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Welcome to the Co-op!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Bylaws Revision Update

Just a quick update about our Bylaws revision! We have a final draft together, and we are in the process of retaining an attorney to give us a legal opinion of our proposed changes. We are very excited about the proposed changes because:

A new capital system will allow us to bring more funds into the cooperative to allow us to expand and grow.
The co-op will issue common stock, phyisical evidence of your capital contribution.
The co-op will declare and issue patronage dividends in accordance with section 1835 of the Internal Revenue Code. This will keep more of our money in the community by reducing corporate taxes that the Co-op has to pay, and you, the owners, will get a patronage refund check!
Any entity will be allowed to be an owner, not just individuals.
Sets the quorum at 5% for decisions by owners and will allow voting by mail.
We will add the office of Vice President.
Our fiscal year will change to end the Sunday closest to the last day of June.
We will require only one annual meetingg instead of two.
Annual Financial reports will be required to be circulated at the annual meeting.

Once we have a Legal opinion, we will have the bylaws available for you to look over at your convenience, and we will vote to ratify these revisions this fall. It should be noted that we haven't had a wholesale revision of our bylaws since the mid 70's! These new changes will empower you, the owners of the organization.

Thank you all so much for your input at member forums, and be sure to talk with our Board Members when they are in the store on Saturdays, or, call the store anytime to talk with our General Manager, Travis.

Labels: board of directors, co-ops, exciting, membership

5 Comments:

Lindsay said...: Hi Travis-

I have to admit I've got qualms about the new bylaw revisions. Especially the part about fewer member meetings, greater board control, and the focus on profit. I've heard a rumor that the board canceled the spring member meeting this year? This is all showing a capitalistic and authoritarian side of the coop that seems like it is against "cooperative" values. I shop at the food coop because I believe the coop reflects my politics and beliefs, not just about food but the better world we wish to create in general. I don't think I'm the only one questioning the capitalist system this year. But I digress...; April 7, 2009 9:32:00 AM EDT
Lindsay said...: ... What I really wanted to ask was, can you post about what the WIC requirements are? What sort of food the co-op would have to carry? Are we talking about only a handful of products or an aisle full? Could there be special labeling to inform members that the food doesnt fall within the buying guidelines but it there because of WIC? This is the sort of information we as members need to make an informed decision. Some people may not even know what WIC is. And the ultimate question that needs to be asked is, what really needs to be changed? The store, or WIC? Can we use our collective voices to make organic and local products available to WIC recipients, who one could argue need it most?; April 7, 2009 9:43:00 AM EDT
Syracuse Real Food Co-op said...: Hi Lindsay,

Good questions about the WIC program. I think there are two issues here, one is that WIC would require us to carry a few products that would have a lot of synthetic ingredients, like infant formula. The other issue is that WIC has historically not allowed Women in the program to purchase organic products.

The first issue could be easily tackled with some signage. I took part in an operational audit of another food Co-op in NY that did take WIC, but they had the formula in the "adults only section" in the back of the store. I really think that would be a week approach, and wouldn't serve to build dialogue about food politics.

The second issue has taken a pleasant turn this year, WIC programs coast-to-coast are allowing more and more organic products to be a part of the program. To address your question, it's the program that should change, not the store. I've been working in Natural Foods Grocery for over twelve years now, and I'm a parent, so I'm biased, but I think that everyone has a right to safe, accessible, healthy food.

My 2 cents on Bylaws revision next...; April 8, 2009 11:24:00 AM EDT
Syracuse Real Food Co-op said...: As far as bylaws revisions go: I fully support the changes that the Board will be proposing, primarily because our current bylaws are quite fuzzy about what to do when the Co-op makes money or loses money. The draft revisions clearly articulate how we would disburse net savings, or allocate net losses. This is really huge stuff, and will allow us to keep much more of our money in our local community.

I also support the proposed changes because we will be able to issue Capital (that is, non-voting) Stock. This could be a fantastic way to capitalize the business, especially since we have been chronically under capitalized since the early eighties.

As far as fewer member meetings, I definitely hear you on that one. We have not had great turnout for our Owner meetings, after a banner year of great energy in 2005. I've got to get on a soapbox here, it's up to our generation to pull this organization forward, Lindsay. There are few people in attendance at our annual meetings, and few young people have put themselves out there to serve on our Board. We do have a good number of young people employed at the Co-op, and that's nice, but we need real leadership to carry this organization forward for another 30-40 years. Anyway, traditionally, our Spring meeting has been a financial meeting, and, since we changed our fiscal year to ending in June, we don't have a financial report until the fall. I'm hoping that we can build energy and momentum at our annual meetings, and be able to celebrate success year after year.

Finally, as far as a focus on profit, we are an organization of people, not of dollars. The economic side of what we do is what makes the whole thing possible, however. I disagree that our revised bylaws have any greater focus on profit than our current set of bylaws, and I urge you to discuss your concerns with Board members when they are in the store, and please come to our forums on bylaws revision. We will have at least one more before we vote on the proposed changes in the fall. Oh, and if you want to discuss anything, anytime with me, do not hesitate to call.

-Travis; April 8, 2009 11:54:00 AM EDT
Syracuse Real Food Co-op said...: Oh, and in the bad Co-op manager jokes department: as I was typing about our under-capitalized business, a freezer just failed. >sigh<; April 8, 2009 11:55:00 AM EDT