PCC Board of Trustees report, January 2012

Board meeting report

The November 30 board meeting agenda included review and approval of the 2012 operating budget and business plan. The standing committees — board development, CEO evaluation, finance and member relations — all reported on their work.

The nominating committee reported on the slate for next year’s election (see 2012 board slate). Committee chair Rick Riehle and board representative John Sheller led a discussion of the committee’s evaluative processes and answered board questions.

The member relations committee reviewed the fall member meeting. The theme of the meeting was “Every Day is Food Day at PCC,” which was registered as one of hundreds events around the country celebrating the first annual Food Day. Members’ evaluations showed that they particularly enjoyed hearing from some of our vendors. The board approved April 24 as the date of the 2012 annual meeting. Childhood nutrition will be the meeting topic.

The board set the dates for governance activities in 2012. April 24 through May 17 were approved as the dates for the next board election. The 2012 ballot count meeting was set for May 21. The eligibility date for voting in the 2012 election will be March 31.

Next board meeting

The next regularly scheduled board meeting will be January 31. Member comment period is at 7 p.m.

2012 board slate

This year’s nominating committee interviewed eight applicants for board candidacy. The committee is nominating the following PCC members for consideration in the 2012 election:

• Maggie Lucas (community advocate, parent, attorney), incumbent
• Stephen Tan (environmental attorney), incumbent
• Art Scheunemann (business executive)
• Sandy Voit (financial counselor)

We’ll post candidate bios and photos on PCC’s website by March 23.

The nominating committee thanks all those who submitted applications and encourages all members to check out the candidates on our website in March.

PCC renews organic certification

PCC is a certified organic retailer, which means that we:

• Maintain records of organic purchases, providing traceability.
• Verify that the organic products we purchase are certified.
• Handle the organic products in a way that maintains their organic integrity.
• Use appropriate cleaning, sanitizing and pesticide products and procedures.
• Our certifying agent, the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA), inspects our records and facilities annually, interviews staff and conducts an audit.

The inspections and audit for 2012 were recently completed and the organic certifications for all nine stores were renewed.

Comments on organic standards

PCC submitted comments to the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) during a public comment period recently on several pending issues.

We advocated for more living space indoors and out for organic chickens and hogs to enhance animal welfare. We advocated limits on ammonia exposure and for prohibitions against de-beaking, de-snooding, dubbing, and toe trimming among poultry.

We argued for continuing the prohibition against allowing added sulphur/sulfites to wines labeled organic. We also urged the NOSB to reject approval of novel additives deemed nutrients.

To read the comments in full, visit Public Policy Statements on Organics.