September 2024 Board Meeting Minutes

September 10, 2024 

Members in attendance - see attached sign in sheet 

Board members in attendance: Jeff, Elena, Kris, Stephanie 

1. Welcome everybody who are in attendance 

2. Thank the current board, garden and store volunteers 

a. Reminded everyone to make sure they update their contact information at 

the store. 

3. Vote for new board members who did not get bios in time. 

a. Did not vote. Instead, we are adding three new bios to the existing three and reposting to vote for all. Also adding a voting station at the store. 

4. Garden comments? Barb/Debra 

a. Barb S. gave a slide show presentation on the beginnings of the garden. 

She also explained who the garden partners with, the grants they get and who the food goes to. 

5. Accomplishments for the year 

a. We initially increased our volunteer pool at the store and were able to 

have the store open 6 days a week. 

b. New landscaping for the front of the building. The pollinator garden is looking good. We lost a couple of the new plants, but everything else seems to be growing well. Thank you Bree. 

c. Sara Wendell stepped up to take on the bookkeeping position for the store 

which means we no longer have to pay for a bookkeeper. 

i. Sara may be starting a new job in January so we may need a new 

bookkeeper. 

6. Major issues faced for the year 

a. Lack of volunteers to help spread the workload. We were open for 6 days 

of week for a while and then lost our Tuesday and Wednesday volunteers. 

We have one person interested in possible working Wednesdays again. 

i. 

Multiple comments regarding volunteers. 

1. Recreate committees such as landscaping, building 

maintenance, education, community outreach, community involvement, membership. 

2. Better advertising to get our name out in the community. 3. Meal subscription service/Co-op kitchen. 

b. Need for new leadership. We have two potential new board members, but 

are still looking for a new President and VP. 

i. 

Now have up to six new board members. Debra, Saira, Stephanie, Margaret, Jaren and and Sara. 

c. Decrease in profits due to the amount of revenue. Currently we are losing 

money each month and cannot sustain our current business model. 

d. UNFI delivery problems. They continually skipped our delivery so we ran 

low on inventory. 

e. New freezer. 

i. 

We should have $650 in donations for the freezer. 

f. Floor of store. 

i. 

ii. 

Uneven floors 

Hole in back room. 

g. Condition of leased building. New siding will run around $20k. 

h. Possible mold issue in storage closet. 

7. Finances 

a. Hand out statements 

b. Discuss numbers 

i. Higher expenses include payroll, bookkeeping, fuel and delivery surcharges. We do not want to raise prices if at all possible Steadily losing money over the past few years 

ii. 

c. Board has been preparing in case the store needs to close. Options being 

discussed are: (Explained that the board discusses option not because we think the store is closing, but we need to be prepared just in case) 

Donate property to like-minded entity to help carry on mission. 

Sell store on the open market and donate proceeds to multiple charities in the area. 

i. 

ii. 

iii. 

Sell store on the open market and divide proceeds to members per the bylaws. 

8. Priorities for next year? 

a. Volunteers again 

b. More revenue 

c. More community involvement/interaction 

d. Reimagine/restructure co-op in light of financial issues the last five years. 

9. Open to questions/new topics 

a. Most of the comments revolved around getting more committees staffed to 

take the burden off of the board. 

b. Bring back the newsletter. 

c. A new strategic plan. 

d. Post the board meeting minutes and financials. 

e. Have a meet the board gathering.