Phoenix Earth Food Co-op (PEFC)
Minutes, Board Meeting 03/25/2015

Location: Main branch of Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, 325 Michigan St., Toledo, OH 43604; Present: Thomas Fine (arrived later), Sándor Halász, Anita Levin, Nichole Nauden, Sean Nestor, Hermann von Grafenstein, Leah Foley (Co-General Manager, Co-GM). Absent: Shelly Boraby, Alyx Kendzierski, Will Mellon, Helen Elden (Co-General Manager, Co-GM). Resolutions are numbered R1–R7.

The meeting began at 5:38 pm.

1. Approval of minutes
   The minutes of the 2/25/2015 board meeting were approved with minor modifications(R1, 5/0/0 for/against/abstentions).

2. Potluck program

   Sean gave an update of the potluck program on behalf of Shelly. The Slow Foods movements did not want to see a screening of the Food for Change movie. A consensus emerged to show the movie independently of the Slow Foods movement. Of two possible dates (April 11 and May 2), May 2 was considered to be more realistic, allowing more time for planning.

   Tom Fine arrived at the meeting

   A motion passed to have the potluck on May 2^nd at University Church (R2, 6/0/0). Organizational details were delegated to Shelly Boraby. Sean and Morgan were to post the event on Facebook.

3. Jackson loan lawsuit
   Leah gave an update of the Jackson loan lawsuit. She reported that Scott Ciolek had notified the Board of his filing of his response to the opposing party’s motion for summary judgment.
4. Volunteer program
   Will had agreed to coordinate the volunteer program before he had resigned from the Board. Leah emphasized that she would prefer a Board member taking over the volunteer program rather than staff. Shelly had agreed to take it over starting summer 2015. Sean was going to ask her how soon she could start.

5. General manager’s report

   Leah presented a summary of her General-Manager’s-Report. Major points of discussion were

   • The Co-op’s cash position had improved due to the introduction of the new membership policy and card, but sales had declined by 13% from February 2014.
   • The recommendations of the Great Lakes group were being implemented, starting with an adjustment of sales margins to 36%, starting with groceries.
   • No motion was made to join a boycott of Eden Foods. Other co-ops had initiated boycotts in response to Eden Food’s restrictive policies regarding birth control inclusion in employee health insurance.
   • The Great Lakes group had recommended not reducing marketing emails out of fear that recipients might unsubscribe due to email overload. However, it was important to keep emails short and to the point. The same applied to the newsletter.

6. Finance committee report

   Tom (finance committee chair) pointed to his finance report submitted by email. The main points of discussion were

   • Sales were declining,as was gross income and even with a stabilization of the Co-op’s cash position and an increase in margin, there was no room to increase personnel expenses to hire a general manager.
   • Net income was still negative, but much less so than last year.
   • Payroll in Feb 2015 was lower than in Feb 2014, as were Cost of Goods Sold. Inventory had been reduced.
   • The current cost of payroll was sustainable provided that sales could be maintained.
   • Checking and savings were better than last year but the Co-op still had zero days cash.
   • Leah mentioned that 41 people had bought the new discount card.
   • Concern was expressed that year-to-date sales were lower by 6% compared to last year.

   Recommendations: Tom suggested reducing inventory further but Hermann cautioned against reducing inventory too much to avoid entering a range where items that customers want were no longer available. Accounts payable was still too high, with a 30-day liability.

7. Hiring a general manager

   Background: Sean reminded the Board of the Great Lake’s Group’s recommendation to hire a strong general manager. The problem was that no money was available for an additional position for a person from the outside.

   Options:Leah suggested that Sean Fitzgerald was a good internal candidate and he had expressed an interest in the position. For the process of selecting general manager, the following options were discussed:

   (1) An open process following publicizing the search.

   (2) Not publicizing the search and just Interviewing Sean F.

   (3) Not publicizing the search, Interviewing Sean F. and only if problems emerged, publicizing the search and considering replacing existing staff to create a position.

   Discussion: Anita, Hermann and Sean argued that the search process should not be kept secret. The membership should be apprised of the plan to change leadership. Tom, Nichole and Sándor cautioned against an open process and especially looking outside current Co-op staff. The new General Manager should be hired for a 90-day probationary period.

   Resolution: A compromise was reached and the following motion was passed as to how to proceed:

   First interview Sean for the position, clearly explaining the expectations and if problems arose, have another discussion at the Board level as to how to proceed from there. The entire process should not be kept secret (R3, 5/0/1).

   Follow-up: Sean Nestor promised to send out a Doodle poll to seta date for the interview. The entire board would participate in the interview. The executive committee would propose a job description and a performance evaluation process.

8. Marketing campaign

   Background: Sean explained that previously the Board had given a fundraiser for a marketing campaign priority over establishing an emergency repair fund. Morgan Blake had submitted a detailed marketing plan prior to the meeting. According to her plan, advertising was only part of a more general marketing strategyconsisting of defining our brand, making the store more attractive and revamping our website and Facebook communications. Consistency was an important element of all marketing.

   Discussion: For advertising the following elements were discussed: Radio spots, printing T-shirts, creating bumper stickers and designing a special logo that might appeal to a younger demographic (Robert would do that). It was suggested to create a pie chart explaining how much a donation of a given size would buy (this much would buy a T-shirt, that much a radio ad etc.). A brief discussion was held about the website. It was considered adequate for providing information, but it should be made more visually appealing.

   Resolution: A motion was passed to create an ad-hoc committee for overseeing the ad campaign with Sean Nestor as chair and Tom Fine as an ad-hoc evaluator (R4, 6/0/0). The goal of the ad-campaign fundraiser was set to $5,000. The money could not be used for store operations. Early money should be used for gear (T-shirts, stickers etc.). A second motion was passed to use the Directions Account for receiving donations. Current signers would approve expenditures (R5, 6/0/0).

9. Will Mellon’s resignation
   Will Mellon’s resignation was accepted with a great sense of loss (R6, 6/0/0). The vacancy should be publicized widely to search for someone energetic to replace Will. All candidates should use the Co-op’s existing application form to apply for the position.
10. Discounts
    Sándor expressed his dislike of discounts. He preferred patronage-dividend payments for rewarding members. Rather than being an incentive for buying, discounts could become a problem if too many members only shop once a month to receive their discount. Maintaining margins while meeting a high demand for discounted items could be achieved only by increasing prices of non-discounted items. He suggested that language about discounts should be taken out of the bylaws at the next annual membership meeting. Leah reported that all sales items were now excluded from further discounts.

11. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 7:28pm (R7, 6/0/0).
    Date of next meeting: Wednesday, April 22, 2015, if not decided otherwise.

__________________(signed)___________________
Submitted by Hermann von Grafenstein, Secretary