Ebytown Food Co-op 2002 Annual General Meeting

7 pm, Tuesday, March 26, 2002

Huether Hotel Board Room, Waterloo

Present: Julian Van Mossel-Forrester, Sarah Anderson, Karin Kliewer, Greg Roberts, Andrew Barker, Maria Hatzipantelis, Matt Corks, Don Weber, Steve Izma, Barb Hankins, Amelia Izma, Gabriella Izma, Kathy Mortimer, Dave Watson, Bill Reick, Dawn Miles, Ashok Thirumurthi, Caterina Lindman, Steve Ohi

The meeting was called to order at 7:22 pm.

Introductions

• Sarah welcomed members and mentioned the upcoming events:
  • Community Vegetarian Feast, May 4^th
  • Dandelion Festival, May 5^th
• Members were reminded that if they have any questions, they can contact the entire Board at <info@ebytown.org>.
• Meeting attendees introduced themselves.

Status of membership survey

• Maria reminded members that the deadline for submitting the membership survey is April 5^th, 2002.
• The results will be published April 30 or May 4 at a potluck.
• Members can email or call Maria if they have any questions.

Status of grant applications

• Karin reminded members that a Co-op Developer position was approved, contingent upon finding a grant, in the spring of 2000.
• Grants from Trillium and ONFC Community Development fund have been investigated.  A target date of November 2002 has been set for applying for these grants.
• Bill Wharrie informed members that the Maycourt Nearly New Shop received a Trillium grant to renovate and that Ebytown may be eligible also.
• An audit performed by a Charted Accountant (CA) is required to apply for these grants.  So far, the Co-op has received a quote of $2000 for doing an audit.
• Bill mentioned that the Beaver Creek Housing Coop's audit cost approximately $1,000.
• Maria will request a grad student who may perform the audit at $25 per hour.
• Karin mentioned that her CA contact would not take BarterDollars, for fear this would be seen as a conflict of interest.
• At Linda Nagel's suggestion, the co-op will seek Funds for two positions, a co-op developer and a co-op promoter, in the hopes that the store will eventually become self-sufficient.  It is expected that the positions would be on contract initially, with the expectation of extension or permanent status.
• The Board repeated that the store couldn't immediately move to another location where it would be required to pay rent.

Purchasing Portfolio

• Kathy informed members that Organic Choice has gone bankrupt (Nina Bailey-Dick was previously the Organic Choice purchaser).
• She also informed members of a dispute which arose between Harmony Milk producers, ONFC and Organic Meadows and affected Organic Choice.  An explanation will be sought from those involved, including ONFC.
• A labelling project was undertaken to help purchasers know who is responsible for which products.  The labels are magnetic and washable.  Greg mentioned that additional markings could be used to indicate other features such as a happy face for organic foods, a different symbol for local products, etc.  Ashok suggested the labels could be tied in with software training.

Store Management portfolio

• Ashok suggested the store look at networking to increase sales.  For example, he has proposed a Fairshare Harvest drop proposal to coincide with the store being open on Tuesdays from 5-8 p.m.
• Computer enhancements are being worked on to allow for paperless after-hour sales and pre-orders, and to minimize float inconsistency problems.
• Ashok informed members that the new software system would be tested in April and installed on May 1^st.  Training will be provided on Fridays in April and May.  The training dates will be sent via the Topica listserv.
• Don suggested the store look into a security box.  Sarah mentioned that it would not be feasible at this time.  Matt suggested the store look into a programmable padlock on a lockbox, and knows where this can be purchased.
• Ashok informed members of the project to redesign the store floor space.

Finance portfolio

• The store is making money, and is in the black.
• The computer system needs enhancements to fix things such as pre-orders that are being discounted.
• Andrew informed members that sales were lower than the previous year.  The store has about $2,000 in inventory, BarterWorks sales of $588 and an ONFC loan of approximately $4800.  A year-end inventory adjustment $27.78 was made.  The books are not balancing and this is a work in progress project.  Matt noted that the $2000 of inventory might be based on retail value, and that this should be double-checked.
• Kathy noted that spoilage is accounted for in the inventory figures but shrinkage is not.

Board Openings

• Sarah informed members that she and Karin are retiring and that three portfolios are open: Community Relations, Member relations and Member-At-Large.
• Maria mentioned that she might be willing to take on the Purchasers portfolio.  Andrew motioned.  Steve seconded.  Approved by all.

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:12 p.m.