Durham Food Coop – Board of Directors Business Meeting

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Location:  See Saw Studios, 326 W. Geer St., Durham

Opened: 4:00 PM

Closed: 7:15 PM

Board members present: Regina Dyson, Denise VanDeCruze, Sven Rinke, Martha Moore, Sarah Bish, Jeane Bross, Katherine Nilbrink, Jonathan Blackwell

Members present: Tom Roche, Robert Olason

Documents presented: Finance committee meeting minutes, Leadership/Management “workshop” notes, Financial reports: P&L Aug 1-19 and June 1-Aug 18, Cash flow statement Jan 1-Aug 19 and July 1-Aug 19, Income/Expense Jan 1- Aug 19, Balance Sheet as of Aug 19

Agenda and Timeframes:

1. 4:00 acknowledgement of meeting attendees

2. 4:05 guests presentation

3. 4:15 a. qualities/characteristics of leadership b. conducting of leadership

4. 4:45 self inventory/productivity exercises

5. 4:55 action plan development

6. 5:10 DFC biz model

7. 5:30 finance

8. 5:50 effective communications

9. 6:00 marketing and community outreach

10. 6:10 OND “new coop” initiative

11. 6:20 confirm next general BoD meeting, date/time/location.  address “parking lot” items.

1. Acknowledgement of meeting attendees:

2. Guests presentation:

·        Action item:  The People’s Alliance Meeting is this coming Thursday, at 7:30pm at First Presbyterian Church in Durham.  Katherine and Jonathan will pursue ways to learn more about a potential alliance/win-win relationship btw DFC and PA.  They will investigate: what are the financial, hourly, etc resources that will be required?  How will any money be collected and distributed?

·        Action item: Bob Olason will contact TROSA and then contact Regina with prices for helping to physically move the old coolers out of the co-op.  It is possible that volunteer free salvage service could wedge the coolers instead of any lifting.  Membership will be notified of when work will be happening via signage on door and info on website and in newsletter.

o       Action item: Gene may be able to deal with chiller units on top of the roof.  We will need paperwork for this.  Denise will investigate and get back to Gene by Friday.

o       Action item: Target date for cooler removals: September 15^th.  Phil will remove the door.

o       Decision: we will not close the store to do this.  Denise will investigate, but it’s looking like we will remove all 3 coolers (as opposed to the 2).

3. a. qualities/characteristics of leadership b. conducting of leadership

·        Action item:  all Board members should read through leadership/management handouts thoroughly and comment/ask questions/discuss via email.

4. self inventory/productivity exercises

·        Action item:  Regina will tally up our individual numbers and give feedback from inventory exercise.

5. action plan development

·        Decision: Sven, Sarah, Regina and Stuart will work together to develop a realistic, implement-able action plan which BoD will carry out from Sept 1- December 15^th.  Action plan will be completed by August 31^st.

·        Action item: Regina will send an email to coordinate the first meeting this week.

6. DFC biz model

• Decision: Sven (primary) and Regina (will be in the loop) will research whether or not the proposed business model will limit BoD liability as well as what would be the best way to identify and re-incorporate our status.  Whatever is decided by Board after that will be presented to the membership.  He will make recommendations to the Board by the next meeting.
• Action item: Denise will write up the business model discussed at today’s meeting in a few paragraphs.  Regina would like to see and edit this before it goes out.

• Decision:  We need to hire a store manager by the end of the year (2007) and a paid Bookkeeper by September 1^st.  If we are not able to do that by December 15^th, we will call a membership meeting to share the current Board’s final efforts and go from there.  If we are able to do that, we still may meet for membership to vote on Board’s proposed new status.

7. finance

• Action item:  All BoD should look over financial documents and ask questions/make comments via email.
• Action item:  All BoD should read and comment on Jeane’s Finance Committee report.
• Action item:  Jeane will set the next Finance Committee meeting, hopefully within the next week.

8. effective communications

• Decision:  For the next 120 days:
  
  • convey all decisions board-wide and staff-wide
  • relay exec board decisions to full-board
  • redirect to Regina unless you’re absolutely positive how to handle it
  • for board member to board member communication, know who does what. Post emails TO: the appropriate person, CC: dfcboard
  • members to board: advise members to contact the person in charge of that issue.
  • Board to members: open
  • Committees to board: open

• Action item:  Regina will develop a flow chart of communication by the end of the week.

9. marketing and community outreach

• Action item:  Jonathan will work on newsletter with Denise (and maybe Tom) in a way that is viable for him.
• Action item: Katherine and Jonathan can work together to create marketing collateral for the co-op.
• Action item:  Martha and Regina will meet this week to discuss any role she is interested in as far as community outreach or contacting folks in the community.

10. OND “new coop” initiative

• Action item:  Stuart drafted a letter to OND group discussing opening their own co-op in the area.  Upon reflection, Regina will revise the letter to be more collaborative with an acknowledgement that they did not approach us and that would have been preferred in the co-op spirit.

11. confirm next general BoD meeting, date/time/location.  address “parking lot” items.

·        Next meeting: September 16^th, 4pm

·        Action item:  Denise will look into possibility of location at the Center for Documentary Studies.

REMINDERS:

·        Everyone will do regular check-ins and self-inventory to prevent burn-out.

·        Everyone will choose 1 or 2 fellow Board members to ask questions or check-in with when they are feeling in doubt.

·        Other meetings to schedule: Sarah and Regina—Staff update meeting, Marketing.