Phoenix Earth Food Co-op (PEFC)
Minutes, Board Meeting 03/26/2014

Location: Main branch of Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, 325 Michigan St., Toledo, OH 43604. Present: Shelly Boraby, Thomas Fine, Sándor Halász, Alyx Kendzierski, Anita Levin, Nichole Nauden, Sean Nestor, Hermann von Grafenstein, Lisa Blake (General Manager, GM). Will Mellon arrived later. Resolutions are numbered R1–R3.

The meeting began at 5:30 pm.

1. Approval of the minutes

   The minutes of the 2/26/2014 board meeting were approved (R1, 8/0/0 for/against/abstention).

2. Expiration of trade name
   The address of the Co-op previously registered needed to be corrected. A payment of $25.− was made to complete the registration process.
3. Presentation by the GM as to how to read financial information (Lisa Blake)
   Lisa was given time to educate the Board on how to read financial information such as balance sheets and income statements. During her presentation she mentioned that the Co-op had the lowest margin of co-ops in the NCGA. The Co-op’s margin was 30.6% but should be about 32%.
4. Manager’s report (Lisa Blake)
   Lisa reported that the Co-op currently had a total of $8,564.48 in unpaid bills. After the next round of payments this would be reduced to $5,4711.11. The payments to the Landlord were current as of March. Bookkeeper Leah mentioned that her estimate of the current total of unpaid bills was somewhat higher. Concerns were raised that the buying needed to be better aligned with expected sales. Lisa argued that it was essential that the store look abundant and that April was usually the month with the highest sales. Sean and Alyx responded that the appearance of abundance could be achieved by other means such as reducing shelf space and using existing shelf space to display information.
5. Report of the Finance Committee (Tom Fine)
   Tom explained that the Co-op’s policies require that the manager develop a financial plan and present data to the board that allow the board to monitor compliance with the plan. Most organizations had a budget for a defined time period and required the manager to explain variances from the plan. For example if net income expectations were set to $1,500 to $2,000, everything in the budget would have to be adjusted to meet that goal. Tom Fine made a motion to pass the following resolution in regard to financial monitoring (for background see attached March Report of the Finance Committee):

   The Board directs the GM to create and present to the Board President a plan with full budget detail covering the 3-month period beginning April 1 by March 31, 2014. The plan should conform to policies L5 and L6 in the Co-op’s Policy Register. The Board will work with the GM to develop monitoring procedures that will provide clear feedback to the GM so that the plan can be modified as needed throughout the period. During this period the Board and the GM will decide whether to continue with plans and budgets that cover 3-month periods or move to longer periods.

   The resolution passed (R2, 8/0/0)

   Shelly Boraby left the meeting at 6:35pm

6. Report of the Outreach Committee (Will Mellon)

   Will reported on a meeting of the Outreach Committee and recent activities of the Outreach Committee. Specifically, the following activities were discussed:

   1. Earth Day Celebration: Will reported that he had reserved a place at the Zoo’s Earth Day celebration on Saturday April 26. Further details would have to be decided.
   2. Growing Cities Movie: Will explained options and costs of hosting a movie (60-90 min) about urban farming in America (http://www.growingcitiesmovie.com). The cost would be $200.− for a one-time showing, $300.− for a DVD that could be used repeatedly. We could pick any day we wanted for the showing. The movie would be an opportunity to partner with other organizations with similar interests such as Toledo Grows or Toledo Choose Local.
   3. Old-West-end Festival: Alyx reported that she had talked with her friends at the Circus about organizing a parade (King-Wamba Parade) and/or table at the Old-West-end Festival (http://toledooldwestend.com/owe-festival/) on June 7^th and 8^th. She committed to following up on that.
   4. National Alliance on Mental Illness: Tom Fine suggested that Co-op members participate in a walk scheduled by this organization for May 10^th on the Health Science Campus of the University of Toledo. Walkers should wear a T-shirt drawing attention to the Co-op and the role of healthy food in achieving/maintaining wellness.
7. Alternative board communications.

   Will Mellon proposed that all board members join Yammer.com, a new forum in social media format (https://www.yammer.com) for exchanging email and documents. Sándor and Hermann explained that the Co-op’s existing website already provides this type of functionality. Most Board members felt that Yammer.com should be tested in a trial before adopting it.

8. Executive Committee report (Sean Nestor)

   Sean summarized the proceedings of an executive committee meeting conveyed to develop tools to evaluate the GM's performance as it relates to employees. Hermann had drafted a survey form that Co-op employees could fill out. The survey was edited and finalized during the Executive Committee meeting. The survey form was to be give to all employees and a copy was to be given to the GM.

9. Canopy repair

   A discussion was held regarding the repair of the canopy above the store’s entry from the parking lot.Sean’s friend West Barabash estimated that it would cost ~$3,000 to remove part of the canopy and replace it. Some re-adjustment short of a full repair could be done for $800–$900 but during the winter, snow would still accumulate. A repair of the lighting fixture only was not feasible. Tom promised to contact the Landlord to follow up with repairs.

10. Adjournment

    The meeting was adjourned at 7:08 pm (R3, 7/0/0)

    Date of next meeting: April 23, 2014, if not decided otherwise.

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Submitted by Hermann von Grafenstein, Secretary