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MC Meeting Minutes Wednesday June 25, 2008
Meeting opened: 7.40pm

Accent ATTENDANCE
MC: Nassim Arrage, Genevieve Derwent, Lara Daley, Linda Grkinic
Others: Dave Harris, Stevie Bee, Warren McLaren, Monika Baumann, Renata Field
Apologies: Gemma Beall (MC), Katherine Myers (MC)
Chair: Genevieve Derwent Minutes: Gemma Beall

Accent CONFIRMATION OF PREVIOUS MINUTES
That the minutes of the previous meeting be accepted as a true and accurate record.
Moved: Nassim Seconded: Genevieve CARRIED


Accent BUSINESS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MINUTES
• Genevieve apologises for not sending performance review template to staff; will do tomorrow (29/5).
• Amendment to the April minutes: Confirmation of previous minutes seconded by Gemma.

Accent MEMBERSHIP

Proposal: That Alfalfa House accept applicants with membership numbers 4925–4977 as members.
Moved: Lara Seconded: Linda CARRIED

RESIGNATIONS None

FORFEITURES None

Accent REPORTS

FINANCE

• Nassim gave an oral report. In May, the co-op suffered a loss of $3622.31 due to some unforeseen expenses such as maintenance on the peanut butter machines, new keys and locks, a large electricity bill and computer expenses.
• At this stage, it looks like the co-op will make a profit in the vicinity of $15,655 for the year but this is yet to be finalised.
• Nassim cautioned against thinking that the co-op is awash with money. While things are going well, the co-op does face a lot of expenses. And in the event that the co-op were to be wound up, we would have to pay out a large amount in liabilities.
• Nassim, Julia and Warren have begun to draft a budget for 2008/09. It will be on the agenda for the next MC Meeting.
• Warren to email financial statements to all staff and MC.

Proposal: That the Treasurer’s Report be accepted. Lara/Linda CARRIED

CO-OP COORDINATOR
• Extra expenditure. It was noted that there will be a $350 expenditure for the stainless steel drip trays for bulk liquids area.
• There is an additional expenditure related to the water filter to ensure hot water does not run through the filter and damage it.

Proposal: That the expenditure of an additional $200 to finalise the installation of the water filter be approved.
Nassim/Lara CARRIED

Proposal: That the Co-op Coordinator’s report be accepted. Nassim/Lara CARRIED

STAFF MEETING
• Olivia to write a proposal for another vision day in the near future.
• There is an issue with the fridge, it requires repairs that will cost in the vicinity of $360.
• Staff were enthusiastic about the Training Fund and there was a suggestion that MC could have access to the fund.
• There was discussion at the staff meeting about consensus decision-making and how it works. There will be further discussion at the next MC meeting. There is information on the Alfalfa website about consensus decision making.

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

F & V PRODUCE
• There needs to be further discussion about how the co-op manages the issue of rising freight costs. The mark-up working group should be re-istarted and the issue of freight costs should be discussed.
• Nassim has undertaken to write a framework for the Mark-ups/Discount/Survey working group. This will be presented at the next MC Meeting.
• The back garden rejuvenation is underway and it’s intended that this be a project for volunteers. Renata will coordinate the project. This will be discussed further and an article about permaculture will be prepared for an upcoming E-News.

E-NEWS
• Stevie met with two volunteers – Kate and Jo who both have journalist backgrounds. Very positive meeting so it seems the E-News will expand to 4-pages in the near future. Some additions include PriceWatch, more about the history of food and the politics of food.

Accent CORRESPONDENCE
• Correspondence from a local kindergarten about an upcoming Nutrition Day. The organiser of this day is very positive about Alfalfa House and feels there is synergy between the participants and the co-op.

Proposal: That AH create a one-off 10% nutrition voucher for the Australia Street kindergarten nutrition day. Action: Warren
Lara/Nassim CARRIED

Accent FOOD GRANTS

• There are three food grants for this month. Friends of the Earth (FOE), Climate Camp, which are July, and Healing Hands fundraiser.
• FOE National meeting is held over a weekend. It’s an opportunity for FOE activists to come together and develop strategy and plans for the coming year. Climate Camp is held over 5 days in Newcastle.
• Due to Lara’s abstaining from a vote due to her conflict of interest, a decision cannot bet made tonight. However, a decison will made via email. Genevieve, Nassim and Linda were happy to approve all three.
Action: Genevieve will follow-up over email with Katherine and Gemma.

Accent CURRENT MATTERS

TRAINING FUND
• There has been widespread discussion about this and there is general agreement that it is a good thing. However, it is dependent on the co-op’s 08-09 budget and financial situation. There will be further discussion about this.

LIVE GREEN
Proposal: That AH not participate in Live Green 2008. Nassim/Linda CARRIED

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL TEMPLATE
• The template has been discussed by MC and staff and has generally been agreed upon. The idea of 360-degree feedback to be incorporated has also been raised as a possibility. The way this works is that when it comes time for an individual’s review other staff have the chance to offer anonymous feedback. This will be discussed at the staff meeting as to whether staff feel this is important.
Action: Staff delegates to take this issue back to the staff meeting for further discussion.

EQUITY AND LIABILITY
• There needs to be discussion about how much equity we should accumulate and how quickly we should aim to accumulate this money.
• Warren made some suggestions about how we could manage the member shares in terms of accumulating equity. There will need to be further discussion about this in relation to the overall financial plan for the co-op.
• Within the next two months a high interest bank account will be established to hold member shares when they come in.

SYDNEY CITY FARM
• There is a campaign to establish a proportion of Callan Park as an urban farm. The campaigners are seeking members and a business membership costs $100. There is a public meeting on Saturday July 12 and Genevieve and Dave have undertaken to attend.

Proposal: That AH join the Sydney City Farm as a business member.
Lara/Genevieve CARRIED

FAGETTE/AH INFOSHEET AND APPLICATION FORM
• There have not been any Alfalfa House infosheets available for the past year. This means that potential members are directed to look online. Online access is not available to everyone and this potentially means that we are missing out on new members and participants in the co-op.
• 500 copies would cost $64 as a member. Annual membership is $200.

Proposal: Given that providing printed information about Alfalfa House is important, that AH take out membership with the Fagette Press and use them as our printer.
Nassim/Linda CARRIED

• There is also the possibility that if AH doesn’t have anyone able to do the printing then people at Fagette could do the printing for AH for an XD or other similar arrangement. This will be explored further.

VISION DAY FOLLOW-UP
• Linda has established the Wiki space and this will continue to be developed. Information has started to be uploaded.
• Web Forum Stevie has been in contact with Malcolm Fitzgerald who had offered to set up a co-op member discussion forum. It seems unnecessary to have both at this stage.

Action: Stevie and Linda to liaise with Malcolm and coordinate the best way to move forward.

Accent OTHER MATTERS

OVERTIME

Proposal: That MC adopt the policy on overtime as distributed to all MC and staff and that this be added to the policy database.
Genevieve/Nassim CARRIED

CO-OP COORDINATOR ROLE
• Warren has notified the MC that he will not be renewing his contract when it expires in mid-August.
• It’s important to move quickly to revise the job description and find a new replacement.
• The timeline as follows:
1. Staff meeting on Tues July 1 should elect 1-2 staff delegates to participate in a working group to revise the job description.
2. The working group comprised of 3 MC, 2 staff and Warren will meet to draft a new job description that will then be circulated for one week for comment and feedback.
3. One MC member will be the contact person for Staff/MC feedback on the draft job description. The position will then be advertised and interviews will be conducted early August.

Meeting closed at 9:20pm.

 

 

  
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