MC Meeting Minutes Wednesday May 28, 2008
Meeting opened: 7.40pm

ATTENDANCE
MC: Nassim Arrage, Genevieve Derwent, Gemma Beall, Lara Daley, Linda Grkinic (from 8pm)
Others: Dave Harris, Stevie Bee, Gareth Elliot, Warren McLaren, Katherine Myers, Monika Baumann, Amity Lynch
Apologies: Renata Field, Stephen Honey, Anika Vinson
Chair: Genevieve Derwent Minutes: Gemma Beall

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


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.

MEMBERSHIP

NEW MEMBERS: 52 people have applied for membership from April 16 – May 21

Proposal: That Alfalfa House accept applicants with membership numbers 4872–4924 as members.
Moved: Nassim Seconded: Genevieve CARRIED

RESIGNATIONS
• 5 refund requests: member #4682, 4759, 3344, 3634, 4829; 3 donation of shares requests: #3988, 4306, 421; 1 one-year suspension: #3362; one undecided: #3685

Proposal: That the member resignations of members # 4682, 4759, 3344, 3634, 4829, 3988, 4306, 4211 be accepted.
Moved: Genevieve Seconded: Gemma CARRIED.

FORFEITURES
None

ELECTION OF A MEMBER TO THE MC
• Katherine Myers nominated for the vacancy on the MC. Katherine has been a long-standing member and has also been a volunteer; she enjoys the co-op and its open community, is committed to shopping at the co-op, and is interested in being more involved.
• Katherine: What is involved and what timeframe is my involvement for?
• Lara: re-election at AGM (Nov), initially I was told my commitment would be 2hours/week but it's more, although the time commitment is flexible depending on your other work, the MC-Liaison will take some of your time too.
• Nassim: MC can be held individually and collectively responsible for co-op in various circumstances; ultimate legal responsibility for AH sits with MC. Despite this, the philosophy of co-op is to have an organisational structure that is as flat as possible, non-hierarchical, thus other groupings are set up for to make decisions (eg, subcommittees that have their own powers).
• Stevie: Between AGMs, MC carries out policy-making on behalf of members.

Proposal: That Katherine Myers be elected to the Management Committee of Alfalfa House.
Moved: Lara Seconded: Nassim CARRIED

REPORTS

FINANCE

• No Treasurer at present. Julia (Bookkeeper) is working to lock in new system, until then April's Profit and Loss Statement (P+L)is an interim report.
• P+L: loss for April $6500, reasons for the loss: April was a 5-week month (an extra week's wages paid), entitlement payouts to leaving staff and training of new staff.
Profit YTD (year to date): approx $20,000
Sales were up in April compared to March
Total income in April: $88,308, March: $87,000
Total Cost of Sales $62,695.98
Net Profit (Loss) ($6,485.40)
• Balance sheet:
Trading account: $41,000
Offset account: $22,500 (used to meet entitlements such as superannuation and holiday pay)
Current Year Earnings $19,962.82
Total Equity $9,068.00

• Nassim: wants finalised March financials

Proposal: That the Treasurer's Report be accepted
Moved: Nassim Seconded: Gemma CARRIED

CO-OP COORDINATOR (tabled)

Locks: some debate as to whether an alarm or changing the locks is the best solution to “unknown keyholders after-hours grazing”.
• Dave feels an alarm is like a prison.
• Monika: why not change the locks and staff leaving cannot get final pay until their keys are returned?
• Dave: that's a better trust culture.
• Nassim will draft a key policy for next meeting.

Proposal: That AH approve changing all locks, including new security keys, that keyholders who leave must return their keys before receiving their final pay. That, if necessary, AH revisit the option of an alarm system in the future.
Moved: Lara Seconded: Nassim CARRIED

Julia's extra hours:
• Nassim: can you give us a timeframe for Julia's extra hours?
• Warren: they will exist until extra work is done.

Not-for-profit status:
• Nassim: about AH not entitled to community-based Not-for-Profit status. Do we need to challenge this?
• Warren: it hindered us buying cheaper computers as we didn't meet usual guidelines for community-based Not-for-Profits. Warren will forward emails to Nassim to look into.

Business award:
• AH has been nominated for a local business award. Promotional photos offered by organisers at a cost of $650, however, deemed something we couldn't afford.

Credit cards:
• Our credit card provider has increased fees 0.2% from May 1. Current policy is to pass this cost on to the customer,
• Julia concerned we are paying too much, the problem lies in the fact that our credit union doesn't provide us with credit card facilities so we use a third party provider, if we banked with a bank we'd get credit provision cheaper.
• Warren will look into other options of third party providers.
• Amity: comfortable with passing on to customers who want to use that facility
• Gareth: we can remind people to use cash

Proposal: That Alfalfa House continues to pass on credit card fees to customers.
Moved: Lara Seconded: Gemma CARRIED

Proposal: That the Co-op Coordinator's report be accepted:
Moved: Nassim Seconded Lara CARRIED

STOCK COORDINATOR (GROCERIES) (tabled)
• Stephen not present but Dave and Gareth say he's definitely improving with stock ordering.

Proposal: That the Groceries Coordinator's report be accepted
Moved: Nassim Seconded: Linda CARRIED

STOCK COORDINATOR (PRODUCE)( tabled)
• Renata not present but Dave notes she is doing a great job, judges stock needs well, he and Amity “punch the air” for her, Stevie appreciates Renata's web content.

Proposal: That the Produce Coordinator's report be accepted
Moved: Lara Seconded: Nassim CARRIED

STAFF MEETING
• This month's staff delegates to the MC meeting are: Amity, Dave and Gareth.
• A request from MC to delegates that they only raise issues that MC needs to deal with to decide on at MC meetings, MC members will read the Staff Meeting minutes beforehand.

Proposal: That the staff delegates' report be accepted
Moved: Nassim Seconded: Linda CARRIED

CORRESPONDENCE
None

CURRENT MATTERS

FOOD GRANTS
• Received a request for a food grant from Barnados Comedy Show. MC believes the group will get more offers elsewhere. There is also considerable demand on our grant scheme.

Proposal: That the food grant request from Barnados Comedy Show be declined
Moved: Nassim Seconded: Linda CARRIED Lara to inform

• Received a request from the Australian Student Environment Network (ASEN) for a grant to support a fundraising event.

Proposal: That the ASEN food grant be accepted.
Moved: Lara Seconded: Gemma CARRIED

STAFF LEAVE APPLICATIONS
• MC hasn't dealt with these previously, if these issues can't be resolved at a staff meeting then bring them to MC, otherwise staff sort it out at staff meetings.

STAFF PAY INCREASE
• Before MC can approve anything, it needs to have a full grasp on finances. As we've had no Treasurer this might not be resolved for 2-3 months.

REQUEST FOR EXTRA WORK TO BE CONVERTED TO XDs
• Dominika Grossy is requesting that she be granted one XD for every extra hour she worked prior to extra paid hours being approved (15 hours in total).

Proposal: That Dominika Grossy's request for XDs in lieu of extra hours performed as Produce Coordinator be granted.
Moved: Nassim Seconded: Gemma CARRIED

• Nassim: don't think staff should have to work longer than their agreed hours
• Genevieve: the MC believes that staff should not work hours over what they're paid for, we need to establish a culture where overtime can be remunerated adequately.

EXTRA STAFF ON TUESDAYS
• Tuesdays are a single Shop Coordinator day; historically it has been a quieter day, although the last two hours are quite busy. Staff are requesting an extra Shop Coordinator be employed from 3pm.

Proposal: That a new shift be added between 3-8pm as a trial for a month and the current 3.30-9.30pm shift be reduced to 3.30-8pm.
Moved: Nassim Seconded: Linda CARRIED

STAFF TRAINING
• Genevieve: staff induction can be ad hoc, so MC is proposing ongoing resources for extra training (eg, sustainability courses) to broaden the scope of AH staff. This benefits short and long-term community involvement. Of course it is contingent on finances but it is positive that the discussion starts now.

BUDGET 2007-2008
• No budget for this period

BUDGET 2008-2009
• Nassim working on this and needs expenditure items to incorporate into the budget. Staff and MC to email him any.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
• Nassim is developing an involvement sheet, and an outline of AH

VISION DAY DEBRIEF
• Gareth: lots of positive things came out on the day.
• Amity: should be budgeted for to allow for more
• Dave: perhaps could happen more than yearly to keep ahead of each year. Great day but structure was a little inflexible.
• Linda: didn't want to spotlight negative reflections but would have been nice to debrief more (time constraints)
• Stevie: Historically, strategic planning days were open to all and voluntary.
• Warren: Future days can be about going forward, objectives etc. not just vision.

OTHER MATTERS

ELECTION OF TREASURER
One nomination: Nassim Arrage

Proposal: That Nassim Arrage be elected Treasurer.
Moved: Gemma Seconded: Linda CARRIED

SURVEY
• Subcommittee to deal with member survey results/markups mooted.
• Nassim: writing a proposal for the next meeting, staff and MC to let him know what they want included, Elmarie (who initiated and drafted the survey) wants to be involved.

MC LIAISON
• Nassim: everyone nominated their selection at Vision Day, Katherine will be Julia's liaison.

WEB FORUM
• Stevie and Gemma asked questions of a member who is able to help us. Positive answers, forum is doable. Needs a subcommittee and perhaps a finite trial period.

Meeting Closed: 9.35pm