May Board Minutes

in

Regular Board Meeting Minutes

May 21, 2024

 

Present:  Wendy Wiebe, Maggie Jones, Mikale Leymann, Kay Coburn, Cathy-Ann Glockner, John Kingsmill

Regrets: James Hiebert

Staff Present: Ashley Elliott (HR Director, IGM), Sean Silverson (Finance Director, IGM), Rachel McGown (Front End Manager)

Members Present: Paul Cowan, Maureen Kelsey, Crystal Petrie

Chair: Wendy Wiebe

Recorder: Sadie Yancey (Board Administrative Assistant)

 

Meeting brought to order at 4:02pm on Zoom

 

Adoption of May Meeting Agenda:  M/Maggie S/Cathy-Ann. The chair identified several items added since circulation of the agenda. All in favour.

Declaration of Interests: none

Approval of April Meeting Minutes:  M/John S/Maggie, no amendments. All in favour.

Approval of consent agenda, including: 

  • Governance Committee minutes 
  • Nominations Committee minutes
  • Finance Committee minutes
  • Member Engagement Committee minutes

M/Kay S/Cathy-Ann

The Chair noted a point from Governance minutes – that the board self-evaluation survey will be circulated later this week. The Member Engagement Committee did not meet, and as such, minutes were not included.

CARRIED. All in favour.

 

Business Arising

  1. The chair welcomed three members who have nominated themselves for the 2024-2027 board. Directors and staff introduced themselves.
  2. Manager of the Month – Rachel McGown
    1. Rachel shared with the board information about the Front End department – their current staffing, services, busiest times, and upcoming projects.
    2. Rachel responded to questions from directors. The IGM celebrated the efficiency of the department under Rachel’s leadership. 

4:26pm Rachel left

  1. Strategic Plan.  The strategic planning committee recommends that the board share the Goals, Objectives, and Outcomes of the strategic plan with staff on Beekeeper, as none of it is competitively sensitive.  The committee will determine the appropriate person to post.

MOTION To approve sharing the strategic plan with staff on Beekeeper. 

M/Kay S/John

CARRIED All in favour

  1. Review member feedback received this month.
  2. Nominations elections costs. With more nominees than available seats, the board expects to have an election this year.  The nominations committee would like to provide members with the same online election platform as last year.

MOTION To approve $1400 for the election platform for this year’s director election

M/Maggie S/John

CARRIED

  1. SungKongHue University in South Korea
    1. A director shared plans to welcome, in August, a delegation of graduate students from South Korea with an interest in food co-ops.

IGM Report – Presented by Sean Silverson and Ashley Elliott

  1. Sean shared the highlights from the April financials, as circulated.  As with the last number of months, sales and net income continue to be strong, with April sales approximately 15% over last year, which includes a successful spring Case Lot. 
  2. Rolled out 2024 compensation updates to staff
    1. Last week staff received their annual wage increases.  These were generally 4% increases – aligned to inflation and the increase to minimum wage.  Several positions included increases to reflect benchmark. 
    2. The wage provided to entry-level staff after 1 year of full-time employment was updated to exceed the 2023 Living Wage value. 
    3. The IGM responded to questions from directors
  3. Operational planning.  Management has held the first of several meetings to create the operational activities to meet the strategic goals. John Cathro is facilitating these meetings so that IGMs can more fully participate in the discussion. 
  4. The store is closed on Sunday May 26th for annual inventory

Next Meetings:

June 18th – 4:30pm in store

August 20th – 4pm on Zoom

Sept 17th – 4:30pm in store

  1. Questions from member attendees 
    1. “How many committees are there?” Directors are encouraged to be on at least 2 committees.  The chair reviews the rules of Governance, Nominations, Member Engagement, Finance, HR, and this year we have two ad hoc committees – Hiring and Strategic Planning.
    2. “How many hours per month are you putting in?” Directors shared their number of hours per week. Generally it’s 10-30 hours/month – largely depending on committee commitments. Nominees responded that it seems like a very hands-on board. 
    3. A nominee requested the board share its Rules and Policy Manual. ACTION The board will discuss In Camera.  
    4. “Is the cadence between in-person and remote set on the availability of directors?” Yes.  In person (with dinner) is preferred, but the flexibility of Zoom has been helpful for directors living out of town, vacations, and sickness. It changes from one board to the next.
    5. “Is any part of the team unionized?” No
    6. A nominee shared that she got a good sense of unity and support from current directors. Kudos! 

 

The meeting adjourned to in camera session at 5:04pm