MC Meeting Minutes Wednesday April 23, 2008
Meeting opened: 7.40pm

Attendance
MC: Nassim Arrage (Minutes), Lara Daley (Chair), Gemma Beall, Linda Grkinic
Others: Monika Baumann, Stephen Honey, Stevie Bee, Anika Vinson (Staff Rep), Renata Field, Jann French, Warren McLaren, Olivia Lovell (Staff Rep), Dominika Grossy
Apologies MC: Genevieve Derwent, Cecilia Jensen; Others: None

Confirmation of previous minutes
That the minutes of the previous meeting be accepted as a true and accurate record.
Moved: Nassim Seconded: Gemma CARRIED

Business arising from previous minutes
Issues of Mural, Countertop and Bookkeeper have been added to Current Matters

Membership
• New Members: 24 people have applied for membership from March 18 to April 15

Proposal: That Alfalfa House accept applicants with membership numbers 4848–4871 as members.
Moved: Lara Seconded: Gemma CARRIED

• Resignations: There is likely to be 10 resignations. Warren needs to contact the members and check what they want to do about their shares. These resignations will be dealt with at the next meeting.
• Forfeitures: Will be tabled at the next meeting.

Reports

FINANCE
• No Treasurer's report was tabled. Cecilia Jensen has tendered her resignation from the Management Committee.

Proposal: That Alfalfa House accept the resignation of Cecilia Jensen as Director from the Management Committee
Moved: Nassim Seconded: Lara CARRIED

• Julia is the new bookkeeper. There may be some inaccuracies in the financial statements tabled at this meeting. She would like to review them before they are adopted by the MC. Final version of the statements will be presented at the next meeting.

CO-OP COORDINATOR (tabled)
• Questions were asked about the upstairs tenant wanting a dog. Concerns were raised about smell, small yard, children in the co-op, food health and safety and barking. Warren will contact the tenant and tell her that our answer is no.
• Issue of new bank account with the Commonwealth to act as a deposit account. Our credit union branch is in Marrickville. Staff do not feel comfortable carrying money to the bank in Marrickville. Also travel time means that less time is spent bookkeeping. The Commonwealth Bank is nearby. The money can be transferred electronically to our Credit Union account. Our issues have been raised previously with the Credit Union with no resolution. Concern raised about the ethics of the Commonwealth Bank. The fees will be approximately $5 per month. Would Sydney Credit Union do a pick-up service?

Proposal: That Alfalfa House authorise the Co-op Coordinator to create a deposit account with the Commonwealth Bank unless the Credit Union can do a pick up service.
Moved: Gemma Seconded: Linda CARRIED

• Issue raised about the ceiling falling in. Staff raised that unless upstairs bathroom is sealed the problem will recur. Warren will alert the real estate agent.

• The counter will be replaced as outlined in the motion in the last meeting. It will be finished with a bio varnish. The work will proceed.

Proposal: That the report be accepted.
Moved: Nassim Seconded: Lara CARRIED


STAFF MEETING
• Anika and Olivia gave a report back of the Staff Meeting. The Staff Meeting had 3 issues to raise with MC:
1. Staff delegates to MC meetings. There needs to be a process for how this will work.
2. Agenda suggestions for vision day – discussed below under MC/Staff Vision Day
3. Recruitment process – staff requested that MC begin recruitment much sooner when a staff member resigns so that positions can be filled and handover can occur before the exiting staff member leaves.

STOCK COORDINATOR (F+V) (tabled)
• The meeting thanked Dom for her time as coordinator. Staff had concerns about information leaving with Dom and so organised a meeting where information was transferred.
• Renata will be the new F & V Coordinator.

Proposal: That the report be accepted.
Moved: Nassim Seconded: Lara CARRIED

STOCK COORDINATOR (GROCERIES)( tabled)
• The meeting acknowledged that Stephen was new to the role and it will take him time to settle into the position.
• Issue raised about Common Ground and their cultish activities, questionable work practices and philosophical differences with Alfalfa House. Staff have been asked many questions by members and other customers. They are only a small supplier to Alfalfa House. Others raised that Common Ground is an intentional community and they may behave oddly – we should look into it before we make a decision to discontinue buying their products. We have spoken to the delivery person in the past who has said there may be problems with the home cult in the USA, however, it doesn't happen in Australia. Others suggested that we do not look behind our other suppliers and just because it has been raised in the media does not mean we should not buy their products. They have some questionable gender practices. We are able to choose who we deal with based on how closely their principles are aligned to ours. We should look at their core documents and see if their principles align with ours. Whatever happens should be communicated to the staff so they can answer any questions coming from members and customers. They are people we get spelt from so if we discontinue we need to find alternative spelt bread.

Proposal: That Alfalfa House delegate the decision on whether or not to continue buying Common Ground products to the Groceries Coordinator pending his investigation into the concerns raised. He is to advise other staff of his decision. If the decision is not to continue to purchase from Common Ground, then the Groceries Coordinator is to source another supplier of spelt or gluten–free bread.
Moved: Nassim Seconded: Lara CARRIED

Proposal: That the report be accepted.
Moved: Nassim Seconded: Lara CARRIED

Correspondence
None

Current Matters

MC RESPONSIBILITY AREAS for AH functioning (see Lara's proposal)
• Lara updated areas of responsibility for MC members.

Proposal: That Alfalfa House adopt MC Work Responsibilities as follows:

Group 1
• Finances and Compliance: financial strategy, budgets, support to
Coordinator on compliance issues
• Broader Community: events and festivals, mural, grants, promotion, support to other co-ops and community groups.

Group 2
AH Community: Staff, volunteers, membership, website

These will be added to as new issues and responsibilities arise.

Moved: Gemma Seconded: Lara CARRIED


MC/STAFF VISION DAY
• There was discussion about the MC/Staff Vision Day. The day will be held on May 25, 2008. Linda will attend the next staff meeting (with the permission of staff) to talk more about how the day will work. Linda emphasised that it will be highly participatory and experiential.

Proposal: That Alfalfa House delegate the organisation of the MC/Staff Vision Day to Linda with respect to the agenda and content and to Nassim with respect to the logistics. The MC agrees that staff should be paid the Sunday rate and approves the expenditure of $300 to cover catering for the day.
Moved: Nassim Seconded: Lara CARRIED

• Monika agreed to organise the catering.
• Linda will make a list of all the materials needed for the day and circulate so that they can be obtained.

MEMBERS' SURVEY
• Nassim will write an article summarising the results of the Members Survey for the next newsletter. The full results of the Survey will be made available on the website.

Proposal: That Alfalfa House forms a subcommittee and ask it to provide direction on what should be done regarding the feedback given through the Members' Survey as well as dealing with the issue of product mark-ups. The subcommittee shall consist of at least the Co-op Coordinator, the F & V Coordinator, the Groceries Coordinator, the Treasurer and any other interested staff or members.
Moved: Nassim Seconded: Lara CARRIED

STAFF PERFORMANCE REVIEW TEMPLATE
• Genevieve has created a staff performance review template. Template to be emailed to staff for comment.

CO-OP COORDINATOR POSITION DESCRIPTION
• There is no longer any confusion about the role of the Co-op Coordinator.

Other Matters

SHOP (time for staff or others to raise matters relating to the co-op)

• Memorial. It is the first anniversary of the death of former staff member Lou Micallef. It was proposed that staff light a candle in the shop.

• Other meetings. There is a Greenpeace GE strategy alliance building on May 6 at Greenpeace office.

• Meeting procedure. MC requests that any matter to be discussed during a MC meeting be put in writing and sent to MC prior to an MC meeting.

• Rick's Absence. Questions were asked as to when Rick would return to Sydney and participate in MC Meetings. It was suggested that our Rules state he can only be absent for a maximum of three meetings. Nassim will look into the Rules for next meeting. Lara will ask Rick when he intends to return.

• Mural. Report from Jann given.

Proposal: That Alfalfa House forms a subcommittee with the authority to make decisions in relation to the mural. The members of the subcommittee are Jann, Gemma, Anika, Renata and Olivia.
Moved: Nassim Seconded: Lara CARRIED

• Emails/Online community spaces. Concern was raised about the number of emails that go backward and forward and that perhaps online community spaces were a better way of communicating. Discussion of this was tabled for the next meeting.

Meeting Closed: 9.25pm