Macomb Food Co-op Steering Committee Meeting Minutes
May 15, 2012
Community room at Macomb City Hall
Present: Karen Peitzmeier, Brian Davies, Krista Bowers-Sharpe, Gordon Rands, Erin Orwig, Jean Davenport, Margaret Ovitt, and Dusty Berg.
The meeting was called to order by Karen at 6:30 p.m. The minutes of the May 1 steering committee meeting were approved with a minor correction.
Committee Reports (reported by):
Communications (Krista):
Sue Scott now has a rapid way of posting material to the iContact list. Photos of a house party and owner’s spotlights have been posted to the web site. It was suggested that a co-op spotlight or gallery be created as a monthly feature on the website, to inform people about typical co-ops around the region.
Events (Jean and Margaret):
The next event will be a social event at the Multicultural Center on May 24, which will kick off the “three more for the store” ownership drive campaign. Jean and Brian volunteered to set up a table at the Farmer’s Market in the Square.
Finance (Gordon):
We now have 114 owners and have sold 154 shares, with 6 more owners to be added from the house parties. There was discussion of a promotional offer to establish a savings account with ING. This was rejected in favor of moving some money into a savings account at our current bank. We authorized the printing of 300 more thank-you cards and envelopes, to correspond to the goal of 300 more owners.
Grant information (Erin):
Erin will set up a meeting of Illinois co-ops for sometime in June, using a Doodle poll. Food Initiatives grant – Internships: Board members should call the manager of a cooperative to set up the visit. They should take a close look at the list of questions before making the trip. We should ask about “best practices” as we observe the co-op, and try to talk with some of the board members of the co-op. Try to set dates by the next steering committee meeting.
We got a small grant to help support Karen’s trip to the CCMA conference, June 14-16, 2012, Philadelphia, PA (http://www.ccma.coop/)
Board training: We have set up board training with Debbie Trocha of the Indiana Cooperative Development Center, with a tentative date of Aug. 25.
Business cards have been printed for Board members, at a cost of $24.43.
We will plan to participate in the annual statewide meeting of the Illinois Stewardship Alliance, which will be held in Macomb on Aug. 11.
The next steering committee meeting will be on May 29 at 6:30 p.m. at the Ovitt residence.