1. Attendance and Apologies

Attendance (MC): Bruce Diekman, Tara Morelos, Lisa Kwok (deputised by Jenny Kent), Andrew Whittingham, Cyrus Irani

Attendance (Members): Bill Jarvis and Melian, Ran de Silva, Janet Loughman (via Zoom)

Apologies: Jenny Kent

2. Approval of Agenda

That the agenda be approved.

Moved: Bruce

Seconded: Tara

Carried by consensus

3. Consent Agenda

That the consent agenda be approved.

Moved: Bruce

Seconded: Cyrus

Carried by consensus

4. Matters Arising

From last meeting, 18 February 2021.

Discussed Co-managers role and acknowledged that neither will be working on Wednesdays.  Higher Duties start date is 28 December. Casuals do irregular hours.

ACTION: ASF was discussed. We honour reciprocal membership discounts with Manly Food Co-op.   Janet Loughman has created a document listing the subscription models used by other co-ops. Andrew will assist. A sub-committee has not been set up. Bill raised concerns about AH being a non distributing co-op. It was suggested that he contact Anthony Taylor or Sam Byrne for advice.

ACTION: YouTube Channel - Tara will delete out of date content re: out-of-date previous fundraising efforsts and discounts

ACTION: Cyrus will confirm we have Janet's (former Co-manager) cardigan before advising her. He'll continue to pursue return of the shop key

ACTION: Ran will create a key register.

ACTION: Bruce to draft thank you letters to former board members Vicki and Tom.

ACTION: Joint staff-MC meeting to be organised (MC).

5. Co-Managers' Report

Report on Membership uptake, since ASF (Annual Subscription Fee) announcements on Sunday & Monday 21 & 22 February.

Other announcements.

• Carina has set up a WhatsApp group.  Its only available to staff but staff can be requested to post requests from others. Cyrus raised the issue of searching for Janet's cardigan which would have been easier if he could have asked all staff.

• Cloud HQ needs to be cross-checked so we can see who has paid the full subscription and who  has paid only the $5 for the last quarter.

  ACTION: Ran will sort out $20 amounts deposited to our bank account, by download from Zero.

• Ran asked for volunteers to distribute flyers.  She wanted to create a better functioning notice board. She said there appeared to be more foot traffic but sales were up and down.
• There was discussion about encouraging staff to attend MC meetings.
  • ACTION Ran and Carina will produce monthly written Manager's Report with highlights of major developments, incidents, changes in the shop, etc. Andrew will provide Financial update. This can be made available to members

Ran's verbal report to the meeting was accepted.

6. Finance report

Report on February shop performance and year to date.

From Andrew's projections, the shop looks viable for the rest of the year. Revenue will be down but large decreases in costs are helping.

Report on ongoing rent negotiations, and options.  Andrew was given the green light to contact the Real Estate Agent with his counter offer.  Repairs to the shop will be requested. Ran reminded Andrew to add to the list the broken light fixtures in the back storage room.

We will look to obtain grants for recurrent expenditure as well as capital works.

Andrew fixed weekly purchasing budget and salaries budget amounts. Revenue from the shop is expected to average $2300 a day.

There was discussion about volunteer hours.  Ran advised that we current have 12 volunteer hours a day.  This reduces the need for paid labour.

The cost per annum for 20% volunteer discounts is $50k and for 10% member discounts is $80k.

Motion: That the Finance report be approved and Andrew's counter offer proposal be presented to the real estate agent.

Moved: Andrew

Seconded: Cyrus

Carried by consensus

7. Report from Marketing team: social media & newsletters

It was agreed that all newsletters/correspondence to distribution groups e.g. Volunteers, be pre-checked by the Marketing Team with Sharyn Foulis being the main contact. This is to ensure a uniformity of communication across AH.

Stevie Bee is keen to work on the Monthly Newsletter. Tara and Bruce will continue to work on the one page Bulletins e.g. announcements for current events and important messages.

ACTION: Sharyn will publicise editorial deadlines. There will be cross-promotion between Instagram and Newsletters.

There was discussion about the purchase of a nut milk machine from the revenue raised from the upcoming Plant and Bake Sale.  As it is not an expensive item and had already been publicised it should be purchased.  These decisions should be run by the Product team (Andrew and Sandra) prior to any announcements.

8. Report from 'Future of Alfalfa' V. 2.0 team

There was no discussion of the draft 'Strategy' document prepared for the meeting (see below). Cyrus expressed his frustration at this decision.

Tara was concerned that a Mission statement had not been included.

Bruce emphasised the value of the team's work to date.

It was agreed that a meeting for MC and staff be set up to develop a Mission, strategies and related plans. Suggested half a day be set aside.

ACTION:  Lucas will be approached to run it. Andrew and Lisa also offered to help run it.

It was agreed that there is no longer a need for the Tuesday V2 meetings – they have achieved all they can for the present.

Strategy document prepared by Cyrus from V. 2.0 process

9. Need to address volunteer discount system

Discussion about who qualifies for discounts.  There was consensus that people working on specific projects such as the website, or people doing phone calls to members should be given discounts.  Their work is not always recorded in the Volunteers book. Some work might not qualify for discount vouchers.  Further clarification is required.

ACTION: The online discounts policy needs to be updated.

Bill discussed the flaws with the current volunteer discount system and illustrated his proposal of a week long discount per volunteer shift. Bruce suggested we see what other co-ops are doing.

Lisa said she was happy to lead a consultation process.

The proposal is to improve the current system going forward, i.e. install the fairest and best system that will work for current volunteers, then address 'historical' accumulations of volunteer credits.

Data base volunteer, Bill Jarvis, provided the following proposal for discussion:

• Bill's proposal

10. Upcoming events

Report on Monday 22nd February Games Night FUNdraiser event.

Tara advised that the night was a success.

Thursday 4 March – George Catsi event at Petersham Bowlo. Volunteers are needed to help on the night.

Saturday 20 March – Plant & Bake Sale (organised by Carina).  Already have a few volunteers and people advising they'd bake cakes and bring plants.

Workshops – Cyrus advised that he was preparing a list of people who could run workshops. Tallulah has agreed to run a workshop on Fermenting. They met with Kyle who runs Common Ground (part of Mission Australia) at Camperdown.

Kyle is very happy for AH to use their kitchen facilities for workshops. 

ACTION: Bruce believes our public liability insurance covers off-site events and will confirm.

11. Any other business

Contact in Anthony Albanese's office for grant submission endorsement.

ACTION: Andrew believes he might have a contact and will check.

13. Next Meeting

There will be no MC meeting next week, due to the George Catsi event. 

ACTION: We need to develop a schedule for future meetings.