December Board Minutes

in

Regular Board Meeting Minutes

17 December, 2024

 

Present:  Wendy Wiebe, Maggie Jones, Kay Coburn, James Hiebert, Cathy-Ann Glockner, Paul Cowan, Kate Miers, Leannah Fidler

Staff Present: Ashley Elliott (HR Director, IGM), Sean Silverson (Finance Director, IGM)

Chair: Wendy Wiebe

Recorder: Sadie Yancey (Board Administrative Assistant)

 

Meeting brought to order at 4:38 pm in the Teaching Kitchen

 

Adoption of December Meeting Agenda:  M/Cathy-Ann S/Leannah,  No amendments. All in favour.

Declaration of Interests: none

Approval of November Meeting Minutes:  M/James S/Maggie, No amendments. All in favour.

Approval of consent agenda, including: 

  • Governance Committee minutes 
  • Board Development Committee minutes
  • Finance Committee minutes

M/Paul S/Cathy-Ann

A director asked Sean about a ‘forced’ calculation. Sean responded that this is a note about Excel’s functionality and does not impact the finances. 

CARRIED. All in favour.

 

Business Arising

  1. Approve committees’ TOR and Workplan. Several committees have drafted changes for board approval, but none were ready for review at this meeting. 
  2. Approve board calendar. Each committee has reviewed the calendar for 2024-2025. Directors shared highlights of the changes. 

MOTION To adopt the board calendar for 2024-2025 board-year, as circulated

M/Cathy-Ann S/Kay

CARRIED All in favour

 

  1. Approve chair for: Board Development, Hiring

MOTION To approve the respective committees recommendation for Maggie Jones to be chair of Board Development and Hiring. 

M/Paul S/Kay

CARRIED All in favour

 

  1. Committee assignments
    1. The board considered directors’ capacity and determined that the two directors on the Finance Committee will be sufficient. 

MOTION To reassign the Finance Committee as Kate Mier and James Hiebert.

M/Maggie S/Leannah 

CARRIED All in favour

 

  1. Review Member feedback
    1. The board discussed a member’s concern after an interaction with the Loss Prevention Officer (LPO).  Sean has spoken with the member and with the LPO.  
    2. A director asked a clarifying question about prior member feedback.
  2. Director clothing allowance
    1. Directors discussed introducing a clothing allowance for directors, so that they may have a discount on Co-op branded clothing, parallel to the program for staff. It was noted that wearing the branding in public starts conversations about the Co-op. 
    2. Such a change may require approval by the members, so no change was decided at this meeting. Directors may purchase branded clothing without the discount. ACTION: Governance will consider clothing allowance as part of the review of director compensation scheduled for this year.

 

IGM Report – Presented by Sean Silverson and Ashley Elliott

 

  1. An IGM noted that the store will be very busy for the next month and staff are going to be slow to respond to messages from the board. 
  2. As the November comparative financials were dominated by the six additional days of Case Lot sale this year, Sean shared the highlights from the first 6 months of the fiscal year, as circulated.  Sales, payroll, and estimated cash flow all exceed the same time period in 2023. 
  3. The IGMs responded to questions from the directors.
  4. Questions from member attendees – There were no non-board members in attendance.

 

Next Meetings:

Jan 21st – 4:30pm on Zoom

Jan 25th – 9am-noon meeting and noon-1pm lunch, Nelson Innovation Centre

Feb 18th – 4:30pm on Zoom

 

The meeting adjourned to in camera session at 5:14pm