The undersigned members of the New Deal Café Cooperative request, as provided for in the By-laws, a Special Membership Meeting be called for the purposes below:
Requested Special Meeting Agenda
1) The Board of Directors shall present their responses to the questions posed by a group of members in their letter to the Board dated February 15th, 2014. A response had been requested within two weeks, but as of March 11th no response has been received.
Rationale for request: The February 15th letter is attached and is self-explanatory.
2) Consider and vote on the following Amendment to Article III, Section 4 of the By-Laws:
The By-Laws are to be amended to add the following sentences to Article III, Section 4:
“No member may hold elected office if the member or the member’s spouse or a member’s immediate family member (defined as parent, child or sibling) is employed by the New Deal Café Cooperative. This applies to both direct employment by the Cooperative and to employment by companies that have entered into long-term on-site contracts with the cooperative.”
The amended Section 4 is shown below with the addition underlined.
Article III. Membership
Section 4. Membership Requirement to Hold Office. Only a member of the Corporation, at least 21 years of age, may be a director of the Corporation or a member of a committee elected by the membership. Co-op committees will include an audit committee, elections or nominations committee, a membership committee, and a volunteer coordination committee. No member may hold elected office if the member or the member’s spouse or a member’s immediate family member (defined as parent, child or sibling) is employed by the New Deal Café Cooperative. This applies to both direct employment by the Cooperative and to employment by companies that have entered into long-term on-site contracts with the cooperative.
Rationale for the amendment: Avoid conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflicts of interest. This amendment will make the By-Laws consistent with the New Deal Café Cooperative Employee Manual and Performance Review Guidelines previously adopted by the Cooperative and with generally accepted good practices in other successful cooperatives.
6 Comments
Asking for Peace & Justice at the New Deal Cafe Co-op, begun as non-profit Coop ALL Members of the CO-OP needs a Peaceful connection with all members. Being a CO_OP means people working together cooperatively. A C0-0P ,not a Corporation where if you are an employee you most certainly can get fired.. Better in a good Cooperative Endeavor-YOU COULD GO ON A RETREAT, HAVE A GOOD TIME TOGATHER, and fix your differences or if you cant be friendly and easy going , TRY mediation, Greenbelt Cares!
Yes, I fully agree.
Terri Rudledge deserves a fair hearing.
I support Terri and I'm thankful for her work. I may need to renew my membership; but will do so if it turns out it's expired.
Please hold the NDC board accountable.
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The undersigned members of the New Deal Café Cooperative request, as provided for in the By-laws, a Special Membership Meeting be called for the purposes below:
Requested Special Meeting Agenda
1) The Board of Directors shall present their responses to the questions posed by a group of members in their letter to the Board dated February 15th, 2014. A response had been requested within two weeks, but as of March 11th no response has been received.
Rationale for request: The February 15th letter is attached and is self-explanatory.
2) Consider and vote on the following Amendment to Article III, Section 4 of the By-Laws:
The By-Laws are to be amended to add the following sentences to Article III, Section 4:
“No member may hold elected office if the member or the member’s spouse or a member’s immediate family member (defined as parent, child or sibling) is employed by the New Deal Café Cooperative. This applies to both direct employment by the Cooperative and to employment by companies that have entered into long-term on-site contracts with the cooperative.”
The amended Section 4 is shown below with the addition underlined.
Article III. Membership
Section 4. Membership Requirement to Hold Office. Only a member of the Corporation, at least 21 years of age, may be a director of the Corporation or a member of a committee elected by the membership. Co-op committees will include an audit committee, elections or nominations committee, a membership committee, and a volunteer coordination committee. No member may hold elected office if the member or the member’s spouse or a member’s immediate family member (defined as parent, child or sibling) is employed by the New Deal Café Cooperative. This applies to both direct employment by the Cooperative and to employment by companies that have entered into long-term on-site contracts with the cooperative.
Rationale for the amendment: Avoid conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflicts of interest. This amendment will make the By-Laws consistent with the New Deal Café Cooperative Employee Manual and Performance Review Guidelines previously adopted by the Cooperative and with generally accepted good practices in other successful cooperatives.
6 Comments
A true conflict of interest occurred in April of 2011 when the President of the Board (the now ex-general manager) refused to recuse herself and wrote her own job description and rate of pay and then was subsequently hired as the cafe's GM (before then she was only getting paid to bartend one night a week) She went from being the President of the Board of Directors to a paid General Manager in the same meeting. So yes, having clear and ethical guidelines for recruiting and vetting cafe employees should be in place. Word of this April 2011 meeting did not go out on the cafe yahoo group until 15 minutes after the meeting started. There was no agenda.
Asking for Peace & Justice at the New Deal Cafe Co-op, begun as non-profit Coop ALL Members of the CO-OP needs a Peaceful connection with all members. Being a CO_OP means people working together cooperatively. A C0-0P ,not a Corporation where if you are an employee you most certainly can get fired.. Better in a good Cooperative Endeavor-YOU COULD GO ON A RETREAT, HAVE A GOOD TIME TOGATHER, and fix your differences or if you cant be friendly and easy going , TRY mediation, Greenbelt Cares!
Yes, I fully agree.
Terri Rudledge deserves a fair hearing.
I support Terri and I'm thankful for her work. I may need to renew my membership; but will do so if it turns out it's expired.
Please hold the NDC board accountable.
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A true conflict of interest occurred in April of 2011 when the President of the Board (the now ex-general manager) refused to recuse herself and wrote her own job description and rate of pay and then was subsequently hired as the cafe's GM (before then she was only getting paid to bartend one night a week) She went from being the President of the Board of Directors to a paid General Manager in the same meeting. So yes, having clear and ethical guidelines for recruiting and vetting cafe employees should be in place. Word of this April 2011 meeting did not go out on the cafe yahoo group until 15 minutes after the meeting started. There was no agenda.