July 2011 Coop Board Meeting

On July 25th, the Piedmont Biofuels Board of Directors met in the conference room of Carolina Brewery in Pittsboro to conduct our July meeting.Attending the meeting were board president Brian Gullette, Beth Turner, Carol Hewitt, and Lyle Estill.  On speaker phone was Stephan Caldwell.  Secretary Joe Cole, renowned for his “actual minutes,” was backpacking in Patagonia and unable to attend.

The main focus of discussion centered on our relationship with Carolina Biodiesel in Durham.  They have been dispensing fuel to their part of the B100 Community for many years, and Piedmont is exploring ways of working more closely with them and their customers.

Marc Dreyfors, Carolina Biodiesel owner, and Lyle Estill have been discussing possible arrangements in earnest for the past few months.

Also up for discussion was the Wilmington dispenser location.  A Memo of Understanding has been signed with Tidal Creek Coop to build a dispensing station next to their Coop grocery store on Oleander.

Currently planning approval is being sought.

The board also discussed the fuel outages which occurred across Piedmont’s location of the B100 Community Trail during June.  While low marks were given to running any tank dry-ever-high marks were given to the communication with members such that unnecessary inconvenience was reduced.

Also discussed was the “Free Lunch Program,” in which each member has by now received a gift certificate that will enable them to dine at one of Piedmont’s Partners in Sustainability.

It was noted that oil collections continue to rise, in part thanks to increased member/board involvement, and it was also noted that fuel sales to the membership has dramatically increased.

A meeting date for the next meeting was not set, but the food and beer flowed freely and gratitude for Carolina Brewery was expressed.  They have been a long time “Partner in Sustainability,” and have contributed used cooking oil from both their Chapel Hill and Pittsboro locations