(Note: There was no meeting in March, 2005.)

Present: Peggy James, John Naples, Jim Neale, Cynthia Nelson, Tania Nezrick, Ruth Peterson, Mary Helen Polensky, Kathy Stelford.

President called the meeting to order at 5:40 p.m.

Nezrick moved and Naples seconded the motion that the minutes be approved as distributed. Motion carried.

James reported that the tax returns have been prepared and sent to treasurer Naples who sent them in.

A final distribution from Blooming Prairie in the amount of $941.76 has been received. Since there was some difficulty coming to a satisfactory conclusion on amounts to be paid out by UNFI to members of Blooming Prairie this took longer than anticipated, but James is pleased that we received anything at all.

Purchases of bulk bins, some smaller shopping carts and a scale from Menominee for approximately $700 (at about 25% of cost) will enhance our ability to keep our bulk bins in good shape and to work in other ways.

James is investigated changing our insurance provider to Kapatoes, a company that works specifically with cooperatives. WE may be able to offer services to staff and members at group prices. They quoted a good price for Workers Compensation and she has found that they have good recommendations from customers. She hopes to make the switch in a few months.

Johnson Canvas has given a bid of $1610 for an outside awning complete with installation. It will be 23 feet wide and will stretch 24 inches out from the building. All agreed that a green color with no edge scallops would be our preference. It will keep the sun from the inside and be an attractive addition to the building.

Assistant Manager Stravers attended a produce seminar at Menominee. She learned a lot and feels very positive about expanding the produce section. Produce now is delivered once a week and we buy about $1000 worth each week. This could be increased to another delivery if we chose to do so. A presenter at the seminar assured Stravers that any expanded offering and more attractive display would be a profitable move. His suggestion was that produce needs to be spritzed every 20 minutes and would mean added staff responsibility.

The Wellness Fair at NIU had a smaller attendance, but James felt it was worth being there. There was not a lot of notice given, but with Nelson’s help, it was all pulled together.

Two months into the year our average daily sales have shown increase over last year.

JAN 2004 $1672 JAN 2005 $2045

FEB 2004 $1701 FEB 2005 $1889

One day in March showed an all-time high of $5100 in sales.

Given the increased sales and traffic, James and Stravers have been discussing reconfiguring the staff to deal with this. Now both James and Stravers do a lot to manage the front end. With an expanded produce section it would seem necessary to hire another person. James is thinking that there should be a designated cashier. She will bring a proposal to the personnel committee after she has a clear vision of what we need, how to hold staff accountable and how to most effectively get the job done.

James is getting to know a point of sale system that is designed for coops. This system with all hardware and software included for two stations would cost about $14,000, plus the cost of a maintenance agreement should we desire it. It can be purchased or secured on a lease to own plan. It can handle special orders, accounts, member services and provide a lot of statistics. It would eliminate inventory down time and could probably decrease register errors. Inventory would only have to be done by hand once a year.

James has talked to five current users and has had very positive feedback. The only negative side seems to be that it is designed by one person. She will continue to investigate user responses and continue to work on seeing how appropriate and efficient she feels it might be for DSC. There is no time constraint on when we must purchase.

Nelson and James will continue to pursue a connection with WNIJ in volunteering for fund drives and in advertising.

The timing for a reset is still uncertain. James has still not heard from the reset consultant from UNFI who would be able to advise us. Nelson is still pursuing the spring cleanup.

James is looking at a bench for the front of the building from Tailwinds, a company in Cortland that makes them from recycled materials.

The May meeting will be in the Boardroom, but the June meeting may be relocated.

Adjournment was moved at 6:55 p.m. by Polensky and seconded by Nelson. The motion passed.

Ruth Peterson

Secretary