CFSB Board Meeting Minutes May 16, 2018
Chris Voss opened the meeting at 10am in the Community Room.
In attendance: Michael Harrington, John Colgate, Chris Voss, Mike McCorkle, Gary Burke, Miles Wallace. Guests: Stephanie Mutz, Victoria Bernsen, Alan Lovewell
1. Motion to approve last meeting minutes made by Chris Voss, seconded by Gary Burke. Unanimous approval.
2. Michael Harrington presented latest financial statements. Bank Account holds the largest balance in recent memory - $90K in bank. All bills for year are paid; expecting more grant income shortly. Recent deposits include the TNC Lobster Image grant ($12,500), The South Bay Cable grant ($8,730) and Foodbank donation ($1800).
3. Yard updates: The gates will all shortly be fitted with locking mechanisms to deal with wind. Nylon on first 6 feet of fence height added for security and privacy. Rules are that the yard is for sublease to commercial fishermen only. Bill Latimer's sublease will be ending soon. He has a commercial fishing license and has been diving up north. His boat is registered for 2018. He wants to sell it, has extra Mercruizer 454. He will consider donating the boat if it doesn't sell soon.
4. South Bay Cable Committee report from Gary and Mike: So Cal will see 3 new cables put into fishing grounds in coming years. Cable Committee will have more money. It difficult to know how to determine how much the cable companies should pay in. This year they received many grants and tried to give each some funding. Next year maybe CFSB should put in multiple grants. Ours was only funded at 45% of what we asked.
5. Presentation of mid-year Executive Director’s report by Kim: See attached document that was circulated. She has tracked her time weekly, and determined that she has worked 40% time on average per month. Currently she is paid for 35% time. She asked that when the board approves her salary payment for the second half of the year, they up the compensation to cover 40%. This amounts to asking that an additional $3K be released for salary coverage. It is not an ask for a raise, but full compensation for the basic number of hours the job will require for the second half of 2018. Workload is anticipated to be the same or slightly more, especially as the Quota Bank formation begins. She will continue to try to minimize her workload to create a sustainable level of cost to CFSB for her services over the long run. Motion made by Michael Harrington to accept Kim’s written proposal, Chris second, unanimous approval.
a. Also the board flagged that we may not want to spend all of the salary allotment to initiate the quota bank in the first two years. What will the quota bank continue to cost us over the long run? Harrington reports that filing the paperwork is a minimal time commitment. We want to do what it takes to see the Quota leased at least 2 of the next 5 years. We may need to throw in coverage of camera costs for observer requirements to make it leasable. Need to add in a fee for quota bank management that fishermen pay. However, there’s possibility of more compensation from TNC for future costs.
6. Presentation of ideas and plan for starting up a Community Supported Fishery program by Kim: The motivations to do this are - Educate the public, foster support for fishing livelihoods and new demand for local seafood, create a revenue stream for CFSB, cross-promote the Saturday market, tie CFSB into the local food systems community of potential donors and supporters, create a new outlet for local fishermen. CSF program would include delivery to neighborhoods, households and schools. We would be able to share email lists, encourage CSF customers to join CFSB and spread news about CFSB activities, share the event planning for an annual fundraiser, share operation of a food truck that makes money for CFSB. Probably best way to formalize the relationship is for the CSF to be a flagship member of CFSB and give a large annual (or quarterly) donation of some of its revenues to CFSB. This could help support the ED position. Scenarios for financial projections estimate that monthly revenue could be $2-5K for the CSF total. Victoria Bernsen, daughter of Chris Voss, is interested in helping launch and co-manage the CSF. Alan Lovewell, who runs a successful CSF in the Bay Area, would be a business consultant to help launch it and would continue to stay involved so that the 2 CSF programs share costs and supply when needed. Alan and Kim wrote a grant proposal to USDA to get funding to launch the CSF. We will hear about the grant success in late summer. Michael Harrington made a motion to acknowledge that the board understands the CSF idea and plan, agree to support it moving forward, and will support it with sale of our fish. Second by Chris Voss, unanimous approval.
7. Report on drift gill net ban fight at State and Fed levels by Gary Burke: ask Gary or Kim for details.
8. Board discussed sending in a check to PCFFA for annual membership. Usually give $250 or $500. Want to show support and get high quality representation. Want to build the relationship and attention from Noah. Motion from MH, second by Chris Voss, to pay $1K to PCFFA for 2018. Unanimous approval.
Meeting adjourned at 12pm by Chris Voss.