Following the Mifflin Board of Directors' decision to recommend closing the Mifflin Street Co-op last month, two members submitted alternate proposals for the fate of the store.

Members of the co-op will vote on one of three proposals at the General Membership Meeting next Monday. According to Board of Directors President Matt Stoner, state law requires a 75 percent approval from members to close the co-op permanently, but only a simple majority to approve the other two options.

Stoner said one alternate proposal, drafted by member Ben Hunter, would "completely change the direction of the organization." It would keep the co-op intact, he added, but completely re-vamp the building from a grocery store to a restaurant.

"It's not a very detailed proposal and doesn't come with numbers or a plan," Stoner said. "It's not a proposal I'm excited about because it's so vague, but we'll see how the membership responds to it."

The other possible proposal, written by seven-year board member Seth Nowak, would still call for a temporary shutdown of the Mifflin Street Co-op grocery store.

But Nowak said during the time the store is closed, the co-op would hire professional accountants or consultants to re-evaluate financial payments, tax returns and liabilities from 1998 to the present to work out financial difficulties.

"I am quite convinced there might be some sort of bookkeeping issue between Mifflin or the IRS about this," Nowak added. "For many of the years I was on the board, … dozens and dozens of times we talked about these types of things — it just doesn't add up to me that we still owe that many taxes."

Nowak also said the biggest difference between his proposal and the board's recommendation is that he does not want to completely shut down the co-op organization, just the business. Short term, he added, Mifflin Street Co-op does not have any other option but to close their business because of the serious financial difficulty.

Since no one has taken the time to go through all the financial records in detail, Nowak said hiring someone to help sort out the situation is worth a shot.

"There's been a grocery store in that building for over 100 years," he said. "To say that we're going to have it completely go away … because [the IRS] tells us we didn't pay our taxes when we think we did — that doesn't make sense to me."

Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said the city has tried to help the co-op with its financial troubles in recent years because of the role the business plays in the Mifflin Street neighborhood's history, and added that seeing the store leave the area would be "disappointing."

But Stoner said realistically, if the initial recommendation to close the co-op does not pass, the current Board of Directors is talking about resigning. Until the final decision, he added, members of the co-op continue to remind patrons the store is still open for business.

"It's not a done deal yet, and we still want people to come by and support the co-op," Stoner said. "My hope as a board member is that all members will vote to close, but it's ultimately in their hands."