Plans and Goals for 2018

As a follow up to Jerelyn’s February article, this one will go into more detail about the board’s plans for 2018 and how you can get involved through committee work and/or how you can support broader goals of the board.

There are three committees this year: Policy and Bylaws, Nomination and Perpetuation, and Communication. They will be meeting monthly and are open to shareholder participation. As a member of the Policy and Bylaws committee, I can say that we were able to do a better job with bylaw changes thanks to valuable input from shareholders along the way; I hope we can do that again this year.

The goals of the Policy and Bylaws committee are a) to go through bylaws to compare them to the Board’s actual practice and to propose changes only if we feel the bylaw could be clearer or reflect changes in board operations; b) to identify and rectify misalignment between policies & bylaws; and c) to improve the ease and use of policies and bylaws for the GM, board and shareholders.

The Nominating and Perpetuation committee is focused on board candidate recruitment, board member orientation, and the Annual Meeting. We had great feedback on the 2017 Annual Meeting and look forward to making that a fun and engaging event again this year.

Finally, the Communications Committee’s work focus is to facilitate communication between and among co-op stakeholders, develop relationships with the boards of other organizations to deepen our role in the community, and to share the Co-op’s story – for example, to compare explain the community impact of $1 spent at BFC versus $1 spent at Hannaford.

Major focus areas we prioritized at the Board’s Annual Retreat included:

• What is the greater impact the Co-op can have in the community through board-to-board conversation/connection to identify potential collaborative opportunities?
• What does it mean for the Co-op to be an anchor business in Brattleboro?
• What can we do to improve the ease and use of policies and bylaws (making the GM and board’s jobs easier)?
• Tell our story a new way by creating an oral history for the BFC.

As you can see, many of these priorities will greatly benefit from the passion, talents, and commitment of shareholders like you. I hope you will consider getting involved, or at least sharing your time and ideas with us and talking about these issues and opportunities with fellow shareholders and non-shareholders. We look forward to engaging with more community stakeholders this year and gaining more insight. Together we can make 2018 an even better year at the Brattleboro Food Co-op than last year!

Interested in getting more involved or sharing your thoughts and ideas? Drop off a feedback form at Shareholder Services or contact Sarah Brennan to connect you to the right person. [email protected]

By Richard Berkfield