Karma Food Co-op: Minutes of Board Meeting

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Monday, January 26, 2004 (7pm) MINUTES (AS AMENDED)

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), Justin McNabb (Food Issues Committee Liaison), Lachlan Story (Member Labour Committee Co-Liaison), Grif Cunningham (Maintenance Committee Liaison), Ed Fielding (Orientation Committee Liaison), and Aysa September (Web Committee Liaison, Member Labour Committee Co-Liaison).
Absent: Anil Reddi (Chronicle Committee Liaison)
Staff
Present: Sarah Fairley (General Manager)
Guests
Present: Brian Iler (Legal Counsel)
Regrets: Caitlin Smith (Human Resources Committee Liaison)

1. Approval of Agenda
Graeme suggested altering the agenda to address the following order of reports: Member Labour Committee proposal, the General Managers report, and then other committee and executive reports. In addition, he suggested that the discussion of the publishing committee and years of service proposal be deferred to the next meeting.
Agreement by consensus to approve the agenda as amended.

2. Legal Issues
Brian Iler overviewed legal issues of concern to the board and provided a hand out. He noted that directors� liability insurance may not be necessary, depending on the cost. He also indicated it would be wise to discuss with him the solicitation of member loans before issuing them.

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

4. Minutes
Agreement by consensus to approve the minutes.

5. Manager's Report (Sarah)

Report submitted:

The Receiver General has been paid.

Sales appear to be above target for the month of January.

December Sales: Sales were above budget in December. We had a 10% increase in the sales in the 7 days prior to Christmas (compared to the same period last week). This is attributed to increased product selection and fewer out of stocks.

Directors Liability: The application is still not complete. Information from some members remains outstanding. The application will be ready for submission once all the required information has been collected and compiled.

Staff: There are no hires or resignations to report. Four staff hired in September (Lisa McLean, Mike Haliechuck, Sasha Sefter and Kevin Wyse) have passed their probationary period and are now permanent employees. Concerns remain about the performance of one of these employees. Steps have been undertaken to improve the performance of this employee, and to prepare for his termination should the necessary improvements not be demonstrated. Michael will be taking his parental leave at some point in late February. He will be on leave for a period of approximately 2 weeks. Following that he will work part time for a period of up to one month. Filling Michael�s shifts will put a significant strain on the store. I will rely on current staff working extra shifts and former staff working occasional shifts.

Member Labour: Member labour turn out was quite good in December. Most shifts were filled. We were able to have members working second cash through most of the week prior to Christmas. Many shifts were not filled in the week following Christmas. This is a trend repeated year after year.

Payroll: Payroll was high in December primarily due to staff bonuses paid out during this time. Bonuses were not included in the payroll budget for this month. Bonuses were very much appreciated by all staff who received them. Payroll should be within budget for the month of January.

Donations: Requests for donations (from Karma to other organizations) are made frequently. Historically decisions about donations have been made by the GM. Currently I am approving no donations due to our financial situation and due to lack of policy on this issue.

Library: Most of the records kept in the member�s room are disorganized to the point of being of little use. Karma member Barbara Walters has taken on the task of taking an inventory of all library documents. In the future she will be organizing and cataloguing these materials. Barbara will at some point be in touch with the Board President, Secretary and Treasure to discuss this project.

Barbara is currently working under my direction, but could work under the direction of the Board if that were deemed more suitable.

Discussion
Sarah said she needed guidance from the board on handling donations requests. Aysa said she would be comfortable with a continuation of Sarah�s position that no donations be approved until Karma�s current financial situation changes. Geoff advocated for adopting a policy of no donations for the remainder of FY 2004. Grif stressed that the position should be revisited at year end because Karma should be making donations if and when possible.
Agreement by consensus to suspend the granting of donations for the remainder of FY 2004 and revisit this position at year end.

Graeme reported that members of the Human Resources Committee and Executive had met just prior to the board meeting to discuss ways to support the General Manager.

6. Member Labour Proposal (Lachlan)

The board has already approved increases to the WSCE (work shift cash equivalent) and NW (non-working) surcharge. The ML Committee now requests the approval of several additional changes such that they can be rolled out in conjunction with the approved increases.

In summary these are: A requirement that members clear (work off or pay off) any work hour deficit each year; A reduction in the hours owed for members that currently owe hours; Crediting all new working members of the coop with 2 work hours; Apply the temporary surcharge when members are 4 hours behind.

The details and rationale are explained below. The overriding rationale for all three changes is to increase the equity of current system and encourage working members to work more regularly.

Annual Clearing of Work Hour Deficit

Rationale

Given that the WSCE is being increased, it is equitable to provide members the opportunity to eliminate this deficit by paying for the hours at the current WSCE rate.
On an annual basis, members are encouraged to address their owed hours rather than leaving it until leaving the coop
Currently members can drift away from coop with a work hour deficit of 6 or more hours that can not be �recouped� monetarily until 8 years after the member is no longer active. Clearing this amount annually would (in some cases) net more hours or revenue for Karma annually.

Rules

Members will be �told� the number of hours they how at the beginning of the fiscal year.
Members will have 6 months to pay or work off these hours.
At the end of this initial 6 month period (Nov. 30), members that have not worked off the hours will receive a phone call to remind them of the hours owed.
At the end of the next 6 month period (ie. at the end of the fiscal year), members whose cards have hours outstanding from the prior year�s statement of hours owed, will have their cards pulled and moved to the office. As a result the member must go to the office. The manager on duty will decide whether or not they can shop when the member comes in. (The board should also consider whether they would like to also restrict shopping lists or IOUs at this point. The committee felt that this was out of its scope.)
Once a member is 65, hours owed are forgiven.

Process:

Every year, prior to the start of the fiscal year, the hours owed for each member will be tabulated.
The cash register will be reprogrammed for payment of hours owed.
Two statements of hours will be attached to member cards with the hours owed. One will stay on the card and the other is detached and given to the member at the cash. The member copy will include an explanation of the progression that takes place if the hours are not cleared.
As hours are worked, the statement is updated (as well as the card) by those that usually update the cards.

Implementation Notes:

Orientation Committee has to be involved as soon as approval for this approach is received in order to ensure that new members are given correct information and know how hours owed will be handled.
Communicating with members is crucial to avoid the situation of a member finding out about the change at the cash register when she/he is no longer eligible to shop.

Transition Period/Introduction of Change

Rules:

Members will have 3 months in which to work or pay the hours at the current WSCE
After the start of the next fiscal year (June 1, 2004), members have the choice of working the hours or paying the hours off at the new WSCE rate.
At the start of the following fiscal year (June 1, 2005), the rules set out earlier apply.

Implementation Notes:

Determination of hours owed (see also, reduction of hours) must be complete as of March 1 to allow members 2 months to pay hours at the existing WSCE rate.
The means of payment must be clarified and communicated (at the cash or via store manager)
Members that are on any form of leave and unlikely to be reached by store or Chronicle need to be contacted directly.
Communication materials will link this change to the larger WSCE changes
General communication will include information on types of leave, alternative types of work, the ability to give hours to other members, etc.

Reducing Current Work Hours Owed

Rationale

In light of the fact that we will require work or payment for owed hours, the number of hour owed has a more immediate impact on members and is different from what it was when members joined.
The change in how we handle hours owed is substantially different and therefore, a �cleaner� slate for all members adds to the sense of a new program/new approach.
We are more likely to have members work or pay the hours if the amount is not substantial.
In cases where hours owing are so substantial that it would be very expensive or time consuming for a member to clear his/her deficit, a reduction in what is owed may make being a working member more attractive.
Avoids the possible objection that members would not have allowed themselves to get so far behind in hours if they had known that this new system was being introduced.
Encourages members to return to working status.
Encourages inactive members to become active again.

Challenge: The actions of Karma should be transparent. However, publicizing the reduction in hours may discourage people from working until after hours reduction takes place.

Details

Rules:

Reduce hours owed to 0 for any member that lets it be known that s/he is 65 or older
Where a member�s card does not show when hours were accumulated and hours have not been worked on the current card, the accumulated hour deficit reduce hours owed to 0.
Where a member�s card does not show when hours were accumulated and hours have been worked on the current card, reduce hours owed to the difference between the hours owed at the beginning of the card and the hours currently owed.
Where a member�s original card is available, reduce hours owed to 4 hours per individual.
For members that join after this proposal is approved, there will be no reduction in hours. (these members will receive a 2 hour work hour credit, see next plan)

Implementation Points:

All cards will be reduced by the appropriate hours by February 29.
Reductions will be made on cards and provided to Marilou
Members will be informed of the hours forgiven and the hours owed.
Members will be provided with information about the annual treatment of hours owed and the importance of totally eliminating the hours owed.
The committee notes that this may result in inactive members who are not active because they will not get their loan back may begin shopping again because they are now entitled to get the loan back.
The following concerns exist: Members owing 4 hours will not receive any reduction or credit and will be the most dissatisfied group.

Granting 2 Hour Credit to New Members

Rationale:

Provides members the opportunity to research working opportunities, get connected with a team, etc.
Prevents members that intend to work from falling behind before they have had a good chance to get involved in a work team.
Makes reducing the temporary surcharge threshold to 4 hours more realistic

Implementation Points:

Requires coordination with the Orientation Committee so that correct information is provided.
Requires coordination with Marilou and her team to ensure that credit is granted

Reducing Temporary Surcharge Threshold

Rationale:

Makes it more feasible for a member that has gone onto the surcharge to work his/her way off the surcharge.
Makes it more financially viable to pay off one�s deficit to get off the surcharge.
Encourages people to work more regularly.
Provides Karma with slightly more revenue when people aren�t working when the expectation was that they would.

Rules:

The temporary surcharge slip will be added to working member�s card when 4 or more hours are owed.

Process Change:

Reconcile cards monthly so that members cannot fall any further behind than 4 hours.

Discussion
There was general discussion about the proposal. Sarah indicated that one element that may be contentious is the fact that people owing hours from prior to 16 months ago will have the hours owing reduced. Concern was also raised about members� possible feeling that granting two hours only to working members might not be equitable and the question was raised whether all members could receive credit for two hours. Sarah asked if non-working members could also be granted two hours if they switched their status to working. Graeme proposed granting both working and non-working members two hours that they could use at any point.
Agreement by consensus to approve the member labour proposal with one modification: that both working and non-working members be credited two hours of service.

7. Committee Reports

7A. Human Resources Committee (Caitlin)

Report submitted
The HR committee met Jan 19 to conduct Sarah Fairley's performance review. We believe she is doing an excellent job. Sarah herself is concerned that she has too much work to do. She feels that in fact her job is really two jobs.

7B. Chronicle Committee (Anil)

Report submitted:
The Chronicle Committee has been quite active during the holiday season. The minutes of the last Chronicle Committee meeting are attached. I think that every Karma committee should keep and make public their committee minutes. We are currently working on an updated Mission Statement. I do not have anything to forward at the moment. Perhaps I will have something by the next Board meeting. Chronicle Production Schedule 2 (Calendar Dates). February/March 2004: copy deadline: Jan. 19 - to the designer: Jan. 26 - to the proofreader: Feb. 4 - to the printer, Feb. 6 - delivered to the co-op: Feb. 10 - Committee meeting: Feb. 17. April/May 2004: copy deadline: March 15 - to the designer: March 22 - to the proofreader: March 31 - to the printer: April 2 - delivered to the co-op: April 6 - Committee meeting: April 13. The editing/proofreading workshop happened on January 18.

7C. Finance Committee (Geoff)

Report submitted

Committee Members: Don Altman, John Biggs, Elizabeth Flemming, Harry Koster, Charlie Lior, Christie Stephenson (Committee Secretary), Geoff Webb (Committee Chair / Karma Treasurer). Staff: Victoria Bale (Karma Bookkeeper), Sarah Fairley (Karma General Manager)

Minutes
Motion to approve minutes as amended (Webb/Lior) passed unanimously.

Financial Report: Victoria noted that sales were strong for the month of December. However, bonuses and maintenance costs, which are not monthly expenses, reduced the net income to a loss of almost $3k. She also noted that the November figures had been restated following the inventory calculation, resulting in a loss instead of a profit, for the month. She indicated that she was still concerned about cash flow problems developing by spring.

Operational Report: Sarah reported that while sales were higher than expected for December, that staffing costs had been contained and not increased accordingly. She note that the staff handled the holiday rush well, particularly given that for most of them it was the first time they had worked at Karma during Christmas. She said that inventory is higher than usual at the moment as staff were anxious to ensure that stock was available for members during the rush.

Organizational Report: Geoff reported that the finance committee�s cash flow and revenue related suggestions developed at the December finance committee meeting were forwarded to the board and well received. They were discussed at the board retreat and, in addition to other ideas generated, are now being prioritized and will be distributed at the January board meeting to board members, staff and committees in order that they be investigated or implemented. Geoff also reported that the board had decided to issue staff bonuses, although there had been a loss in FY 2003. He noted that the board had also committed to developing a policy prior to the FY 2004 year end to determine under what circumstances bonuses should be issued and according to what distribution formula. Concern was voiced that the committee had not been involved in the decision to distribute bonuses. There was consensus that the finance committee should, and would be willing to, be involved in developing the bonus policy and recommending a total bonus budget next year. It was also suggested that the human resource committee might be the appropriate body to provide recommendations on the formula for distribution of the budgeted total among staff members.

Other: Sarah suggested it might be useful to have industry standards on profit margins across product categories. She agreed to look into getting this information.

There was consensus that it would be useful for the committee to have historical data on the financial information possibly including sales, costs of goods sold, auditor shrink figures, wages, wage costs per sale, and inventory levels. John agreed to examine past financial files to see what information was available and the develop a draft list of what should be tracked, which he will distribute by email.

Charlie reported that he had determined that the version of Excel used by Karma does not allow for direct import from QuickBooks. There was agreement that the software should be upgraded.

There was consensus that the finance committee meetings should be moved to the fourth Saturday of each month. Victoria agreed to have the financial documentation available to committee members at the store on the Saturday prior to the meeting and would also send the Excel files by email.

Financial Statement (PDF)

7D. Food Issues Committee (Justin)

Report submitted:

Meeting held on January 14th: Dates of meetings, and a potentially permanent location, set for the rest of the year. The product rating/metrics system was discussed at length. The goal is to have a working draft for the next meeting. It will then be tested, fine-tuned, and presented to the Board. Brita filters have, after some research and consultation with the staff, been discontinued. An article in an upcoming Chronicle will explain the issue in detail and provide links to relevant web sites. Also, a sign has been posted in Karma�s foyer.

(Q: Who has the final say when it comes to discontinuing a product at Karma?)
Similarly, the Food Issues Committee will also investigate conventional bananas and Rowe Farm turkeys.

The mandate of the Food Issues Committee is:
To maintain a decision making process about product purchasing that complements the product policy.
To conduct research that ensures accuracy of information about products and suppliers.
To maintain a dialogue with the Karma community about the Co-op�s values and products.
(Graeme took this from the Web site, was updated in November 2003)

Discussion
Justin added that the committee�s next meeting is February 9, 2004.
Agreement by consensus that his question about who has the final say when it comes to discontinuing a product at Karma would be tabled until the February meeting of the board.

7E. Maintenance Committee (Grif)

Report submitted:

Grif met with Kai (possible new chair) to discuss the committee. The full committee, Grif, Kai, Chris (construction worker), Sarah and Graeme will meet later next week. The next maintenance committee project will be some new shelves. Also the committee will be investigating the current situation with the roof/ceiling and the south wall.

Discussion
Grif noted that the committee had not yet developed a mandate but would do so.

7F. Member Labour Committee (Lachlan)

Report submitted:

The ML Committee met twice in January, the last meeting being on the 19th of January. Following previous Board approval for raising the WSCE and non working member surcharge, the main focus of the committee has been working out a precise proposal for changes to the member labour system, and designing an implementation plan for these changes so that we can start with a new system beginning June 01, 2004.

The committee believes that the proposed changes will make for a fairer, more reliable, and more coherent member labour system. That said, change can be painful and controversial for some. We have had to struggle for balance between designing a fair implementation plan and new system that we believe is better than the old one, with the immediate concerns about affecting our retail sales in the process.

The committee has consulted with staff at various points in this process and has benefited from comments, discussions, and criticisms from them. Staff have been especially helpful in providing input on some of the practical concerns around implementation, as well as providing important in-store experience on how the current system works and problems we are likely to encounter. Special thanks to Sara Pulins, who has shown up and participated at many of our meetings. Betsy Carter (former member labour coordinator) has been a part of the committee, Marilou Lawrence (Membership Secretary) was consulted on these changes, and the outlines of the proposal were presented at a staff meeting, where valuable input was received.

While concerns about how proposed changes may affect our sales continue to be an issue, my sense at this point is that, with a good implementation and follow-up plan, staff are generally supportive (or at least agnostic) about these changes. The committee is committed to keeping in mind and addressing two additional concerns of staff: the extent to which they have a tendency to be the recipients any negative reactions by some Karma members to these changes, and the potential for these changes to increase staff work-load. Perhaps Sarah Fairley can speak to these issues at our next Board meeting if she has continued concerns.

May I draw to the attention of other Board members (what I at least would identify as) the most critical and/or controversial issues in this proposal (some have been flagged before). We should discuss these at the meeting if need be.

The raising of the non-working member surcharge from 8% to 12%. As some staff have pointed out, this is an increase of 50% in the surcharge rate, and �public relations� work will be important here to get some members on side. This said, it is a fair and equitable rate that reflects the value of member labour, and amounts to only a modest average monthly increase in the surcharge for most non-working members. A decade ago, the surcharge rate was 15%, and we have no proof that lowering this rate has led to substantial gains for Karma (though neither do we have absolute proof to the contrary). We are hopeful that there will be positive long-term consequences to this change, regardless of possible short term negative reactions by some members.
Requiring all members to reconcile their owed member labour hours to zero, once a year, when our annual membership fee is due in June. This is a new to Karma. Currently many people �owe� many missed labour hours to Karma, some for many years, and we have never had a policy that has any consequences if people do not work or pay these off. Our proposal is quite �gentle� in this regard, but still, after an additional year of not paying or working these hours off, we propose that there be consequences for the member. Please refer to the proposal on the details of this. The intent of this change is to encourage some members to be a little less �casual� about missing shifts, or not even signing up for them in the first place. What we want here is to create a new �norm� in members� sense of responsibility for fulfilling their work commitments.
Forgiving owed hours. Currently, many people owe Karma many hours. While we have the totals recorded on everyone�s latest Member cards, the details about when these hours were accumulated is not available any more. This happens when space for monthly recording of hours is filled, and a new card is drawn up. The total is carried over. It also happens when people who owe hours convert to non-working status, and get a �non-working� card. Leaving aside our proposal for those people for whom we DO have accurate and specific records about owed hours, we have opted to reduce to zero the hours owed on cards as described above. This included a very large proportion of non-working members. The committee struggled with the fairness of this idea, but there are logistic and strategic reasons for doing this that we could discuss. Please note that this means that we are letting go of the possibility of recouping quite a large number of labour hours (or their monetary equivalent). That said, I personally have been skeptical about the potential of this approach for revenue generation, and think it the most appropriate strategy for moving forward into our new system.
Evaluating the increased labour hours needed for the maintenance of this system. During and after the implementation process (that will be followed through by the current committee), there needs to be a discussion of what resources are needed to maintain our member labour system - in paid staff hours and member labour.

Implementation Process:
Please refer to the general outline for implementation contained in the Proposal. An article is coming out in the next Chronicle giving members a very general �advance warning� and reminder of the changes approved by the Board last year and discussed at the 2003 AGM.

Contingent on Board approval, the Committee�s next step is to move forward on precise dates and assignment of tasks for implementation over the next several months. These include things like: another article in the next Chronicle, design and distribution of a �new member labour system� pamphlet, updating relevant Karma documents, a briefing to staff on the content of the changes, committee presence in the store during the initial phases of implementation, changes to cash register, planning out and executing updates of Member cards, working out a mandate for a �standing� member labour committee, etc.

The next meeting of the committee is scheduled for February 11th.

Mandate of the Ad Hoc Member Labour Committee
To make things complex, we have two mandates! The first would be for the current �Ad Hoc� Committee, which was formed in 2002 with the specific purpose of evaluating the member labour system, coming up with the new policies, and then following through on an implementation process.

The second mandate would be for a new member labour �standing� committee. We envision a standing committee as being less about coming up with new changes, and more about being responsible for the maintenance of the (new) member labour system, working in conjunction with the member labour coordinator and member secretary.

Our current committee was formed and is working on the former of these mandates. It was not meant to be working on the latter, and not all members are necessarily committed to remaining on for this new mandate. Our committee recognizes that without other changes (say, a full-time paid member labour coordinator position) the good functioning of the member labour system would be facilitated by having a �regular� standing committee. It seems almost a given from everyone at Karma that the idea of a standing committee is a good one. Assuming for now that this is the case (and it would seem appropriate for the Board to approve this idea officially), the committee has added to its mandate the process of researching, consulting, and drawing up a mandate for this committee. The time-line for this is not established, but it would be good to have this done soon after (if not before) the implementation date for the new system of June 01, 2004.

Ad Hoc ML Mandate:
The long-term goal of Karma, regarding member labour, is to have a member labour system that does not impose additional workloads on paid staff or financial burdens on the Co-op. This system should be supportive, not extraneous, suited to the uniqueness of our community of members, and, ultimately, create a co-operative community of actively involved members. The Member Labour Committee should promote the system that is in place, while working to improve it to achieve this goal. The main short-term overall objective of this committee is to submit recommendations to the Karma Board that when implemented will:

Reduce the percentage of unfilled member labour shifts
Ensure that the current contribution from working members and non-working members support the store equally and sufficiently.
Improve retention of working members.
Reduce the number of cancelled shifts.
Reduce the number of �no show� member shifts.
Reduce the number of scheduling complications and errors resulting from miscommunications and/or misunderstandings.
Design and set up a mandate for a standing ML committee (new).

Additionally, we have had the following objectives:

Capture knowledge that can be used to orient new members of the committee, so that the committee�s work is not interrupted by turnover (e.g. history and any relevant philosophy vis-�-vis member labour at Karma, means of operation within the committee, time commitments, etc.)
Maintain a consolidated repository of ideas considered and the corresponding rationale for pursuing or not pursuing each (this may include efforts made in the past and their results)
Establish a documented and defendable rationale for any monetary or quantitative recommendations (e.g. calculations supporting a change in the non-working surcharge)
Maintain this committee mandate document as a living document that reflects the current objectives, scope, and constraints of the committee.
Maintain an archive including official minutes, documents supporting committee discussions, versions of this document.
Form/recruit a cohesive core group of non-paid and non-Board committee members that can carry the main work load of the committee.

7G. Orientation Committee (Ed)
Nothing to report
Next Meeting: no meeting scheduled for remainder of the year

7H. Promotions Committee (Andy)

Not included (he had tried to send and will resend).

Discussion
Andy noted that he had gone to the last Promotions Committee meeting. In addition, he had met with Michelle for an hour to discuss a variety of issues. The next meeting will be the third Saturday of February at the store.

7I. Web Committee (Aysa)

Report submitted:

The Web Committee last met on December 18, 2003. The next meeting will likely be in early March.

Committee members have continued to update the Karma Web site as other committees supply content. The most notable recent change is completely new content and design in the Food Issues Committee section. We are anticipating new Member Labour content in the near future, as well as Karma's by-laws and policies. Committee members have also developed a Google-based search engine to appear on our Web site and ensured that our site will be indexed by search engines so that it will rank higher in searches.

The Web Committee began work on implementing Web forms to make it easier for other Karma members to update certain sections of the site. Our priority is to offer this feature to the Promotions Committee for posting events, and to the Member Labour Coordinator for posting available work shifts. We hoped to use the interface offered by our host, Web Networks, but it was too expensive and didn't give us all of the functions we wanted. Instead, one committee member designed an interface himself using CGI script, and it is currently in beta testing.

Two members of the Web Committee continue to work on the problems with Web browser compatibility, and hope to find solutions so that users of browsers other than Internet Explorer can view and use our site properly.

The Web Committee continues to consider upgrading our current Web hosting package, or switching to another provider. Our current subscription is up for renewal in July, so we hope to make a decision by then. Our decision will be based on the features we need as we continue to improve our Web site, costs, and the quality of service we can get from hosting companies.

The Web Committee has updated its mandate.

Each member of the Web Committee has a defined role and responsibilities. We still need additional help with getting content and making updates. We hope that some of this work will be done by other committees once we have the Web forms up and running, but we still may need occasional writing contributions from others as well as periodic updates from committees and staff to keep the site information current and accurate.

8. Executive Reports

8A. President (Graeme)

Report submitted:

Completed follow-up to the retreat; Wrote article for Chronicle; Attended Karma Caucus; Began to investigate and research ways to improve Karma, through co-op development by communicating with Co-op Associations and consultants; Met with the general manager, in what will become periodic monthly GM and president meetings. Discussed various issues. The meetings are meant to be action oriented meetings.

Discussion
Graeme distributed four data sheets that presented the results of the board�s retreat discussions (see attached). He indicated he would bring them forward again for discussion at a future board meeting.

8B. Vice President (Andy)

Report submitted
Not included.

8C. Treasurer (Geoff)

Report submitted
See attached financial report.

Discussion
Geoff indicated he would pursue getting a line of credit for Karma and/or establishing zero-interest member loans (to a maximum of 50k) to address the expected summer cash flow issues.

Christie suggested exploring means to increase financial literacy and capacity within the board and membership generally on Karma�s finances.

8D. Secretary (Christie)

Report submitted:
Drafted December 2003 board meeting minutes and distributed to directors for review; Amended November 2003 board meeting minutes, distributed electronically to board members, submitted to web site, and posted at store; Checked board@karmacoop.org account for messages intended for the board Submitted directors liability insurance application information to the general manager; Emailed committee chairs with dates of the board of directors� meeting scheduled for 2004; Attended Karma Caucus

9. Other Business
Agreement by consensus to adjourn.