Writings on the subject of the
Bylaws of the Syracuse Real Food Co-op (V 1.21)

In this member’s opinion, the only flaws in the current Bylaws are a lack of enforcement regarding the financial reports that they stipulate, and the lack of modifiers such as “Complete” or “Clear and Transparent” within that text.
Indeed, after 8 years of ignoring the reporting requirements, we have recently seen two yearly report and three quarterly reports. It is not incidental in this writers mind that the proposed new Bylaws stipulate that there will only be one yearly financial report and no quarterly reports. Any business owner and most Co-op owner/members would agree that up to date financial reports are essential in assessing the health and the direction of any entity engaged in commerce. We need to maintain the flow of information, by strengthening, not weakening the financial reports.

What other rights will the membership lose under the proposed Bylaws?
Here are a few:
A) The right to determine the Co-op’s food purchase policy.
B) The right to determine the Co-op’s position on important social issues.
C) The right to publish in the New Leaf (Freedom of the Press!)
D) The right to limit remuneration to the Board for their work
E) The right to have standing committees.(Indeed there is not a single "standing committee" within that proposed structure but rather a plan that the board will appoint and dissolve any committees as it sees fit. In fact there is not even a finance committee!)
F) The board would also have the power to banish dissenting members without any process of the membership! All that could happen in 10 days (The right to a trial by a jury of your peers!).
G) There is no oversight for the Board of any kind. The current by-laws have been ignored for a while but they do call for an Audit and Oversight Committee to rule on member grievances; should a disagreement with the board arise.
H) The right of an Ad Hoc committee to assemble and forward new clauses to the Bylaws for a vote at the general membership meeting
I) The right of the membership to circulate and present petitions, claims or grievances
J) The right to have access to any official Co-op documents, records, or meeting minutes.
K) The guarantee of one month of “cash register” or “in store” voting on any major issue.
L) The guarantee that the members own the Co-op

 Additionally, at this time, we see the Board making a superfluous argument regarding the need to avoid taxation in the distribution of any dividends to the membership…
Should we generate this type of substantial profit we could:
1) Pay off our mortgage, avoiding huge amounts of interest.
2) Purchase our own inventory instead of getting it on credit from our main supplier
3) Invest in new equipment.
These and other “re-investment strategies” will solve the problem of un-necessary taxation, and can be easily implemented under the current Bylaws.
Alternately, we could simply lower prices. Additionally capital contributions can be utilized and accounted for as “cash on hand”, to fund daily operations.

By Mark Fitzgerald 472 6450 mark@rosewoodsound.com Co-op member for approximately 33 years