PCC Board of Trustees report, March 2012
This article was originally published in March 2012
Notice of annual membership meeting
Tuesday, April 24, 5:30 p.m.
St. Demetrios Hall, 2100 Boyer Ave. E
Seattle, WA
- Directions available at pccmarkets.com or by calling 206-547-1222
- Free parking
- Accessible by Metro Bus: http://metro.kingcounty.gov
- Dinner will be served at 5:30 p.m.
- RSVP by April 17
The spring member meeting will feature annual reports from the board and management on the state of our co-op. You also will hear from our four board candidates (pictured bottom right).
At each member meeting, we present a segment on a topic we think will be of interest to our members. The education segment for this meeting will be childhood nutrition. This topic is one the board has been studying, and PCC members also have told us they are keen to focus on it.
The program will include discussion of PCC’s childhood nutrition initiative to help decrease childhood obesity in our community and to encourage healthful eating and exercise.
2012 PCC election — April 24 through May 17
In order to give our members more time to get to know their candidates, we will post the candidates’ information on our website by March 23. We’ll also post brief video conversations with each candidate. The information will remain posted throughout the election period — April 24 through May 17. You’ll receive your printed information, including your ballot, by mail to your home inside the May Sound Consumer.
- Maggie Lucas (community advocate, parent, attorney), incumbent
- Stephen Tan (environmental attorney), incumbent
- Art Scheunemann (business executive)
- Sandy Voit (financial counselor)
In addition to the candidates’ presentation at the annual meeting, we’re planning two store visits from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. where members will have an opportunity to meet all candidates and ask questions in person:
- Saturday, April 28, Issaquah PCC
from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. - Saturday, May 5, Edmonds PCC
from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. - Saturday, May 12, Fremont PCC
from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Board meeting report
At the January 31 meeting, the board heard reports from the board development, finance and member relations committees. The agenda for the February board retreat was reviewed. Public Affairs Director Trudy Bialic presented on genetically engineered food and led a question-and-answer session.
The next scheduled board meeting is Tuesday, March 27 at the co-op office. The meeting begins at 5 p.m., with a member comment period at 7 p.m.
Board retreat
The board met in retreat on February 11 through 12. There were learning sessions on food hubs, co-ops, sustainable building and PCC growth.
The panel on food hubs was selected and moderated by Erin MacDougall, Ph.D., of Seattle/King County Public Health. Other panelists were Megan Horst, a Ph.D. candidate in urban design and planning at the University of Washington; Lucy Norris of the Northwest Agricultural Business Center and the Puget Sound Food Network; and Amanda Oborne of the website FoodHub. The panel discussed definitions of food hubs and looked at examples of food hubs in our region. A videotape of the session will be posted on PCC’s website by mid-April.
A discussion of cooperative ventures in our region during this International Year of the Cooperative was led by Diane Gasaway of the Northwest Co-op Development Center and Mark Goehring of the Cooperative Board Leadership Development consulting co-op. PCC’s Lori Ross presented on PCC’s green building history and Dave Low of Kidder-Matthews Commercial Real Estate discussed the evolution of green building certifications, i.e., LEED®.
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.