Chatham Marketplace May 27, 2015 Board Meeting
5/27/15
Members Present: Kathy Mohr, Sarah D'Amato, Kathleen Conroy, Jamie Saunders, David
Simmons, Katie Niver,
General Manager: David McComas
Guests: Tom Morris, Doug Wakeman
Board decisions in bold italics.
1) Reading of the ends.
2) April minutes accepted by all.
3) Finance Report (Jamie):
A) Numbers looked good. 1-30 day terms on AP looked okay. The POS system is unable to
send direct data to Quickbooks, the Finance Committee has asked Miki to do some more data
entry to assist with that.
4) GM FYI (David M.):
A) Labor was 20.43%, sales were up $9800 over last year with a 4% increase. Eryn just finished
pricing updates, just needs to update the shelf stickers. Some price increases; David has
compared the raised costs to the other local competing stores and these are not unreasonable.
Some items we were undercharging for and some we were overcharging for.
B) Preferred Owner Pricing (POP) is starting to look like we can make it work; Scott is getting
the code and logistics work out. Using TPR (Temporary Price Reduction) through NCG so we
will not take a hit on our margins. This system should allow us to lower our cost and allow us to
sell more.
C) New kitchen member (George), new grocery team member (TJ) are helpful new additions to
their departments. New things for the meat department happening. Sales are up over $5,500
over last year.
D) Struggling with STRC’s SMS update ($4,500). Store needs to update credit card terminals
and other updates to get us PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliant.
E) Staff Survey. So far, decent involvement; leaving it open for some people to finish. David M.
will follow up with David D.
F) B6 Staff Treatment and Compensation. David M. will work with David D. and Eryn to help
assist with training and getting feedback for future staff surveys. Paul’s former template omitted
other information in the past. Our template has written into it that we would have a professional
HR group to overlook the whole handbook and policies. If a board member thinks a policy is out
of compliance a board member can inspect files and information. To follow up and make sure
we are within compliance and board should be auditing every so often. Will be on agenda for
next month. B6 accepted by all.
G) B7 Communication to the board. Reports refer to D1, but it is a CBLD policy template, and
we still use our old Board Governance policies. David will rewrite it to refer to 4-8 Board
Members Code of Conduct before the board can accept policy.
We had several questions on B3 last month, David M. and Kathleen did discuss it and it will be
on agenda for next month Include information on protection of physical assets like maintenance
schedules for coolers. Do we need an outside company to vet our Employee Handbook to
make sure it is in line with state laws? More data for the Operational Definition "The co-op has in
place clear guidelines for what info we collect from members"... where are those guidelines?
Worker’s compensation insurance information was not fully up to date. #6 small typos with
CIN’s, were accidentally labeled as ownership requests. David M. will fix. David M. will send out
with edits to all to accept by email.
5) Board Business (all):
A) Repayment Plan for CIN Notes: Kathleen and David presented on the work they have done
with Bill Gessner of Cooperative Development Services, Ben Sandel of Cooperative Board
Leaderships Development Services and Paul Finkel from our Finance Committee. Highlights:
will depreciate almost all equipment in store by 2016, will budget to replace. Sales up both 2013
and 2014 and both years profitable, but down in cash by end of 2014 due to catching up pastdue accounts payables. First quarter challenging; deli staffing issues and struggling to maintain
pricing in POS system. Based on our work with our consultants, and our own understanding of
our financials and the store needs, we believe that we cannot create an aggressive CIN
repayment plan until we have completed paying off our first position debt with BIHC. We will
make our final BIHC payment in October of 2019, and as of November, we can begin to pay off
CIN notes at $5,000 a month.
The store will establish a separate account for CIN repayment. The store will set aside a
minimum of $200 per week into this fund. When the fund hits $5,000. Then the fund will
continue to grow until it again hits the target and pays off the next note. Consultants strongly
advised paying off the notes by date, oldest first.
Board and David revisited the amount that is being set aside on a quarterly basis. As sales and
operations continue to improve, and as equipment is replaced, the amount that can be set aside
will rise.
Letter to investors to go out ASAP
B) Annual Meeting and Board Election Party: Elizabeth sent out roles for board volunteers and
plans are in full swing. Annual meeting @ 11:30. Discuss CM Market situation. Will be on
agenda for next meeting.
C) BYLAWS 6.4 need to be reviewed and rewritten for clarity. Sarah will do a complete bylaw
review
D) Staff appreciation day: the Ownership Committee talked a lot about it and will work on some
ideas after the annual meeting.
Next BoD meeting 6/24/15. Will discuss B4, B5, and board jobs for the year.