Sunday, March 29 was a great gathering of Outpost owners at the Tripoli Shrine Center for our Annual Meeting.  There were 225 owners and guests present, which is fairly remarkable given, as you may remember, some really lousy weather. 

Will Kort, in his last annual meeting as president and I, as treasurer, gave our officers’ reports, and Pam Mehnert provided the General Manager’s report.  All of us touched on what is expected to be a tsunami of new grocery operations into the metro Milwaukee area, and competition will be keener than usual.

Judy Mayer, our esteemed nutritionist, won the Owner of the Year Award and was provided a standing ovation.  She has certainly made her mark in so many ways involving nutrition, cooking, food shopping and menu and recipe development that she seemed a natural choice for this award.

The other big deal of the afternoon was our first Candidate Forum, in which all nine candidates (including a stand-in for Lori Fredrich, who has been ill) gave two-minute presentations introducing themselves, followed by two-minute answers to questions fielded in advance from the owners.  What I learned was that we have put together an amazing group of candidates.  I am very grateful not to be running against any of them!

This Forum, in addition to the candidate statements found both in paper in the stores and on the Outpost website, should go a long way to enhancing the information available to our owners when they vote.  THE VOTING BEGINS WEDNESDAY AT 9 A.M., APRIL 1 AND RUNS THROUGH WEDNESDAY APRIL 15 AT 9 P.M.

We all hope that as many owners as possible will vote so that those who win really represent a good cross-section of our ownership.  So flex those democracy muscles and place three “X” marks on the ballots!  We thank you.

Nancy Ettenheim

Board Director