Phoenix Earth Food Co-op (PEFC)
Minutes, Board Meeting 5/15/2013

Location: Third Space Community Center, 137 N. Michigan St., Toledo; Present: Shelly Boraby (arrived later), Thomas Fine, Sandor Halasz, Anita Levin, Sean Nestor, Stephen Vines, Hermann von Grafenstein, Lisa Blake (General Manager, GM). Absent:David Bohon, Pete DeWood. Resolutions are numbered R1–R5.

The meeting began at 5:20 pm.

  1. The minutes of the 4/17/2013 board meeting were approved (R1, 6/0/0 for/against/abstention).
  2. Report from the Finance Committee (Tom Fine)
    Tom reported that the committee had not met partly due to the resignation of our Bookkeeper Payal Grewal. However we are close to reaching the $5000 threshold for obtaining the 4% discount from UNFI (United Natural Foods Inc.). Tom suggested increasing purchases by making a special offer for goods at the price of purchase.
  3. General Manager's (GM) report
    1. Outreach events:
      GM Lisa Blake mentioned several outreach events she had attended and others she was planning to attend:

      Past events

      • Health and Wellness fair at Bancroft. The attendance was weak, but several members were recruited.
      • A meeting at Claudia's regarding the labeling of GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms). Claudia's had published an ad that was supported by the City Paper. Lisa stated for the Co-op that we support the effort of pushing for mandatory labeling of GMOs.

      Upcoming events:

      • Delta Fair Green Thumb Festival will start coming Saturday May 18th at 10am.
      • Gluten-free tasting on Saturday May 18 afternoon at the Co-op. Lisa will cook.
      • March against Monsanto Saturday May 25.

      Shelly Boraby arrived at the meeting

      Sean suggested that information about events such as these should be made known to the outreach group (email: outreach@phoenixearthfoodco-op.com) to recruit volunteers. The GM and store staffdo not need to staff all outreach events themselves.

    2. Personnel
      Lisa announced that Christine Kohl has been hired to replace Payal Grewal.
    3. Sales
      The Co-op is close to the $5000 mark to reach for obtaining the UNFI (United Natural Foods Inc.) volume discount. Sales are up 23.7% over last year's. Net income is up as well.
  4. Relocation
    A discussion was held to evaluate a new site for relocation, the former Meats & More store on Heatherdowns. A meeting to inspect the site was being planned for May 20 or 21. Ken Charbenau (former manager of Ann Arbor's co-op) and Bill Wersell (Toledo Chamber of commerce) was to be approached to attend as well. An advantage of the Meats & More site would be that the store already has all the equipment we would need. The rent would be $7.50/sq.ft. [Info added after the meeting:we are paying now $675.- rent + $242.- taxes + $2.- NNN per month for 2351sq.ft. =$4.69/sq.ft./year]. The price of the equipmentwould be offered at $50,000. Both numbers were negotiable. Sean commented that it was within the realm of the business plan committee to gather further details for evaluation of this opportunity. The business plan committee was planning to meet May 27 or 28 [info added after the meeting: the committee will meet 5/28 @9:30am]. Lisa pointed out that the store's staff would like to be involved in discussions about relocation.
  5. Jackson Loan
    Hermann distributed minutes of a meeting that had been held of the Co-op's executive committee and Attorney Scott Ciolek. Scott had proposed two options for follow-up:

    1. Do nothing for now.
    2. Make a compromise offer. The Co-op could offer a token amount (for example $1,000, exact amount to be determined).

    A motion was introduced to choose option (1) with the following amendment: Seek the opinion of a certified public accountant advising the Co-op as to whether the loan can be removed from the co-op's books. Revisit this issue depending on the advice of the CPA. The motion passed as amended (R2, 7/0/0).

  6. Resignation of Pete DeWood
    A motion was passed to accept the resignation of board member Pete DeWood (R3, 7/0/0)

    7. Anita Levin left the meeting

  7. Report from the outreach committee
    A motion was introduced to inform the membership via electronic media (website, Facebook, newsletter) about Pete DeWood's resignation and to ask for nominations. The board will then appoint a replacement until elections are held at the annual membership meeting. In a second part of the communication to be sent out the search for candidates for board elections should be initiated. Motion passed (R4, 6/0/0). In addition to using online tools, Shelly Boraby will continue to call members encouraging them to become candidates for the board.
  8. Adjournment
    The meeting was adjourned at 7pm (R5, 6/0/0)
    Date of next meeting: Wednesday June 20 if not decided otherwise.

_____________(signed)__________________________
Submitted by Hermann von Grafenstein, Secretary