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, June 11, 2007, 6 PM, at the NCO Meeting Room, 481
South State St, Ukiah CA.
Call to Order President Terry Nieves called the meeting to order at 6:04
pm.
Board Members Ross Beck, Secretary
Adam Gaska
George Gibbs, Treasurer
Dan Hamburg, Vice President
Jacquie Lee
MaryLou Leonard
Terry Nieves, President
Don Sanderson
Joe Wildman
Staff Lori Rosenberg.
Member-owners None.
INTRODUCTIONS
None.
MEMBER COMMENTS
None.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND MINUTES
Agenda Approval Lori requested one Action Item be added to the agenda;
management would like authorization to open a money market account at
the Savings Bank. One additional item was also added to New Business;
Jacquie requested a discussion as to whether members serving on committees
must reapply each year.
M/S/C (Beck, Gibbs) to approve the June 11, 2007 agenda with two additional
items for discussion.
Approval of 5/14/07
Minutes M/S/C (Hamburg, Gibbs) to approve the minutes from the May 14,
2007 board meeting.
GENERAL MANAGER’S REPORT
Monthly Activity Lori reported on the following:
• Lori brought samples of a new handout, “Good Reasons to
go Organic” from the Organic Trade Association. A Spanish version
is also being prepared.
• Another handout, titled “Nine Ways to Save”, is being
printed and will be available shortly.
• The store will be closed on June 24 for the planned computer upgrade.
ACTION ITEMS
Authorization to open new
money market acct.
M/S/C (Wildman, Lee) management is authorized to open a money market account
at the Savings Bank.
Approval of 2007 Grant
recipients M/S/C (Beck, Hamburg) to approve the slate of submitted grant
recipients.
BOARD COMMITTEE REPORTS
Board Education/Outreach
& Membership The committee reported on the following:
• The main focus of the last meeting was how to prepare for the
next Membership Gathering. The Gathering will take place July 17 at the
Sun House. The original time of 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. will be shortened to
5:30-8 p.m.
• Jacquie will prepare a salad and members will be encouraged to
bring bread or a dessert to share.
• The focus of the meeting will be pricing and sustainable farming.
The sustainability discussion will come first and will lead into a conversation
about prices.
• Lori and Adam’s recent newsletter articles will be made
available to members who may not have read them. A pie chart of “where
your dollar goes at the Co-op” may be blown up and used as a visual
aid.
• The pricing conversation should be structured so that main points
are covered and well explained and appropriate amounts of time are given
to each subject. Members should be encouraged to offer their views on
the issues but not led to believe they are there to “vote”
on change prices.
• Members who wish to have more information regarding pricing should
be given reference material for further investigation.
• The point of this meeting should not be to “defend”
prices, but rather to get people thinking about what it really costs to
produce and to purchase quality food.
• The Membership Gathering could provide a good opportunity to bring
up the topic of Patronage Refunds to the membership.
• The committee will produce a rough draft for the gathering at
their next meeting.
Donations & Grants See Action Items. The committee met and reported
on the following:
• Nineteen grant applications were received and reviewed (see attached
list). The organizations chosen for grants are located throughout the
county including one in Lake County.
• There was a glitch with one of the applications; the Sherwood
Rancheria applied for a grant for a community meeting area and garden
but did not have the standard 501 (c) status. It was determined that it
was still eligible as a non-profit as a 170 (c), similar to a school’s
status.
• Several school garden projects were chosen to receive funding;
Terry pointed out that school garden projects are already receiving funding
from a state program.
• Some concerns were raised about which organizations were receiving
money from the Co-op and what criteria were being used to pick recipients.
The question as to whether any follow up was being done on how recipients
were using the money was also brought up.
• A discussion about the criteria for choosing grant recipients
will be added to the August agenda.
Elections & Nominations
None.
Finance The committee reported the following:
• The big topic was whether or not members serving on committees
must reapply each year (see New Business).
• There is a trend towards a gradual slowing of sales in the store.
Sales are still strong, but the gross sales are slightly under budget
projections.
• Committee chairs must let Gayle know which members are attending
committee meetings each month so that the members receive their additional
2% discount.
Governance None.
Human Resources The committee did not meet. A list of possible meeting
times for July will be sent out soon; the committee hopes to initiate
the General Manager’s evaluation process by August.
Local Food Security Don sent out a committee report electronically. The
committee reported on the following:
• The committee will continue to work on formulating a vision for
a local food program and getting a stronger commitment from the college.
NEW BUSINESS
Committee members
reapplication The following points were discussed:
• Currently, members who serve on a committee are required to reapply
each year. Some committee chairs feel this is an unnecessary burden to
volunteer members.
• There have been problems with committee members who have applied
and been accepted on a committee, but then never or rarely shown up to
meetings. There needs to be a mechanism in place for voting off problematic
committee members or those who don’t regularly attend.
• After initially applying, the list of names of volunteers needs
to come to the board for approval each year. It is the responsibility
of each committee chair to determine whether committee members wish to
remain on a committee. Committee members must show a commitment by regularly
attending meetings.
M/S/C (Hamburg, Sanderson) A policy regarding committee volunteers will
go to the Governance committee for further research and discussion; a
proposal will be brought back to the next board meeting.
DIRECTOR COMMUNICATIONS
Director Reports None.
Board Agenda The reapplication process for committee members will be
on the July agenda.
MEMBER COMMENTS
None.
CLOSED SESSION
M/S/C (Wildman, Gaska) the board authorizes the chair to call one or
more closed sessions before the next meeting for the purpose of discussing
real estate.
The next regularly scheduled board meeting will be July 9, 2007 at 6
p.m. at the NCO meeting room.
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