STANDARD BUSINESS:
Announcements & Affirmations: None
Calendar and Timeline: The next meeting will be July 3rd at 12:00pm.

SUBMITTED AGENDA ITEMS:

Owner Meeting Recap and Owner Meeting Guidelines
· Judy, our Board advisor, pointed out that we have established guidelines for Owner meetings. It may be helpful for us to review these guidelines, between now and next meeting, so we can discuss and possibly revise them.
Owner Meeting Discussion
· One concern that I had was safety. I felt that there were too many people gathered around the doorways. If we had a facilitator it would be much easier to keep the exits clear.
· I think that the Board should sit up front, and additionally, the owners should have a designated period where they can ask questions of the Board.
o This is where a timekeeper would be crucial.
· The timekeeper/facilitator would also help to limit the comments of the few vocal owners that dominated much of the discussion.
o I felt that though there were a few people who talked more than others, the majority of the comments were respectful.
· I felt that the movie distracted from more crucial topics. I think we should pay more attention to the balance of the topics and the overall length of the meeting.
o I think that the meeting would have been about the correct length if the cross-over presentation had been excluded. We knew it would be a controversial topic and that the meeting ran long was no great surprise.
· I felt that a lot of the comments were not related to the presentation that was being given, rather, owners were determined to speak on a pre-chosen topic and tried to get a word in whenever the felt it was possible. If we provide an upfront time for general, non-interactive comments, then this might curtail the random comments.
o I feel that this may derail the meeting if many topics are introduced right at the beginning.
o I think the intent would be to have these comments non-interactive, so that many people could say their piece, and then leave if they want. Perhaps a short response could be appropriate, but for the most part, these comments would not be responded to.
· It seems like a facilitator is necessary for next year's meeting is important.
o Should this be a person from outside the organization?
o Marcia may be a good choice, since she is familiar with the topics that are likely to come up
· Having the Board attend and sit in the front of the room is another thing we should make sure we do next year.

Survey Results
· We do not have a comparison between these results and last year's yet, but we have prepared a summary.
o The scale runs from 1-5. The votes varied, but each category received an average
· Product selection received a 4.1. Store appearance received a 4.1. Financial benefit of being an owner received a 3.4. Input into decisions was a 3.5. Ambiance was 4.1. Pricing was 3.3 - the lowest. Customer service got a 4.3. Rate of growth was 3.8. Ethics was 4.4. Sustainability was 4.3. Workplace environment was 4.2. Purchasing practices was 4.1.

· At the meeting, many people said that they didn't feel pricing was an issue, but the survey revealed that it is one of our biggest issues.
· Financial benefit was also low, and I believe we can assume this is because of patronage dividends.
o The Board is actively researching and developing a position on dividends.
· I feel that the owners need to clearly know that dividends, growth opportunities, outreach, and sale days are in conflict.
· I think that if we simply stop talking about the dividends, many people will stop expecting them.
· Retention options are another thing that we need to explore.
· What will happen to these results now?
o The summary that we just went over will be published in the Thymes.
o What about the comments? You could include a sentence saying that the comments are being reviewed and addressed by management. Many of the owners put a lot of effort into these comments and I think we need to let them know that they are being addressed.
§ That is a good idea.
o Michele did include several comments and responded to them.
o Would it be possible to expand this section so that more of these comments?
§ We can look into various options for printing more of these comments in the Thymes.
o Will the Board look into these comments?
§ We will email the results and comments to the Board members.

Owner Worker Program Review
· I included a copy of the 2005 report, which contributed a lot of information to this updated report.
· The average compensation of each worker per hour worked in the support program is five dollars.
o We are thinking about ways of capping the program so that it is more equitable for owners and will save us money.
§ If we capped each owner at nine hundred a year, we would save approximately twelve thousand.
§ Gift cards are another option.
· There are some drawbacks. I felt that with the discount, more sales are encouraged.
· The gift card gives us the ability to track how much each program is costing. Currently, there is no way to track which programs are costing the most. Additionally, this gives the ability to plan. Right now we keep adding to the end of the discount and this does not allow us the option to plan or analyze.
o Shifting to another plan may end up costing us the same or more, but the benefits we gain outweigh the costs.
§ Would it be possible to somehow have the registers track the amount of spending, or set up a charge account of sorts that is credited when the support work is done?
o If we would look at capping support discounts, should we also look at capping employees? I have heard that employees receive their discount in addition to owner sale day discounts.
§ It comes out of separate budgets. The employee discount is a staff benefit that also has the effect of increasing sales. The owner sale day discount is a completely different benefit that comes out of a separate budget.
§ As long as we stay within the board approved budget on these various areas, management has the latitude to implement programs like employee discounts. There is a specific percentage for labor and we can allocate it however we want, whether it is medical benefits or store discounts.
· The equitability of this program is a topic that is currently under discussion.
§ This is a topic that we will continue discussing so that we will be prepared to adequately educate them.
o I was curious as to where the percents came from. Is there some correlation between the fifteen percent for employees and the fifteen for support workers?
· In the prior report, it was concluded that changes to the program would cause more problems than they would solve. Why now, are we deciding that those conclusions were wrong?
o The report does mention that options for improving fairness and impartiality should continue to be explored.
o It has previously been suggested that the few people who abuse the program represent such a small number that it would not be worth the effort of overhauling the program.
o It seems that improving accountability is an important issue, but there is really no way to account for individual programs if we continue with the percentage discount.
§ Also, many people want us to hold over their discounts because they are taking vacation. The coupon or gift card would solve this.
o How would we transfer over people who currently have discounts through 2009 or later?
§ I think they would retain the discount until it expires.
· Where do we go from here?
o I think that we need to present something to the Board, which clearly shows all the shortcomings and all the possible benefits we could gain.
o I think that the Board would view this very positively, simply from the accountability factor.
· We will continue this discussion at the next meeting.

ORC Workplan
· Keep in mind that we need to come up with Bean for Bags nominees. This has posed some difficulty since the organizations must be environmental and local.
· Are there any topics that we want to use as icebreakers for the Chat with the Board?
o We could use the owner appreciation days versus patronage dividends.
o What would you like to see at the annual meeting? Maybe we could save this one for later.
o We can make these suggestions at the Board meeting and let them make their choice.
· We also talked about imposing term limits on committee members. This would basically be an ad in the Thymes. If there was no response then the current member would continue.

Meeting adjourned: 1:30pm