Big year for Rankin Co-op
Kissarvik more than doubles patronage dividend, stays active in community
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
KISSARVIK
Kissarvik Co-op announced a banner year to more than 150 members during its annual general meeting (AGM) this past month in Rankin Inlet.
Maryanne Tattuinee and Thomas Tudalik look awesome in the Aboriginal Traditional Dress contest during Aboriginal Day festivities hosted by the Kissarvik Co-op in Rankin Inlet this past month. - photo courtesy of Johnny Ayaruaq |
General manager Walter Morey said Kissarvik has 1,182 active members, and will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in May of 2018.
Morey said the AGM on June 28 went very well.
He said every member seemed quite happy with the news he delivered during the meeting.
"We announced a patronage dividend of $312,000, which is more than double what we were able to do this past year," said Morey.
"Out of that we did a share repurchase of $150,000, with the first $75,000 having been paid out earlier this month, and another $75,000 will be paid out in early December.
"The patronage dividend means the $312,000 was added to the value of the shares of our Co-op members, while the repurchase is when we buy them (shares) back and do a refund to the member's accounts.
"The refund would be applied to any member's outstanding balance, and put into the accounts of members with no outstanding balance as a credit to their account."
Morey said Kissarvik was only able to do one refund of $50,000 the past fiscal year.
He said there were many reasons why Kissarvik was struggling during that time.
"We were especially struggling with our hotels this past year.
"But things turned around, with Rankin starting to turn into a busier community, us doing a better job with the hotels, and our retail operation performing a little better.
Morey said there were two director positions up for election at the AGM, which saw Johnny Ayaruaq re-elected and Shelly Kingmeatok elected for the first time. He said both were elected for three-year terms.
"Our seven-member board this past year that helped with our turnaround was comprised of Lydia Tatty as president, Johnny Ayaruaq as first vice-president, David Tulugak as second vice-president, and board members Noah Tiktak, Mary Kasaluak, Anna Benoit and Charlotte Pilakapsi.
"The only one we don't have back is Mary (Kasaluak), who didn't run this year, and was effectively replaced by Shelly (Kingmeatok).
"We also had a number of prize draws for our members during the AGM, with the new couch being won by Bernadette Alogut, the pair of Calm Air tickets won by Charlene Karlik, and a whole host of other prizes being won by various people throughout the evening.
"Everyone was positive during, what I would term, a good meeting with good news to deliver on a good year, and we are working on a new project, but nothing is firmed-up yet, so we're not prepared to release any information on it at this time."
Morey hit the 12-year mark as general manager of Kissarvik Co-op on June 6.
He said going forward, Rankin's Co-op would like to put-up more of its own housing to accommodate staff members who are currently in rental units.
"We'd like to do something to be able to house our own staff.
"We are using a number of our hotel rooms right now, but business is growing and we don't want to be using hotel rooms that way.
"It's better for people to be able to get away from their work and have more comfort where they live.
"We have a core group of staff members who you can set your clock by and who really carry the load, but it's been a challenging year to hire because of the draw on the local labour pool by the new mine (Meliadine)."
