June 7, 2009 Special Membership Meeting Summary

The Special Membership Meeting of the New Deal Cafe Cooperative was held at the cafe at 7:00pm last night with 70 voting members in attendance. At the start of the meeting Maria, Chef Karim's wife, announced that a tentative agreement had been reached with the board of directors for Chef Karim to return to the cafe under a new contract. She stated a hope that all can be friends again. The surprise report was met with loud cheers and applause.

Before the meeting the board placed displays for member inspection in the front of the room which contained key correspondence regarding the contract dispute. A copy of the original management contract was also available for inspection.

The board then gave a presentation in response to the membership request for an explanation of why the cafe had been temporarily closed. Download a copy of the presentation.

The chairman of the meeting then opened the floor to discussion of the motions to form an audit committee to look into the contract dispute and report back to the membership in 45 days. After about 15 minutes of discussion, a member stated that Maria's announcement indicated that both the manager and the board felt positive about the tentative agreement and that it contained favorable terms for both parties. He then moved that the meeting be adjourned which would effectively table the motions indefinitely. The motion to adjourn passed by a simple majority and the meeting disbanded around 8:35 pm. The board stayed around to answer questions, and many members stayed to talk about the meeting and socialize.

Bill Wilkerson, NDC Secretary