Date

24 February 2022

Time

6.30 PM -7.30PM

Location

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Meeting opened at

6.35pm

Meeting closed at

8.10pm

Facilitator	Cyrus Irani
Minute taker	Janet Loughman
Timekeeper
Next meeting date	Thursday March 24, 2022

Acknowledgement of Country: Before we begin the meeting, I would like to acknowledge and pay respect to the traditional owners, both past and present, of the land we occupy and upon which we meet — the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. It is also upon their ancestral lands that Alfalfa House is built.
We welcome all participants to this Alfalfa House gathering and acknowledge our aim to build a community based on mutual respect and support for each other through acts of active listening, thoughtful and clear communication, sharing of knowledge and experience, and the creation of safe spaces where each of us can participate in achieving the aims of our co-op.

1. Attendance and Apologies

Attendance (MC): Cyrus Irani, Janet Loughman, Jennifer Kent, Alex Giersz, Isabel Togi, Bruce Diekman

Attendance (Members): Sandra Clark, Andrew Whittingham

Observers: Paul Weerappah

Apologies: Tara Morelos

2. Approval of Agenda

That the agenda be approved.

Moved: Bruce Diekman

Seconded: Jennifer Kent

Carried by consensus

3. Consent Agenda

That the consent agenda be approved.

Moved: Bruce Diekman

Seconded: Jennifer Kent

Carried by consensus

Full consent agenda

3.1 Adoption of Previous Minutes

That the minutes of our monthly MC meetings on 16 December 2021, and 27 January 2022 be adopted.

3.2 MC decisions : catch-up since January 27 meeting

Printer

As a minimum we need a basic B&W printer with a scanner bed. Depending on the cost we could consider a scanner that can feed multiple pages and a colour printer. We have the option to print colour labels and other items at Office works.

DECISION/ACTION Tara and Alex will consider options and purchase a printer

Staffing and MC roles

Cyrus said we need to hire more casuals as Freya, Nic and others will be less available once TAFE and Uni start in the next couple of weeks. Yue suggested this needed to be urgently address. For transparency we should let all members know that new casual positions are available via our MC newsletter.

DECISION / ACTION Bruce and Tara will generate an MC newsletter inviting expressions of interest in the casual positions and in the vacant MC roles, especially the Treasure role.

APRA fees

We have an invoice from APRA for quarterly fees.

DECISION / ACTION Cyrus will pay the APRA bill, after logging in to the APRA account to confirm details.

Manager recruitment

Our first round of recruitment was unsuccessful. The Manager Position Description will be revised to only include the Level 8 attributes, and the selection criteria for retail experience broadened to include applicable skills and experience.

DECISION / ACTION A revised version was distributed to MC members by email and approved for advertising.

3.3 New Members and Cancellations

None to approve this month.

3.4 Staffing (appointments and resignations)

4. Business Arising from the last meeting

Description	Due date	Assignee	Task appears on
ACTION: Manager and Stock Coordinators take the MC through the purchasing within budget strategies and difficulties possibly on a Monday night. Staff will be paid for their time and will distribute materials prior to the meeting. This meeting can be the beginning of a new collaborative Stock Committee 24 Feb 2022	24 Feb 2022		27 January, 2022 – Minutes
ACTION: Tara Morelos Bruce Diekman convene a meeting of the refurbishment team 24 Feb 2022	24 Feb 2022	Tara Morelos	27 January, 2022 – Minutes
ACTION: Bruce Diekman and any others with outstanding reimbursements to put in claim to Andrew asap so rebate can be claimed 04 Mar 2022	04 Mar 2022	Bruce Diekman	February 24, 2022 – Draft Minutes
ACTION: Andrew Whittingham to have a follow up phone call with Paul about the role of treasurer, and will also review the other application(s) for volunteer treasurer and report back to the MC 24 Mar 2022	24 Mar 2022	Andrew Whittingham	February 24, 2022 – Draft Minutes
ACTION: Jennifer Kent after new manager appointed seek a list of items with high impact packaging for Jennifer to liaise with Honest to Goodness about improving packaging 24 Mar 2022	24 Mar 2022	Jennifer Kent	27 January, 2022 – Minutes
ACTION: Tara Morelos, Sharyn Foulis, all staff and MC to promote memberships renewals in the shop and on social media		Tara Morelos	February 24, 2022 – Draft Minutes
ACTION: Discounts group to re-form to look into the admin around updating permanent volunteer hours			27 January, 2022 – Minutes
ACTION: Tara Morelos to set up small target fundraising, draft message to members about ‘Musicians in the co-op’ project and possible others		Tara Morelos	27 January, 2022 – Minutes

5. Application to fill casual MC vacancy

Sandra Clark has submitted her CV as background to be considered for one of our casual vacancies as an MC Director.

Sandra left the meeting for this decision.

Proposed that:

Sandra's application be accepted

Moved: Jennifer Kent

Seconded: Bruce Diekman

Carried by majority vote

Sandra Clark CV_February 2022.pdf

6. Finance Report

See attached Finance report circulated and tabled at the meeting. Andrew reiterated some key points:

December and January showed a lower level of trading than during lockdown in 2021. We made a loss of $10,000 in December 2021 and January 2022.

Noted that January included termination pay for the Acting Manager who resigned in January.

The purchasing budget appeared to be working well, based on the January figures.

It seems not many people have renewed their memberships this January. 20% renewals have been on line, so this method is successful. But we do have to pay a fee to Paypal for this. In January 2021 saw a major membership renewal drive.

Andrew has applied for NSW gov COVID business support money - he expects we will receive about $3,000 representing 20% wages paid in February; and $407 for Council rates paid under our lease. Any Fair Trading fees or other gov or council charges can be claimed. Send info to Andrew asap.

ACTION: Bruce Diekman and any others with outstanding reimbursements to put in claim to Andrew asap so rebate can be claimed 04 Mar 2022

Sales in the shop are down. Andrew asks that since sales are down to $1700 on some days, are there enough sales for current staffing levels. Is it possible to reduce for an hour or two at quiet times. Cyrus noted that staff are always busy, there are many non serving tasks to do.

Andrew advised that promoting membership renewals was crucial - memberships will convert into sales. We should be promoting membership renewals in store, in newsletter, on social media.

ACTION: Tara Morelos, Sharyn Foulis, all staff and MC to promote memberships renewals in the shop and on social media

We welcomed Paul Weerappah to the meeting. Paul has expressed interest in the role of Treasurer and has attended the meeting as an observer. Paul left the meeting at the conclusion of the Finance report.

ACTION: Andrew Whittingham to have a follow up phone call with Paul about the role of treasurer, and will also review the other application(s) for volunteer treasurer and report back to the MC 24 Mar 2022

That the finance report be approved.

Moved: Janet Loughman

Seconded: Bruce Diekman

Carried by consensus

7. Manager’s Report

The Manager's report was circulated and tabled at the meeting. Cyrus re-iterated some key points:

Air conditioner 8.5 kw - purchased for $2,900 including installation. Includes 5 year warranty. Thanks to Togi for getting a good deal, under budget.

Staff suggestion for public holiday opening was to open Sunday hours on the public holidays that Alfalfa House is open. No change to the public holiday days we close/open.

The RAT kits purchased for staff have not all been used, so no need to buy any further kits.

Community art in the shop idea has support from staff.

Tara has organised a volunteer photographer to help Freya with social media work.

That the acting manager's report and public holiday hours proposal be approved.

DECISION: That the public holiday closed days remain the same, and on the public holidays that the shop is open, that it open Sunday hours.

Moved: Janet Loughman

Seconded: Bruce Diekman

Carried by consensus

Manager report Alfalfa House Feb 2022.docx

8. Other Business

8.1 Revised COVID Plan – discussion and decision

Cyrus noted that further relaxation of NSW Health Guidelines will commence this week. How will this affect our operations?

Masks will no longer be required by public health order in the shop, but the government recommends mask wearing indoors where social distancing is not possible and for customer-facing retail staff.

DECISION: Proposed that:

Staff and volunteers continue to wear masks in the shop and that we will review this month by month.
Medical exemptions will be applied on a case by case basis.
We will encourage customers to wear masks in the shop - signage to ask customers to please wear a mask. Any customer without a mask will not be challenged to wear a mask.

Moved: Jennifer Kent

Seconded: Alex Giersz

Carried by consensus

8.2 Volunteer request – decision

As part of his Duke of Edinburgh Award, a 17 year old student was volunteering at AH pre-COVID (he has a medical mask exemption). He is available to return Fridays after 2pm, Saturdays after 12pm and Sundays after 2pm. He has 3 x 2 hour shifts to complete. His father reported to us that Ran was supervising and had a Working with Children Check (WWCC). It is a condition of Duke of Edinburgh Awards that the supervisor has a Working with Children Check. Cyrus has a WWCC and can supervise.

DECISION: That the Duke of Edinburgh award student be supported to complete his Duke of Edinburgh award volunteering, and be provided with free RAT kits to support him to complete his placement without a mask.

Moved: Jennifer Kent

Seconded: Alex Giersz

Carried by consensus

8.3 MC members receiving payment for non-MC work in the shop – decision

MC member Togi has requested that she be able to be appointed to a paid position as a casual Shop Coordinator. Togi spoke to the meeting prior to absenting herself from the discussion and vote: she wants to help out wherever she can to the max to support the co-op; if there is no-one to fill a Sunday shift she would like to be able to do so even if only occasional shifts when needed; at the moment Togi is volunteering most of the day on Saturday.

The Sunday shift requires a staff member at Senior Shop co-ordinator level to open and close the shop, managing the float, etc.

Our rules require remuneration to MC members for work done as a director be approved by the members. We have confirmed with Sam Byrne at the Co-op Federation that this doesn't mean an MC member cannot be remunerated for other work done. But it's a question of policy for the MC whether to support it or not. Sam advised that we need to be mindful of conflict of interest issues, and the MC member should be absent from this decision; and if employed would in future need to be absent from decisions about staffing.

Togi left the meeting.

There was initial discussion about whether it was a good idea or not for the co-op to start this practice.

Alex left the meeting at 8pm and Jennifer left the meeting at 8.10pm.

However, the meeting concluded without this being resolved since 3 members had to leave the meeting, leaving us without a quorum.

8.4 Social Engagement – information

Alex's Film Festival Newtown Station Garden, Common Ground communal cooking & meal, Alfalfa Garden music sessions. Engage community to make/display art in the Shop.

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