Thank you, Owners, for voting in our new Board members and enabling our Co-op to continue to grow and serve our community! Your vote is extremely important and is the primary channel through which the governance team can ensure Owners’ voices are directing our actions. The results of the vote also highlight that Owners have confidence in our Co-op and support our strategic direction. We are honored and humbled to be part of this great community.
Annual Meeting & Party (AMP)
As you may have learned at our Annual Meeting and Party, as of fiscal-year-end 2017, we have 34,753 Owners. We saw at least 5,000 of you on July 13th at the AMP during the Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center’s Fête de Marquette festival—we know because that’s how many meals we served! If you joined us, thank you so much for your support and interest in what’s happening at the Co-op. This year we played a game of Annual Meeting and JeoParty where we had fun sharing several interesting facts about the Co-op and its involvement in the community, including:
- Since 2010, the Co-op has served 29,000 meals to Owners during the AMP.
- The Co-op provided $35,000 in grant funds to 14 community organizations through our Community Reinvestment Fund this fiscal year.
- Owners have provided $2,294,370 to Community Shares of Wisconsin since the Community CHIP program began at the Co-op.
We hope you enjoyed this year’s meeting and party and look forward to seeing you there again next year.
New Board Members
We are thrilled to have Jeannine Bindl, Brian Anderson, Meghan Gauger, Evan Cameron and Stephanie Ricketts elected to the Board. Watch for future Reader articles highlighting each new Board member to learn more about them. Even better, drop by a future Board meeting and meet your new directors in person!
Together as a Board, we will collectively work to represent the ideas and concerns of our community of Owners, while balancing the Co-op’s strategic goals and values that make it a successful business. One of our first major eventstogether as a new team will be our two-day Board retreat in September. Join me in welcoming Jeannine, Brian, Meghan, Evan and Stephanie.
West Expansion, Co-op Growth, Bylaw Change
All three ballot initiatives recommended by the Board passed by Owners in our election. Nearly 85% of voters supported the ballot initiative on expenditure of funds for the expansion and remodel of West. Seventy-seven percent of votes received were in favor of the ballot initiative that would allow the Co-op to pursue an expansion project in excess of 10% of Owner equity within the next three years. And just shy of 95% of voters supported the provision to amend Co-op bylaw 5.7. Thank you for voting on these important initiatives and exhibiting, through your vote, the trust you hold in our Co-op. We will keep you updated as we move forward.
Thank You to Outgoing Board Members
Finally, a shout out and a tremendous “thank you!” to our outgoing Board members: Holly Bender, Mike Johnson and Mike Engel. At our last Board meeting we shared a moment of appreciation for the time and effort these members have contributed over their years of service. Holly B. has been an exceptional Vice Chair and was never afraid to push us when we needed it. We’re also grateful for her willingness, as she has said herself, to “think about Board policy all day long.” Mike Johnson has been, among many things, our go-to resource and expert in all things Robert’s Rules. And Mike Engel, I’m pretty sure, dreams in Policy Governance—and has been our John Carver stand-in when we needed guidance in that governance model. I’d also like to thank Kathy Kemnitz, Jess Pernsteiner and Miguel Zamora for their service on the Board this year.
Thank you again for your support and as always, if you have questions for the Board, please email us at board@willystreet.coop.
