Don Comis, and Pat Brent were officially elected by the membership to two-year positions on the board
after serving as appointed board members during 2007. Bill Wilkerson was also elected and returns for one
year filling the position vacated by Vasili Frankos in March of last year, and will serve as the financial
officer.
President Peter May still has one year to serve after having been elected last year. Diana McFadden declined
to run for another term, and there was no fifth board applicant, so there is an open position on the board.
There is a professional chef who is interest in taking over the kitchen, including
installing a stove. The board is proceeding to complete the agreement with the independent
restaurant operator as discussed at the membership meeting last night.
While we have every faith that the parties are in agreement, it is
always possible that some unknown problem could develop. In that case,
the cafe would have to judge how long it can operate without the
infusion of funding that we expect from the agreement.
Last night, the board stated that February 15 was an estimate of how
long the cafe could stave off creditors without an agreement with the
independent operator. Due to the very gracious donations of a
significant sum of money from several members last night, we have just
slightly more breathing room. Financial Officier Bill Wilkerson suggests that we all should expect that
the cafe will continue to be open as normal, subject to the availability
of volunteers.
Musicians and others with dates reserved for particular events,
lectures, meetings, etc. can continue to plan on those dates, subject
only to volunteers. Once the agreement is finalized, it is anticipated
that the cafe will still be operated in roughly the same fashion as now,
with the cooperative continuing to provide music, art, and hosting
meetings and other events in the cafe. This is what the independent
operator desires. The cooperative will still be responsible for the music and arts so
there should be no significant break in those efforts.
At some point, improvements to the kitchen may necessitate that part or
all of the cafe be closed for a short period of time, but that will
require planning ahead so that any scheduling obligations of the cafe
can be rearranged. All the key people, who have been
working so well together to keep the cafe viable, continue to do so
until further notice. In that way we can keep the cafe a money-making,
fun place for the community to enjoy, which is our objective.
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