Interview with HPC Board Member Nicolet Lyon

—by Anne Holzman

Midway through her three-year term as board member and also halfway through three years of law school, Nicolet Lyon is spending a lot of time examining papers these days.

"It really is a sort of baptism in fire," she said of her experience on the HPC board. She learned early in her board term that the co-op might have an opportunity to purchase the building it has rented for decades. "I had no idea that was going on, but it was a great legal opportunity for me."

She quickly found her role in the process, poring over documents to ensure "due diligence," sometimes asking questions of her professors at the University of St. Thomas and contributing their expertise back to the board. (Lyon hastens to add that the co-op also has its own attorney; her professors' opinions, like her own, are advisory.)

"I consider that to be a part of my job as a board member—to ask the questions that need to be asked," she said. The purchase process has included documents relating to both property ownership and finance and has involved consideration of multiple structures and possible deals. But she said that as of early January, "It's looking good!"

Lyon's HPC-related deliberations go back to her first contact with the co-op. While some new members may wander in off the street or hear about it from friends, Lyon found HPC by—what else?—doing some research. She said she'd visited The Wedge a few times while doing her undergraduate work in anthropology at the University of Minnesota and got interested in the co-op movement.

"When I started doing research looking for a co-op," she said, HPC "was one of the closest ones" to her St. Paul home. "I liked that it's small and neighborhood-oriented," she said, with members directly involved in the sourcing and distribution of food.

She said the price of membership was also a consideration, as she navigated the rather lean financial years between college and law school. "It's very reasonably priced," she said. "Share price is low."

Lyon has come to see food co-ops as an aspect of environmentalism. "They're about good, clean, fair food," she said, with "fair" meaning "paying someone a living wage" rather than getting cheap food while workers in Third World countries suffer inhumane conditions.

"It's partly gourmet," she conceded with a chuckle. "It tastes better!" Lyon said she does most of her household's shopping and cooking, although husband Marc Cooley occasionally visits the co-op. The couple own a Yorkie-Poo dog adopted from the Humane Society.

Favorite HPC products include Libby's ice cream, Larry Schultz's eggs, and cheese. Lyon said she's such an enthusiastic cheese customer that the coordinator for that department, Linda Andersen, lets her know when something new has arrived.

Lyon's second year of law school has included practicum work in an elder law clinic run by St. Thomas at the Minneapolis campus. She said she might go into a related field, estate planning, but she's been learning about a broad range of issues, including various kinds of abuse that seniors have to fight. She said it's been a nice opportunity, "working with real people" instead of only going to classes.

Lyon also works six to eight hours a week as a teaching aide to a law school professor, helping less experienced students hone their writing skills.

In addition to lots of extra "homework," the past year's board deliberations have entailed far more than the normal number of meetings. Lyon serves on the long-range planning, board development, and membership committees as well as attending two board meetings per month, a load that might lighten up a little once a purchase deal has been made.

She acknowledged that other important issues have been on the board's back burners while the purchase was under consideration, so it might take a while for things to settle down. Still, she sounded optimistic about concluding a deal soon and moving on to a membership drive to finance the purchase.

"We're all looking forward to shifting it down a notch," Lyon said, with a lilt in her tone that made her sound not so much weary as proud and satisfied.

[Anne Holzman is a freelance writer and HPC member.]