Members of Gainesville’s Citizen’s Co-op met Sunday to discuss the future of the store, which has been addled with conflicts among its founders, board of directors and members.
About 60 people attended the meeting held at the Civic Media Center to voice their concerns about the store’s financial viability and controversies surrounding the recent firing of five employees.
Now, the members are petitioning to have the board of directors send out a notice to the store’s roughly 1,700 members announcing a meeting to vote on three measures on May 4. Members will vote on removing the current board of directors, electing an interim board of directors and reinstating the five workers fired on March 24.
Eleanor Sommer, a member and investor of the co-op, said the board’s actions have upset a large number of members and investors, and they should step aside.
“We just want it to be run in favor of the members and investors who supported it,” Sommer said.
Member Katie Conley said she agrees the board should remove itself from the equation because “they’re out of touch.”
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 3/31/2014 under the headline "At meeting, co-op members discuss store’s future"]
