Wednesday, 31 August 2011 20:52

By 12th Moon,  
Council President

At its Aug. 9 meeting, Council voted against allowing a member petition to go to a membership vote. The petition, as submitted to Council by member Christopher Jones, read as follows:

Financial Disclosure Bylaw

All shareholders (member-owners) upon written request are to be issued (within a reasonable time period) photo copies of the following financial documents:

1. Tax returns (current year and previous years)

2. Bank Statements (current year) (no account nos.)

3. Payroll Information (position salary amounts of Staff, Managers, Board of directors (w/Stipend amounts, etc.) and any other persons employed by GS Cooperative Market Inc. (individual names withheld)

4. List of current of active shareholders (member-owners) with email address included (shareholders may omit email address if so desired)

5. Receipts (operating expenses, Utilities, monthly rent, mortgage payments, food products, and any other items sold at GS Cooperative Market Inc.

A reasonable fee may be rendered for retrieval and photocopy (or paperless email) of financial documents.

Council Hires New GM, Considers Bylaws Changes and Addresses Referendum Petition

Tuesday, 02 August 2011 16:22

By 12th Moon,
Council President

Eric12Moon Council met in The Space for our July 12 meeting to, among other things, select a new General Manager for GreenStar after coming together over the weekend to participate in a working retreat, writing new policies using the Policy Governance model adopted by Council last December (see my Council Retreat Report on page 6). I'm pleased to announce that Council has selected Brandon Kane, GreenStar's Store Manager for the past six years and Interim General Manager for the past year, as our new General Manager. See the article on page 1 for more about Brandon and his vision for GreenStar.

We started off our meeting with the monthly report from Brandon. We heard that a new AC unit has been installed on the West-End store, helping our refrigeration units to operate more efficiently and improving the level of comfort for staff and shoppers during the hot summer days we have been experiencing. We also learned that a small reset is planned to improve services at our Oasis store, that the monthly case lot sales will be conducted on the 10th of the month to coincide with the 10% on the 10th sales days, and that both stores are switching from biodegradable shopping bags to ones that are compostable. Brandon also informed us of an ongoing cooperative relationship he has made with the General Manager at Weaver's Way Co-op in the Philadelphia area. They have been working on many projects similar to ours, such as expansion, establishing an affiliate working toward resolving local food justice issues, changing their governance system to Policy Governance and looking to improve the local distribution network of local farm and food production to consumers.

Council

Collegetown Store Thwarted by Zoning Board Decision

By Dan Hoffman,
 Council Member

GreenStar's plans to open a third store, in Collegetown, hit a big bump last month, when the City's Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) denied a set of variances sought by the property's owners, throwing the future of their project into limbo. The new store won approval from the Co-op's Membership last year, but the lease for the space was contingent upon the developer's securing the variances by March.

The Co-op's serious exploration of the idea of a new store in Collegetown began in 2011, when Josh Lower — who, with his father, Bill, own...
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