UKIAH NATURAL FOODS
(A.K.A. THE HOMESTEAD EXCHANGE)
MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The regular meeting of the Ukiah Natural Foods Board of Directors was
convened on Monday, April 9, 2007, 6 PM, at the NCO Meeting Room, 481
South State St, Ukiah CA.
Call to Order President Dan Hamburg called the meeting to order at 6:05
pm.
Board Members Ross Beck, Secretary (absent)
Adam Gaska
George Gibbs
Dan Hamburg, President
Jacquie Lee
MaryLou Leonard
Terry Nieves, Vice President (absent)
Don Sanderson, Treasurer
Joe Wildman
Staff Lori Rosenberg.
Member-owners None.
INTRODUCTIONS
None.
MEMBER COMMENTS
None.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND MINUTES
Agenda Approval One additional item was added to the agenda; Lori requested
item 4.2, the purchase of a new condensing unit for the store, be added
to Action Items.
M/S/C (Leonard, Gaska) To approve the April 9, 2007 agenda with one addition.
Approval of March 12, 2007
Minutes
M/S/C (Leonard, Sanderson) To approve the minutes from the March 12, 2007
board meeting.
SECRETARY’S ANNOUNCEMENTS
None.
GENERAL MANAGER’S REPORT
Monthly Activity Lori sent out her report electronically. The Annual
Report has been completed; this year pictures were added to make it more
visually interesting. Lori requested that the board contribute an article
for next year’s Annual Report detailing board activities.
Expansion/Relocation
Discussion of this issue will take place in Closed Session.
ACTION ITEMS
Produce racking system
& condensing unit
purchases Lori presented the following information:
• Copies of the bid for the purchase and installation of a new produce
racking system were brought for the board to review.
• The new racking system would replace the shelving in the existing
produce case. The new shelving would allow for a higher volume of produce
to be available, would require less restocking for staff, and would also
be more visually appealing than the current shelving system.
• A new condenser unit is also needed; a new refrigerant is being
phased in so this would be a good time to upgrade the equipment.
• Both the new shelving system and condensing unit would fit in
with Sutti’s remodeling plan; the condensing unit will be moved
to the roof in the case of remodeling.
• The produce department will have to be closed for a couple of
days to allow for the installation of the new shelving; the job will be
started at night in order to minimize the amount of time produce will
be shut down.
M/S/C (Wildman, Lee) To authorize the Co-op management to purchase and
install a new shelving system for the produce department and a new condensing
unit.
BOARD COMMITTEE REPORTS
Board Education/Outreach
& Membership Lori read from Terry’s minutes from the last committee
meeting.
Donations & Grants The committee reported on the following:
• Committee members met at Mendocino College to review the applications
for the John Milder Scholarship; preference was given to applicants not
selected in 2006. Three applicants were chosen to share in the scholarship
funds, two for the Early Childhood Education Program and one for the Agricultural
Program.
• The presentation of the scholarship funds will take place on May
11, 6 p.m. at Mendocino College.
• The Community Grants program has been advertised in the Ukiah
Daily Journal as well as the Co-op newsletter; applications will be accepted
until May 1.
Elections &
Nominations M/S/C (Wildman, Gaska) The board moves to accept the results
of the report from Robertson & Cahill on the reelection of the three
incumbent candidates (Gibbs, Leonard, Sanderson) and passage of the two
bylaw changes.
Finance The committee reported on the following:
• The committee discussed the annual report, the living wage program,
and pricing.
• An article Lori gave to the board from Whole Foods Magazine about
pricing was discussed.
• The article raised some questions for board members to think about
before the next Member Gathering. The article discussed how consumers
perceive prices of products and asserts that customers notice what’s
behind prices (customer service, presentation, product quality, etc.)
more that they notice small price decreases.
• The committee discussed the idea of lowering prices on some high
volume items such as dairy, packaged food, and bulk items. Rapid turnover
of these items could offset the loss to the store from price decreases.
However, it was agreed that the store’s long term viability is a
priority and is dependent on maintaining overall high profitability.
Governance The committee reported on the following:
• The bylaws and disclosure document will need updating now that
the bylaw changes were approved in the last election. The committee will
make sure the changes are made and that Brian updates the bylaws on the
web site.
• Governance will begin researching the topic of Patronage Refunds.
The committee will work on how to make this kind of change organizationally,
and would like the topic discussed in the other committees as well.
• Patronage refunds would address the issue of the store giving
away money in the form of register discounts before knowing how much money
it actually has. Patronage refunds require the membership to share in
the commitment with the store; refunds would not be issued until the end
of the year when a more accurate financial picture emerges.
• Information on Patronage refunds can be found on the CGIN website
as well as in the Cooperative Grocer.
• This change would require a huge amount of member education as
well as a change in the bylaws.
Human Resources See New Business.
Local Food Security None.
NEW BUSINESS
GM Employment
Contract The Human Resource committee reported the following:
• A copy of Lori’s 2006 contract was passed out to the board
for review. The contract will be retyped and updated to reflect the changes
for 2007.
• Lori’s wage increase will be retroactive to the beginning
of 2007.
• The next evaluation process will begin in August of 2007 to ensure
Lori has a new contract at the beginning of 2008.
DIRECTOR COMMUNICATIONS
Director Reports None.
Board Agenda None.
MEMBER COMMENTS
None.
CLOSED SESSION
M/S/C (Wildman, Gaska) The board moves to go into closed session at 7:05.
The next regularly scheduled board meeting will be May 14, 2007 at 6
p.m. at the NCO meeting room. |