Local co-op board recall vote is a go

Possible merger upset some of its 1,300 members

A group of Durango Natural Foods Co-op members have collected enough signatures to put the removal of the DNF board up to a vote.

Board President Geoff Wolf said, in statement, a Sept. 22 board meeting will set the date for an election. The election must be held at least 60 days from Sept. 9, but no longer than 90 days from Sept. 9. A simple majority of those who vote will determine the outcome.

“The board will decide the date, time and place of the meeting,” Wolf said Thursday. “Notice and ballots will be as provided in Section 3.4 of the bylaws.”

The recall effort was triggered by the conversations of DNF board members with their counterparts at La Montanita Food Co-op of Albuquerque about merging the two cooperatives.

DNF members unhappy with the possibility of a merger said they were not informed of the talks. They saw DNF becoming a subsidiary of the much larger La Montanita.

The recall effort required signatures of 10 percent of DNF active members to bring about a recall vote; the final count showed 14.3 percent signed petitions. The co-op has almost 1,300 active members.

daler@durangoherald.com