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Monday, May 17, 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), Grif Cunningham (Property Management and Planning Committee Liaison), and Aysa September (Web Committee Liaison, Member Labour Committee Co-Liaison).
Staff
Present: Sarah Fairley (General Manager)
1. Approval of Agenda
Agreement by consensus to approve the agenda with the addition of an in-camera item.
2. Correspondence and Announcements
Graeme announced that the Ontario Natural Food Coop’s Annual General Meeting was taking place on May 29th and that he and Justin would attend it. He also noted there had been no correspondence from members. Christie added there had been no email messages send to the board.
3. Minutes
Agreement by consensus to approve the minutes.
4. Committee Reports
4A. AGM Committee (Christie)
Report submitted:
Date of last meeting: NA
Date of next meeting: NA
Action Items Completed:
- Committee has been corresponding by email but not yet met
Questions for the board:
- Is there a preference for having the meeting on a Saturday this year?
Discussion
There was support for a 6-9pm meeting with a light meal on October 18th or 25th.
4B. Chronicle Committee (Anil)
Report submitted:
Date of Last Meeting: April 14, 2004
Date of Next Meeting: June 16, 2004
Action Items Completed:
- Layout of ML issue on track.
Action Items Not Completed:
- Budget: Some concerns were expressed about the budget line for Chronicle production. The committee is still considering a revised budget.
Other Notes:
- The Chronicle committee has lined up a layout person for the next issue after the Member Labour issue.
4C. Finance Committee (Geoff)
No Report Submitted
Discussion
Geoff reported that the Finance Committee had requested clarification from the board as to the division of decision making and authority over financial decisions (board vs. General Manager). The issue had arisen at a Committee meeting when Sarah reported that debit and credit card payment options would be introduced and cheques would no longer accepted (except for member loans). Andy said he felt it was within Sarah’s authority to make such an operational decision. Aysa noted that related the membership had indicated its support for debit/credit card in the membership survey. Lachlan said the board should establish what generally should be considered an operational decision requiring board consideration/approval and what decisions should be the General Manager’s authority/responsibility. The board agreed to discuss the larger question of authority/responsibility/decision making at the retreat and passed a motion to proceed with the introduction of debit/credit card options.
Majority opinion (9/2) for Karma to introduce debit/credit card payment options and to limit the acceptance of cheques to use for membership loans.
Sarah noted she would report back to the board on the implementation process, including logistics and fees.
4D. Food Issues Committee (Justin)
Report submitted:
Date of Last Meeting: May 10, 2004
Date of Next meeting: June 14, 2004
Action Items Not Completed:
- The May 10th meeting was cancelled. At the next meeting the Food Issues Committee will resume its work on the product rating system.
4E. Maintenance Committee (Grif)
Report submitted:
Nothing to report.
Discussion
Agreement by consensus to change the name of the Maintenance Committee the Property Management and Planning Committee.
4F. Member Labour Committee (Aysa & Lachlan)
Report Submitted
Dates of last meetings: April 28 and May 12, 2004
Date of next meeting: May 25, 2004
Action Items Completed:
- Special issue of the Chronicle written and produced.
- Membership cards redesigned.
- June 1st implementation plan proceeding between committee and staff.
Action Items Not Completed:
- Plans for the May 30th “system change-over” day are ongoing.
Questions for the board:
- Is everyone up to speed on the last minute changes that have been made on how to deal with outstanding hours from the old system? See “Rationale” article in the Chronicle.
4G. Orientation Committee (-)
Report submitted:
Announcements to the board and committees:
- Ed has expressed his interest to resign from the board. Graeme is trying to confirm his intentions.
Discussion
Agreement by consensus to accept the resignation of Ed Fielding as a member of the board.
Agreement by consensus to appoint Anil Reddi as the Orientation Committee Board Liaison (appointment accepted).
4H. Promotions Committee (Andy)
Date of Last Meeting: April 24, 2004
Date of Next meeting: TBA
Action Items Completed:
- Completed Calendar of events for year; Budget proposal for next fiscal year.
Action Items Not Completed:
- Mandate and structure in draft format; Defined membership
Questions for the board:
- Explore cost of insurance for Children's events in Karma
Other Notes:
- Inappropriate behavior from member, further action requested
4I. Web Committee (Aysa)
Report submitted:
Date of last meeting: April 29, 2004
Date of next meeting: May 25, 2004
Action Items Completed:
- Selected a new Web hosting service provider that we would like to switch to when our current service with Web Networks expires in July. The proposed new host is HostVector, and can provide us with more functions at a much lower price of US$50/year.
- Provided a Web form to the Member Labour Coordinator for posting available shifts to the site.
- Set up membership database with capability to email members regarding available store shifts.
- Created an email account for the Membership Secretary: memberrecords@karmacoop.org.
- Added content from Member Labour Committee to the site, including announcements about the upcoming changes to the member labour system.
Action Items Not Completed:
- Split News and Events into two separate pages on the site, and provide interface to Promotions Committee for updating the Events page.
- Post the March board meeting minutes to the site.
- Confirm HTML coding conventions for site editors.
Announcements to the board and committees:
- The Web Committee will not be submitting a proposal regarding a partnership with Toronto FreeNet due to concerns raised about the quality of their service.
- Jason Diceman, Chair of the AGM Committee, has been in contact with the Web Committee regarding his offer to provide an extranet or Web binder to store Karma's documents. He is currently offering this feature free of charge through his company, but would like to set up a contract of service with Karma at a discounted rate.
Questions for the board:
- Do you have any guidelines regarding the ethical business conduct of companies that we may wish to select for Karma's Web hosting service?
Discussion
Sarah noted that it would useful generally to have a contracting policy that outlined ethical guidelines. Andy and Graeme suggested that in the absence of a policy, that Karma should make decisions based on the existing mission and cooperative values.
4J. Human Resources Committee (Graeme)
Report submitted:
Date of Last Meeting: May 6, 2004
Date of Next Meeting: N/A
Actions Items Completed:
- Developed new HR structure.
- Added and orientated new member
Action Items Not Completed:
- New GM contract
Questions for the board:
- Can we differentiate the duties of supervising the general manager (supervisory committee) and supporting the general manager (HR working group)?
Discussion
Graeme reported that the Human Resources Committee had recommended that the it be split into two bodies with two distinct functions. The Supervisory Committee would be responsible for dealing with the General Manager’s job description, performance evaluation and determine pay and benefits. The Human Resources Working Group would undertake tasks to support HR related work of the General Manager in exchange for member labour hours. The Committee suggested that the ideally each would be comprised of two members, and that the two members of the Supervisory Committee should be the President and another board member.
Agreement by consensus to separate the Human Resources Committee into the Supervisory Committee and the Human Resources Working Group.
5. Executive Reports
5A. President (Graeme)
Report submitted:
Action Items Completed:
- Attended plant exchange and open house.
Announcements to the board and committees:
- Ed has expressed his interest to resign from the board. Graeme has tried to confirm his intentions, but has been unable.
Questions for the board:
- Can we consider alternating board meetings? One month would be reserved for a regular meeting discussion and the second month would be for policy and special issues.
- What would we like to accomplish at the June retreat? Suggestions for where will it should be held.
- How do we want to deal with Ed’s resignation?
- Does anyone want to attend the ONFC AGM? Justin and I will be there.
Discussion
Graeme presented a proposal to alternate board meetings between regular board business and policy development. Christie suggested adopting the approach until year end as a trial. Lachlan suggested some committee business would still require board input.
Agreement by consensus alternate board meetings between regular board business and policy development for at least the summer months.
5B. Vice President (Andy)
No Report submitted
5C. Treasurer (Geoff)
No Report submitted
Discussion
Geoff overviewed the three budget scenarios for membership fee levels. Christie said that a decision should be made as to whether committee incidentals should be covered, because there were inconsistencies between committees and given that members doing non-committee labour hours received no similar benefits. Geoff stressed that there remained much work to do address the financial health of the organization and to begin to rebuild a reserve fund.
Agreement by consensus adopt the second budget presented by Geoff (available on request).
5D. Secretary (Christie)
Report submitted:
Action Items Completed:
- Draft April 2004 board meeting minutes and distributed to directors for review
- Amended March 2004 board meeting minutes, distributed electronically to board members and submitted for website posting
- Checked board@karmacoop.org account for messages intended for the board
6. General Manager's Report (Sarah)
Report submitted:
The receiver general has been paid.
PST and WSIB payments are up to date.
Sales & Expenses:
- The sales will be above budget for the month of May, however it is too early in the month to determine how much above budget sales will be.
- The expenses are expected to be above budget for the month of May due to increased payroll costs (see Member Labour).
Staff:
- There are no issues of staff absenteeism and illness to report
- Naomi Fance, who has worked as a clerk for nearly one year, will work her last day on May 18th. No additional staff will be hired to replace Naomi. Some of Naomi’s shifts will be filled by current staff, others will be eliminated as described under Operational Changes.
- Hiring for a part-time summer clerk position will take place in late May.
Capital Changes
- There are no capital changes to report.
Operational Changes
- There will be no changes to store hours over the summer.
- Staffing levels will be reduced for the period of June 1st to Aug 31st for total savings of $1400.00.
- The first in a series of new shelving units has been completed; creating much needed overstock space. A new display case is currently being designed for the produce area. The project is expected to be completed by the end of June. The unit will be designed to display seasonal fruits, as well as provide improved storage for reusable containers and bags.
Member Labour:
- Member Labour changes coming into effect on June 1st require substantial changes to membership documents and training manuals. The MLC is handling most of these changes, requiring an increase in weekly hours 10 to 18 for the month of May. These additional hours exceed the total number of MLC hours budgeted for the year ending 2004 and may result in a small deficit in our membership budget as well as higher than normal payroll costs.
- Staff preparations for the upcoming member labour changes are moving along on schedule.
- Unfilled in-store work shifts continue to be a problem.
- Some working members report that they have been invited to attend committee meetings and that they receive credit for “checking out” the committee. Such practices could result in members receiving credit for “checking out” work options for multiple months without actually doing any work for the committee. The new membership policy automatically gives all members two hours of credit to do this research. In light of the difficulty that we are currently facing in finding members to do in-store work I recommend that committees not extend further credit to members for “checking out” their committee.
Announcements and Questions to the board and committees:
- Plans to reorganize Karma’s management structure are currently being developed. The planned changes are designed to address current concerns about the need for strategic co-op and business development and GM workload. When the board is presented with the 2005 budget for approval increased payroll expenses (of approximately 15%) will be included.
Action Items:
- In light of the difficulty that we are currently facing in finding members to do in-store work I recommend that committees not extend further credit to members for “checking out” their committee.
Discussion
Agreement that Committee Liaisons must communicate with their committees that member labour not be given for “checking out” committees. Labour credit will only be assigned to members officially serving on a committee or completing defined assigned tasks for a committee.
7. Business Arising
Agreement by consensus to appoint a new board member to replace Ed. Decision to advertise opening and invite interested members to attend the next board meeting for a question and answer session.
Agreement by consensus to adjourn.