary