Comments Solicited From Prospective Board Members

Attention members running for the 5 open seats to the BriarPatch Board of Directors:
Thank you for your commitment to our co-op by deciding to run for the BriarPatch Board of Directors. I would appreciate a response to the following questions. Thank you in advance for participating in this wonderful free speech medium.
How much time do you expect to devote to your job as board member?
Would you support the idea that the Finance Manager report directly to the Board or to the General manager?
What relevant experience do you bring with you to the Briarpatch?
How do you see the financial picture and how would you improve access to financial records?
As a board member, would you exercise your review authority for financial accountability?
Employee relations: what creative ways can we use to improve employee practices? How should Briarpatch handle grievances with employees?
Do you support "for cause" versus "at will" employment policies?
What process or system would you advocate in order to hear agenda items in a timely and orderly fashion?
How would you guarantee efficient follow-through on owner-member concerns?
Whose views do board members represent, your own or owner-members based on polled info?
How would you deal with the situation in which there is a consistent majority-minority alignment of board members?
How do we involve owner-members in board meetings?
What new changes would you bring to the board and the Briarpatch?

Kim Koons

Disappointment with BRIARPATCH CO-OP NEWS & REVIEW, APRIL/MAY 2008

It was most disappointing to read the BriarPatch financial statements as published in BRIARPATCH CO-OP NEWS & REVIEW, APRIL/MAY 2008. This letter is to advise you that I absolve myself of any responsibility for publishing this information. This is a particularly sensitive area since the business environment in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley era is fraught with the possibility of organizational liabilities and lawsuits. In the past, I have offered to review the format and content of the financial statements. My offer to participate in a reviews prior to publication have been ignored. My professional background as a chief financial officer and as a university accounting professor qualifies me for this task. It is requested that the following items in the published financial statements be changed: * The financial statements say "Fiscal Year Ending 12/31/2007." A minor correction here would be to say "For the Calendar Year Ended December 31, 2007." More importantly what should also be added is: "UNAUDITED" or "NOT AUDITED." * On page 8, there is a line labeled "OPERATING INCOME -527,648.53" This is unnecessarily misleading. There was no operating income. A more accurate statement would be "OPERATING LOSS $527,648.53. There is also a line at the bottom of the Profit and Loss Statement that says "NET INCOME -878,605.40" There was no net income. A better statement should have been "NET LOSS $878,605.40. The fact is that these statements are published for the owner-members and are available for the general public, many of whom are uninformed readers of financial statements. There is a duty to be unambiguous. * On the same page as the financial statement there is a narrative text that says, "The preliminary results for 2007 show a loss of $877,750 and the capital assets of about $3.2 million." Why is there a reference to an income statement item and to a balance sheet item that has no relevance to each other? This is a rambling non-sequitur that can only serve to confuse the reader. Furthermore, the $877,750 loss for the year is the same concept on the same page shown as the bottom line in the Profit and Loss Statement as $878,605.40. * If there is an income statement and there is a balance sheet shouldn't there also be a statement of cash flow? * It is my recommendation that the Board of Directors direct the General Manager to correct these financial statements and redistribute them with an appropriate explanation. Respectfully, Arthur J. Katz, Ph.D.Member of the Board of Directors of BriarPatch Co-op