PCC Board of Trustees report, November 2014

Next board meeting

The next regularly scheduled board meeting will be Tuesday, November 25 at 5 p.m. at the co-op office. Member comment period is at 6 p.m. Comments are limited to three minutes unless a longer presentation is approved by the chair in advance of the meeting.

Nominating committee

The committee is reviewing board applications submitted by the October 14 deadline and beginning the interview process. The 2015 candidate slate will be announced in the January Sound Consumer.

Ends reporting

The PCC Ends policies define the nature and vision of our cooperative, providing management with long-term goals. All PCC’s practices and initiatives are directed toward these goals. Management reports on its actions that demonstrate compliance with the Global and five Ends policies during the preceding reporting year.
Each year the board publishes the Ends policies and excerpts of the management report on the prior year activities. Here are the Ends and sub-Ends policies:

Global Ends

PCC exists to create a cooperative, sustainable environment for our members and patrons in which the natural and organic supply chains thrive.

• Ends policy A — PCC members and patrons will have access to high quality, healthful food that is fairly priced.
• Ends policy B — PCC membership is a respected and valued choice.
• Ends policy C — PCC has a local focus.
• Ends policy D — PCC members and patrons are well educated in matters of healthful foods, healthy sustainable living and the cooperative business model.
• Ends policy E — An inherent part of PCC’s business is the balance of economic, social and environmental responsibilities.

PCC has a local focus.

Management interprets Ends policy C to mean that PCC’s retail business focuses primarily on the Puget Sound region for its customer base, giving preference to producers, suppliers, community organizations and other partners located in or near our market area.

For the purposes of store locations, “local” is within the Puget Sound region (mostly King and Snohomish counties) and close enough to existing stores such that PCC is at least somewhat familiar to residents and there is an existing base of PCC members among them. For procurement purposes, “local” is equivalent to “Northwest” and encompasses the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and southern British Columbia. Supporting a “local focus” does not preclude doing business with non-local organizations when doing so better serves our membership and the long-term well-being of PCC.

Store locations are one of the key indicators of compliance. This year, as in prior years, PCC did not seek to expand outside of its current market area, defined as the greater Seattle metropolitan area. Management believes that the best opportunities for successful new stores lie within neighborhoods that overlap or complement those already served by PCC.

2013 ended in anticipation of the development in the Green Lake neighborhood. The Greenlake Village store opened in June 2014. Also under construction is our future Columbia City store, scheduled to open in spring or mid-2015.

Product sourcing: Last year we again demonstrated our commitment to local by adding dozens of new product vendors located in Washington and Oregon. We also continued to work with local companies for our non-sales supply and service needs.

Learn more
Read full Ends policy language at pccnaturalmarkets.com/member/gov/.

PCC’s recent public policy work

• October 7, 2014 — PCC sent comments to the National Organic Standards Board regarding its research priorities, BPA and BPS in packaging, the research impact of glyphosate in compost, GMO contamination prevention, “Excluded Methods,” Gellan gum and changes to the Sunset Provision.
• September 23, 2014 — PCC sent a letter to the Congressional Organic Caucus advocating reversal of U.S. Department of Agriculture’s unilateral changes to the organic program’s Sunset Provision.
• September 16, 2014 — PCC sent a PCC Advocates email newsletter to shoppers and a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency urging protections from mining in Bristol Bay, Alaska, home to a valuable salmon fishery.