Briar Patch Update 2/26/2008

The Board of Directors had their regular meeting Monday night, 2/25/06. The tone of the meeting was definitely more cooperative and civil than one month ago. Unfortunately, it appears that the Jaffee Report is never going to see the light of day from this Board. And, it appears that Briar Patch still has essentially adopted a “circle our wagons approach,” and presumes that admitting that there is a crisis over board squabbling and financial issues will cause harm to Briar Patch, rather than adopting a stance that reaching out to the general Briar Patch community and owning their problems and asking for help would be a more positive way to go.

Paul Harten, the Manager, delivered am updated Finance Report, instead of the Finance Manager, Mark Warner. The biggest revelation is that Paul said that there was an error in their previous Finance Report of October/November 2007 when they stated that the net loss for the year was anticipated to be $500,000. At the meeting he stated that the projected operating loss should have read $804,000, and that the actual operating loss for 2007 was between $827,000 and $877,000. One has to wonder why neither the Financial Manager, the General Manager, or any Broad or Finance Committee member did not pick up this error for several months!

Interestingly enough, the capital expenditures were 3.25 Million Dollars in 2007 on a building that Briar Patch does not own, and further has not turned out to be “Green” in terms of utility costs. “The building will be extremely energy efficient....” according to Paul Harten back in October/November of 2006. Yet, now we are told by the Finance Director that, “the utilities and related upkeep costs on the new facility have been almost $10,000 per month higher than estimated.”

While Briar Patch keeps stating that sales need only go up a little more (Paul stated that the break even point for Briar Patch is 1.1Million Dollars of sales per month). Reality is that sales have averaged 1 Million Dollars per month between July 1, 2007 through December 31, 2007. Yet, the losses during that period of time were approximately $482,000. Paul did state that they have cut labor costs by about $1,000 per week, which would be $4,300 a month, or 2/10ths of one percent of their apparent $220,000 a month average in labor costs.

When queried of what the contingency plan of action was in the event that sales do not turn around and that the general economic downturn effects sales, what I saw was a blank look on Paul’s face.

My observation is that BP has a closed system currently. The newsletter is filled with recipes for cooking rather than recipes for change and innovation. Instead of inviting comments and suggestions, the newsletter and public statements are very one-sided, all is ok, these losses were projected, and to voice questions in public, is seen as attacks against the institution. In short, BP is not conducting itself in a democratic manner.

In response, with the help of Anna Haynes, Michael Brackney and Greg Zaller, a website/blog, called friendsofbriarpatch.org, has been set up. Your General Manager and Finance Manager have been expressly invited to correct any misinformation, or get out their point of view. To date neither has availed themselves of that opportunity. Hopefully this website will develop into a forum for free and open discussion of the issues facing BP. Comments will only be monitored for civility, and towards that end, persons posting comments will be asked to sign their names. Exceptions will be made for employees who fear possible retaliation.

Another possible use will be to use it as a forum for persons running for the upcoming election, who can post a “position paper” or “platform,” and then members can post comments to that, pose questions to the candidates, etc.. In short, create a truly democratic, uncensored and open dialogue. And maybe someday, BP’s own website can be transformed into an open forum. I hope for that.