MC Meeting Minutes Tuesday October 24, 2007
Meeting opened: 7.23pm

Attendance
MC: Elmarie Pareezer, Vivienne Murray, Sarah Cook, Cecilia Jensen
Others: Dominika Grossy, Stevie Bee, Warren McLaren, Lisa Durante, Lisa McIntosh
Apologies: Rick Shaw, Dave Harris
Chair: Elmarie Minutes: Vivienne

Confirmation of previous minutes
That the September 2007 meeting minutes be accepted.
Proposed Elmarie/Cecilia CARRIED by consensus

Membership
• Warren emailed new members for June, July and August (170 new members) ACCEPTED
Total new members for September 2007: 56 to be emailed by Warrenand to be accepted at the AGM
• Suspensions. Due to some members going away there have been requests for memberships to be suspended while members are away.
• Resignations. None
• Forfeitures. Warren will do a three-monthly forfeiture run. Sarah to show Warren process. To be presented at the December meeting.
Forfeiture Criteria
i) members who have been not contactable for more than 18 months
ii) members who have not shopped for the last two years
To be discussed at next meeting; two options when a member resigns membership
i) Redeem shares ii) Donate shares to the co-op

Reports

TREASURER
• Bank statement had not been reconciled at the time of the meeting.
• Cecilia will complete Treasurer’s report and email this week. MC will communicate via email regarding any issues arising
• Reports to be presented as an appendix to the minutes and posted on website

CO-OP COORDINATOR tabled
• ANU. AH will support POS set up as per objectives with added info regarding operation difficulties of this system
• Request: Experienced Filemaker Pro technicians to fix problems with AH system
Action: To go into soft copy of AGM newsletter
• Permanent Extra Discount (PXD). Warren to communicate to volunteers two options for work discounts i) 8 hours/month ii) Regular Extra Discount (XD) i.e. that to be eligible for PXD 8 hours/month needs to be completed (24 hours over three months is not applicable)
• An incident occurred between a staff member and co-op member. Warren to communicate to member to find out their experience, to resolve issue
• Would like to look at scales that cable straight to POS as that would have the benefit of requiring less typing in of information
• AGM newsletter needs to be received by members at least 21 days prior to AGM
• Upstairs tenant. Rent increase in accordance with AH rent increase

STAFF MEETING tabled

• Suspected theft at AH
Action:
i) At next staff meeting provide description of woman who is suspected of stealing from AH to all staff
ii) Issue to be resolved by asking her to leave
iii) Elmarie to notify member that someone using their membership card is suspected of stealing from co-op and that it is each member's responsibility as to who uses their card.

STOCK COORDINATOR (F&V) tabled

STOCK COORDINATOR (Groceries) tabled
• Raw milk. To be noted at next staff meeting that raw milk can only be sold as a cosmetic product. Emphasise to customers that the milk is not for internal consumption.
• Biodynamic eggs. As organic eggs are now big business and so readily available, we area trying out stocking biodynamic eggs only. Also benefits support small business.
• Buckwheat Granola. Good for raw foodists
• Cecilia to taste test mayonnaise
• Wooden toothbrushes. Fully biodegradable: have boar hair for bristles (need to communicate this fact to members/customers
• Hemp Oil. Massage-grade quality, it is illegal in Australia to sell as a food
• Alfalfa House is mentioned in the September issue of the Sydney Magazine (Sydney Morning Herald). The proprietors of Emma’s on Liberty named AH as the best Fruit and Vegetable shop in Sydney, as part of a piece on where some of Sydney's more well-respected food businesses buy their produce.

Current Matters

MEMBER SURVEY
• Processing of data will take approximately one month to complete, maybe completed by AGM
• Winner of Survey open-order draw: Lisa O’Neill

STAFF REVIEW
• Sarah to draft template

BUDGET
• Cecilia: substantial sales increase in last 3 months
• Dom: this time last year we expected sales to drop, however, this didn’t occur until end of year
• Sarah: 5% increase is aggressive. December will decrease, isn’t a guaranteed growth due to public holidays and as summer is hot, sales will drop
• Dom: wages bill will decrease due to summer holidays

VOLUNTEERS
•  Vivienne: Resume Volunteer Coordinator (VC) positions with the intention to regain some balance between paid members (staff) and general membership. The criteria for a VC position should be those members who commit to long-term volunteering. In the mid-1990s there was a substantial and ongoing VC program whereby volunteers worked in a similar capacity to paid staff. It was successful then, and if implemented adequately now would be able to mitigate future wage growth, which makes up a substantial part of co-op expenses. This would be easier to implement now, in light of there being a dedicated contact person on site (Co-op Coordinator). VCs could also assist in the summer period. Comprehensive training would be provided. As I was one of the ongoing VCs from the mid-1990s I could work on till with some retraining. I am available during the festive season.

STAFF PAY REVIEW
• Cecilia: Compared with retail pay rates, Shop Distributors award was the closest fit. Researching more roles meaningless as what staff do at AH is quite different. Cecilia to review a few other stores more inline with AH such as About Life (Rozelle) Macro and other health food stores.
• A number of issues were raised within MC about wage increases in general
• Rick: Do we/should we pay for longevity?
• Should Stock Coordinators receive same wage as Finance Coordinators?
• If flat rate maybe CPI or pay staff individually – on contracts, i.e., as per performance
• MC to resolve decision on changes and advise staff prior the AGM.

ANNUAL REPORT
• Has been delayed due to Auditor. To be mailed on Friday. Financial report should, hopefully, be ready by Tuesday’s mailout otherwise will be handed out at AGM
• 2006 AGM Minutes - hard copy kept in co-op (Vivienne). Electronic copy to Stevie

Correspondence
Nil

General Business

CONFLICT RESOLUTION POLICY (CR)
• Vivienne believes she has experienced ongoing, disrespectful behaviour from staff, particularly in the past year in her capacity as secretary and knows of other previously active co-op members who have felt similarly. Such incidents have occurred not only in relation to paid members but, amongst volunteers also, going back to her earlier involvement with the co-op. She raised the issue to illustrate what can be the experience, particularly of long-term volunteers in community organisations. This experience culminated in two separate incidents where attempts were made to block computer access for the purpose of secretarial duties. Vivienne believes this behaviour has affected her ability to perform her secretarial duties by often being made to feel distinctly unwelcome in the co-op.
•  By developing a comprehensive CR policy that specifically addresses the concerns of volunteers who feel ‘targeted’, it should provide options for a contact person to address such concerns. Future volunteers can then feel assured that AH is aware that such experiences are common in volunteer organizations, and so through mindfulness of such situations, a thorough safeguard is in place should the situation occur and will be addressed adequately, without the volunteer being made to feel like a ‘trouble maker’.
• Vivienne will complete the first draft of the CR Policy that specifically addresses the issue of volunteer wellbeing

FESTIVE SEASON HOURS
• Elmarie: Co-op was very busy Dec. 24, 2006
• Sarah: All staff except two went to Peats Ridge Festival. Need to be sure have enough stock to sell
• Warren to forward details about sales and MC to decide on co-op hours over the Christmas/New Year's period

CO-OP HISTORY
• Stevie to write a history of the co-op for the website; first part 1981-1988 is already written and on the website. Next step is write up 1988-mid 1990s.

Meeting Closed: 9.45pm