A large crowd was on hand last Wednesday evening as the Rimbey Co-op held their annual general meeting at the Seniors Drop-In Centre.
After a delicious meal, it was down to business for the Co-op with the call to order, approval of quorum, election of a chairperson and approval of the meeting’s agenda, the Board of Directors, General Manager’s and audited financial statement were all read to the membership.
“I thought the meeting was excellent,” said General Manager Caralee Strome. “We were pleased with the turnout and no major issues came up and we’re happy to report on our operations and our equity repayments we issued to our patrons.”
One issue that was discussed was the general cash repayment back to the members that occurred on Dec. 14 of last year making it the first of its kind in over 26 years.
“The total number I gave that night of $385,000 for a total payout was for February of 2007 to January of 2008,” Strome said. “It’s been an excellent year and very rewarding but it’s only made possible by our member’s support.”
In light of the payout, as well as the total association’s sales of $14.9 million during the fiscal year, Strome said she’s received plenty of good comments from the membership.
“We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from our members,” she said. “We’re hoping the payout is taken as a sign of good intention – we want to return money back to our members and we hope to do it again annually.”
During the second part of the meeting, nominations were held for three directors positions for three-year terms. As a result, the officers and directors remained as President Steffen Olsen, Vice-President Bill Loov, Secretary Beauchamp Colclough and Strome as General Manager. Director positions include Irene Steeves, Janet Gross, Kathy Pfau, Ed Grumbach, Duane Adams and Ed Olsen.
As part of the meeting, Nicole Duckett gave a speech about her time at Camp Goldeye, which the Co-op sponsored.
At the close of the meeting, Strome acknowledged the management team at the store and said they are a key component to the Co-op’s success.
“They are an excellent group of people,” she said. “Everyone working together makes success a whole lot easier. The combination of the support of our members and our great staff – makes it a win-win situation.”