February Board Minutes

in

Regular Board Meeting Minutes

February 20, 2024

 

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

Staff Present: Ashley Elliott (HR Director, IGM), Jody Eaton (Food Services Manager)

Chair: Wendy Wiebe

Recorder: Sadie Yancey (Board Administrative Assistant)

 

Meeting brought to order at 4:05pm on Zoom

 

Adoption of February Meeting Agenda: M/Cathy-Ann S/John, three amendments. All in favour.

Declaration of Interests: none

Approval of November Meeting Minutes: M/Cathy-Ann S/John, no amendments. All in favour.

Approval of consent agenda. Items to approve:

  • Governance Committee minutes (two meetings)
  • Governance TOR and Workplan
  • Strategic Planning Committee minutes
  • Nominations Committee minutes
  • Updated annual calendar
  • The Finance Committee and Member Engagement committee did not meet

M/Kay S/John

A director makes a suggestion about the process around ED role, and this is deferred to the discussion in business arising.

CARRIED. All in favour.

 

Business Arising

  1. Review member feedback. There were two emails this month, one was operational and one an unwanted sales pitch. Ashley explained the context of the operational email.
  2. Strategic Plan
    1. The draft of the Strategic Plan (Goals, Outcomes, Objectives) was circulated to the board prior to the meeting. John Kingsmill made several amendments verbally.
    2. Directors shared their feedback on the plan.

MOTION To approve the draft of the Strategic Plan, as amended.

M/Maggie S/James

CARRIED All in favour.

                 c. Ashley requested to share the plan with managers at this week’s manager meeting. There were no concerns about this.
                 d. Ashley plans to share the Goals and the process with staff at the upcoming all-staff meeting on March 11th, so that staff can link their department goals to the co-op’s goals. She invited the board to have a director present these goals to the staff and/or attend the meeting. ACTION The strategic planning committee will determine who can attend.

4:25pm Jody Eaton arrived

  1. Manager of the Month – Jody Eaton, Food Services Manager
    1. Jody shared with the board information about the Food Services department – an overview of department staff, the sub-areas, top sellers, and new programs.
    2. Jody responded to questions from directors about packaging, Kootenay Cups, and the hotbar.

4:55pm Jody left

  1. Discuss Employee Director Role
    1. The Governance Committee raised concern about the election procedure for the Employee Director position. The board discussed the election, responsibilities and value of the Employee Director position. ACTION The Governance Committee will consider further.
  2. Recommendation to increase the number of directors.
    1. The Governance Committee recommended that the board increase the number of member-elected directors by one director this nomination cycle. The Rules allow the board to have up to nine directors, and the Policy requires that an increase to the size of the board must be included in the Call for Nominations.
      1. Such an increase is intended to reduce the workload of the volunteer directors, and is consistent with a 2022 recommendation by a consultant.
      2. Such a change would mean three member-elected seats up for election this year, for a total of seven member-elected directors plus the employee director. This would eliminate tie votes for In-Camera discussions and would introduce the possibility of tie votes for regular board matters.
    2. Directors shared their perspectives.
    3. ACTION The Governance Committee will further discuss and bring a recommendation back to the board. The Nominations Committee will delay Call for Nominations until after the March board meeting.
  1. Small Scale Meat Producers Association
    1. Wendy shared that she will be attending the SSMPA annual “meat up” in Armstrong this weekend. She is attending with her husband, who has experience in small-scale meat production, and knows that the Co-op will come up in conversation.
    2. There are no staff attending this year, although several managers are in regular communication with the organization.
    3. Directors expressed their trust in Wendy to represent the Co-op and the board at this event.
  2. Set date for AGM

MOTION To approve the proposed date for the AGM – Wednesday September 25th.

M/Maggie S/John

CARRIED

 

IGM Report – Presented by Ashley Elliott

  1. The IGMs are getting ready for the upcoming Staff Town Hall – an all-staff meeting in March.
  2. The HR team has been working on the compensation plan to support the annual wage increases June 1st.
  3. There was a big freezer realign this week. There is now a featured section for ‘made here’ products from Food Services and Butcher Shop, complemented by in-store demos of these products.
  4. Managers participated in communication training last month.
  5. In Sean’s absence, John shared highlights from January finances, as circulated. As with the last number of months, sales and net income continue to be strong, with January sales approximately 6% above the same month last year.
  6. The remainder of the IGM report was delivered In Camera due to confidential information related to real estate.
  7. Questions from member attendees – There are no non-board members in attendance.

Next Meetings:

March 19th at 4pm – Zoom ACTION Sadie to arrange a manager for this meeting.

April 23rd – tentatively 4pm in-person.

 

The meeting adjourned to In Camera at 5:57pm