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Notice of HWFC Regular Membership Meeting

(TO BE CONDUCTED REMOTELY)

 Sunday, October 30, 2022 6:00PM

*DUE TO COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS ON GATHERINGS, YOU MAY ONLY PARTICIPATE IN THIS MEETING REMOTELY. PROCEDURES DESCRIBED BELOW APPLY ONLY TO THE OCTOBER 30 REGULAR MEMBERSHIP MEETING*

Instructions to participate remotely, by phone, or online, are at the end of this notice.

4:00 pm - 6:00 pm     CHECK-IN: 

• PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON HOW YOU CAN PARTICIPATE AND CHECK IN TO THIS MEETING REMOTELY

6:00 pm - 7:50 pm Membership Meeting

Agenda

Welcome                  10 minutes

Financial & Operational Update: Presentation                  10 minutes

Governance Review Council (GRC) Update: Presentation        5 minutes

Long Range Planning Committee Update: Presentation and Q & A     30 minutes

Election for Two (2) Seat on the Governance Review Council: Q & A and Vote      40 minutes

Applications from Eligible Candidates have been posted in the Co-op and online at: https://www.honestweight.coop/page/elections-314.html 

There will be a call for nominations “from the floor,” in this case from the M-O meeting participants - use the “raise hand” function. See “Guidelines for Voting/Participating Remotely at the Regular Membership Meeting” later in the notice for details on “raise hand.”

Meet the Candidates sessions.

• Thursday, October 27 — 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
• Sunday, October 30 — 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm

Open discussion for 15 minutes                  15 minutes

1. In-Meeting voting                          After Ballot Boxes Open

After the 15-minutes open discussion, and a final check to see if Survey Monkey & Phone-Only participant voting is finished, we will conclude the remote portion of our October 30 Regular Membership Meeting‌. The meeting will remain open for the sole purpose of In-Person voting on-site at HWFC during stated voting hours.

2. In-Person voting at HWFC

• Monday, October 31 — 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
• Tuesday, November 1 — 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

The meeting will be adjourned on Tuesday, November 1, at 5:00 pm upon the end of the voting period.

You have received this notice because you are eligible to vote (up to date on time investment requirements and ownership interest payments).  If you have questions regarding your eligibility, contact Membership Manager Yevette Buddeau at MemberServices@honestweight.coop or (518) 482-2667 Extension 104 at least three days PRIOR to the meeting to confirm that your name is on the voting list.   

A successful Co-op depends on the active support and participation of the membership.  Member-Owner participation is the most significant part of our ability to successfully govern the Co-op.  Our Bylaws require a quorum to start a meeting and vote.   We encourage you to participate and be a part of the Co-op discussion.  Get involved and vote. 

Guidelines for Voting/Participating Remotely at the Regular Membership Meeting:

We recognize that some of the language associated with online meetings may be unfamiliar to some Member-Owners. Please reach out to Yevette at memberservices@honestweight.coop or  518-482-2667 ext 104 before October 28, or attend one of the Help Sessions detailed at the end of this notice, to seek help.  

The Meeting

Note: While participants who dial in by phone will be able to fully participate in the meeting, you are encouraged to connect to the meeting online (via laptop, computer, smartphone app, etc) in order to view presentation materials.   For the best meeting experience, and to better allow us to provide help if something doesn’t work right for you, you are highly encouraged to update to the latest version of Zoom before the Meeting: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362233-Upgrading-Zoom-to-the-latest-version

Meeting materials will be available at the Customer Services Desk.  

Member-Owners who belong to a Household with other Member-Owners are strongly encouraged to use separate devices when attending the meeting.  

Online Login info for 

• Meet the Candidate Sessions;
• Zoom Help Sessions; and
• October 30 Regular Membership Meeting:

Online meeting link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81073676905

Phone Login info:

Phone number: 1 (929) 205 6099

Toll-free phone number: 1 (833) 548 0282

Meeting ID: 810 7367 6905

Participant ID: Only needed to link dial-in phone audio to your computer/tablet video.

Linking dial-in phone audio to your computer/tablet video through Zoom requires a Participant ID.  To find your Participant ID, log into the meeting through Zoom on your computer/tablet first, and click on the icon in the upper left corner (it may be an “information” circle, or may be a shield).  The participant ID listed there will be needed during one of the prompts when calling in with your phone to link the two devices.

We are offering Zoom help sessions ahead of the October 30 Regular Membership Meeting so that it will go as smoothly as possible. For help ahead of the meeting, see Help Sessions at the end of this notice.* If you have trouble logging into the October 30 Regular Membership Meeting, please call the Membership Manager at (518) 482-2667 Extension 104. We will help log people in on the night of the meeting as time permits and this may entail a long wait; please consider logging in to one of the Help Sessions ahead of time. Membership Meeting information is available during Zoom Help Sessions, as these are solely to proactively attend to Zoom log-in troubles. Please attend one of the Info Sessions to learn more about the topics for this Membership Meeting. 

Check-in process: 

When first arriving at the “meeting,” you will be in a virtual waiting area. Please be patient.  As a “Check-in table” (called a breakout room) becomes available, you will be assigned to a Check-In table where a designated M-O, conducting check-in, will check you into the meeting.  Please have your Owner or “Member” number ready.

Member-Owners who check in to the meeting will receive 2 hours for attending the meeting. Member-Owners who check in between 4:00 pm and 5:30 pm will receive an additional .5 hour for helping to alleviate the last minute rush.

We appreciate people checking in early.  The meeting will not begin before 6:00 pm, but will begin promptly when quorum is met.  After you are checked in, you may freely move about; return to your phone/computer by 6:00 pm for the start of the meeting or to actively wait for quorum.

After you are checked in, you will be moved into the “Meeting Room” -- you will not have to click anything for this to happen.  Once in the “Meeting Room” you may click on ‘participants’ on the computer screen and you will see yourself as ‘checked-in.’  For those connecting by phone only, your confirmation will only be by voice during check-in.

If you connect with more than one device, or if you have two or more people near each other on separate devices, please mute the mic and speakers on all but one of your devices to avoid unpleasant feedback.

Once quorum is reached (no official business can be conducted until we have adequate representation of eligible voters), the meeting will proceed in the order shown above. To keep the meeting organized, to ensure that all participants can hear the person speaking, and to reduce bandwidth usage and help those with slower internet connections, participants in the meeting will be muted and their videos disabled.

“Raise hand” at the meeting

To participate in the meeting, you will use the “raise hand” function.  If you have a question/verbal comment, you may “raise your hand” to place yourself in the queue to speak (ex. you have a question, etc.). If you are attending the meeting via phone, press *9 on your phone keypad. If you are attending the meeting online, you may press the “raise hand” button found in the “reactions” menu. 

Voting

Three methods of voting are available.  You may choose only one method of voting and cast your ballot set once.  Casting more than one ballot for a topic, or casting ballots through multiple methods, will spoil all of your ballots.  Member-Owners who cast a ballot by any method outlined below after attending the OCTOBER 30 REGULAR MEMBERSHIP MEETING will receive one time-investment hour for casting their ballot.

CONFIDENTIAL BALLOT:

In-Person Voting: Voting for this Meeting will occur in-person, in the Teaching Kitchen, at HWFC over the course of 2 days. The designated times for submitting ballots are as follows:

In-Person Voting Ballot Drop-Off Times:

• Monday, October 31 — 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
• Tuesday, November 1 — 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

Ballots will be available at the voting table. They have not been mailed out with the Notice.

For your paper ballot set to be considered valid:

1. Place your ballots into one inner unmarked envelope.
2. Insert the inner unmarked envelope into the  outer “return envelope”.
3. Label the outer “return envelope” with your NAME AND M-O NUMBER.
4. When submitting ballots at the Co-op, sign your outer envelope, containing your inner unmarked envelope and ballots, immediately before placing it in the ballot box in the Teaching Kitchen at HWFC.
5. You must deposit ONLY YOUR OWN envelope and ballots into the ballot box at HWFC.

NON-CONFIDENTIAL BALLOT: Survey Monkey Voting: 

We will provide a Survey Monkey ballot link during the meeting after the last voting item presentation on the agenda concludes. Survey Monkey voting will be available to online participants, once “ballot boxes” open, ONLY DURING THE MEETING. Survey Monkey Ballot boxes will close at the conclusion of the remote part of the meeting.  PLEASE NOTE: While every effort will be made to keep personally identifiable information separate from your vote choices during ballot handling and vote processing, the Survey Monkey voting method is not confidential.

NON-CONFIDENTIAL BALLOT: Phone-Only Voting: 

Phone-Only participants who cannot vote in-person at the Co-op may vote on ballots when ballot boxes open. Phone-only voting will be available to meeting participants, once “ballot boxes” open, ONLY DURING THE MEETING. Phone-Only participants will be asked to “raise their hand” (press *9) if they intend to vote by phone.  As “voting booths” become available, Phone-Only participants with raised hands will be moved to a “voting booth,” isolated away from the main meeting room, where a pair of Vote-Receivers will prompt them with the ballot questions and record their vote.  To expedite the process, if you plan to vote by phone, write down information throughout the meeting presentations so that you know how you will cast your votes before “entering the phone voting booth.”  Phone-Only voting will close after all Phone-Only participants have been acknowledged.  PLEASE NOTE: The Phone-only voting method is not confidential.

If you plan to cast NON-CONFIDENTIAL BALLOTS online or by phone, be sure to retain your correct Member number after check-in. You may confirm your Member number with the check-in person to make sure you have written it correctly. 

If you have more than one person in your household who cannot vote in-person at the Co-op, you will not all be able to attend the meeting and vote electronically on the same online device.  Additional people unable to vote in person will need to check-in and vote by phone or Survey Monkey.

IF YOU CANNOT ACCESS MEMBERSHIP MEETING INFORMATION ON THE HWFC WEBSITE OR AT THE CUSTOMER SERVICE DESK, you may call Yevette Buddeau, our Membership Manager, by Sunday, October 23 to request information be mailed to you.

*Help Sessions for logging in and participating

We understand that this form of meeting will be new for many people.  In light of that, we will be hosting several opportunities to practice logging on and participating in this format, prior to the Regular Membership Meeting.  If you would like an opportunity to practice logging in or have any questions about participating in a Zoom meeting, please attend one of the scheduled Help Sessions below:

• Monday, October 24 — 11:30 am - 12:00 pm
• Wednesday, October 26 — 5:30 pm - 6:00 pm

The Dates of Currently Scheduled 2022 Membership Meetings are:

• Sunday, January 30, 2022
• Sunday, April 24, 2022
• Sunday, May 22, 2022
• Sunday, June 26, 2022
• Sunday, October 30, 2022