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, August 13, 2007, 6 PM, at the NCO Meeting Room, 481
South State St, Ukiah CA.
Call to Orde: President Terry Nieves called the meeting to order at 6:07
pm.
Board Members Ross Beck, Secretary
Adam Gaska
George Gibbs, Treasurer
Dan Hamburg, Vice President
Jacquie Lee, (absent)
MaryLou Leonard
Terry Nieves, President
Don Sanderson
Joe Wildman, (arrived late)
Staff Lori Rosenberg, Babs Verenis, Libby Uhuru.
Member-owners Marcela Ries.
INTRODUCTIONS
None.
MEMBER COMMENTS
None.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND MINUTES
Agenda Approval Both Lori and Don requested an item be added to New Business.
M/S/C (Beck, Hamburg) to approve the 8/13/07 agenda with two additions
to New Business.
Approval of 7/9/07
Minutes George requested a change be made in the Finance Report section
of the July minutes. He requested the inclusion of the following statement:
“It is too early to change budgeted expenditures at this point”.
M/S/C (Hamburg, Beck) to approve the minutes from the July 9, 2007 board
meeting as amended by George.
SECRETARY’S ANNOUNCEMENTS
None.
GENERAL MANAGER’S REPORT
Monthly Activity Lori sent out her report electronically prior to the
board meeting; the following topics were discussed:
- The new plastic bags being used in the store will biodegrade if they
are thrown in the trash.
- The accounting review has been rescheduled and will take place on August
28.
- The Mariposa Market in Willits is no longer for sale.
ACTION ITEMS
None.
BOARD COMMITTEE REPORTS
Board Education/Outreach
& Membership The committee reported on the following:
- Member Michael Goven attended the last meeting and has indicated he
would like to join the committee.
- The committee would like to “void” the membership of one
new applicant to the Co-op. A person recently joined who paid for the
membership with a bad check written from a closed bank account. After
knowingly pass bad checks totaling over $1400 in the weeks following the
initial membership application, the individual was arrested at the store
while trying to pass another bad check. The committee believes that the
amended by-laws require a vote by the board to officially disallow the
membership application.
- The board referred back to the by-laws which state that membership applications
can be approved or rejected by the committee; therefore, a vote before
the board is unnecessary.
- The committee will write a letter and officially inform the individual
of their non-admittance to the Co-op membership.
- The committee needs a new “purpose”. The last Member Gathering
was poorly attended and after the next Gathering, which has already been
committed to, the committee will reevaluate whether to continue with the
Member Gatherings.
Donations & Grants None.
Elections &
Nominations No report. The bylaws have been updated with the voted on
amendments and are on the website and will go in the new member packets.
Finance The minutes from the last meeting were sent out electronically.
The committee reported on the following:
- June sales growth has slowed to about 5%. There has been a “summer
slump” this year across all the departments. Although budgeted sales
growth was estimated at about 12% to 13%, expenditures are well below
budget for the year.
- There has been a significant increase in freight charges this year due
to the rise in fuel costs.
- The issue with items being unavailable in the store has been due to
either the manufacturer being out of stock, or a problem with the distributor.
The NCGA is working towards a solution to the distribution problem. Our
major distributor, UNFI, has experienced tremendous growth and has had
some trouble keeping inventory properly stocked. Grocery Manager Babs
has been able to occasionally fill some of the merchandise holes by tapping
into the distributors used by some of the other grocery stores in town.
- The Finance Committee has lost two members, Jack Wade and Madelyn have
resigned.
Governance None.
Human Resources None.
Local Food Security The committee reported the following:
- Don, Anelle and Jim have met and are working on a “face”
for the farming program to present to the public.
- The farming program is still being revised and needs more community
input and involvement as well as volunteers.
NEW BUSINESS
Real Estate Lori has been contacted by a number of local real estate
developers and has the following information to pass on to the board:
- Ukiah Valley Lumber, located on North State St., is for sale.
- The Airport Boulevard development has another planned shopping center
going in. The developer has approached Lori about relocating the Co-op
to this new site.
- A piece of land on Orchard Blvd. just north of Mervyn’s may be
coming up for development; the owners are amiable to leasing the land
and helping finance construction if the Co-op is interested in the site.
- So far, the development plans brought to Lori have been unaffordable.
- The remodeling plan for the current Co-op site is still moving along;
a plot map of the shopping center is being drawn so the planning department
can evaluate the parking requirements.
- Sutti & Associates are drawing up remodel plans for the city to
review.
Consideration of new merchandising
Policy Don passed out a potential new merchandising policy (see attached)
for the board to review. The following was discussed:
- Don would like the board members to read his proposed merchandising
policy, think about it, and discuss it at the next board meeting.
- There is an action item on the second page of the merchandising policy
that the board can consider at the next meeting.
- Lori will be unable to attend the next meeting as she will be at a Co-op
conference in Seattle; she requests the discussion of this issue be postponed
until the October board meeting.
DIRECTOR COMMUNICATIONS
Director Reports None.
Board Agenda The discussion of the proposed new merchandising policy
will be added to the October agenda.
MEMBER COMMENTS
Marcela asked about how many square feet would be added to the store
if the north wall was pushed out towards Gobbi Street. Lori estimated
about 1800 to 2000 square feet.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 6:55 p.m. The next regularly scheduled board
meeting will be September 10, 2007 at 6 p.m. at the NCO meeting room.
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