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You are here: Home --> About Karma --> The Board of Directors --> Minutes of Board Meetings --> Monthly Minutes

January 13, 2003 DRAFT Minutes

Present: Lachlan Story (Ad Hoc Member Labour Committee Co Liaison), Tracey Thomas (Secretary), Aysa September (Web & Ad Hoc Member Labour Committee Co Liaison ), Charlie Lior (Treasurer), Caitlin Smith (President & Chair), Grif Cunningham (Food Issues Committee Liaison)

Staff: Sarah Fairley, Interim General Manager

Regrets: Anil Reddi (Vice President & Orientation Committee Liaison), Jerry Lee Miller (Chronicle & Promotions Committee Liaison), Ed Fielding (Maintenance & Joint Health and Safety Committee)

1. The agenda was approved by consensus.
2. There was no new correspondence.
3. The December Minutes were approved, as amended, by consensus.
   Business Arising:
   
   • Tracey has not yet filed the Form 1 because she could not find it on the website. Brian Iler will help to find it if needed.
   • Charlie has sought out prices for data collecting cash registers but has not received calls back yet. Will Member Brad Kundiff help? Charlie will call the firm that we currently rent our registers from.
   • Lachlan has a draft of his article promoting shopping at Karma. The article will go under the ”what's new” heading on the Karma Web Site. Lachlan will accept feedback on the draft until next Monday.
   • A Food issues meeting was held, but Grif did not know about it. He will attend the next meeting in January.
   • Aysa gave Caitlin her Board Recruitment questions. The prospective board member withdrew her/his application.
4. Sarah Fairley delivered the Manager's Report.
   
   • The Receiver General has been paid in full.
   • We strive to hire new clerks who may be capable of managing a Karma Department.
   • We discussed the issue of staff morale, which may be related to communication among staff. The responsibility of a Shift Managers is to ensure that standards are being met by the staff and the Member’s labour. Karma has not had a consistent General Manager to address this issue.
   • Staff are dissatisfied with the recent annual bonuses. The dissatisfaction is not with the formula used, but with the total distributed. However, Board Members the net profit of store operations was not very high.
5. Committee Reports
   Finance: Charlie
   
   • No Finance Report for this period.
   • Karma will repay our old loans that have high interest rates because we are able to pay. The Member lenders will be asked if they want the loan repaid, or if they wish to donate the loan to Karma. Most of the loans are from Karma Members. Sarah will instruct Victoria to contact Charlie regarding the loan repayments.
   • Caitlin will return Carolyn Lemon's call re loans.
Food Issues: Grif

• No Food Issues Report for this period.
• See above under Business Arising.
Web: Aysa

• No Web Report for this period.
Supervisory: Caitlin

• No Supervisory Report for this period.
• The revisions to the General Manager and Operations Manager job description are minor. The job openings will be posted in the store with a 10-day deadline. The Hiring Committee will be struck by Pam, Caitlin and Aysa. We anticipate appropriate internal applicants.
• The Member Room will be used by the Operations and General Manager, between 9am and 5pm daily, as these administrative jobs do not have access to a computer and desk without use of this room. Members needing the room for baby care and emergencies can still use the room by seeking permission of the staff using it.
• Presently, Karma pays staff for a 1/2 hour lunch. If staff does not take paid breaks, the staff is paid up to 1/2 hour. Karma exceeds the Employment Standards requirement to provide 2 x 15 minute breaks per 8 hour shift, and a ½ hour unpaid lunch per 8 hour shift. Thus an 8 hour day is normally paid at 7.5 hours.
• Discussion: Does paying for the 15 min break discourage the healthy practice of taking a real break? Members frequently interrupt staff during breaks, but Members may not be aware that the staff person is on a break.
• Tracey will write a notice by Friday for the next Chronicle about respecting our staff’s need for breaks.
• The General Manager is the employee of the Board of Directors, while staff are supervised by the General Manager.
• Karma’s practice has been to disallow taking 1 whole hour at once, but this, as well as compensation, can be permitted so long as it works for the operation at the time.
Orientation: Anil
Not present to report.
Chronicle: Jerry Lee
Not present to report.
Maintenance/Health and Safety: Ed
Not present to report.
.Member Labour: Lachlan, Aysa

• No Member Labour Report for this period.
• The Committee will release the Member Labour Ad Hoc Report by the next Board Meeting. The Committee is meeting next on January 14th.
Promotion: Jerry Lee
Not present to report.
6. Other Business:
   
   • In order to recruit a new Board Member, Tracey will place a notice in the Chronicle. The contact person is Caitlin 416 923 6418. The same notice will be placed at the cash registers in the store.
   • Karma holds 20 shares in the WindShare (windmill) Coop

The meeting was adjourned by consensus.

The next Board Meeting is scheduled for Monday, February 10, 2003 from 7p to 9p at St Alban’s Boys and Girl’s Club in the second floor Library.