About the Board Elections
Vote September 9-October 20, 2019
The Merc Co+op’s Board of Directors represents all 8,100+ owners and shapes the vision for the co-op while evaluating the current performance of the business. The Board of Directors is comprised of nine co-op owners who are elected by the general ownership and serve three year terms. Claim one of your most powerful rights of co-op ownership and vote in our 2019 board elections!
Meet the Candidates
There are four candidates running for two open seats on the board. The candidates are listed below in alphabetical order. Click on each image to view their statements. Statements are also available in store.
Vote online or in store
Voting will take place through a secure, online portal as well as by paper ballots in store. All co-op owners with shares paid in full by September 2, 2019 are eligible to vote. Results will be announced at our Annual Co-op Meeting on Friday, November 1 and on the website thereafter.
Help Your Co-op Grow
Your proxy is needed to increase the ownership cap.
When the co-op was founded in 1974 and adopted our Articles of Incorporation, we were required to designate a cap on the number of shareholders or co-op owners. At that time, 10,000 owners seemed unimaginable.Yet today, 45 years later, we have surpassed 8,100 and gain more each day. As we look to expand into Kansas City, Kansas and invite more members of our regional community to join the co-op, we must vote to increase that cap beyond 10,000.
According to Kansas law, cooperative businesses are required to gain approval by one-third of their shareholders in order to alter their Articles of Incorporation. For your co-op, this means that we must gain approval from over 2,700 owners. Your signed approval of the proxy is limited only to the question of whether to amend the Corporation’s Articles of Incorporation to increase the numbers of shares the Corporation is authorized to issue. Approval of the proxy is not limited to the board election cycle. Thank you, in advance, for your participation and help in growing our co-op community.
Questions?
ELECTION/VOTING : Contact Laura Marsh, Outreach Coordinator at outreach@themerc.coop or 785.843.8544.
BOARD : Contact the Board of Directors and Election Committee at board@themerc.coop