MC Meeting Minutes Wednesday December 17, 2008
Meeting opened: 7.30pm

ATTENDANCE
MC: Genevieve Derwent, Linda Grkinic, Sarah Cook, Jo Rose
Others: Monika Baumann (Groceries Coordinator), Nija Dalal (Coop Coordinator), Nassim Arrage (Member), Aidan Calabria (Shop Coordinator), Amity Lynch (Shop Coordinator), Stevie Bee (Info Coordinator)

Apologies: Renata Field (F+V Coordinator), Julia Gray (Bookkeeper)

CONFIRMATION OF PREVIOUS MINUTES
That the minutes of the previous meeting be accepted as a true and accurate record.
Sarah/Genevieve CARRIED

BUSINESS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MINUTES

Outstanding Actions: Safer Spaces Policy

MEMBERSHIP

NEW MEMBERS
Proposal: That Alfalfa House accept applicants with membership numbers 5219-5254 as members.
Genevieve/Sarah CARRIED

RESIGNATIONS Nil

FORFEITURES Nil

REPORTS

FINANCE
• Operating surplus for November came in at $4936.87 which is a direct result of an increase in sales plus a big decrease in cost of sales.
• Final surplus for November came in at -$953.88 due to a duplicated payment caused by CBA of $5890.75.
• From October to November we increased counter sales by 7.18% which is a great result given we decreased our cost of sales by 11.21%. The groceries spend for November came in at $48,500 which was nearly 16% less than October. Fruit and Veg increased by 5.08% ($812) to $16,815. Budgets have been set to further decrease our Cost of Sales over the December and January (Groceries - $15,000 and F+V - $8,000).
• Sarah – it is necessary to get a clearer understanding of our reporting to review the actuals against the budget. Nija will remind Julia to distribute the P&L statement weekly to assist with this.
• There is a need to price the 46 donated gravity bins so they can be added to the asset register. The bins retail at $120 and are several years old. It was decided to price them at $50 a bin and depreciate them over 5 years (after consultation with the auditor).
• Need to ensure that the donations for gravity bin are tracked and money is set aside. Nija said this money was being set aside in the general bank account and that bins are being ordered when there are sufficient donations to buy 10 bins.

Proposal: That the Treasurer’s Report be accepted. Genevieve/LindaCARRIED

F & V PRODUCE
• Concerns from members and staff that the shop did not have sufficient produce (particularly summer fruit). Communications regarding F&V budget were clarified. • Discussion regarding the budgets set for F&V spend being a guide. MC hoped to be contacted by Renata if she felt the budget was insufficient and needed to be increased.
• Sarah to talk to Renata on Friday (19/12) about the ways MC can engage with the F&V budget regularly so that reasonable levels of stock can be sourced. Sarah will call Anika on Thursday (18/12) to increase the order for the coming weekend as people will be stocking up for the festive season.

Proposal: That the report be accepted. Linda/Sarah CARRIED

GROCERIES
• That Monika only need to provide MYOB data in her reports.
• That Monika direct all customer complaints to Jo who will contact the customer within 24 hours. Monika will put a note on her out of office telling customers to contact Jo if they have an urgent enquiry while she is on leave.

Proposal: That the report be accepted. Linda/Sarah CARRIED

CO-OP COORDINATOR
• Donations for gravity bins are steady. Tickets to the raffle have started to pick up.
• Nija to get quotes on new commercial blender to replace the broken machine.

Proposal: That the report be accepted. Genevieve/Jo CARRIED

STAFF MEETING REPORT
Presented by Amity and Aidan.

• Staff have also been concerned about the limited amount of F&V.
• Susannah wants to contribute to the creation of the safer spaces policy. Proposal that Susannah coordinates the revision of the policy provided by Lara. Staff to be invited to contribute to the drafting of the document. Stevie to invite Vivienne to participate in the process. Policy to be promoted in eNews when finalised.

Proposal: That the staff delegates report be accepted. Genevieve/Linda CARRIED

CORRESPONDENCE

• Genevieve to sign paperwork for the Registry of the Cooperatives
• The Watershed would like one of our MC members involved in their strategic thinking. Nija will contact them and say this isn’t possible at this stage though we are keen to explore ways of working together. Perhaps an AH staff member could be involved or a Watershed board member could attend the next MC meeting and explain more fully what they have in mind.

FOOD GRANTS None

CURRENT MATTERS

ANNIVERSARY PARTY
• Nassim presented a proposal for a party in March/April at the Aeralise at Addison Road. Ideas include a market that members could sell produce/homemade wares at, fundraising dinner, kids area, late-night party.
• Nassim to expand details of the event and present more information at the next meeting.
• Sarah to give Nassim contact details for the Aeralise space.
• Nassim to give Stevie some information about the event to be run in the February e-news to secure volunteers to assist.
• Jo to develop a proposal for a commemorative zine that members and staff contribute to and that can be sold on the day
 
Proposal: That AH to hold a party in April from midday until 3am. That AH not offer lunch as part of the event but sell cakes/drinks instead. That $1000 be allocated as a notional budget..

SEASON DISCOUNT
• Jo to do research with members to explore viability of season discount. Some concerns that a potential discount needs to be carefully managed to ensure AH still makes a profit.

MARKUPS
• Markups committee to meet in January to discuss further and make recommendation. Clarified that it was not going to be too labour-intensive to change the markups in Filemaker.

ANNUAL LEAVE POLICY
• The policy was approved pending an amendment saying that the shop coordinator will notify MC as leave is granted.

Proposal: That the annual leave policy be adopted. Genevieve/Sarah CARRIED

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
• This item was moved to next month’s meeting.

OTHER CO-OPS POLICY

Proposal: That the other co-ops policy be adopted. Linda/Jo CARRIED

NUT BUTTER MACHINES
• Discussion about the broken nut butter machine and whether it was safe. Decision to get the machine fixed ASAP. Notice explaining how to operate machine has been erected.

NEW GRAVITY BINS AND OLD BULK BINS
• The shelves will be altered from the second week in January and bins will be cleaned, filled and stacked in the weeks that follow.
• Decision to store the bins inside ASAP. Nija to explore options regarding free storage and moving the bins.
• Decision to keep some of the old bins for storage.
• Decision to sell the bulk of the bins to the Thirroul co-op at a discounted price. Nija to contact them and find out how many they were after and whether they are happy if we give them to them in batches (as we replace our existing bins with newer ones).

AH CALENDAR
• Discussion about the types of giveaways that were ideal (cost neutral, enticing, things that maybe customers wouldn’t normally buy, things that didn’t require customers to have packaging)
• Linda to work with Monika and Renata to finalise the giveaways by Friday Dec. 19.
• Linda and Sarah to print copies of the calendar for distribution in the shop.
• Calendar to be emailed to members from 6 January.

OTHER MATTERS

• Stevie provided an update on the blitz committee’s 3 stage plan to beautify the front of the shop. First stage of cleaning the building and windows and commissioning a sign writer to take place from January.
• Linda to provide a pressure hose to assist with cleaning.
• Monika has purchased a window squeegie.
• Meeting with sign writer to take place in next fortnight.

Meeting closed at 9.30pm