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The Village Inc
Minutes 3/17/05
submitted by Debbie Hardin

In attendance:
Skai Davis, President
Matt Rowe, Treasurer
Steffany Haaz, Member Liasion
Margie Roswell, Board Member
Nora Bucke, Board Member
Debbie Hardin, Board Member
John Henderson, Member
Leroy Keltner

Skai opened the meeting at 7:15 by briefly reading aloud Gretchen's email on what needs to be done to open on Wednesday, March 23rd at 4 PM.

We decided that it is very important to remind board members that an officer MUST be informed if you are unable to make meetings. According to our set schedule, the next meeting will be Sunday, April 3rd at 6 PM.  Please make yourselves available.

We need a board member to step up for the position of volunteer coordinator.  We've had a person express interest in assisting, but a board member needs to head the committee.  [Also, we forgot to make this explicit at the meeting.  Each board member needs to sign up for a 3 hr shift for the next 3 months.  I can do the first Sat of each month from 3-7.  Everyone please choose a time and give to Gretchen or Hilary or our new volunteer coordinator who is out there in the board somewhere!]

We briefly discussed the Aries party.  Ken, as rent party coordinator, we need you to delegate  and establish committees so this event can be successful.

John Henderson spoke about the grant writing process.  He has been in contact with Patti and Warren Warren over email, and they've decided
that a business plan needs to be drawn up before we can be considered for grants, as they'll want to know anticipated expenses, income and date of self-sufficiency.  The committee will start work asap on the plan and will have a draft for the board to consider in 2-3 weeks.

Questions arose about establishing our own nonprofit status, apart from Fusion.  The process is lengthy and can be expensive.  Skai will check with Chrissy about where we stand.

Margie suggested joining with Co-op Grocers (a link to their site can be found on our website) - she will check into the cost and report. Among other support, they offer sample operating manuals, which we all agreed would be helpful at this stage.

Skai will take care of liability insurance.

Patti - can you give any info on the food stamp application?  Also, the name of our lawyer at the Community Law Center should be with the paperwork that Rachel gave to you.  Can you  look for it?

Margie brought up a concern that members might want to see a financial report before attending another fundraiser (the Aries party).  Others disagreed, saying the Aries event is seen as more of a party than a fundraiser.  Matt is working to organize our finances.  He and Gretchen establlished two accounts, working with Fusion, as outlined in last meeting's minutes.  He has signed up for online banking and will be linking our online statements with Quicken software.  He and Gretchen are working on establishing tighter coordination.  We will have an up-to-date financial statement available, in accordance with our bylaws, however, it will not be possible before next week's party.

The newsletter was discussed.  Jamillah, if possible, we'd like to send something out in April. Possibly including a note from our new treasurer, Matt.

Nora gave a report on the Sowebo festival and the Green Eco Festival. Sowebo is free for nonprofits, and the Eco festival is $25, which we agreed is worth paying for the event.  She will follow up on both events.

Margie will look into the possibility of putting a volunteer calendar and signup sheet online.

Skai will place an order for organic produce from L&M this evening.

We are working on establishing accounts for local produce, with Tuscarora among others, but for now, this will give us stock for the store.  The order will include carrots, potatoes, garlic, kale, red peppers, spinach, cucumbers, salad greens, cilantro, apples, bananas, lemons and oranges, all organic. Depending on how much money we have, we may also order more dry goods from Neshaminy Valley for the opening.  We already have a good stock of dry grains and beans and rice. Skai suggested, and we all agreed, that the produce be sold for virtually wholesale price. Members get a 5% discount, so no more than a 10% markup on all produce.

Matt organized the things needed to open on Wednesday into categories. Equipment - including cash register, safe (lapse in my duties - what did we decide on this?), change for first day.  Skai will loan us a cash register for one month.  Leroy will contact Gretchen about
picking up the other fridges. Volunteers - we need a slew of volunteers for Tuesday to take inventory and do pricing and beautify the store.  Leroy, who worked extensively with The Belly, suggested we keep a hard copy notebook on site to record prices as we do inventory, and volunteers should date and initial the entries.

Protocol/Procedures - a lot of questions were raised about operating the store.  Eventually, we want to be working on point of sale machinery, so inventory is automatically updated, etc.  however, important to remember that we are having a soft opening.  At the start, we can ring on the cash register and have a printout of our inventory that we check off.  For the first week, we need to have a consistent closer who can deal with shutting down, locking up, and dealing with cash.  Leroy raised security issues - need to have 2-3 people there at all times, make sure phone is hooked up.

The meeting ended at 9 pm.