Communications Committee Meeting 12/14/2010

Notetaker : Laura Anglim

In attendance: Laura Anglim, Genelle Denzin, Steve Wolfson, John Liuzza

Newsletter was the first topic of discussion
- it should be available online & in the store
- hard copies still exist from past newsletters
- Steve’s partner would be willing to do the formatting
- people could post stories on the market website & in newsletter as a ‘member spotlight’
> Genelle got one response from Alec Johnson, she is working with him to frame it as a member spotlight rather than an editorial/opinion section > we need to fill the website front page! the highlights are getting old
- Olympia food co-op has a nice online newsletter
- how should the newsletter group be focused?
- put a proposal out to ask for contributors (on the forum, website, & display case)
- we want to propose & discuss the newsletter with the board
- need to look to past decisions about management & content of the newsletter
- need to ensure content doesn’t have bias
- structure of editing to ensure equal representation & space for different ideas
- who is the newsletter for/from? (member-owners, committee, employees)
- is committee responsible/answer to the board for management of the newsletter? or just member-ower run/accountable
options::
- send newsletter to the board before publishing, allow a couple days for comments & then go to print
- have a board member newsletter liason who will oversee
- committe chair is answerable to the board
- this committee operates under a charter from the board
- we will need more member-owners volunteers to operate this newsletter!
- ask to add the newsletter to the board agenda to move forward

Passwords
- Genelle has a document of Jason’s proposal of a process to keep records of login/passwords of market email accounts & website access which will be presented to the board
- policy for website content & emails will come from the policy register
- there is market business being conducted through gmail accounts instead of the @communitymarket.org email addresses

the proposal would give out communitymarket accounts but the messages could be fowarded to Gmail & that would be the interface

- this would ensure co-op emails will never be lost in the transition of employees/staff
- every employee could potentially have a CCM email address
- this should be proposed before the next board meeting so board members have a chance to look it over

Folder system
- a folder for agenda items for board meetings & folder for items to add to display case
- john & genelle will get a box to put up in the market for these folders
- laura will put a sign on the display case to let members know about these folders

Board communications
- to communicate discussions of the board such as during informal meetings between board meetings about different events, situations, general discussion to the membership
- how can the committee facilitate this transparency & lessen rumors that circulate

Vandalism
- there have been strong feelings against posting a message specifically acknowledging the vandalism so it was decided to forego posting a message on display case
- we will make a posting about general communication options available to member-owners

Make a posting about committees formed thus far (it will be updated after next board meeting)

Regular meeting time for committee?
- for now Tuesdays at 6pm at the market

Revisit Newsletter
- potential jobs would include editor, formatting, marketing/advertising, content, contributors
- potentially paid positions and/or volunteers to manage it

Action Items
Steve :: read Olympia newsleter & past issues of Communicator
Jason :: proposal for the board about email address/logins
Laura :: send out meeting notes, post sign about folders, member communication, newsletter & committees
Genelle :: work with Alec, post to member forum about the newsletter, work on folder system with John
John :: work on getting folder system up in market

For next meeting’s agenda ::
- newsletter
- objectives of the committee
- consensus decision making for the committee?

Laura will facilitate the next meeting Tuesday, January 11th