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Monday, April 19, 2004 (7pm) MINUTES APPROVED

Board
Present: Graeme Hussey (President/Board Chair, Human Resources Committee Liaison), Andy Summers (Vice President, Promotions Committee Liaison), Geoff Webb (Treasurer, Finance Committee Liaison), Christie Stephenson (Secretary, Annual General Meeting Committee Liaison), Anil Reddi (Chronicle Committee Liaison), Justin McNabb (Food Issues Committee Liaison), Lachlan Story (Member Labour Committee Co-Liaison).
Regrets: Grif Cunningham (Maintenance Committee Liaison), Ed Fielding (Orientation Committee Liaison), and Aysa September (Web Committee Liaison, Member Labour Committee Co-Liaison)
Staff
Present: Sarah Fairley (General Manager)
Guests
Present: Jason Diceman (AGM Committee Chair)

1. Approval of Agenda
Agreement by consensus to approve the agenda with the addition of an in-camera item.

2. Correspondence and Announcements
Graeme indicated he had not received any correspondence from members. Christie noted there had been no email messages sent to the board.

3. Minutes
Agreement by consensus to approve the minutes.

4. In-Camera Session
Discussion under this item remains confidential. Sarah agreed to file the minutes of this session.

5. Committee Reports

5A. AGM Committee (Christie)

Report submitted:

Date of last meeting: NA
Date of next meeting: NA

Action Items Completed:

Action Items Not Completed:

Discussion

Jason Diceman, the AGM committee chair and a co-op development consultant, gave a presentation to the board outlining a strategy for Karma to “recognize, refine and document the current and potential structure of the organization.” He outlined the project goals, deliverables, action steps, keys to success and limits on the proposal scope. He also demonstrated the technology tools he is suggesting Karma adopt to undertake the process.

Graeme suggested talking to the web committee and others affected to ensure co-operation and to avoid the perception of ‘stepping on toes’.

Sarah asked for assurance that Karma would retain control and ownership over all documentation. Jason confirmed that would be the case and noted that at the end of the project (and his involvement) that he could continue to host / provide services for a minimal fee or download / transfer the files to another location for Karma.

When Jason suggested that surveying might be part of the bylaw development strategy, Sarah raised concern about survey fatigue and noted that the board had identified the membership survey as a priority. She suggested considering potentially combining the two.

Graeme asked about the project budget and Jason estimated it could be done in the range of $1-3k, depending on the scope.

Geoff suggested that Jason identify the portion of the work that could be undertaken in his role as AGM chair for work credit hours and how much of it would fall outside of that in terms of hours and other costs.

Jason left the meeting and it was agreed that there was support for his proposal and for him investigating obtaining a grant for required funding.

5B. Chronicle Committee (Anil)

No report submitted

Discussion

Anil noted he had been unable to attend the meeting. Lachlan reported that he had attended as part of the process around developing the member labour issue.

5C. Finance Committee (Geoff)

Report submitted

Date of Last Meeting: March 27, 2004
Date of Next meeting: April 24, 2004

Action Items Not Completed:

Announcements to the board and committees:

Financial Statement for April 2004

5D. Food Issues Committee (Justin)

Report submitted:

Date of Last Meeting: April 12, 2004
Date of Next meeting: May 10, 2004

Action Items Completed:

Announcements to the board and committees:

Questions for the board:

Discussion

Graeme indicated that Karma did not currently have a policy around accepting/rejecting new committee members but there was a practice of committees determining this based on their membership needs. He also noted that a committee was able to refuse a new member based on those needs.

5E. Maintenance Committee (Grif)

Report submitted:

Date of last meeting: NA
Date of next meeting: NA

No items to report since last meeting.

Discussion

Sarah reported on behalf of Grif that the Maintenance Committee is undergoing a transition in terms of its mandate and responsibilities. She said responsibility for store repairs and maintenance are being undertaken by a work group led by member Kai Kruger and supervised by herself and staff for ad hoc member labour hours. There was agreement that there is a need for the committee to refocus on capital projects planning and expenditure, and that it would make sense for the committee to be named to reflect that mandate.

5F. Member Labour Committee (Aysa & Lachlan)

Report Submitted

Dates of last meetings: March 26 and April 14, 2004
Date of next meeting: April 28, 2004

Action Items Completed:

Action Items Not Completed:

Announcements to the board and committees:

Questions for the board:

Discussion

Lachlan reported there was a suggestion to mail out inserts of the member labour issue of the Chronicle to members who don’t pick it up from the store.

Agreement by consensus to approve $250 for expenditure to mail the Chronicle member labour issue inserts at the end of June. The money will come out of next year’s budget.

5G. Orientation Committee (Ed)

Report submitted:

Date of last meeting: NA
Date of next meeting: April 19, 2004

Action Items Not Completed:

5H. Promotions Committee (Andy)

No Report Submitted

Action Items Not Completed:

Discussion

Andy reminded members about the craft sale. Justin, Geoff, Anil and Christie said they would be able to attend.

Survey Committee (Sarah)

Report Submitted

Date of last meeting: April 14, 2004
Date of next meeting: Mid May

Action Items Completed:

Action Items Not Completed:

Announcements to the board and committees:

Other Notes:

Questions to The Board:

Discussion

Graeme expressed support for the proposal that in addition to investigating shopping patterns and experiences, to expand the survey scope to collect more data on a broader range of co-op issues. Other board members agreed.

Sarah noted the questionnaire should be finalized in July.

There was a discussion as to whether there should be a survey committee or if the board should direct Sarah to oversee the work. There was a feeling that Sarah should pursue it given board members’ existing priorities and the capacity that would be required to develop another committee.

5J. Web Committee (Aysa)

Report submitted:

Date of last meeting: 18 March 2004
Date of next meeting: 29 April 2004

Action Items Completed:

Action Items Not Completed:

5K. Human Resources Committee (Graeme)

Report submitted:

Date of Last Meeting: March 29, 2004
Date of Next Meeting: May 6, 2004

Actions Items Completed:

Action Items Not Completed:

6. Executive Reports

6A. President (Graeme)

Report submitted:

Action Items Completed:

Action Items Not Completed:

Announcements to the board and committees:

6B. Vice President (Andy)

No Report submitted

Andy indicated he would resend the policies document he developed. He asked that people respond by email using Reply All or could be in contact with him individually by email or phone.

He asked that he and the Promotions Committee be cc.ed on any developments of the AGM Committee.

6C. Treasurer (Geoff)

Report submitted

See attached spreadsheet.

Announcements to the board and committees:

6D. Secretary (Christie)

Report submitted:

Action Items Completed:

Action Items Not Completed:

7. General Manager's Report (Sarah)

Report submitted:

The receiver general has been paid.
PST and WSIB payments are up to date.

Sales & Expenses:

Staff:

Capital Changes

Operational Changes

Member Labour:

Miscellaneous Items:

Announcements and Questions to the board and committees:

Action Items:

8. Business Arising

Agreement by consensus to adjourn.