1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:19,320 Welcome to all of you cooperators out there. I'm Emily. I'm Alessandra. And this is Smooth 2 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:24,840 Cooperators, a Belfast Community Co-op program. We're here to talk to you about cooperatives, 3 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:30,520 and particularly the Belfast Community Co-op. Today we are going to discuss the second cooperative 4 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:36,120 principle, Democratic member control. Ooh, no, it's really exciting. Something we happen 5 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:39,640 to know a little bit about. What does that mean, Emily? It means that you are on the 6 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:43,720 board for a lot of years, and I've been working for the board for a lot of years, which means 7 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:50,880 we get to watch democracy in action, and we get to participate in our voting system on 8 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:56,200 the back end. Yeah. Making ballots. So what is democratic member control? What is that 9 00:00:56,200 --> 00:01:01,800 principle? What does that mean? Well, let me tell you. The International Cooperative Alliance 10 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:06,960 says that cooperatives are founded on the ideals of democracy. Every member plays an 11 00:01:06,960 --> 00:01:11,440 integral role in making decisions that affect the organization as a whole. The cooperative 12 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:17,360 makes crucial choices, adds or reforms policies, and elects new representatives as a group. 13 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:21,920 All of the members have equal voting rights with one ballot per individual, and elected 14 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:30,040 officials hear every person's voice. So if I'm understanding it correctly, the owners 15 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:36,120 from their pool of owners vote for specific owners to represent them, and those owners 16 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:40,480 are called the board of directors. That is correct, which is fun, because it's also known 17 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:46,280 as a representative democracy. We're going to talk about what we have in place at the 18 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:51,880 Belfast Community Co-op for democracy, and how you can participate. Every person has 19 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:58,280 one vote, but not on every decision. The shareholders or our owners have delegated their power to 20 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:03,720 the board of directors, as we were saying, which they elect through our democratic process 21 00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:10,880 of voting. Some decisions do require a vote of our owners, like changing the bylaws. Other 22 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:19,000 decisions the board can ask for owners' input. Additionally, there are other times when owners 23 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:24,800 can request a vote. And our bylaws actually specify that the board shall call a special 24 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:29,640 meeting or ballot vote if presented with a written petition signed by 10% of our member 25 00:02:29,640 --> 00:02:37,400 owners. So there are several ways that we participate in a democratic process. 26 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:43,080 That's kind of like an overview for all co-ops. Absolutely. Because pretty much every food 27 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:49,280 co-op that I know of has a board of directors that are elected by the owners. Except for 28 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:56,760 specifically, I did just have what our bylaws say. So every co-op's bylaws will be worded 29 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:01,400 differently. But my next question was going to be about our co-op. Because that was kind 30 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:07,200 of an overview. And then you mentioned before that we've been involved with the democratic 31 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:13,080 process at the co-op for a pretty long time. And I think if I remember correctly about 32 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:19,080 your role that you're involved actually every year, how does that process start the process 33 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:25,120 of electing like a new director? We have kind of an annual cycle that the board operates 34 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:34,000 on and it starts generally early fall. Directors start thinking about people that they know 35 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:41,200 that our co-op owners who they think might fill a board seat nicely. They'll also talk 36 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:49,780 about certain skill sets that they'd like to bolster on the board and brainstorm potential 37 00:03:49,780 --> 00:03:56,400 candidates from that. We also do a thing where when we are signing up our new owners, we 38 00:03:56,400 --> 00:04:02,200 ask them if they're interested in board work. And so we do have a running list of people 39 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:07,800 who have said yes. Generally the board will reach out to these people to see if they are 40 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:14,600 interested. So that's kind of the first stage for them. And then it goes to our board development 41 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:20,160 committee, which is a great committee that I happen to be on. I really enjoy it. It works 42 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:25,320 towards training the board and educating the board and making sure the board is following 43 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:32,560 the bylaws and monitoring the board policies. They actually make the nomination packet. 44 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:37,480 When somebody is interested in running for the board, they will receive this nomination 45 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:44,640 packet. It has a bunch of information, quite a lot of information about what it means to 46 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:51,120 be a director, what the responsibilities of a director would be, expectations, and lays 47 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:57,240 out meeting schedules and committees and other events that they will need to participate 48 00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:03,720 in trainings and retreats and whatnot. And then it asks specific questions about why 49 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:08,560 somebody would want to serve on the board of directors for the Belfast Community Co-op. 50 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:14,720 So that generally goes out in December so that people can start filling those out and 51 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:21,840 submitting them. And then we encourage any candidates to attend board meetings, make 52 00:05:21,840 --> 00:05:28,040 sure they are familiar with the process, and ask questions of the directors so that they 53 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:32,880 know that this is something they want to do because it is a three-year commitment. Then 54 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:39,360 we do link our voting to our annual meeting. The annual meeting is generally held at the 55 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:45,520 end of February or the beginning of March. So at the February board meeting, the candidates 56 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:52,160 have to be approved and the ballot has to be approved, which is kind of the same thing. 57 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:59,040 Can you remind me what a ballot is? So the ballot is the actual piece of paper or document 58 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:05,160 that lists the candidates and it has instructions for voting on it. We also include in ours 59 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:10,040 candidate statements so that you can have all of your information in one place. If there 60 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:15,800 were any other decisions that the board needed to make at that time, such as changing the 61 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:18,640 bylaws, that would also be included on the ballot. 62 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:23,360 What I'm hearing from you is that people decide they're interested in running for the board. 63 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:28,640 They fill out a nomination packet. That packet is given to the board and then sometime in 64 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:32,840 the February meeting they look over the ballot. What happens after that? 65 00:06:32,840 --> 00:06:37,880 Well, once the ballot gets approved, it can then be distributed at the annual meeting 66 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:43,480 when voting begins. The information about the candidates is given to our marketing department 67 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:49,920 so that our owners can be as informed as possible on their choices. 68 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:55,480 And so people would be told about these candidates through social media, through e-news, and 69 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:57,200 probably in the store. 70 00:06:57,200 --> 00:06:58,200 Exactly. 71 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:02,760 Awesome. Now we're to the point where owners can vote. Like, how do people do that? 72 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:10,840 Historically, most of our votes have gone through paper ballots, but in 2018 we decided 73 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:17,200 to move to online voting. We went through simply voting, which is a company used by 74 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:21,360 other cooperatives. We did get recommendations from our community. 75 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:25,840 So it's a safe and secure way to vote online for the board of directors. 76 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:30,800 Absolutely. Actually, I know that you have some stories about this, and I'd love to hear 77 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:31,800 them. 78 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:40,240 We used to vote with paper ballots before 2018, and in order for the vote to be valid, 79 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:45,360 we have to reach quorum. And quorum is like a fancy way to say that we have to have enough 80 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:52,160 owners vote that their voice has been heard. So that's typically 10%. That means that over 81 00:07:52,160 --> 00:08:01,280 the course of the last five years, around 350 or 400 people have had to be voting. 82 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:07,680 Before 2018, I'm trying to think it might have been like 2016, we did have a lot of 83 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:09,280 trouble reaching quorums. 84 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:14,760 There were several years prior to online voting where we had issues reaching quorum 85 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:20,240 and had to extend the voting period beyond the 21 days that was required by the bylaws 86 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:21,240 at that time. 87 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:22,240 21 days? 88 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:29,080 Yes. We had to have three weeks where the ballots were available so that we could reach 89 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:31,120 the most people possible. 90 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:35,880 That's amazing because this year that I'm thinking of, voting had been open for six 91 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:41,960 weeks. We had not reached quorum yet. And one of our directors stood at the ends of 92 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:49,160 the registers holding paper ballots, but he was also wearing a very large vote sticker 93 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:52,200 on his forehead to try to get people's attention. 94 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:54,400 I remember that. 95 00:08:54,400 --> 00:08:59,720 Because we follow this cooperative principle because it's integral to our business, that 96 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:05,640 people understand that they're electing owners to represent them, to make decisions on their 97 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:08,160 behalf of this business that they own. 98 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:12,800 It felt hard that it was a struggle to get people to participate. 99 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:16,920 And then I think we had gone back and forth for a couple different years about voting 100 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:22,360 online, but there's a lot of inputs that need to happen from our database into this voting 101 00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:23,360 database. 102 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:27,720 There's a lot of maintenance to make sure emails are correct, to make sure that people 103 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:32,920 who have more than one name on their owner account, to make sure each of those people 104 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:37,160 gets a ballot because each of those people is indeed a separate owner, even though they 105 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:41,680 share a number, which is confusing and certainly something that we're trying to unravel by 106 00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:45,160 moving towards one owner accounts. 107 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:48,720 And finally, we felt like, we have nothing left to lose. 108 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:52,560 And so we decided to try simply voting. 109 00:09:52,560 --> 00:10:00,080 And in 2018, there were 467 online votes for the board of directors. 110 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:07,680 And in 2023, which was our most recent board of directors election, 809 people voted online. 111 00:10:07,680 --> 00:10:12,720 And I believe that that was in the span that we reached quorum in the span of one week. 112 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:17,280 So it really has turned into something that is accessible and that's gotten the message 113 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:22,280 out there that voting for your representatives is important and we want to hear from you. 114 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:23,800 And we still offer paper ballot. 115 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:25,400 We have them in the store. 116 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:28,640 We have a secure ballot box that you can drop your ballot into. 117 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:31,640 Some people take them home and mail them back to us. 118 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:37,880 Whatever it is that you need for the co-op to help you vote, we want that participation 119 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:38,880 from our owners. 120 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:43,520 That is the crux of our business is having owners participate. 121 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:45,280 You want to know something kind of fun? 122 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:46,280 I'll do. 123 00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:51,000 That there is no rule against our candidates campaigning. 124 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:52,000 Interesting. 125 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:53,720 But no one ever has. 126 00:10:53,720 --> 00:11:00,600 So a lot of times when people run for the board, there are enough open seats for everybody 127 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:02,080 who's running to be seated. 128 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:08,280 So that just means that our board has to be between nine and 13 directors. 129 00:11:08,280 --> 00:11:13,120 And a lot of times when people are running, there are enough spaces per the bylaws to 130 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:14,760 fill all of those seats. 131 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:19,720 But sometimes there are more people running for the board than we can actually seat on 132 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:20,720 the board. 133 00:11:20,720 --> 00:11:24,440 So that means that one or two or sometimes even three people are going to run for the 134 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:26,200 board and not get it. 135 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:29,240 So maybe that would be the time to campaign? 136 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:31,240 Definitely. 137 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:37,480 We should also talk about what it means to have a three-year, two-year, one-year seat. 138 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:40,760 Because our board terms are typically three years. 139 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:46,920 But there have been occasions where people have moved out of state or people's lives 140 00:11:46,920 --> 00:11:52,400 have been disrupted and they have had to step back from being a director. 141 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:56,760 And so a one-year or a two-year term will become available. 142 00:11:56,760 --> 00:12:02,440 So if you can fill your three-year terms, but you can also fill those one and two-year 143 00:12:02,440 --> 00:12:03,440 terms. 144 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:07,480 And I think we set it up that way where we say that we stagger the terms so that we 145 00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:11,000 are always overlapping different experiences. 146 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:16,800 So it's not everybody leaving the board or being reelected for the board all at one time. 147 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:23,280 Really so because we have at max 13 seats, we have two years where four people could 148 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:27,800 be elected for three-year seats and one year where five people can be elected for three-year 149 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:28,800 seats. 150 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:29,800 Okay. 151 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:30,800 Just because of the way the math works. 152 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:34,800 Yeah, we don't want the board to turn over entirely in the same year. 153 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:35,800 It's interesting. 154 00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:43,320 So this is really about democratic member control, which is about encouraging our owners to vote. 155 00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:48,160 And it's funny how our conversation has changed over into a board of directors conversation 156 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:52,680 because you and I have so much experience with that because I was on the board for six 157 00:12:52,680 --> 00:12:56,680 years and you've been the board administrator. 158 00:12:56,680 --> 00:12:57,680 Almost eight years. 159 00:12:57,680 --> 00:13:01,520 So it's like in this moment, what I want to say is that, hey, if you're an owner and 160 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:04,240 you're listening, come to a board meeting. 161 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:07,680 See if this is something that you're interested in participating in. 162 00:13:07,680 --> 00:13:13,240 And also if you're an owner and you're listening and you get a very sweet email from the 163 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:16,440 co-op saying, it's time to vote for your board of directors. 164 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:17,960 Will you please do that? 165 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:18,960 It's really important. 166 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:24,400 It's really fun and exciting that this community-owned business gets to be run by members of the 167 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:25,560 community. 168 00:13:25,560 --> 00:13:30,840 And actually, as I was looking through some papers prepping for this, I found this really 169 00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:35,400 great paper by Michael Healy, who is part of the Columinate team. 170 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:37,560 He wrote this back in 2005. 171 00:13:37,560 --> 00:13:41,740 He talks in this paper called Democracy and Cooperatives. 172 00:13:41,740 --> 00:13:47,760 He talks about democracy not necessarily being equated just with voting, but with actively 173 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:50,240 participating and discussing. 174 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:54,800 There's this really beautiful passage from this that I would like to share. 175 00:13:54,800 --> 00:14:00,560 As consumer owners of food stores, we must unlearn the lesson fed to us since infancy 176 00:14:00,560 --> 00:14:02,480 that we vote with our dollars. 177 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:07,600 If we are nothing but consumers, the implication is that we have nothing but dollars with which 178 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:08,880 to vote. 179 00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:12,760 And like it or not, whoever has the most dollars gets the most votes. 180 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:17,160 But in a cooperative, we are not just consumers, we are also owners. 181 00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:22,800 As such, we have not merely votes, but our voices to add to the conversation. 182 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:26,760 Cooperatives provide a place in society in which we can learn to use and practice using 183 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:28,400 our voice. 184 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:32,760 If you are looking for a way for your voice to be heard, on the board of directors page 185 00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:37,720 of our website, there is a contact the board form, and I know that our board would love 186 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:39,240 to hear from you. 187 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:41,080 So use your voice. 188 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:46,880 Also if you come to a board meeting, like Alessandra just suggested, there is a place 189 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:48,800 on the agenda for public comment. 190 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:53,400 Again, it would be a wonderful time for you to make your voice heard. 191 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:58,720 Positive or negative, any input that we get from owners helps make our cooperative better. 192 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:06,480 And just as like a shout out for democracy, I just want to say that I like really believe 193 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:10,880 and hope other people can be open to maybe changing their mind about this because I feel 194 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:13,360 like governance is really fun. 195 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:20,200 I feel sitting in a board room, the understanding where people are coming from, how they make 196 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:25,800 decisions, do they make them fast or slow, do they need more information, do they need 197 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:31,920 more time, are they interested in learning new things, did they really come to the table 198 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:36,080 wanting a couple of different ideas to be put forward. 199 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:41,040 All of those things are so interesting to me and so fundamental to what it means to 200 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:49,920 get along as humans to be a good listener at the board table is such an amazing gift 201 00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:55,560 to be able to let somebody who's not used to talking but has a lot to share, to make 202 00:15:55,560 --> 00:16:00,800 sure that you provide a safe space for them to share their really interesting insights, 203 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:02,440 values, decisions. 204 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:05,880 It feels like it's a place of strength for our co-op. 205 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:08,640 Board meetings are two and a half hours. 206 00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:10,560 Sometimes they're longer than that. 207 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:15,600 And that's a long time to sit down and hold space with each other and kind of like put 208 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:20,600 our egos to the side and make decisions for the co-op. 209 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:26,920 To hold the co-op in this way that we are the stewards but also that the co-op is our 210 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:27,920 elder. 211 00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:31,880 It's been around for longer than a lot of us have been around. 212 00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:35,200 It's here to teach us lessons and we're here to take care of it. 213 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:42,040 I think that again that group decision making that happens in the boardroom is a really 214 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:49,560 fundamental aspect of why the co-op is so wonderful because we make decisions together. 215 00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:52,200 We try to make decisions really mindfully. 216 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:53,200 Amen. 217 00:16:53,200 --> 00:17:00,200 I would like to start out the next part of our show by saying the co-op will be open 218 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:02,560 during the renovation. 219 00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:08,400 Right now an amazing group of contractors is digging up the road. 220 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:12,960 Very soon they'll be digging up parts of our parking lot and they'll be redesigning the 221 00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:14,760 entrances to our store. 222 00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:18,280 We will be open during all of this time. 223 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:20,080 The parking will look silly. 224 00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:21,840 There will be dump trucks. 225 00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:23,780 There will be cranes. 226 00:17:23,780 --> 00:17:28,400 There will be all kinds of amazing things happening at the store. 227 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:32,000 And also we will be selling groceries and we will be selling food. 228 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:37,040 Our priority is to make sure that our owners and customers and shoppers can come in and 229 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:41,360 buy the food that they need and have a pleasant experience. 230 00:17:41,360 --> 00:17:47,920 All of our cashiers and stockers and marketing staff and produce staff like everybody is 231 00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:54,360 working super hard to have the store be fully stocked and clean and we're just going to 232 00:17:54,360 --> 00:17:55,560 be open. 233 00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:59,680 And if we're not going to be open we'll tell you but we're going to be open. 234 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:01,920 Why don't you tell us about what's going on in the store? 235 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:05,720 Well yeah so we're still doing things in the basement. 236 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:10,840 We dug a lot of really big holes to move water lines and electrical lines and sewer 237 00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:15,960 lines and like all kinds of upgrades to the building that haven't been upgraded since 238 00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:17,960 it was built in the 60s. 239 00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:22,720 So that feels really smart and a great use of our space and our time is to make things 240 00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:27,200 really safe and really streamlined in the basement. 241 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:31,200 And now we're filling in those holes because we've laid the pipe that we need to lay and 242 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:36,000 we're filling in the holes and pouring the concrete pads for building out the framing 243 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:39,000 for the spaces that we are building to use. 244 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:42,200 So some of those spaces are so exciting. 245 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:47,280 Production areas for prepared foods, preparation areas for the meat department to just have 246 00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:51,040 more space to place where they can make the sausage. 247 00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:53,280 Yes, literally making the sausage. 248 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:58,200 A lot of that is like behind the scenes sort of we knew it was happening but it wasn't 249 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:01,720 something that everybody who came to the store knew was happening. 250 00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:08,520 But now this week since Monday Pendleton Street has been sort of a disrupted area because 251 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:16,800 we are digging giant holes outside of our building to improve access to the sewer system. 252 00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:21,160 So the pipe that we had was a smaller pipe again back in the 60s. 253 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:25,240 We just had a different volume out of that building. 254 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:31,360 And so we're upgrading the size to the sewer for Belfast so that that runs smoothly. 255 00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:33,960 We also have a grease trap. 256 00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:40,040 Most restaurants and food stores have a grease trap because it just catches the solids before 257 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:44,760 they go into the city's wastewater treatment facility. 258 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:51,160 So the grease trap we were using was undersized really for our purposes. 259 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:55,040 And the new grease trap that we have installed is beautiful. 260 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:56,240 It is huge. 261 00:19:56,240 --> 00:20:02,080 It is in the ground and it's going to be easily accessible to be cleaned out on the regular. 262 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:08,040 And it just feels like a really great, smart, healthy step for like the longevity of this 263 00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:10,400 building and the longevity of this business. 264 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:16,120 But that means that we're digging up the street to get into the city sewer lines. 265 00:20:16,120 --> 00:20:20,560 So that today is like Wednesday of that happening and this should be the last day. 266 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:22,800 They're finding so much cool stuff. 267 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:28,880 They're finding like glass bottles that are from the 40s, 50s, 60s. 268 00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:32,840 And some of these are like bottles for Vaseline and milk of Magnesia. 269 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:35,880 And some of these are bottles for gin and whiskey. 270 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:41,760 And it's this interesting thing where both of those things make so much sense to me because 271 00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:47,720 before this building was the co-op, it was a pharmacy. 272 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:50,680 So it makes sense to me that we're finding pharmacy things. 273 00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:55,800 And before this building was a pharmacy, it was a hotel. 274 00:20:55,800 --> 00:21:00,920 And so that makes sense that we're finding all of these old gin and whiskey bottles because 275 00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:02,000 it was a full bar. 276 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:06,280 It's called the Windsor Hotel in the early 60s. 277 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:07,760 It burned down. 278 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:13,120 And what we found digging up the foundation of the building to lay that pipe for electrical 279 00:21:13,120 --> 00:21:19,000 and water that I was talking about, we found remnants of the burned hotel. 280 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:20,000 That's insane. 281 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:21,000 It was crazy. 282 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:22,000 I couldn't believe it. 283 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:23,400 And I almost didn't believe it. 284 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:27,880 And then today I was talking to some of the contractors and I was like, hey, did you guys 285 00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:29,760 dig under the building too? 286 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:30,760 And they said yes. 287 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:33,600 So what did you find down there? 288 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:36,840 And they told me that they found remnants of a burned building. 289 00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:39,080 They didn't know that it was the hotel. 290 00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:42,480 Only I knew that because I have geeked out on that property. 291 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:45,040 They found remnants of this burned building. 292 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:48,560 And I was like, isn't that crazy that they used it as fill in the 60s? 293 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:52,520 And they looked at me and they were like, ah, in the 60s, there were no codes. 294 00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:54,880 They just did whatever they wanted to do. 295 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:56,680 These guys have worked all over the mid-coast. 296 00:21:56,680 --> 00:22:02,440 They were telling me that they find the most interesting fill in Belfast. 297 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:09,000 It's very classic that Belfast uses whatever it had to make fill, to build buildings on. 298 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:12,600 So that whenever they dig around in Belfast, they know they're going to find cool stuff. 299 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:16,200 Well, that should be the new town motto, built on cool stuff. 300 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:19,120 Built on cool stuff. 301 00:22:19,120 --> 00:22:22,320 The general contractor that we're using is Warren Construction. 302 00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:23,560 They're out of Portland. 303 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:29,200 And they worked with the Portland Food Co-op and they've done a lot of really lovely, well-designed 304 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:30,200 retail spaces. 305 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:32,960 So that's why we chose to work with Warren Construction. 306 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:37,800 But when we started to work with them, we said, hey, it's really important to us to work with 307 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:39,600 local subcontractors. 308 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:44,920 So everybody that they found for all the projects so far are local subcontractors. 309 00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:48,680 Some of them we worked with before and some of them we're working with for the first time. 310 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:51,080 And it's been wonderful. 311 00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:56,360 And I hope that they all know how excited we are and how interested we are and how connected 312 00:22:56,360 --> 00:23:00,320 we all are to this building and to the project going well. 313 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:04,040 It can be a little stressful, I would say, to close down a road and dig it up. 314 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:11,200 But hopefully we're bringing some excitement and interest and some positivity to what's 315 00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:12,600 a pretty big job. 316 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:13,600 Definitely. 317 00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:14,600 I know I'm excited. 318 00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:15,600 Yeah. 319 00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:19,320 And so the contractors we're working with, they have a lot of other jobs. 320 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:21,040 They're very popular folks. 321 00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:26,400 And they said, hey, we can come back to do the other foundation work for Shop for Me 322 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:29,560 and for the cafe, but it's not going to be for a little while. 323 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:32,720 Or we could stay here and we could do it right now. 324 00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:34,080 We said you should stay. 325 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:35,240 You should do it right now. 326 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:43,040 So beginning today and going into next week, we will be doing the groundwork and laying 327 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:50,080 the foundation for the new entrance to Shop for Me and for the new cafe seating area. 328 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:56,560 If you go onto belfast.coop backslash renovation, there will also be updates there. 329 00:23:56,560 --> 00:24:01,840 I'm trying to post as many pictures as I can with as many updates as I can. 330 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:08,440 Our general manager, Doug, has been doing weekly videos that you can find on Instagram 331 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:12,480 or on YouTube, a little behind the scenes action. 332 00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:16,160 Any of our social media and eNews has a lot of this information. 333 00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:21,320 You can sign up for our eNews at the bottom of our website, which is belfast.coop on 334 00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:23,280 any page that you choose. 335 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:24,280 So belfast.coop. 336 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:27,640 Yeah, that's it. 337 00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:33,480 If people do see disturbances at the entrance of the store, just know the store is open 338 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:39,400 and that if you are unclear of where to go, there will be someone to provide information. 339 00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:43,000 Head over to customer service or find somebody with a name tag. 340 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:48,600 We are working so hard to keep the workers all educated and updated about everything 341 00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:49,680 that's going on. 342 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:57,320 So if you have a question, just feel free to reach out or you can write to info at belfast.coop 343 00:24:57,320 --> 00:25:02,800 with any questions that you have and we'll try to get back to you in a timely manner. 344 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:08,200 My last update is that the next board meeting is going to be Wednesday, July 26. 345 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:13,720 Board meetings start at 6 p.m. and you can find more information about that on our website. 346 00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:16,840 It has been a pleasure being with you today. 347 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:21,840 We hope that you will join us next month when we talk about principle three. 348 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:26,240 Economic participation, which means if you're going to be an owner of a business, you probably 349 00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:31,040 should shop there and use it because that's what's best for you as the owner of the business. 350 00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:32,560 Yep, learn more about it. 351 00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:33,560 Next time. 352 00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:34,560 This is for the cooperators. 353 00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:35,560 Thanks, guys. 354 00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:42,800 You've been listening to episode three of Smooth Cooperator from the Belfast Community 355 00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:49,560 Co-op, hosted by Alessandra Martinelli and Emily Berry, produced at the facilities of 356 00:25:49,560 --> 00:26:06,600 Belfast Community Radio.