General Meeting Agenda – July

Tuesday, July 30, 2024
7:00 p.m.

  • Where: Prospect Park Picnic House, 95 Prospect Park West, between 4th and 5th Streets
    Limited parking is available in the Litchfield Villa parking lot.
  • Only Park Slope Food Coop members may attend. Members need to bring their membership card or phone with their member ID barcode to enter the meeting.
  • Time in parentheses are suggestions. The Chair has the discretion to change the order of the agenda or the time allotted to each item.

I. Meeting Warm-up and Chair Committee Introduction (7:00–7:10 p.m.)

II. Open Forum (7:10–7:25 p.m.)
Members will have up to one minute to ask a brief question regarding Coop operations. Appropriate staff or committee members may respond, and a brief follow-up may be taken.

III. Treasurer’s Report (7:25–7:40 p.m.)

IV. General Coordinators’ Reports (7:40–7:55 p.m.)

V. Member Committee Reports (7:55–8:00 p.m.)
Depending on the number of Committees prepared to report, each Committee will have up to 5 minutes to make a report. Committees need to notify the Chair before the meeting to help the Chair plan time allotments.

VI. AGENDA (8:00–9:30 p.m.)
Item 1: Urgent Resubmission of Personnel Committee Proposal (90 minutes)
Item Sponsors: Membership Coordinator Karen Mancuso and over 40 Additional Area Coordinators
Proposal: A group of Area Coordinators presents a modified and improved proposal concerning personnel policies, the Personnel Committee, and the General Coordinators.

  1. Selection of Personnel Committee (PC):
    1. The PC, like all Coop committees, is responsible for the selection process for new PC members. The PC will advertise for open positions and select qualified applicants to be interviewed.
    2. The PC will add two area coordinators as a part of the selection process.
    3. The PC will present candidates to the General Meeting to stand for election.
  2. The PC, with the General Manager and the HR GC, shall be responsible for the hiring process, compensation, and employment policies for the GC team.
  3. The PC is responsible for the hiring process of the General Manager. The PC will form a search team consisting of representatives from the GCs, the Area Coordinators, and PC members, and will work in collaboration with a third-party search consultant(s).
  4. The PC, with the GC responsible for HR and/or the General Manager, has the authority to take disciplinary actions, in accordance with the Complaint and Grievance Policy and the Employee Handbook up to and including termination as follows:
    • The PC, working with the HR GC, is responsible for the disciplinary process pertaining to the General Manager.
    • The PC, working with the General Manager, is responsible for the disciplinary process pertaining to the HR GC.
    • The PC, working with the General Manager and HR GC, is responsible for the disciplinary process pertaining to all other General Coordinators.
  1. The personnel policies of the Park Slope Food Coop shall be the responsibility of the General Manager, GC Team, and/or the Personnel Committee. Those entities have the sole authority to bring agenda items relating to personnel policies to the General Meeting.
  2. Once approved, the above motions shall replace all other GM-approved motions on matters in the areas specified above regarding employment policies and procedures for General Coordinators and the General Manager.

This proposal is based on the following considerations. These considerations must be formally entered in the minutes of this meeting:

  1. The creation of the PC was approved by the Board of Directors during several General Meetings in 1981.
  2. At the December 1995 and February 2002 General Meetings, the Board of Directors granted authority for all Area Coordinator personnel matters to the GC team. This includes the employee handbook, compensation, hirings, and terminations.
  3. The GCs regularly seek the review and input of policies contained in the employee handbook from National Cooperative Grocers’ recommended employment lawyers and/or other lawyers who have experience working with food cooperatives.
  4. The GCs review handbook changes with employees in advance of implementation.
  5. The GCs and the PC have collaborated with an NCG-recommended employment lawyer to develop a robust policy for all complaints against GCs and the General Manager in line with Human Resources (HR) and food cooperative industry standards; the complaint policy includes the provision to employ a neutral third-party employment lawyer to thoroughly investigate these complaints and provide recommended courses of action for any offenses committed;
  6. Human Resource (HR) policies must be held to the highest standards of confidentiality and protected from unauthorized disclosures to avoid legal and financial risks to the Coop.

VII. Board of Directors Meeting (9:30 p.m.)