Abingdon Farmers Market
P.O. Box 791
Abingdon, VA 24212
276-623-1121
Meeting Minutes 01/03/11
Present:, Darnell Sumrell, David Alexander, Lindsey Holderfield, Tom Peterson, Joan Shaver,
Rebekah McCune, Teresa Jordan, Sandra Carney, Sara Cardinale, Blake Baker, Lionel Osborne, Mary
Bell Boltwood, Will Clark, Paige Johns.
1) Lindsey welcomed new Steering Committee members Sandra Carney and Blake Baker.
a. Reviewed by-laws and the structure and make-up of Steering Committee
b. Identified officers and Sara Cardinale (Market Manager)
c. Touched on goals and intentions of Steering Committee
i. Members represent both the group they are stationed to represent AND the best
interests of the AFM as a whole.
2) Steering Committee binders
a. Lindsey compiled a notebook for each Steering Committee member and passed them
out.
i. Notebooks contain Steering Committee contact information, by-laws, 2010 rules
and regulations, minutes from the past two meetings, and information regarding
our process for assigning spaces at the AFM.
1. Contact sheet was passed around for folks to make changes – Lindsey
will update sheet and send it out to S.C. members.
2. Lindsey noted that the by-laws were updated to reflect that our fiscal
year is the calendar year.
b. Asked Sara to add Steering Committee meeting schedule to website – First Monday
evening of each month (unless some conflict arises)
3) Election of officers
a. Our current officers are: Tom Peterson (Secretary), David Alexander (Treasurer) and
Lindsey Holderfield (Facilitator).
b. All three were re-nominated, no other nominations were made and the officer slate will
remain unchanged for 2011.
4) Budget review
a. David Alexander presented the proposed budget for 2011
Expenses:
Market Manager
&
$15,000.00
Promotional Coordinator
Administration
$250.00
Manager Phone
$720.00
Promotional Items
$1500.00
State License
$100.00
Advertising
$1000.00
Musicians / Chefs at Market
$1500.00
Insurance
$500.00
Food for Events
$200.00
Total
$20,770.00
Income
Vendor Fees
Promotional Sales
Washington County
Town of Abingdon
Total
$10,000.00
$1,500.00
$4,000.00
$3,000.00
$18,500.00
b. David pointed out that our expenses exceed our income and that we will need to use
some of our bank account surplus to make up the difference. (We have $11,000.00 or so
in our bank account). He is concerned that if we were to lose funding from the Town or
Washington County, our surplus funds would deplete quickly.
c. A suggestion was made to put some of our surplus funds into an interest bearing
account or CD, but the general feeling was that interest rates are so low that it would not
be worth doing.
d. We discussed the possibility of raising fees to help work towards a balanced budget
(raising daily fees, raising fees for full season vendors, raising fees for some full season
vendors to better reflect the differences of the various types of spots). It was pointed out
that we have relatively low fees for a Market of our size and popularity, but that we also
had relatively high fees compared to Markets in our area. Tom felt that our support
funds from the Town and the County were secure for the near future. There was general
agreement that our vendor fees will have to be raised in the near future, but we decided
to leave fees as they are for the 2011 season (because we have a healthy surplus and no
pressing need to raise fees) and review our financial situation in mid-season (July
meeting) and address the fee issue again at that time. At that time we can better assess
our budget deficit and cash flow needs.
e. It was also pointed out that our single major expense is the Market Manager salary. Are
there ways to reduce this expense – fewer hours, for example? Sara felt that it is likely
that she will not need to work the 1000 hours we have budgeted for her in 2011. This
was seen as further reason to re-assess our situation in July.
f. A motion was made to accept the draft budget as-is. This was seconded and passed in a
vote.
5) Review of Steering Committee categories
a. We entered into a long discussion about how to best represent the make-up of the AFM
with the Steering Committee positions. Currently our make-up is:
i. Produce vendors
3 seats
ii. Meat/egg vendors
2 seats
iii. Flower/greenhouse
1 seat
iv. Craft artisan
2 seats
v. Prepared foods
2 seats
b. Concerns fit into these general categories:
i. This doesn’t match our target Market ratio of 70% farm vendors/15% craft
vendors/15% prepared food vendors (currently we are 60/20/20 in the Steering
Committee, and there are complaints that there is not enough farmer
representation on the Committee)
ii. How to best fit our two newest Steering Committee members into our current
Committee positions (currently Sandra Carney (Coltsfoot Winery) is
representing produce vendors and Blake Baker (Baker Homestead – goat cheese,
primarily) is representing meat and egg vendors).
c. Solutions ranged from doing away with categories altogether (having 6-7 “Farm”
representatives and 3-4 “Non-farm” representatives) to adding one or two seats to the
Steering Committee and adding a “Specialty Farm Products” category (to better fit
wineries, cheese-makers and greenhouse/flower producers) to almost every imaginable
combination in between. Some folks wondered if we needed to address these potential
changes right away – if they couldn’t wait until later in the season to address. There was
also concern that further “splitting” of categories could spill into our process for
assigning spots at Market, making that process more difficult and cumbersome. In the
end we made two decisions:
d. A motion was made to change the “Meat and Eggs” category to “Meat, Eggs and
Cheese”. This was seconded and passed in a vote.
e. A motion was made to leave the Steering Committee breakdown the way it is and work
with the ambiguity of the current structure and get to the business of the AFM. This was
seconded and passed in a vote.
6) Discussion of wine and cheese as farm or prepared foods vendors
a. We discussed how to best categorize wine and cheese vendors for vendor spots if they
were purchasing fruits and milk to make their products.
b. It was agreed that if farmers are making cheese and wine with the fruits and milk that
they raise, they fit well into the “Farmer” category, but if they purchase the raw
ingredients, does that make them more of a “prepared food” vendor than a “farmer”
vendor? The issue is that other “Farmer” vendors are not permitted to purchase
vegetables or meats from other vendors and re-sell them at the Market. How do we
fairly address the wine and cheese situation?
c. One solution was to establish a percentage cut-off – above which they can be a
“Farmer” vendor, below which they become a “Processed Food” vendor.
d. Will suggested we add some additional criteria:
i. Are they working towards raising production over time to reach 100% of fruit
and/or milk production for their product?
ii. Are they purchasing farm products that could be raised locally (would their
classification change if they were purchasing locally raised fruits and/or milk?)
e. Others were uncomfortable with “watering” down the rules for each category and
suggested that perhaps we need to add a new “Value-added Farm Product” category.
f. A decision was tabled for the next meeting on the two agreed questions:
i. Do we establish a production percentage to earn a “Farmer” spot?
ii. Do we add “Value-added Farm product” as a new vendor sub-category(under
the “Farmer” vendor section)?
7) Other business
a. Darnell suggested several topics that need to be addressed in future meetings:
i. Do we need to deal with vendors who make significant changes to their product
offerings at Market (different than what they applied for – particularly of the
change would put them in a different category)?
ii. Do we want to extend Market days during the Virginia Highlands Festival? This
was discussed and we voted to stick with our regular Saturday and Tuesday
hours during the Festival.
iii. We need to make sure that all vendors adequately clean their spots after Market
– some frequently left messes behind. Tom suggested that we have that clearly
stated as an expectation under the rules and that we follow the procedure for
those who do not follow the rules of Market – warnings, a letter from the
Steering Committee, and then suspension from the Market if the behavior
persists.
b. Tom asked if we wanted to do Tomato Fest for the Virginia Highlands Festival (as that
decision needs to be made soon). The Committee decided that with the new location of
the VHF, the Tomato Festival was more of a distraction than a benefit. We will not plan
a festival for the VHF in 2011.
Meeting adjourned
Next Meeting:
Monday, Feb. 7 @ 6:30 p.m. at St. John’s Lutheran Church