Council Discusses Rules for Member-Initiated Petitions; Signs Consulting Agreement for Expansion-

Last Updated on Thursday, 03 November 2011 08:35 Thursday, 03 November 2011 07:39

 By 12th Moon, 

Council President

Council met on Tuesday, Oct. 11 in The Space with three member-owners in attendance, two of whom are applying to be appointed to Council. We started the meeting seven minutes late as we awaited the mandatory minimum number of Council members needed to reach quorum. During the time allotted for announcements, we were encouraged to table in the stores regarding a few upcoming October events and member-related issues, including supporting the proposed bylaws changes that Council has recommended (or presented as in the case of one set) to our membership for a vote from Oct. 15 through Nov. 15, and receiving member feedback prior to a possible membership vote in the spring to increase our member equity contribution and change the time frame for arriving at full equity.

The monthly General Manager (GM) report came next and we learned that not only that the stores are both performing above budgeted expectations, but that the West-End store actually broke a new record by having over three hundred thousand dollars of sales in the thirty-sixth week of the year. Managers and staff are busy making preparations for the holiday season soon upon us and working to finalize the stores' operational budgets for 2012. It was also reported that we are seeing very positive results from our participation at the Farmers' Market at Cornell, as well as through our FLOWER discount program (both resulting in increased new memberships), and through continuing discussions we've been having with leaders of our community from GIAC, the Southside Community Center and the Multi-Cultural Resource Center to better serve our shared goals of a more diverse and equitable culture with healthy food available to and affordable for all people in our community.

Our GM and Human Resources manager next submitted to Council the Annual Compensation Report, which was referred to our Personnel Committee for review. This report informs us of plans for Living Wage increases in entry-level salaries, performance-based wage increases and any changes to our employee benefits programs. A report back from the Personnel Committee is expected at our Nov. 8 meeting.

A preliminary 2012 operational budget was presented for discussion and questions, with a final budget to be presented at our November meeting. The proposed budget for 2012 shows a conservative evaluation of growth potential as the country continues to experience economic problems and our West-End store continues to limit our abilities for growth because of its small size and inadequate number of parking spaces. To offset these issues, management has taken steps to trim back on some expenditures and to plan for only necessary improvements.

Our Council budget for 2012 was the next item on our agenda. Due in large part to our successful hiring of a new GM, which eliminated the need for monies allocated to a search, and due to much trimming of existing lines in the budget, we were able to pass a 2012 Council budget approximately $16,000 less than last year's budget. We additionally passed a proposal to join the Cooperative Board Leadership Development (CBLD) 2012 program, which we had budgeted for in our Governance Training line, with much appreciation to our consultant Art Sherwood and the support of the CBLD program, which is helping us in our transition to the Policy Governance system.

I next reported back to Council about the Immediacies Committee meeting I had called, in conjunction with our Executive Planning Committee meeting of Sept. 27, in order that we could expeditiously act on the proposal brought to our September meeting to enter into a Development Agreement with the National Cooperative Grocers Association Development Cooperative (NCGA/DC). With final contract negotiations completed in time for our Immediacies Committee meeting, we were able to approve signing the agreement. The DC will help GreenStar in all phases of our expansion plans, from initial goal setting through continued support for successful operations of a potential new store for two years after its opening.

After our mid-meeting break and after a few clarifying amendments and some formatting corrections regarding the placement of agenda attachments in our Sept. 13 Council minutes, we approved the minutes for release.

The next item up for discussion consisted of rules and a specific form for member-initiated petitions, when requesting a binding membership vote on a member-initiated petition or bylaws revision petition, or wherever our bylaws give members the right to petition. After some discussion and clarification of the need for providing these forms and rules to our members, we sent the proposal back to our Governance and Monitoring Committee for final revisions, to come back to Council at our November meeting.

A second set of new policies utilizing the Policy Governance format was next presented for review by our Policy Drafting Committee, with the expectation that we will have a third set presented in November and be able to finalize the adoption, implementation and transition to our new policies at our December meeting.

We next agreed to conduct an evaluation of our GM in conjunction with the end of his 90-day probationary period, with results to be presented to Council in November.

Lastly, speaking of evaluations, we okayed a Summary Council Self Evaluation Report for the 2010-2011 Council, with agreed-upon goals, which will also be presented in next month's GreenLeaf and in the stores for our members to read.